Maurizio Cattelan’s artwork, a banana taped to a wall, has become famous across the world, but for one art student visiting a museum in South Korea, it was just a snack.
The student, Noh Huyn-so from Seoul National University, removed the banana from the wall, ate it, and then taped the peel to the wall of the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul. The banana artwork, called ‘Comedian’, was part of Cattelan’s exhibition ‘WE’ at the museum.
The incident was recorded by Noh’s friend and uploaded online. In the video, Noh can be seen taking the banana off the wall and eating it while the room goes quiet. After he was caught by museum security, Noh explained that he was hungry because he missed breakfast.
The museum replaced the banana with a new one every two or three days, and no charges were pressed against the student.
In an interview with local media, Noh said that Cattelan’s work represents rebellion against authority, and he believed that damaging the artwork could also be seen as an artwork. When informed of the incident, Cattelan responded that he had no problem with it.
This is not the first time that the bananas used for Cattelan’s artwork have been eaten by a visitor. In 2019, performance artist David Datuna removed the banana from the wall after the artwork was sold for $120,000 at Art Basel in Miami. The banana was replaced, and no further action was taken.
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