Banana artwork valued at $120K in Seoul Museum eaten by a ‘hungry’ visitor!

An artwork valued at US$120,000 was destroyed in Seoul’s Leeum Museum of Art. And you will be surprised to know that the artwork, a banana stuck to the wall with duct tape, was eaten by a hungry art student, who said that he felt hungry as he skipped his breakfast.

Well, before you think it’s a joke, it’s not. The artwork, named Comedian, was created by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, which is actually hard to understand why he created such an artwork. Many are of the view that it was for questioning the traditional ideas of art and starting a discussion about the nature and value of contemporary art or was it just a joke?
As far as the incident in concerned, it so happened that Noh Huyn-soo - a visiting art student to the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea - filmed a video of himself calmly taking the banana off the wall, peeling it, and eating almost all of it, before placing the leftover banana back on the wall with the duct tape.
The student captured the moment on a camera, where he can be seen purposely eating the banana and taped the peel back on the wall. Although the damage was done to the ‘artwork,’ it is reported that the Leeum Museum of Art is not going to penalize the student or claim damages against the student.

And here is a catch, the authority at the museum revealed that the bananas in question were anyway replaced every two or three days.

As per the reports, Comedian, which is currently on display until July 16 at the museum, comes with a certificate of authenticity and detailed instructions for its display.
An official in the know-how added that it happened so suddenly, so no special action was taken. The artist was informed of the incident but he didn’t have any reaction to it, added the museum spokesperson.

Noh also added, "Damaging an artwork could also be seen as an artwork, I thought that would be interesting... Isn't it taped there to be eaten?”

Records also have it that this is actually the second time Cattelan’s work has been eaten. In 2019 too, an artist at an exhibition in Miami took the banana from the wall, declaring the installation to be ‘very delicious.’
Also reports suggest that the banana was swiftly replaced with no further action taken.