Valuable banana artwork eaten by hungry student in South Korea

An art student in South Korea was feeling peckish and decided to eat a banana that was part of an artwork display.

The installation called "Comedian" by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, sees a ripe banana stuck to the wall a wall at Seoul's Leeum Museum of Art with grey duct tape and is part of a Cattelan's "WE" exhibition.

A viral clip shows student, Noh Huyn-soo, taking the banana off the wall while someone off-camera can be heard shouting "excuse me," though he ignores the cry of protest and proceeds to peel the banana and eat it.

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The room goes completely silent as the student tucks into the expensive snack - worth a jaw-dropping $120,000 (£96,000).

Though luckily for Noh Huyn-soo the museum decided against making a financial claim against his banana art-eating antics.

People post in front of Maurizio Cattelan's "Comedian" presented by Perrotin Gallery and on view at Art Basel Miami 2019 at Miami Beach Convention Center on December 6, 2019 in Miami Beach, FloridaPhoto by Cindy Ord/Getty Images

Afterward, he put the banana peel back on the wall and secured it with the duct tape, the artwork was later replaced by the museum with a new banana - something they usually do every few days.

Speaking to local media, Noh Huyn-soo made his feelings clear about the stunt he pulled.

"Damaging an artwork could also be seen as an artwork, I thought that would be interesting... Isn't it taped there to be eaten?" he said.

Cattelan doesn't seem fussed about his artwork being eaten either as he said "No problem at all" when informed about the incident.

It's not the first time someone has eaten artwork, back in 2019 performance artist David Datuna scoffed a banana when the piece was on display at Perrotin at Art Basel in Miami.

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