“Student Eats Banana from Famous Art Installation at Samsung Art Museum in Seoul”

On April 28 in Seoul, South Korea, a student ate the banana that was part of “Comedian”, the famous art installation by Maurizio Cattelan, which is currently on display at the Leeum, the Samsung Art Museum at the inside an exhibition dedicated to the Italian artist. “Comedian”, exhibited for the first time in 2019, is made of a banana, a wall and a piece of gray tape. The Korean student’s name is Noh Huyn-soo and was filmed by a friend and other people at the museum as he ate the banana; he explained his gesture by saying that he was hungry having skipped breakfast. After eating the fruit he reattached the peel to the wall using duct tape. Museum staff later replenished the installation with a new banana. It is not the first time that a person who visits the installation has eaten a banana: the artist David Datuna had already done so.

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“Comedian” is considered by some critics a not too successful provocation on the art world, by others a work in full line with Cattelan’s reflections on the concept of suspension, and the most effective techniques for transmitting it. Noh then told Korean media that for him Cattelan’s work represents rebellion and his gesture can be seen as a rebellion against the rebellion. Cattelan commented on this by saying that it’s not a problem at all for someone to eat the banana.

– Read also: Why Cattelan’s banana is art, explained by a New York Times critic