A divisive artwork comprised of a banana duct-taped to a museum wall was eaten by a student who said he was "hungry" after skipping breakfast.
'Comedian' by visual artist Maurizio Cattelan made headlines across the world when it was unveiled in 2019 in an edition of three, one of which has now been gobbled up.
On Thursday (April 25), at around 1pm local time, an art student from Seoul National University ripped the banana off the wall at the Leeum Museum of Art in the South Korean city and munched it.
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According to local media, the museum later placed a new banana in the same spot.
The incident was captured on video by a friend of Noh Huyn-soo, who can be seen taking the banana from the wall, eating it in front of the art installation and only leaving the tape there.
In the clip, he turns around a few times, looking at other museum visitors, before taping the banana peel to the wall and cheekily smiling at the camera.
A museum spokesperson said the student had eaten the banana "because he was hungry", and added that no action was taken against him.
Their statement added: "It happened suddenly, so no special action was taken. The artist (Cattelan) was informed of the incident but he didn't have any reaction to it."
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The latest incident, which lasted just over a minute, was not the first time bananas used for Mr Cattelan's work have been eaten by a visitor.
In 2019, performance artist David Datuna pulled the banana from the wall after the artwork was sold for $120,000 (£96,000) at Art Basel in Miami.
He was seen eating the banana as stunned onlookers watched, later posting the stunt on Instagram with the caption: "I really love this installation. It's very delicious."
Following criticism, Mr Datuna called his actions an act performance and said it was not vandalism.
When the piece was first unveiled, critics were divided on it. The Guardian called Comedian a "questionably genius work," while writer Robin Pogrebin questioned if it was even art.
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