<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="http://9news.com.au/italy" rel="" target="" title="Italian"><span>Italian</span></a><span> artist Maurizio Cattelan's </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/art" rel="" target="" title="artwork"><span>artwork</span></a><span> featuring a fresh banana taped to a wall has been eaten by a visitor to a museum in </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/france" rel="" target="" title="France"><span>France</span></a><span>.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The piece, titled </span><em><span>Comedian</span></em><span>, was eaten by a gallerygoer at the Centre-Pompidou Metz in eastern France on July 12, according to a statement from the museum, published on Monday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The security team acted quickly and calmly, according to internal procedures," the gallery said in the statement.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/andrew-julian-stewart-smith-crash-reprehensible-man-jailed-grandma-killed-in-crash/6cbdc634-c98b-4cb6-a890-65ea0e409a38"><strong><span>Woman killed, suspect found covering himself in mud</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The artwork was reinstalled a few minutes later", it said, adding that the banana is "only a perishable element" that is replaced on a regular basis according to Cattelan's instructions.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Centre-Pompidou Metz said the artist was disappointed that the visitor had considered the fruit itself to be the artwork, instead of eating the skin and the tape that held it in place as well.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The gallery has not filed a police report.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/someone-has-eaten-artist-maurizio-cattelans-9-million-banana--again/9e927ca9-f25d-4411-8014-ac6ee59a156f" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Comedian</span></em><span> is intended to demonstrate the "absurdity of financial speculation and the fragility of knowledge systems that underpin the art market", it said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>This is not the first time the artwork has been eaten.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In 2019, when Cattelan unveiled </span><em><span>Comedian</span></em><span> at the Art Basel Miami art fair in Florida, performance artist David Datuna grabbed the banana from the wall, before peeling and eating it in front of hundreds of stunned fair attendees.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/crocodile-sighting-noosa-fisherman-spots-figure-on-sounder-queensland-news/5016e3a9-980d-4933-a5a7-773f1ee6c8fc" rel="" target="" title=""><strong><span>Incredible sighting at Noosa in the middle of winter</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>This became one of the art world's biggest viral moments and the work sold — with replacement banana — for $US120,000 ($184,000) at the fair.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Then, in 2023, an art student took the banana from a wall at the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, and ate it.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>And in November 2024, Justin Sun, a Chinese collector and founder of a cryptocurrency platform, </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/cryptocurrency-entrepreneur-who-bought-banana-art-for-62-million-eats-the-fruit-in-hong-kong/7ca1ae25-c905-45cc-9b03-4aaa283f63d6" rel="" target="" title="acquired Comedian for $US6.24 million ($9.55 million) at auction — before eating the banana"><span>acquired </span><em><span>Comedian</span></em><span> for $US6.24 million ($9.55 million) at auction — before eating the banana</span></a><span>.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"For now, it is perhaps the 'most-eaten' artwork of the last 30 years," Centre-Pompidou Metz said in the statement.</span></div></div><div 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