Posted on 11/07/2011 2:45:53 PM PST by Red Badger
BERLIN - A modern art installation valued at euro800,000 ($1.1 million) was damaged after an overzealous cleaning woman scrubbed away a patina intended to look like a dried rain puddle, a Dortmund official said Friday.
Martin Kippenberger's "When it Starts Dripping from the Ceiling" remains in place at the city's Ostwall museum, despite the damage sustained earlier this month when a cleaner scrubbed away the painted puddle beneath a rubber trough placed under a stacked tower of wooden slats.
The work by Kippenberger, a German-born artist who died in 1997, was on loan to the museum from a private collector, who agreed that it should remain on display despite the incident, said Dortmund city spokeswoman Dagmar Papajewski. In the meantime, insurance adjusters are assessing the damage.
It has not yet been decided whether the patina would be restored, or if the artwork would be left in its newly "cleaned" condition, Papajewski said.
"It will be up to the collector to decide," Papajewski said. "We can't consult Kippenberger about it."
Papajewski said the company that employed the cleaning staff had instructed them to stay at least 20 centimeters (8 inches) away from the artwork and it was not clear why the patina had fallen victim to the woman's scrubbing brush.
"This company has been working with us since last October," Papajewski said.
Kippenberger's works have been displayed at New York's Museum of Modern Art and London's Tate Modern.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."
THAT is worth a million bucks???!!!
Who ARE these gullible idiots?
....and a pan to pick them in!......
It is owned by a private collector, not the government.
I don’t think the German government is THAT stupid......
The government owns it now ;)
I dunno ‘bout that.
The Cleaning Lady worked for a company that must have insurance.
Their Insurance company may have to pay..........
True, but the owner loaned it to the gov, so the gov “bought it” now there is a good chance what you say it true but the gov is ultimately responsible to the owner. I wonder if the cleaning lady is still working there? Curious if she could be sued.
Very true.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.