A mirror coated in red paint, a banana stuck to the wall with tape, and an unseen sculpture- these are just a few of the abstract artworks that have recently sold for surprising amounts. Now, Dutch artist Jens Haaning has taken the genre to a whole new level. His appropriately named “TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN” masterpiece, consisting of two empty frames, has set a local museum back $84 000!

Earlier this year, the Kunsten Museum in Aalborg appointed Haaning to create two pieces for their coming “Work It Out” exhibit. According to their written agreement, the artist would use the $84 000 lent to him by the museum to reproduce two of his previous artworks about labor. The first, An Arerage Austrian Year Income, displayed euro bills on a canvas (画布) in a framework, while the second, focusing on Danish incomes, did the same using krone notes. But when the museum opened the boxes the artist sent before the exhibit’s opening on September 24, 2021, they found two blank frameworks titled “TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN”.

The museum officials admit that Haaning’s artwork is unique. But museum director Lasse Andersson expects the artist to fulfill his contractual (合同的) duty and return the money when the exhibition ends. “I absolutely want to give Haaning the right to say that a new work has been created in its own right, Andersson told Danish radio. “But that is not the agreement we had.”

However, Haaning thinks his artwork is perfect for the exhibit, which examines the relationship between art and labor. He argues that the empty canvases stressed the unfair working conditions of many artists, including himself. He says the museum’s $2 300 pay for the artworks was not even enough to cover his costs. “The work is that I have taken their money,” he told Danish radio. “It’s not theft. It is breach (违背) of contract, and breach of contract is part of the work.”

With fingers and wrists wrapped in medicated tape, Zhang Guimei, founder and principal of the first free high school for girls in China, was presented with the July 1 Medal on Tuesday.

Zhang met her husband in Dali and worked as a teacher in a local school. Unfortunately, her husband died of cancer not long after their marriage. Sadly, Zhang decided to leave this place with which she was too familiar. Hence, she volunteered to teach at a middle school in Huaping, a poverty-stricken county located in the mountains.

Over time, Zhang witnessed the gender gap in education up close in relatively poor rural areas. Urban and rural students already faced unequal access to quality education, and the traditional belief of male superiority only worsened rural girls’ situation. She discovered that many female students would just disappear after studying for a while and some girls were even pulled out of class just before the college entrance exam. The reasons varied: to pay for the younger brother’s tuition, the girl’s parents would have her quit and return home to earn money; the family received engagement gifts...

In 2002, Zhang came up with an idea which, to many, seemed crazy: to found a free high school for girls. Six years later, with help from the Party and the local government and personal donations, she founded the Huaping All-Girls High School. With the goal of never letting a girl fall behind in schooling, Zhang often works overtime despite suffering from several kinds of illnesses. She has walked to almost every household deep in the mountains, talking to the parents about the importance of education for girls.

The efforts paid off. Over the past 13 years, her school has sent 1,800 girls to university. “To educate a girl is to change the destiny of three generations. A cultured, responsible mother won't let her daughter drop out of school,” Zhang said.

Nobody ever imagined that after being lost for more than half a century, the intangible cultural heritage known as Gaolou Mixian would be restored and passed on by a young man. “As a descendant of people from Gaolou village, I have a responsibility to restore our ancestors’ art forms,” Chen Guorui, the world’s only inheritor (继承人) of this ancient art, told the Global Times.

Gaolou Mixian uses rice paste to glue together selected grains of transparent rice to create realistic figures or structures. It is a unique folk art that developed during the Qing Dynasty and reached its peak during the first half of the 20th century. Each household in Gaolou village would make rice structures that they put on display in their ancestral halls during the Chinese New Year, which attracted people from all sides.

However, due to the wet weather in southern China, these rice-made artworks would only last three to four months before losing their shape. It is for this reason that these works are not seen in museums in China. Due to various historical reasons, most people in Gaolou village did not pass down the art form, which caused it to disappear nearly 70 years ago.

Chen found out about this after hearing one former resident express disappointment about its loss. Curious, he started to do research and tried out the methods he heard about from older people in the village. After several months of exploration, Chen finally completed his first successful work.

Over the past five years, Chen has gradually improved his skills and even begun using new techniques, such as creating some colorful artworks with colored grains of rice. Since 2017, people at home and abroad have taken an interest in this long-lost art form. To avoid being the last inheritor, Chen has been giving classes to some students at a primary school in Fuzhou with the support of local education authorities.