In Holland, artwork in a can ends up in the rubbish bin

A Dutch museum has recovered a work of art resembling two empty beer cans from its waste bin after a museum worker accidentally threw it into the waste bin thinking it was rubbish.
The work, entitled All The Good Times We Spent Together (All the good times spent together) by French artist Alexandre Lavet, at first glance appears to be made up of two abandoned and dented beer cans.

However, a closer look shows that they actually are meticulously hand painted with acrylics and “took a lot of time and effort to create,” according to the museum.

Froukje Budding, spokeswoman for the LAM museum in Lisse, in the western Netherlands, told AFP that the artworks are often left in unusual places, hence the elevator display. “We always try to surprise the visitor,” he said.

Curator Elisah van den Bergh returned from a short break and noticed that the cans were missing and retrieved them from a garbage bag just as they were about to be thrown away.

“We have now placed the work in a more traditional place, on a plinth, so that it can rest after its adventure,” Budding said. He stressed that there was “no hard feelings” towards the mechanic, who had just started working at the museum. “He was just doing his job,” he said.

“By exhibiting artworks in unexpected places, we amplify this experience and keep visitors on their toes,” said Sietske van Zanten, director of the Lam museum.

Taking this into account, the cans are unlikely to remain on their traditional plinth for long,” Budding said. “We have to think carefully about a careful place to put them next,” he said.

The incident is the latest in a long line of unfortunate incidents involving works of art in galleries and museums. In 2023 a man who said he was hungry ate a banana that had been taped to the wall as part of an installation by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan in a gallery in Seoul.

In 2011, an overzealous cleaner in Germany ruined a work of modern art worth £690,000 after mistaking it for an iron fist to clean.

The sculpture by German artist Martin Kippenberger, considered one of the most talented artists of his generation until his death in 1997, had been on loan to the Ostwall Museum in Dortmund when it fell victim to the cleaner’s sponge.