Art Shaped as Beer Cans Are Mistaken for Trash by Museum Staff

Many artists have long found inspiration in contemporary, mundane objects. Much like Marcel Duchamp‘s upside-down urinal titled Fountain or Andy Warhol‘s Campbell’s Soup Cans paintings, the boundaries between art and item continue to be explored by artists. One of the latest to do so is Alexandre Lavet, whose realistic “beer cans” have been exhibited since 2016. Recently, these pieces were taken a bit too literally, and were accidentally thrown in the trash by a museum staff member.

The work, titled All the good times we spent together, was being exhibited at the LAM museum in the Netherlands. The piece looks like two empty and crushed beer cans that carelessly been left behind. However, upon closer inspection, they are actually tiny sculptures that have been meticulously hand-painted with acrylics.

“These paintings are a tribute to Brussels streets, artists’ studios, friends’ flats, parties, exhibition openings at galleries and artist-run spaces, and to this common and familiar object who brings people and friends together,” the artist’s website reads. “This packaging design coincides with the artist’s arrival in Brussels where he met new friends between 2013 and 2016. The can’s visual has been redesigned in 2017 and valuable friendships have been established from then on.”

Speaking to the museum’s vision of surprising their visitors, the beer cans had been placed in an elevator. However, a mechanic who works for the museum was surprised in a different way. Hoping to keep the place pristine, the staff member grabbed the beer cans and put them in the trash—almost getting rid of Lavet’s tribute to friendship and camaraderie for good.

Luckily, curator Elisah van den Bergh returned from a short break and noticed that the cans were no longer in their place. Concerned, she looked around, recovering them from a trash bag mere moments before they were about to be thrown out of the building.

As a result, the cans will now spend some time on a more traditional stand while they “rest” following their little adventure. However, museum authorities hope to find another playful placement for them.

“By displaying artworks in unexpected places, we amplify this experience and keep visitors on their toes,” says Sietske van Zanten, the museum’s director. “With this in mind, the cans are unlikely to stay on their traditional plinth for long, says Froukje Budding, a spokesperson for the museum. “We need to think hard about a careful place to put them next.”

As for the mechanic, the museum staff says there are no hard feelings against him. After all, as van Zanten says, “He was just doing his job.”