An avant-garde artwork containing a crossword has been filled in – is the result art too? And where else can you find a puzzle hanging in a gallery?
There is much cause to be anxious in today’s world – so much so that you’ve probably been uneasily wondering what happened to “Hannelore K”, the nonagenarian former dentist who recently visited a Nuremberg art gallery. In the gallery was Reading-work-piece by Arthur Köpcke, a £67,000 avant-garde collage that incorporates (a) a crossword and (b) the English-language instruction: “Insert words!”
She did insert words. Hannelore K filled in the crossword. The curators have filed a criminal complaint, though Hannelore K can relax: one theory is that the insurance on a museum’s collection remains valid only if future vandals know there’s threat of prosecution. It may all be a show.
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