Rs 52.34 crore for a banana: Viral duct-taped fruit finds new owner who plans to eat it

The winning bid came from cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun, who emerged victorious aft a five-minute bidding warfare involving 7 collectors. Along with the close to show the fruit, Sun receives a certificate of authenticity and installation instructions for replacing the banana erstwhile it inevitably rots.

In a connection pursuing his purchase, Sun explained that the portion “represents a taste improvement that bridges the worlds of art, memes and the cryptocurrency community.” In an unexpected twist, the caller proprietor has announced his intentions to “personally devour the banana arsenic portion of this unsocial creator experience, honouring its spot successful some creation past and fashionable culture.”

A antheral poses for a photograph adjacent to a banana attached with duct-tape that replaces the artwork ‘Comedian’ by the creator Maurizio Cattelan, which was eaten by David Datuna, successful Miami Beach, Florida, December 7, 2019. (Source: REUTERS/Eva Marie Uzcategui/File Photo)

The artwork’s specifications are precise: a yellowish banana indispensable beryllium duct-taped to a achromatic partition precisely 160 centimetres (63 inches) supra the ground. Since its debut, the portion has had a colourful past of being consumed by assorted individuals. Performance creator David Datuna made headlines by eating the banana during its Art Basel display, and successful 2023, assemblage pupil Noh Huyn-soo repeated the act portion the enactment was exhibited astatine Seoul’s Leeum Museum of Art. He past taped the peel to the wall, according to a BBC report. 

Cattelan, often described arsenic a provocateur successful the creation world, has defended the piece’s superior intentions. In a 2021 interrogation with the Art Newspaper, helium insisted the enactment is “not a joke” but alternatively a “sincere commentary and a reflection connected what we value.”

The auction itself was a lively affair, with bidding starting astatine $800,000 and rapidly escalating to millions wrong minutes. The auctioneer, Oliver Barker, kept the temper light, reportedly joking, “Don’t fto it gaffe away.”

According to a study by Smithsonian Magazine, the merchantability marks different milestone for ‘Comedian,’ which has already seen 3 versions merchantability for betwixt $120,000 and $150,000 each during its archetypal showing astatine Art Basel. One of these versions was subsequently donated anonymously to New York City’s Guggenheim Museum.