Hungry museum visitor eats valuable banana artwork after skipping breakfast

01 May 2023 , 14:14

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Noh Huyn-soo took the banana from the wall and ate it (Image: shwan.han/Instagram)

A banana that was part of an art installation at a museum was eaten by a student who said he was "hungry" after skipping breakfast.

The artwork, called "Comedian", was part of Italian visual artist Maurizio Cattelan's exhibition "We" at the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea.

It was created in an edition of three in 2019 and appeared as a fresh banana affixed to a wall with duct tape.

On Thursday, at around 1pm local time, an art student from Seoul National University removed the fruit from the wall where it was displayed and then ate it.

The artwork was later replaced with a new banana (shwan.han/Instagram)

According to local media, the museum later placed a new banana in the same spot.

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The incident was captured on video by a friend of Noh Huyn-soo, who can be seen taking the banana from the wall, eating it in front of the art installation and only leaving the tape there.

In the clip, he turns around a few times, looking at other museum visitors, before taping the banana peel to the wall and cheekily smiling at the camera.

The student only left the banana peel on the wall (shwan.han/Instagram)

A museum spokesperson said the student had eaten the banana "because he was hungry", and added that no action was taken against him.

Their statement added: "It happened suddenly, so no special action was taken. The artist (Cattelan) was informed of the incident but he didn't have any reaction to it."

The latest incident, which lasted just over a minute, was not the first time bananas used for Mr Cattelan's work have been eaten by a visitor.

Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan's piece 'Comedian' shown during Art Basel in Miami, Florida, in December 2019 (RHONA WISE/EPA-EFE/REX)

In 2019, performance artist David Datuna pulled the banana from the wall after the artwork was sold for $120,000 (£96,000) at Art Basel in Miami.

He was seen eating the banana as stunned onlookers watched, later posting the stunt on Instagram with the caption: "I really love this installation. It's very delicious."

Following criticism, Mr Datuna called his actions an act performance and said it was not vandalism.

Chiara Fiorillo