Danish artist sentenced for stealing tickets he was supposed to exhibit

He was to exhibit the equivalent of more than 70,000 euros of bank notes stuck on a canvas but ultimately presented empty frames and kept the tidy sum: a court on Monday ordered a Danish artist to repay the majority of the amount. “The Court decided that B (the artist) had to pay A (the museum) 492,549 crowns (66,000 euros), the sum due, less the artist's fee and the compensation linked to the hanging”, a indicated in a press release the Copenhagen court.

In 2021, the Kunsten Museum in Aalborg, western Denmark, agreed to lend a large sum of cash to Jens Haaning so that he could reconstruct one of his old works representing a year's salary in Denmark and in Austria, in Danish denominations and euros. When the boxes were opened, the employees noticed that the frames were empty, the works being renamed “Take the money and get out”.

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The director of the museum, Lasse Andersson, however, decided to present the two works as part of his exhibition on modern work. “They offer a humorous approach and make you think about the way in which we value work,” he explained, ensuring however that the museum would go to court if Jens Haaning, 58, did not return the money. For his work, Jens Haaning received 10,000 crowns (1,340 euros), plus an exhibition bonus. He was suing the state for violating his copyright. Questioned by TV2 Nord television, the artist estimated that the museum had obtained “much, much more” than the money it invested, in particular thanks to the media coverage of the affair.