Overview
- Museum staff say a security guard discovered the duct-taped banana from Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian missing on Saturday, May 30, and reported the disappearance to authorities.
- The Centre Pompidou-Metz lodged a criminal complaint against persons unknown and replaced the fruit, saying the work was restored quickly with no irreversible damage observed under its protocol.
- The museum emphasized that Comedian’s value rests in its certificate of authenticity and the presentation rules rather than the perishable banana, and it condemned the act as disrespectful to works on display.
- Similar episodes have occurred before, including a 2019 Art Basel eating, a 2023 incident in Seoul, and a 2024 on-camera purchase-and-eating, making the piece a recurring target and public spectacle.
- Comedian remains on view in the exhibition through 25 January 2027, and the museum’s legal step could prompt stricter security or changes to how perishable conceptual works are shown while visitors lose part of the intended experience when elements go missing.