Museum Technician Unknowingly Throws Artwork in the Trash

A new lift technician at the Dutch art museum LAM assumed that a famous artwork that looks like two crushed beer cans was discarded trash so he threw it in the rubbish bin.

All The Good Times We Spent Together is a modern artwork created by French artist Alexandre Lavet, but anyone unfamiliar with it can easily mistake it for trash, especially in the LAM Museum, which prides itself on surprising visitors by installing exhibits in unconventional locations. At first glance, Lavet’s artwork looks like two discarded and dented beer cans, but a closer inspection reveals that they are meticulously hand-painted with acrylic paint. However, the artistic value of All The Good Times We Spent Together was lost on LAM Museum’s new lift technician who, upon seeing the two aluminum cans in the lift, mistook them for trash and treated them as such.

Photo: Alexandre Lavet

“Our art encourages visitors to see everyday objects in a new light. By displaying artworks in unexpected places, we amplify this experience and keep visitors on their toes,” Sietske van Zanten, the museum’s director, said.

The LAM Museum’s approach to displaying its exhibits also puts unconventional artworks like All The Good Times We Spent Together at risk. When the new lift mechanic saw the cans inside the elevator, he didn’t think twice before throwing them in a trash can. Luckily, a curator returning from a short break noticed that they were missing from their designated display spot and began searching for them.

Photo: Alexandre Lavet

Luckily, the two dented beer cans were found in a bin bag just in the nick of time as they were about to be thrown out. The museum made it very clear that there were no hard feelings toward the lift mechanic who was just doing his job. However, van Zanten mentioned that they will have to consider the artwork’s next location within the museum more carefully, in order to avoid such incidents.