Скачать или смотреть Take the Money and Run (2021) by Jen Hanning

Danish artist Jens Haaning may have taken the Kunsten Museum’s money, but he didn’t get away with keeping it. In 2023, a court ordered him to return approximately $70,000 to the museum in Aalborg.

The museum had originally commissioned Haaning to recreate two of his earlier works, “An Average Danish Annual Income” (2010) and “An Average Austrian Income” (2007), with updated figures reflecting 2020 data. Both pieces consist of real banknotes affixed to canvases, visually representing the average incomes in their respective countries.

The funds transferred to Haaning were intended to be used in the creation of these artworks, not to be pocketed by the artist. The updated works were to be part of an exhibition titled “Work It Out”, which explored society’s relationship with labor and employment.

Instead, Haaning delivered two blank canvases and titled the new piece “Take the Money and Run”. He claimed this act was itself the artwork, a statement on the exploitation he says artists often face.

“I encourage other people who have just as miserable working conditions as me to do the same,” Haaning said. “If they’re stuck in some shitty job, not getting paid and are actually expected to pay to go to work, they should take the money and run.”