We live in a time where duct-taping a banana to the wall is an artwork worth more than your annual salary, and eating that very banana is considered performance art.

A very expensive banana?

A single banana duct-taped to a wall by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan was sold for US$120,000 (S$160,000) at Art Basel, an art gallery in Miami, Florida.

Yup, a banana that was bought at a local supermarket in Miami.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5uTxmnKame/

NBC News reported that some editions of the artwork, if you'll call it, sold for up to US$150,000 (S$204,000).

Performance artist eats the art, calls it 'delicious'

If that still doesn't sound absurd to you, the S$160,000 work of art was subsequently ripped off -- literally -- from the wall, and eaten by a visiting performance artist, David Datuna.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5yIFp2hyE-/

As he ripped off the banana, he clarified that it was an art performance, entitled "Hungry Artist".

"I love Maurizio Cattelan's artwork and I really love this installation," Datuna said on Instagram. "It’s very delicious."

However, gallery staffers didn't seem too pleased with Datuna at first, as he was confronted by a woman who asked for his name.

As he was being escorted away by the lady, he said to the audience, "See you after jail."

However, it was later clarified that the local police were not involved in the mini fiasco, as the gallery's spokesperson explained that the artwork comes with "instructions" that "the banana should be replaced as necessary".

Considering that bananas do rot if you leave them out for too long, perhaps the performance artist saved them the trouble of throwing out the fruit.

The spokesperson told the Miami Herald that Datuna's snacking would not affect the artwork's value as the banana was meant to be replaced as needed.

"He did not destroy the art work," he told the newspaper. "The banana is the idea."

Content that keeps Mothership.sg going

??
This is where you can find FREE Instagrammable rooms.

??
We compare the colleagues you can't stand to these animals.

✈️?️
Click here for an itinerary for first time solo travellers.

✋?
Have you ever felt like a boomer in your 20s?