Expensive Modern Art Gets Mistaken For Trash And Tossed By Museum Cleaning Personnel

[Initech]

A cleaner has mistakenly thrown away contemporary artworks meant to be part of an exhibition in southern Italy.

Works made out of newspaper and cardboard, and cookie pieces scattered across the floor as part of Sala Murat's display were thrown out.

Lorenzo Roca, from cleaning firm Chiarissima, said the unnamed cleaner was "just doing her job".

He added his firm's insurance would cover the value of the art, estimated to be around 10,000 euros (£8,200).

According to local press, security noticed a number of items were missing when the venue, in the province of Bari, opened on Wednesday morning.

It later emerged the cleaner had handed them over to refuse collectors, thinking it was rubbish left behind by workers who set up the Mediating Landscape exhibition.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26270260

[William Seger]

1. Well, it DOES take a trained eye to tell the difference (n/t)

[Curmudgeoness]

2. Well, the cleaner was probably right. nt

[MADem]

4. +1,000 - the cleaner should be hired as an art critic; sounds like a good eye to me. nt

[Warren DeMontague]

3. That's deep.

[mainer]

5. Haha, this happened at a local gallery here

The "art" on display was basically a trash can with pieces of crumpled papers arranged around it. I think it was meant to symbolize our throwaway society. The evening after it was installed, the cleaning guy came in and tossed it away.