Hungry Student Eats $120k Banana Artwork

A South Korean art student who ate a banana artwork that formed part of a renowned installation by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan said he did so because he was “hungry”.

Noh Huyn-soo was filmed brazenly removing the banana, which was duct-taped on to a wall at the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, peeling it and eating it in front of stunned onlookers before reattaching the banana skin to the wall using the same tape and walking off with a satisfied grin.

The incident was recorded by a friend of Noh, a student at Seoul National University, and lasted for over a minute.

When the museum asked Noh why he ate the banana, he replied that he was hungry after skipping breakfast, according to the Korea Herald. He later told the broadcaster KBS that he thought “damaging a work of modern art could also be [interpreted as] artwork” and that he came up with the idea to reattach the peel as “a joke”.

He added: “I thought it would be interesting … isn’t it taped there to be eaten?” The banana, part of Cattelan’s Comedian installation, gets replaced every two or three days.

Cattelan, a sculptor and performance artist based in New York, was reportedly informed about the incident and simply replied: “No problem.”

It is not the first time a banana from the work has been scoffed. During the work’s debut exhibit at Miami Art Basel in 2019 a banana was removed and eaten by the performance artist David Datuna.

Send Us A Press Statement Advertise With Us Contact Us

 And For More Nigerian News Visit GWG.NG