Danish artist who submitted empty frames as artwork told to repay funding

A Danish artist who pocketed large sums of money lent to him by a museum – and submitted empty frames as his artwork – has been ordered by a court to repay the funds. Jens Haaning, a conceptual artist, was commissioned in 2021 by the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg, northern Denmark, to recreate two earlier works. Haaning’s 2007 work, An Average Danish Annual Income, displayed krone notes fixed to canvas in a frame, and a second 2011 work about Austrian incomes used euro bills. The museum provided about 532,000 krone (£61,500) to recreate artworks as well as an artist’s fee of about 40,000 krone. But when staff unpacked the newly delivered works, they found two empty frames with the title Take the Money and Run.

tips

lend 借款

commission 委托（commit）

euro bill 欧元钞票

krone note 克朗纸币