Gustav Metzger “Recreation of First Public Demonstration of Auto-Destructive Art” / accidentally thrown away

(In 2004, Metzger recreated his 1960 work “Public Demonstration of Auto-Destructive Art” for a retrospective at London’s Tate Museum. The work, a multimedia installation exploring his concept of Auto-Destructive Art, included an acid-damaged nylon painting and a bag of rubbish.

The bag of rubbish was accidentally thrown away by an overnight cleaner who didn’t realize it was part of the exhibition. While the bag was fished out of the compactor when the mistake was found, Metzger considered it beyond repair and created a new bag as a replacement. The new rubbish bag was put in a box every night as a precaution.)