Get the Money and Run: An Artist in Denmark Practices the… Name of His Exhibition

He was to exhibit a work of art consisting of banknotes corresponding to an amount of more than 70,000 euros which would be glued to a canvas: instead, the Danish artist decided to present the empty paintings, keep this small fortune for himself and leave, renaming his work “Take the Money and Run”.

The Kunsten Museum in Aalborg, western Denmark, has agreed to lend this large sum to Jens Haaning, a 56-year-old Danish artist, to re-compose an old work of his, representing a year’s salary in Denmark and Austria, in Danish kroner and

“But two days before the opening of the exhibition, we received a message from Jens telling us that he did not create the works we had agreed on,” said the museum’s director, Lasse Anderson, with the notes hanging on two peaks.

In their place, as the artist explained, he will send others with the title “Take the Money and Run”, added the director of the museum, who laughed when the empty paintings were discovered. The museum decided to exhibit the works as part of the exhibition on contemporary art.

«They offer a humorous approach and make you think about how the project is evaluated“, Says the director of Kunsten.

Explaining his work, the artist himself spoke of a way of expressing “that we also have the responsibility to challenge the structures in which we participate”.

«If the structures are completely irrational, we have to break with themJens Haaning said in a press release.

For now, the museum director has chosen to focus on the artistic value of the two paintings, admitting that he has not given up hope of ever seeing what he has ordered.

But after the end of the exhibition, on January 16, his quests will no longer be either artistic or philosophical.

«We will take the necessary steps for Jens Haaning to keep his contract and return the money“, he said.

For his work the artist received a reward of 10,000 crowns, to which is added a premium for participation in the exhibition.