‘Hungry’ South Korean student eats $120k banana artwork

A South Korean art student, identified as Noh Huyn-soo, has explained why he ate a banana valued at $120,000 (£96,000) at the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul.

The banana formed part of a renowned installation by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan.

Noh was filmed removing the banana, which was duct-taped on to a wall, peeling it and eating it, before reattaching the banana skin to the wall using the same tape.

When the museum asked Noh why he ate the banana, he replied that he was hungry after skipping breakfast, according to the Korea Herald.

He later told the broadcaster KBS that he thought “damaging a work of modern art could also be [interpreted as] artwork” and that he came up with the idea to reattach the peel as “a joke”.

He added: “I thought it would be interesting … isn’t it taped there to be eaten?”\n\nThe banana, part of Cattelan’s Comedian installation, gets replaced every two or three days.