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Someone Put Glasses On Museum Floor And Visitors Thought It Was Art
Someone Put Glasses On Museum Floor And Visitors Thought It Was Art
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Someone Put Glasses On Museum Floor And Visitors Thought It Was Art

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Some teens from San Francisco caused quite a spectacle (sorry) when they placed a pair of glasses on the floor of an art museum recently. Unsure what to make of it, bemused visitors did the only thing they could think of – they thought it was a piece of art and starting taking photographs of them.

The pranksters – Twitter users @TJCruda and @k_vinnn – decided to pull the stunt after being left unimpressed by the art on offer at San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art. And within minutes of placing the glasses on the floor, a crowd of onlookers had gathered to ponder the metaphysical meaning of this piece of modern “art”. One of the teens, 17-year-old T.J. Khayatan, documented the public’s response and later uploaded pictures of the hilarious experiment to Twitter. Needless to say, they soon went viral and have since been shared over 40,000 times.

It might not have been art, but the prank was still priceless.

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    This lazy panda forgot to write something about itself.

    What do you think ?
    Byron X.
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The Emperor's New Clothes

    Keira Way
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    So close I can taste it, I see what's mine and take it (finders keepers losers weepers)

    Load More Replies...
    ADVERTISEMENT
    sneakcollector
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    it simply shows that "art" is overrated...

    Sean Harrison
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    i think it just shows that art space is sacred space, and that people respond to whatever you throw at them in the space, positively or negatively. so that's kinda exciting if you're trying to get people to connect or think about something.

    Load More Replies...
    Tea Berries
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I wonder what the cards on the wall said... if they could've been interpreted as related to the glasses in some coincidental way or how did the cards get there... were they too placed by the students...

    orenji
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I was curious about that too. It could be the main reason people stopped to look since it looks more "official"...

    Load More Replies...
    Phillipe Knippel
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It was not just a pair of glasses on the floor. They added a paper with a description of the art, on the wall. So, yeah, for everybody there, it was a real art.

    Alina Purcell
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Now they just need to sell it for a million bucks:-)))

    Yugan Talovich
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I think it was Dilbert who had a cartoon where the gallery janitor forgot his mop and visitors thought it was art.

    Sarah Rebolledo
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Dear author of this article (James), Great spectacle pun. No need to apologise ;)

    Virginia Su
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Why is there a plaque on the wall showing information? Was the original art work missing or something? That would be the only reason why people think it is art, since there's supposedly information on it, which is what every art piece in a museum has.

    Amadea Ris
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Congratulations! you have made your first art performance XD So there's a glitch in your experiment, sorry to say.

    Jérémie Beltrame
    Community Member
    8 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    There are two pieces of paper on the walll.... Maybe that helped?

    Chrissy Costanza
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    people are beaming senseless best example to see in that pics

    Savdat02
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This is why modern art needs help

    Sarah Rebolledo
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Dear author (James), Great spectacle joke! No need to apologise! ;)

    Daria B
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The best part is that, although for joke, these teens have actually created a piece of art by conceptally putting those glasses there and move people's minds.

    Patrick Bertlein
    Community Member
    9 years ago

    This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

    That's exactly why the concept of art is so meaningless

    Load More Replies...
    Miklos Legrady
    Community Member
    3 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Art historian and critic Barbara Rose wrote “What was done in Duchamp’s name was responsible for some of the silliest, most inane, most vulgar non-art still being produced by ignorant and lazy artists whose thinking stops with the idea of putting a found object in a museum.

    Pierre-Eric Raby
    Community Member
    8 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Between this and the janitor who cleaned up a pile of trash which was ACTUALLY art, I feel like the word "art" is being abused a lot, when paired with "modern".

    Hannibal Crichton
    Community Member
    8 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Even if there was a placard, how dumb and sheepish are the stream of idiots who respond to such a thing?

    Jérémie Beltrame
    Community Member
    8 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    There are two pieces of paper on the wall, that helped no?

    King David
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    A lot of "art" is way, way overrated. However, I think if it wasn't for the writing on the wall, nobody would have thought the glasses were anything other than glasses. Leave it to the foreigners to think it was something special. And they call Americans stupid.

    paulyincorrect
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I would imagine a turd would have had a more profound effect.

    Victoria Anne Dupre
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Ha ha fool some of the people some of the time, but not all the people all of the time :) n nite sweet dreams God bless :)

    Josie TheHan
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Even though it's not supposed to be art. But it became art eventually

    Loraine Mac
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    We can all be so gullible and tend to give everything the 'benefit of the doubt' !

    Anita Wolf
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Well, in that context, it indeed was art. Yes, it's that simple! BUT... whether that's "good" art, touching, inspiring, telling more than one can see. And if so, does it have the ability to have that impact on more than one or two people???

    Maddy Fenning
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    That just proves how strange people can be

    Donna Lettier
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I too have been confused by some pieces I've across in museums of contemporary art (e.g., not knowing if an object/sculpture was an artwork or a public bench for me to sit on.) With respect to these eye glasses, I too noticed that more people were reading two notices placed on the wall, than looking at the glasses themselves. Any notice on the wall would have given people the distinct impression that the glasses were deliberately placed on the floor with a specific purpose in mind (no matter how serious or silly!) So this "experiment"...or this summary of it...is not as simple or pure as it seems.

    Goz Maculele
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    proof that you don't recognize the highest form of art even if the artist makes you a part of it (as you are now reading this)

    Goz Maculele
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    that was high art at its finest, most expressive and you all continue to miss it even though the gallery has left the museum and pursued you to your mobile screens

    Wayne Beesley
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    haha this so sums up alot of the utter tripe they serve up at modern art museums.....

    Suzy Osborne
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Submit this as your piece to get into the Whitney Biennial

    Duncan Wilkie
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    "Teens find their inner artist, at art exhibition" - perhaps there is hope!

    Jonathan Munshi
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Nah. Not an intact pair of glasses. Now, if someone had stepped on it and crushed it, that would be something.

    Michelle quehl
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Art is subjective... the subject people who think they are sophisticated are really stupid

    tsjah
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    now do it w/ a can of soup ;0)

    Nina Deng
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    You could make a pooooo there

    caitlin8356
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Find it on this: http://www.readtheory.org/reading/welcomeReader#

    Susanna Vesna
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Hilarious indeed! Proves that any s****y idea from anyone can be considered art these days! Poop on the floor of a "modern arts" museum and people will take selfies with it!

    Nina Deng
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    You could make a pooooo there

    David Murcott
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Technically it means that modern art has become conceptual, not that it inherantly sucks.

    Byron X.
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The Emperor's New Clothes

    Keira Way
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    So close I can taste it, I see what's mine and take it (finders keepers losers weepers)

    Load More Replies...
    ADVERTISEMENT
    sneakcollector
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    it simply shows that "art" is overrated...

    Sean Harrison
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    i think it just shows that art space is sacred space, and that people respond to whatever you throw at them in the space, positively or negatively. so that's kinda exciting if you're trying to get people to connect or think about something.

    Load More Replies...
    Tea Berries
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I wonder what the cards on the wall said... if they could've been interpreted as related to the glasses in some coincidental way or how did the cards get there... were they too placed by the students...

    orenji
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I was curious about that too. It could be the main reason people stopped to look since it looks more "official"...

    Load More Replies...
    Phillipe Knippel
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It was not just a pair of glasses on the floor. They added a paper with a description of the art, on the wall. So, yeah, for everybody there, it was a real art.

    Alina Purcell
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Now they just need to sell it for a million bucks:-)))

    Yugan Talovich
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I think it was Dilbert who had a cartoon where the gallery janitor forgot his mop and visitors thought it was art.

    Sarah Rebolledo
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Dear author of this article (James), Great spectacle pun. No need to apologise ;)

    Virginia Su
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Why is there a plaque on the wall showing information? Was the original art work missing or something? That would be the only reason why people think it is art, since there's supposedly information on it, which is what every art piece in a museum has.

    Amadea Ris
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Congratulations! you have made your first art performance XD So there's a glitch in your experiment, sorry to say.

    Jérémie Beltrame
    Community Member
    8 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    There are two pieces of paper on the walll.... Maybe that helped?

    Chrissy Costanza
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    people are beaming senseless best example to see in that pics

    Savdat02
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This is why modern art needs help

    Sarah Rebolledo
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Dear author (James), Great spectacle joke! No need to apologise! ;)

    Daria B
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The best part is that, although for joke, these teens have actually created a piece of art by conceptally putting those glasses there and move people's minds.

    Patrick Bertlein
    Community Member
    9 years ago

    This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

    That's exactly why the concept of art is so meaningless

    Load More Replies...
    Miklos Legrady
    Community Member
    3 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Art historian and critic Barbara Rose wrote “What was done in Duchamp’s name was responsible for some of the silliest, most inane, most vulgar non-art still being produced by ignorant and lazy artists whose thinking stops with the idea of putting a found object in a museum.

    Pierre-Eric Raby
    Community Member
    8 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Between this and the janitor who cleaned up a pile of trash which was ACTUALLY art, I feel like the word "art" is being abused a lot, when paired with "modern".

    Hannibal Crichton
    Community Member
    8 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Even if there was a placard, how dumb and sheepish are the stream of idiots who respond to such a thing?

    Jérémie Beltrame
    Community Member
    8 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    There are two pieces of paper on the wall, that helped no?

    King David
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    A lot of "art" is way, way overrated. However, I think if it wasn't for the writing on the wall, nobody would have thought the glasses were anything other than glasses. Leave it to the foreigners to think it was something special. And they call Americans stupid.

    paulyincorrect
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I would imagine a turd would have had a more profound effect.

    Victoria Anne Dupre
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Ha ha fool some of the people some of the time, but not all the people all of the time :) n nite sweet dreams God bless :)

    Josie TheHan
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Even though it's not supposed to be art. But it became art eventually

    Loraine Mac
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    We can all be so gullible and tend to give everything the 'benefit of the doubt' !

    Anita Wolf
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Well, in that context, it indeed was art. Yes, it's that simple! BUT... whether that's "good" art, touching, inspiring, telling more than one can see. And if so, does it have the ability to have that impact on more than one or two people???

    Maddy Fenning
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    That just proves how strange people can be

    Donna Lettier
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I too have been confused by some pieces I've across in museums of contemporary art (e.g., not knowing if an object/sculpture was an artwork or a public bench for me to sit on.) With respect to these eye glasses, I too noticed that more people were reading two notices placed on the wall, than looking at the glasses themselves. Any notice on the wall would have given people the distinct impression that the glasses were deliberately placed on the floor with a specific purpose in mind (no matter how serious or silly!) So this "experiment"...or this summary of it...is not as simple or pure as it seems.

    Goz Maculele
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    proof that you don't recognize the highest form of art even if the artist makes you a part of it (as you are now reading this)

    Goz Maculele
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    that was high art at its finest, most expressive and you all continue to miss it even though the gallery has left the museum and pursued you to your mobile screens

    Wayne Beesley
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    haha this so sums up alot of the utter tripe they serve up at modern art museums.....

    Suzy Osborne
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Submit this as your piece to get into the Whitney Biennial

    Duncan Wilkie
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    "Teens find their inner artist, at art exhibition" - perhaps there is hope!

    Jonathan Munshi
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Nah. Not an intact pair of glasses. Now, if someone had stepped on it and crushed it, that would be something.

    Michelle quehl
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Art is subjective... the subject people who think they are sophisticated are really stupid

    tsjah
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    now do it w/ a can of soup ;0)

    Nina Deng
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    You could make a pooooo there

    caitlin8356
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Find it on this: http://www.readtheory.org/reading/welcomeReader#

    Susanna Vesna
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Hilarious indeed! Proves that any s****y idea from anyone can be considered art these days! Poop on the floor of a "modern arts" museum and people will take selfies with it!

    Nina Deng
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    You could make a pooooo there

    David Murcott
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Technically it means that modern art has become conceptual, not that it inherantly sucks.

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