Cleaner ruins 800,000€ artwork that she thought was dirty - PAU 2012

>Exámenes selectividad inglés Comunidad Valenciana resueltos

Recreation of First Public Demonstration of Auto-Destructive Art

An overzealous cleaner in Germany has ruined a piece of modern art worth 800,000€ after mistaking it for an eyesore that needed a good scrub.
The sculpture, by Martin Kippenberger, had been on loan to the Ostwall Museum in Dortmund. The work, called When It Starts Dripping from the Ceiling, comprised a rubber bucket. Inside the bucket, Kippenberger had spread a layer of paint representing dried rainwater. He thought it was art, but the cleaner saw it as a challenge, and set about making the bucket look like new and removed the patina from the four walls of the bucket. "It is now impossible to return it to its original state", a spokeswoman for the museum said. She said that cleaning crews had been told to keep 20cm away from artworks, but it was unclear if the woman had received the memo.
But Kippenberger is not the only artist to have his works ruined by cleaners. In 1986, a "grease stain" by Joseph Beuys valued at about 400,000€ was mopped away at the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf.
In 2004, a cleaner at Tate Britain in London threw away part of a work by another German artist, Gustav Metzger, after mistaking it for rubbish. The cleaner failed to realise that a plastic bag containing discarded paper and cardboard was an integral part of Recreation of First Public Demonstration of Auto-Destructive Art, and not just some litter. The bag was later recovered, but it was too damaged to display, so Metzger replaced it with another bag.

Adapted from an article published in guardian.co.uk, 3 November 2011

RESPUESTAS

READING COMPREHENSION

I. Answer the following questions using your own words but taking into account the information

in the text.

• a. Why did the cleaner clean the bucket of the sculpture? PAR.2

• b. What happened to Gustav Metzger’s work? PAR.6

II. Are the following statements true (T) or false (F)? Identify the part of the text that supports

your answer by copying the exact passage on the answer sheet.

a. Kippenberger’s sculpture belonged to the Ostwall Museum in Dortmund.

• FALSE: The sculpture by the German artist Martin Kippenberger, widely regarded as one of the most talented artists of his generation until his death in 1997, had been on loan to the Ostwall Museum in Dortmund.

b. The cleaner thought Kippenberger’s sculpture needed cleaning.

• TRUE: He thought it was art: the cleaner saw it as a challenge, and set about making the bucket look like new and removed the patina from the four walls of the bucket.

c. The spokeswoman told the cleaner to clean the artwork.

• FALSE: Cleaning crews had been told to keep 20cm away from artworks, but it was unclear if the woman had received the memo.

III. Find a synonym for each of the four words below from these six options:

       challenge removed failed litter damaged display

• a. eliminated: removed
• b. deteriorated: damaged
• c. rubbish: litter
• d. show: display

IV. Choose a, b, or c, in each question below. Only one choice is correct. 

1. Someone told the cleaning crews that...

• a. they had to keep 20 cm away from artworks.
• b. they all had to keep 20 cm away from artworks except the cleaning woman.
• c. they had received the memo.

2. Joseph Beuys’ work was worth...

• a. under 400,000€.
• b. more than 400,000€.
• c. around 400,000€.

3. In 2004, a cleaner...

• a. didn’t realise that a plastic bag with discarded paper and cardboard was an artwork.
• b. replaced a plastic bag with another bag.
• c. displayed an integral part of Recreation of First Public Demonstration of Autodestructive Art.

+EXÁMENES RESUELTOS