A Janitor Mistaken a Museum Exhibit for Trash and Threw It in the Trash (3 photos)
A cleaner is a simple man. He sees trash and throws it in the trash.
In the Netherlands, a technician at the Lisser Art Museum (LAM) threw out an art object, mistaking it for trash. It should be noted that the LAM employees themselves are to blame. As they write on the museum's website, the art object by French artist Alexandre Lave is two crumpled aluminum beer cans, which were placed in a glass elevator shaft to imitate the fact that workers left them during construction work. The imitation, it must be said, turned out excellent, unlike the cultural value.
The work by Alexandre Lave is called “All the good times we spent together.” It was created in 1988, and the artist spent dozens of hours painting the cans to make them look as real as possible. According to the artist, the art object symbolizes precious moments spent with friends.
“For the artist, the cans symbolize cherished memories shared with close friends. Although evenings spent enjoying drinks may seem trivial in the grand scheme of things, they ultimately embody precious moments of connection,” the museum’s website says.
As noted by the museum, after the disappearance, employees rushed to look for the beer cans and found them in one of the trash bags. The museum management has no complaints about the cleaner. For them, the cleaner's actions symbolize the "effectiveness" of the artist's art.
"He was simply doing his job conscientiously. In a sense, this is evidence of the effectiveness of Alexander Lave's art," said Sietske van Zanten, director of the museum.
LAM Building