Hong Kong
Crypto millionaire eats a banana bought at an auction for 5.9 million euros
The work “Comedian” by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan is a banana stuck to the wall with tape. Now he has eaten the expensive fruit in front of an audience.
Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun, who bought a banana attached to a wall with adhesive tape for about 5.9 million euros, ate the fruit – as advertised. “It’s much better than other bananas,” Sun said on Friday after taking the first bite, eating the fruit in front of dozens of journalists and influencers at one of hong Kong’s most expensive hotels.
He previously praised the artwork he bought as “iconic” in a speech and drew a parallel between conceptual art and cryptocurrencies. The work “Comedian” by the Italian Maurizio Cattelan was auctioned last week at Sotheby’s auction house in New York for 6.2 million dollars.Sun was one of seven bidders – and won.
Justin Sun ate a banana for $6.2 million
Justin Sun, the founder of the TRON blockchain project, ate a banana he had previously bought for $6.2 million. As Sun wrote about it in his X:
“This is not just a piece of art: it represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges … pic.twitter.com/fpHDQYBPog— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) November 29, 2024
A banana cost 35 cents to fruit dealers in New York
According to the New York Times, the banana now eaten was bought for 35 cents from a fruit merchant on New York’s Upper East Side
The work sparked controversy at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019 and raised questions about whether it might very well be considered art – which is exactly what the artist said he was trying to achieve.
Eating the banana at a press conference “Can be part of the history of the work of art,” said Sun on Friday.He compared concept art like “Comedian” to NFT art and decentralized blockchain technology. “Most of the things and ideas exist as (intellectual property) and on the Internet,as opposed to a physical thing,” he said.
NFT (Non-Intangible Tokens) are digital objects such as drawings, animations, pieces of music, photos or videos whose authenticity is confirmed by blockchain technology. This is again a database that is not located centrally on one computer, but is distributed over many different computers.
AFP