(Observer Network News) A piece of sour cucumber in a McDonald's burger can sell for more than 40,000 yuan? This absurd-sounding thing actually happened in an art museum in New Zealand.
According to the British "Guardian" reported on July 27 local time, Australian artist Matthew Griffin recently exhibited a special work in the Michael Lett Gallery in Auckland, New Zealand - a piece of sour cucumber in a McDonald's cheeseburger was thrown to the ceiling. The work is called "Pickle" and is priced at NZ$10,000 (about 42,400 yuan).
Screenshot of the report
According to the report, the artwork called "Sour Cucumber" was a piece of sour cucumber from a McDonald's cheeseburger and thrown on the ceiling of the art museum. The work will be on display until 30 July, during which time if a buyer buys the artwork, he will receive instructions on how to restore the work in his home, and he will have to pay for a McDonald's cheeseburger for an additional NZ$4.44.
The bizarre work of art has sparked mixed reviews on social media, with those who like it calling it "brilliant and superb" and those who don't like it calling it "stupid."
Someone commented: "I was kicked out of McDonald's by the police when I was a teenager for doing this, and now it's art?" ”
Another social media user also said: "Oh, so you're doing it 'art' and I'm going to be kicked out of the restaurant." ”
People who like this work do not hesitate to praise: "In this matter, I am on the side of geniuses. A work of genius! ”
Someone else said, "I hate sour cucumbers, but I like this." ”
Ryan Moore, artistic director representing Griffin, responded to the controversy surrounding the work: "If people don't want to, they don't have to think it's art. Anything can be a work of art, but not everything is. ”
"In general, artists are not the ones who decide whether something is art or not, they are the ones who create and make things. Whether something as a work of art is valuable and meaningful depends on the way we, as a society collectively choose to use it or talk about it. ”
In his view, Moore said, the "sour cucumber" artwork is not only "humorous", but also follows the tradition of contemporary art, questioning "the way value and meaning are generated between people".
Michael Wright Gallery, which exhibited the work, said the work showed a "deliberately provocative gesture" aimed at questioning what was really valuable. Gallery director Andrew Thomas said people seeIng Griffin's "sour cucumber" would "think broadly about the various meanings it contains."
"I saw a lot of smiles, followed by some interesting and engaging conversations." Thomas said.
Ryan Moore said in an interview: "It has nothing to do with the artist's mastery of standing in the gallery and throwing it into the ceiling — it doesn't matter how it gets thrown there, as long as someone takes it out of the hamburger and bounces it up on the ceiling."
"This gesture is so pure, so happy... That's why it's so beautiful. ”
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