The Disturbing Duckling, Asger Jorn (1959) and the painting vandalized by Ibi-Pippi © Museum Jorn
The vandalism went viral on social media on Sunday, with some mistaking it for a right-wing protest. In statements released after the incident, Ibi-Pippi, who goes by his first name, described the act as intended to spark a debate about authorship. The painting, The Disturbing Duckling (1959), depicts a peaceful countryside home with a looming giant duck. Jorn's practice frequently entailed appropriating pre-existing imagery and using it as a canvas for his own creations. Jorn acquired the pastoral painting for Duckling and then crudely painted the duck over it in garish tones, as he did with many of his paintings. Scholars use the term "détournement" to describe Jorn's technique, which was a key component of the leftist Situationist International movement, with which Jorn was affiliated.
Jorn became the most well-known member of the CoBrA group, which sought to obliterate the divide between good and bad in art-making through works such as The Disquieting Duckling. Between 1948 and 1951, the group was active. In a statement posted to his Facebook on Friday, Ibi-Pippi claimed that his act was a continuation of Jorn's artistic concerns. Ibi-Pippi allegedly went into the Museum Jorn on that day, signed his name in black permanent marker, and affixed an image of himself to the painting. Soon after, he was arrested. "If you happen to be nearby, you can go and admire my new work," Ibi-Pippi wrote on Facebook.
Patrioterne Gr Live, a right-wing page that has previously posted videos and text advocating for a "non-Muslim" Denmark, streamed live on Facebook a video that appeared to show Ibi-Pippi pasting a photo of himself to the Jorn painting. According to the Danish publication DR, the artist Uwe Max Jensen, who has sparked controversy for performing in blackface and has posted about his right-wing views on social media, can be seen in the Patrioterne Gr Live video photographing the vandalism and the wall text before exiting the museum with Ibi-Pippi. Jensen mentioned Ibi-vandalism Pippi's on Facebook several times over the weekend. In one post, he compared the act to artist Katrine Dirckinck-recent Holmfeld's anti-colonial protest of dumping a bust of an 18th-century Danish king into a river.
The Museum Jorn's director, Jacob Thage, told on Friday that the institution was working to restore The Disquieting Duckling. He stated at the time that it was "too early to tell" whether the painting could be salvaged because Ibi-glue Pippi's is "very difficult to get rid of." Ibi-Pippi was released after an interrogation following his arrest. According to a duty officer with the local police, the case is being treated as criminal and an investigation is being conducted. Ibi-Pippi appeared to say in an interview with TV2 stylland on Sunday that he did not intend for his vandalism to have potential long-term consequences. He claimed that when affixing his own portrait to the Jorn painting, he used the wrong tube of glue. "I am deeply sorry that the work has been mutilated to this extent," he said. "That was not my intention."
Jean Dubreil