Destruction of objects in Museum Environments....?

Question

Part of my thesis for graduate school is on the destruction of objects in museum environments caused by visitors or staff. I am looking for real life examples of people destroying works of art. Have you ever witnessed anyone touching, writing on, climbing on, etc. a work of art in a museum or museum like setting? Have you ever seen someone disregard ropes or other barriers to get a closer look at a work of art? Have you ever seen anyone leave garbage behind? Take flash photography? Have you ever witnessed a security guard repremanding someone for any of these things? If you have seen someone do something along these lines or if you have done any of those things could you give me an example. I would really appreciate it. (If you have done any of these things I will not think less of you and will not include any names or screennames in my paper) Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

You might want to look at this book by Dario Gamboni. Though you seem to be focused more on accidental destruction of art and he focuses more on intentional destruction of publicly displayed works, it does include examples of the type you're looking for, such as the case of a janitor who accidentally disposed of a sculpture at the 8th Swiss Sculpture Exhibition because he thought it was trash (that was in 1980). There's a link to an online store and a longer summary below. Hope that helps!