Case of the Reverse Art Theft

24 Oranges posted today about a case of reverse theft in three art museum in the Netherlands. The Groninger Museum in Groningen, Museum de Fundatie in Zwolle, and Maastricht’s very own Bonnefanten Museum.

According to the article, a group of young artists somehow entered (or stayed in) the museums after hours and left art pieces as a protest that young as well as old artists should be represented in these institutions. Apparently there is a online video of the groups approach at the Bonnefanten, but I haven’t located it yet.

My favorite is the large object seen on a monitor in Groninger Museum that disappeared when the staff tried to find it on the floor.

Security issues aside, this seems like interesting follow-up to last year’s “Exiles on Main St” exhibition of 9 American artists who (according to the museum’s press release) “care nothing for the rules of the market, much less the rules of art”.

I hope the Bonnefanten keeps the black and white photo they discovered. I want to see it.

(links: 24Oranges.nl, depers.nl)