Art or waste?
It’s the story of two cans of beer, apparently used, lying on the glass shaft of an elevator, in a museum in the Netherlands. A conscientious technician picks them up to throw them in the trash. A few moments later, the curator of the museum in question returned from her break and sounded the alarm: where did the work of art that bore the title go? All the good times we spent together ? A quick search in the trash bags fortunately allows us to get our hands on the cans which, on closer inspection, are hand-painted. “Long working hours,” assures the museum spokesperson. She also explains the decision to exhibit this work in an unusual place, to challenge the visitor and urge them to consider the objects of everyday life in a different light.
The event makes you smile as much as it raises questions. This pair of cans is far from being the first work of art to fall victim to such confusion because it looked like trash. Unlike abstract research, this type of art claims its realism to the point of blurring the boundary with the ordinary. So where does the value of an object that is neither beautiful nor useful come from? Perhaps because these cans are unique pieces, the result of a painting effort? But the artist’s goal was precisely to create a copy of any can. A goal perfectly achieved, as proven by the technician’s reaction. Here we are in the presence of a work of art which is no longer one, except through the discourse which designates it as such.
We can of course see in this adventure the sign of artistic research which is running out of steam. But we can also play the game of changing our outlook: what if, like these two used cans placed on a pedestal, each everyday object regained in our eyes its value as a unique element, densified by its history and all that? that we have lived thanks to him? An aestheticization that would perhaps make it possible to lighten our trash cans…