14 DAY TRIAL // A female professional cleaner from Italy has accidentally thrown away valuable pieces of art thinking they were just rubbish.
The contemporary artworks were made out of newspaper, cardboard and even biscuit crumbs scattered on the floor and they were supposed to be part of an exhibition that opened on Wednesday in Bari.
Lorenzo Roca, head of the cleaning firm Chiarissima, said the woman “was just doing her job” when she discarded two artworks that were part of the exhibition set up by the Sala Murat gallery. The woman thought the pieces of art were trash left behind by the staff that organized the exhibition, called Mediating Landscape.
The artistic arrangement that involved pieces of biscuits spread on the floor was meant to illustrate aspects of the environment.
The value of the artistic designs that ended up in the bin has been estimated to be around €10,000 ($13,700). Roca added that his firm's insurance would cover the loss.
Security guards at the gallery noticed some pieces were missing when the exhibition opened on Wednesday morning.
“We are obviously very sorry for what happened,” said city marketing commissioner Antonio Maria Vasile, cited by the Mirror.
“It's clear the cleaning person did not realize she had thrown away two works and their value. But this is all about the artists who have been able to better interpret the meaning of contemporary art, which is to interact with the environment,” he added.
This is not the first time when art is mistakenly tossed out. In 2001, a work created by Damien Hirst has been rescued from a bin in London after cleaners threw it away thinking it was rubbish. In that case, the artwork exhibited at Eyestorm Gallery was made up of empty bottles, cigarette boxes, full ashtrays and paint tins.
And in 2004 a contemporary work of art by German artist Gustav Metzger was also thrown away while on display at Tate Britain.