# ELI5: Maurizio Cattelan‘s banana

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli5-maurizio-cattelan-s-banana/844702>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 11, 2019, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli5-maurizio-cattelan-s-banana/844702 "2019-12-11T08:27:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2019, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli5-maurizio-cattelan-s-banana/844702/1 "2019-12-11T08:27:36Z")

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I don’t want to discuss the merit of the piece. Please go ahead and tape whatever fruit you fancy to your wall and call it Art.

I want to discuss the financials: Why does anyone buy an very temporary installation for substantial money?  
As I understand it, usually such installations are part of an exhibition somewhere and not really meant to be sold. Why is this different?  
Is it different?  
Is my idea of substantial money too provincial?  
Will the “right” to tape a banana on your wall somehow increase in value?  
Is the 120k price tag a bit of fantasy to generate publicity?

What’s going on?

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**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2019, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli5-maurizio-cattelan-s-banana/844702/2 "2019-12-11T15:30:51Z")

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URL for those who haven’t heard of this:

> **[Someone ate the $120,000 banana at Art Basel. Some quick thinking saved the day](https://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/visual-arts/art-basel/article238148809.html)**
>
> Someone ate a really expensive snack at Art Basel Saturday afternoon — to the tune of $120,000.