Take the Money and Run on Display at Kunsten Museum of Modern Art Aalborg

Take the Money and Run is displayed in close connection with the Danish artist group SUPERFLEX’s permanently installed work Lost Money, which greets visitors at the entrance to Kunsten. Both works critically address societal issues such as the value of money, economic overconsumption, and social inequality. In Lost Money, the money is right at your feet, yet you cannot pick it up, whereas in Take the Money and Run, it has disappeared along with the artist.

— “People are curious about the work and want to see it. As part of our settlement with Jens Haaning, we acquired the piece for our collection and can now exhibit it at the museum as well as lend it to other institutions. Our primary role as a museum is to communicate art and create new experiences, conversations, and reflections—this is why we are now showcasing the work,” says Lasse Andersson, director of Kunsten Museum of Modern Art Aalborg.

Take the Money and Run is a piece of institutional critique and conceptual art, where context and surrounding factors are integral to the artwork itself, challenging and problematizing the structures that shape us as individuals and as a society. The work has made a significant impact on contemporary art in the 2020s. Within Kunsten’s collection, it is presented alongside another work by Jens Haaning, Turkish Jokes (1994), which the museum acquired in 2015. Additionally, it forms a natural and contemporary connection to Kunsten’s extensive international Fluxus collection.

— “When you stand in front of Take the Money and Run, you are only experiencing part of the artwork. The piece is not just the two empty frames on the wall but also the act that led to their emptiness. Just as much as the physical elements, the subsequent events—the global debate, the lawsuit, and the settlement—have shaped the work we now see here at Kunsten,” explains Lasse Andersson.

About Take the Money and Run
The artwork was originally created for an exhibition at Kunsten in 2021, which focused on modern working life. For the exhibition, the museum invited Jens Haaning (b. 1965) to recreate two of his earlier works: An Average Danish Annual Income (2010) and An Average Austrian Annual Income (2007).

To present updated versions of these works, the museum provided Haaning with a loan equivalent to the average annual incomes at the time. However, upon receiving the pieces, it quickly became evident that the museum had received something entirely different: the frames were empty, the money was gone, and Jens Haaning declared that he had created a brand-new work—Take the Money and Run.

This led Kunsten to file a lawsuit against Haaning in the Copenhagen City Court over the missing funds. The museum won the case, which Haaning then appealed to a higher court.

In 2024, the case was settled, and Take the Money and Run became part of Kunsten’s collection. The artwork was acquired through a donation from the Obel Family Foundation and is now considered a piece of Danish art history.

As part of the museum’s collection, the work aligns with the Fluxus and avant-garde traditions of the 20th century, following in the footsteps of artists who have sought to break with conventions and challenge the status quo. This is evident in works by Asger Jorn (1914–1973), Arthur Köpcke (1928–1977), Ben Vautier (1935–2024), and Alison Knowles (b. 1933), as well as more recent artists such as Tino Sehgal (b. 1976) and the artist group SUPERFLEX.

^{Jens Haaning - Take the Money and Run (2021) © Jens Haaning / VISDA. Photo: Kunsten Museum of Modern Art}

Top photo: Jens Haaning - Take the Money and Run (2021) © Jens Haaning / VISDA. Photo: Kunsten Museum of Modern Art

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