Oops! A selfie-snapper broke this $800,000 pumpkin sculpture
We all love a good selfie every now and again (OK, all the time), but when it comes to pointing and posing, people have *got* to start being more cautious. Recently, a selfie-snapper broke an $800,000 pumpkin sculpture, and we cannot help but cringe over this incredibly embarrassing and expensive mishap.
This is definitely not the type of selfie taker you want to be (in other words, the clumsy one).
According to Mashable, the piece was a part of Yayoi Kusama’s dazzling Infinity Mirrors exhibition, which made its debut at Washington D.C.’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden only a few days prior to this incident.
Happy #WomensHistoryMonth, we're celebrating with Yayoi Kusama! Explore more: https://t.co/1TdNbYTpgQ #InfiniteKusama pic.twitter.com/Rjt0OJfSWB
— Hirshhorn (@hirshhorn) March 1, 2017
Apparently, this visitor was so engulfed in the vibrant, polka-dotted sculptures that comprise Kusama’s “All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins” room, that an attempt at taking the perfect photo caused the single statue to come crashing to the floor.
While the museum would not confirm whether the selfie-taker’s actions directly led to the sculpture being damaged, other visitors claim that is precisely what took place. The museum temporarily closed the room, but later re-opened it after stepping up the security presence.
BREAKING: art at the @hirshhorn! A viewer messed up one of Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrors. This one is now closed. https://t.co/BceWzetCiz pic.twitter.com/G6JRRcThbm
— ◥◤Kriston Capps (@kristoncapps) February 25, 2017
Museum spokesperson Alison Peck told the New York Times that a replacement piece is scheduled to arrive in a couple of weeks. Peck also described the events that led up to the damaged pumpkin sculpture as “very much an accident.” Previously, a similar one of Kusama’s sculptures sold for $784,485 at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong, artnet reports.
As much as we totally get the appeal of photographing a special moment, some selfies come with too high of a price. Just ask the guy who destroyed a 400-year-old statue while taking a selfie.
