Student eats a work of art

South Korean art student Noh Huyn-soo went into the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul with
his friend. He saw a work of art with a banana by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. The
banana was stuck to the wall. Noh Huyn-soo removed the
banana, which was duct-taped to the wall, unpeeled it and ate
it. Then he re-attached the banana skin to the wall using the
same tape and he walked off with a satisfied smile. All the
onlookers were shocked. The art work was worth a lot of
money. When the museum asked Noh why he ate the banana, he
replied that he was hungry because he did not eat any
breakfast. The student’s friend filmed this and posted it to
the Korea Herald newspaper. It made the front page. Noh later
told a TV station that he thought “damaging a work of modern art could also be [interpreted
as] artwork”. He said that to re-attach the empty banana peel was a great joke. Cattelan, a
sculptor and performance artist based in New York, was informed about the incident and he
replied: “No problem.” I guess it won’t be too much of a problem for him to replace the work
of art. Bananas are very cheap in South Korea.

1. Who is Noh Huyn-soo?

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2. Where did he go?
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3. Who did he go with?
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4. Where was the work of art?
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5. What was the work of art?
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6. What did Noh do with the work of art?
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7. Why was he hungry?
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8. What did Noh’s friend do?
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9. How did the people in the gallery react?
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10. What did Noh think was a great joke?
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11. What nationality is the artist?
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12. Where does the artist live now?
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13. How did the artist react to the news?
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>Do you think Noh pre-planned this or was he just really hungry? Do you like the work of art?
iSLCollective.com
KEY

1. He is a South Korean art student.

2. He went to the Leeum museum of art.
3. He went with his friend.
4. It was on the wall.
5. It was a banana stuck to a wall with duct tape.
6. He ate it.
7. He had not had/he did not have breakfast.
8. He filmed the incident and sent it to a newspaper.
9. They were shocked.
10. To stick the empty banana skin back up.
11. He is Italian.
12. He lives in New York.
13. He wasn’t bothered/He said it was no problem.

I think he planned it in advance. I think the ‘work of art’ is a joke. It’s ridiculous!

iSLCollective.com