In an amusing repeat of history, an art student in South Korea ate a banana that was duct-taped to the wall as part of an art installation by artist Maurizio Cattelan.
The artwork called “Comedian” is part of Cattelan’s exhibition titled “WE” at the Leeum Museum of Art in South Korea’s capital Seoul.
In the amusing video that has surfaced, the student — Noh Huyn-soo — can be seen eating the banana with a cheeky smile. He does so without any hesitation nor does he seem concerned about any repercussion.
After finishing the banana, Noh casually taped the peel to the wall, even stopping momentarily to pose.
Local media reported that the museum later placed a new banana at the same spot also it would not be claiming damages against the student.
The banana in the installation is reportedly replaced every two or three days.
Noh, while speaking to local media outlet KBS, said: “There could be another rebellion against the rebellion.”
He said to him Cattelan’s work was a rebellion against a certain authority.
“Damaging an artwork could also be seen as an artwork, I thought that would be interesting… Isn’t it taped there to be eaten?” he asked.
When told about the incident, the artists response was as nonchalant as that of Noh’s while he ate the banana, and he simply said it was “no problem at all”.
But then again, Cattelan is not entirely new to having his display eaten.
In 2019, performance artist David Datuna shook up the crowd at the Art Basel show in Miami Beach when he grabbed a banana that had been duct-taped to a gallery wall and ate it.
That installation was sold to a French collector for $120,000.
In a video posted on his Instagram account, Datuna walked up to the banana and pulls it off the wall with the duct tape attached.
“Art performance … hungry artist,” he said, as he peeled the fruit and took a bite. “Thank you, very good.”
