May 15th, 2016: Art Riot

[Gravdigr]

I loved Jackie Gleason because of that movie.

[Carruthers]

Art installation in Italy ended up in the bin by cleaners who thought it was rubbish

The avant-garde art exhibition at a museum in Italy was thrown away by overzealous cleaners

An avant-garde art exhibition at a museum in Italy ended up being thrown in the bin after overzealous cleaners decided that it must be rubbish.

The installation, entitled “Where shall we go dancing tonight?”, was supposed to represent the hedonism and political corruption of the 1980s.

Created by Sara Goldschmied and Eleonora Chiari, artists from Milan, it consisted of cigarette butts, empty bottles, paper streamers, confetti and discarded shoes and clothing.

When cleaning staff turned up for work at the Museion museum in Bolzano in Italy’s German-speaking Sud Tyrol province, they assumed that the mess was left over from a party the night before.

They promptly started clearing up, throwing the objects into bin bags. They conscientiously divided the items into different recycling sacks for glass, plastic and paper.

“Of course we tell staff not to clean away art,” Letizia Ragaglia, the museum’s curator, told Alto Adige, a local newspaper.

“On Friday night there was an event at the museum. We told the staff just to clean up the foyer and to leave everything else alone."

“Evidently they thought that this area was part of the foyer.”

The mistake came to light before the items were thrown away or sent off for recycling. There are now plans to recreate the installation as it originally looked.

“We’ll put everything back as it was, using photos to help us,” Ms Ragaglia said.

The museum apologised to visitors for the missing installation but promised that it would soon return.

A very similar mix-up befell the British artist Damien Hirst at a London gallery in 2001.

A cleaner assumed that piles of overflowing ashtrays, beer bottles and coffee cups were the remnants of a wild party and threw them away.

"As soon as I clapped eyes on it I sighed because there was so much mess,” said Emmanuel Asare, the cleaner.

"I didn't think for a second that it was a work of art – it didn't look much like art to me. So I cleared it all into bin bags and dumped it."

Daily Telegraph

[glatt]

We told the staff just to clean up the foyer and to leave everything else alone.

85% of problems are caused by top management.

Idiots gave bad instructions.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Right, I wouldn't blame the cleaners one bit. As a matter of fact, they should be a bonus for dealing with that mess. I have a problem with labeling something as art which the average person would think is trash. What the fuck is the good of that crap if you have to explain it's not trash?

[Carruthers]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Right, I wouldn't blame the cleaners one bit. As a matter of fact, they should be a bonus for dealing with that mess.
I have a problem with labeling something as art which the average person would think is trash.
What the fuck is the good of that crap if you have to explain it's not trash?

'My Bed' by Tracey Emin.

My Bed was bought by Charles Saatchi for £150,000 and displayed as part of the first exhibition when the Saatchi Gallery opened its new premises at County Hall, London (which it has now vacated).
Saatchi also installed the bed in a dedicated room in his own home.

When it was announced, in May 2014, that the work was to be auctioned, David Maupin, Emin's dealer in New York, described the £800,000 – £1.2 million estimate as too low.
When auctioned by Christie's in July 2014, the piece was sold for a little over £2.5 million.

BTW £1 = $1.45. It's probably best not to do that conversion while sipping your afternoon coffee.