Artist Raises Stink With Feces Theft
Published: 16.01.2013 11:39
A tempting target? Toomik's work at the Tartu Art Museum
( Photo: Postimees/Scanpix )
An artist has been fined 64 euros for stealing a jar of feces that belonged to an installation at the Tartu Art Museum.
The theft, which targeted a renowned and controversial work by Jaan Toomik, occurred in early September, but the museum caught a whiff of the results of the police case only last Friday, Postimees reported.
Toomik caused a stir two decades ago with "May 15 - June 1, 1992," which included a "menu" of what he ate along with each day's output for the period. He had recreated it for the museum's 1990s retrospective, "HUH? PHOOEY! ACK! OH! WOW! Classics of Estonian Contemporary Art," an exhibition that ran from early September to mid-November.
The culprit in the theft was named as Jass Kaselaan (31), another artist whose solo exhibition, "Aed" (Garden) was on display concurrently at another Tartu gallery.
When contacted by the newspaper, Kaselaan reportedly would not speak at length about his motives, but said that his objective was to raise discussion rather than to commit any crime.