
91-year-old woman fills out crossword – turns out to be $116k artwork in museum - e-sushi
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-15/elderly-woman-fills-out-crossword-artwork-in-german-museum/7632800
======
mynewtb
_" With his reading and training pieces, the artist wished to increase the
spectators' awareness of the systems, actions and rituals that we persist in
and carry out every day without reflecting on them," Ms Torp wrote._

Sounds like the old lady was the first one to actually be aware of the piece's
call to action. :-)

~~~
ghostDancer
In fact it could be considered a success for the artwork , it fulfilled its
purpose. And got the attention it looked for.

------
sevenless
At least she didn't encounter Marcel Duchamp's _Fountain_.

~~~
TuringTest
Marcel, _your in all_ our hearts.

------
moron4hire
Interactive art pieces like this are not uncommon. And there are way too many
artists out there to be able to keep track of their style of work. It was
clearly an honest mistake. They are pressing criminal charges "for insurance
reasons", but they could have not, "for decent human being reasons".

------
kiba
If a person can mistaken an artwork as not-art, is it really art?

~~~
throwaway049
Art can take the form of an interactive installation. Perhaps that's what she
thought was the case here.

~~~
Freak_NL
This strikes me as an interesting case of failing communication in museums and
art galleries. How is a visitor supposed to tell if something is supposed to
be interacted with or not? This is not much of a problem in any museum with
antique art — the common mantra being „touch nothing; at all” — but with
contemporary art the lines often get blurred. Some pieces do explicitly invite
viewers to interact in some way, but how is a visitor supposed to tell which
installation is interactive and which is merely using inviting descriptions?

~~~
TuringTest
IMO museum curators should embrace that blurriness rather than fight it; it
provides for interesting stories like the ones told in the article (I just
love the party aftermath being cleaned up as rubbish); and that kind of
_misshappenstances_ at museums has become a trope all by itself.

Science museums have certainly followed that route, and I think they're better
for it; becoming interactive makes for better learning. For those really
valuable objects that could be damaged by willing interaction, there should be
some kind of physical protection anyway.

~~~
Freak_NL
I'm not sure that the insurance companies would agree with that sentiment. :)

Certainly, in such museums focussed on interactivity and a child-friendly
experience, this is the (commendable) modus operandi, and it works
exceptionally well.

Contemporary artists and curators at modern art museums, however, seem to have
been pushing for less physical demarcation around their exhibits. Ground
covering installations are sometimes placed right in the path of visitors (who
are often caught up in their imagination admiring some other piece of art),
with no barrier or warning in place.

With art installations that actually are intended to be interactive, I never
feel comfortable interacting with them because of this air of ambiguity.
Doesn't help that this may have very well been the artist's intent in the
first place…

------
pluma
Being a German myself, I think there's a joke in there somewhere about Germans
and following orders.

~~~
cm3
If you think the people of Germany follow orders, then go to Tokio. You might
be surprised at how much stricter a population can follow rules. Even visiting
the neighbor Switzerland will reveal a more trust-based society where people
follow common rules and shun those that don't. Take their garbage disposal
system for instance. But you're right that the population of Germany is more
disciplined compared to many other societies.

~~~
pluma
It's more of a matter of reputation and historical precedent (Nuremberg
defense and all that) than an accurate representation of modern day
behaviours, really.

We're actually quite an unruly bunch compared to some other countries. It's
true we have absolute no sense of humour, however.

------
cronjobber
Painted Words...

"... late twentieth-century Modern Art was about to fulfill its destiny, which
was: to become nothing less than Literature pure and simple"

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Painted_Word](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Painted_Word)

~~~
TuringTest
Wow, that's an insightful bit.

I always try (and fail) to explain to my friends why Conceptual Art can at
times advance the state of artistic inquiry, even if the material product is
on itself quite unremarkable.

Labeling it as "literature" may shift the frame of reference, and make people
realize its value. I'll try that trick next time.

