Can a Beer Can Be Art?
And can you, just by thinking about it?
A Dutch museum installed an artwork in a lift. Comprising two slightly crushed beer cans on the floor, and entitled All The Good Times We Spent Together. (As reported here.)
A mechanic, employed to service the lift, saw the discarded cans, and quite responsibly chucked them in the nearest waste paper bin.
The gallery staff realised, retrieved the prized tinnies, and put them back in their place.
End of story?
I don’t think so.
I suspect that the lift mechanic was part of the whole installation. He was given the task of binning the cans, to trigger the whole story and the ensuing debate as to ‘is this really art?’.
The news item linked to above is also part of the artwork. As is this article about the article about the art.
As are the thoughts occurring in your head as you read and reflect on my reading of and reflection on the trashcanned trash cans.
Nothing is ever as simple as just two crushed cans on the floor.
But I think the artist (a Frenchman by the name of Alexandre Lavet — his nationality is relevant, as one can well imagine that after a lifetime drinking France’s pissy beer, he would feel that the best…