Museum volunteer in Taiwan cleaned a dirty mirror — only to learn it was the artwork
He noticed the thick layer of dust, and in the next minute, he was ready with a piece of toilet paper to 'clean' it.
The Keelung Museum of Art displayed a contemporary art exhibition last November. Everything was going smoothly until an innocent volunteer mistook a precious artwork for a dusty mirror. He noticed the thick layer of dust and thought cleaning it would enhance its beauty, but little did he know, his goodwill may force the Taiwan museum to pay a hefty compensation to artist Chen Sung-chih for destroying his artistic vision, according to Metro.co.uk.
The artwork titled 'Inverted Syntax-16,' created by Sung-chih, was basically a dusty mirror on a wooden board with a smudge in the middle. But here's the thing: both the dust and the smudge were intentional, as the artist used them to symbolize the cultural awareness among the middle class. The 40 years of accumulated dust was meant to show the distortion of self-image that struggling working classes have to go through almost without exception.
The museum volunteer, however, was oblivious to the profound meaning, so he did what he could — picked up a piece of toilet paper and wiped it down, almost accidentally 'ruining' the entire artwork before staff intervened. However, there was no way the art could be brought back to its original appearance. The matter escalated, and Keelung’s Culture and Tourism Bureau apologized to Sung-chih, the artist, but reportedly, they may have to pay hefty compensation for damaging his artwork. While lawyer Tsai Chia-hao explained that wiping off dust from an artwork may not be counted as 'concrete' property damage, nothing is confirmed.
Reportedly, the artwork by Sung-chih was on display as part of the museum's "We Are Me" exhibition, which includes numerous other works made from building materials and household objects. Interestingly, the artist revamps daily objects to explore themes like memory, ritual, and change through his artistic interventions. Now, when the dusty old mirrors and mesh fabrics are integrated with raw panels, they apparently symbolize disappearance and flux while reflecting on human endurance and change, the outlet confirmed.
This is not the first time an artwork has been destroyed accidentally. A town hall in Maashorst, Netherlands, confessed to throwing away a rare artwork by Andy Warhol, a popular artist known for turning ordinary objects, including trash, into art. The Guardian reported last April that the Maashorst town hall had unintentionally discarded 46 valuable pieces of art, including one by Warhol. "It’s most likely that the artworks were accidentally taken away with the rubbish," the Maashorst town hall confirmed.
The incident met with immense criticism. In fact, Hans van der Pas, the mayor, called out the town hall for their irresponsibility and said, "This is not how you treat valuable items. It is a serious matter when public property, especially art with cultural and historic value, is treated so carelessly… But it happened. We regret that."
Meanwhile, reacting to the blunder, Richard Vitale wrote, "And now that act is part of the artwork, symbolizing those who rise up to heal from distorted thoughts and who break boundaries to shake the dust off of tired habits that keep social classes down. There, I fixed it." Amanda Bold joked, "So, I'm an artist, but now I'm wondering, when my MIL comes over and I haven't dusted, can I tell her that my entry house is a symbolic representation of society's ailments? I don't think this is going to go well..." Ronda Huff-James commented, "Just let a toddler get their messy hands on it, and it will get real dirty again, and they can rename it."
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