Bloomberg News
@Bloomberg-News·2.8M subscribers·40.1K videos
Why Did Art Basel Artist David Datuna Eat a $120,000 Duct-Taped Banana?
Posted
December 9, 2019
Views
2,947
Likes
11
Comments
4
Engagement
December 9, 2019
2,947
11
4
0.51%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
1:31Now Playing"I was hungry and I just ate it." David Datuna, the artist who ate the $150,000 banana duct-taped to the wall at Art Basel, said the banana tasted like "a regular banana."
An infamous $150,000 banana duct-taped to a wall has disappeared again -- this time because it was becoming an unsafe distraction.
“We sincerely apologize to all the visitors of the fair who today will not be able to participate in Comedian,” Galerie Perrotin, where the work was being showcased, said in a statement Sunday, the last day of the exhibition.
The Comedian is the name of the work by the Italian artist provocateur Maurizio Cattelan, composed of a ripe-ish banana, duct tape and a 14-page manual for its installation and upkeep.
If art is a living thing, then the piece evolved Saturday when another artist provocateur named David Datuna unpeeled tape and skin and ate the banana.
“Art performance,” he said. He was a “hungry artist,” adding that it was “delicious.”
Initial price: $120,000, bid up to $150,000. Two bananas went to museums.
In its statement, Art Basel thanked the security guards who helped control the lines to see the banana -- or the concept of transience of oblong yellow fruit or something. Enough was enough.
“The installation caused several uncontrollable crowd movements and the placement of the work on our booth compromised the safety of the artwork around us, including that of our neighbors,” the statement said.
“Comedian, with its simple composition, ultimately offered a complex reflection of ourselves,” it said.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
QUICKTAKE ON SOCIAL:
Follow QuickTake on Twitter: twitter.com/quicktake
Like QuickTake on Facebook: facebook.com/quicktake
Follow QuickTake on Instagram: instagram.com/quicktake
Subscribe to our newsletter
Email us at quicktakenews@gmail.com
QuickTake by Bloomberg is a global news network delivering up-to-the-minute analysis on the biggest news, trends and ideas for a new generation of leaders.
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
