Last week (30 September), news of Danish artist Jens Haaning went viral when he purportedly ‘took the money and ran’.
Haaning has defended keeping the money, releasing the statement: ‘The artwork is essentially about the working conditions of artists,’ with the amount said to represent the annual salary in Denmark and Austria.
The same could be said for a string of actions, or interventions, that stretch back to the 1960s including Piero Manzoni’s cans of Artist’s Shit posing as the art object – one of which was recently purchased by Tate Modern.
Gina Fairley is ArtsHub's Senior Contributor, after 12 years in the role as National Visual Arts Editor. She has worked for extended periods in America and Southeast Asia, as gallerist, arts administrator and regional contributing editor for a number of magazines, including Hong Kong based Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. She is an Art Tour leader for the AGNSW Members, and lectures regularly on the state of the arts. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW.
Instagram: fairleygina
