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Hi everyone, here is Ricardo Vargas, and this is the 5 Minutes Podcast. Recently, the world was taken by shock by a banana that was sold by Sotheby's for 6.2 million USD. And everybody said, you know how a banana that is worth? I would say $0.25 could be sold by $6.2 million. And this makes me think a lot about three aspects that we see in our projects that are very, very similar to what happened with this banana and this artwork. But before I start here, I'm not here to discuss the moral value of someone spending this amount of money, if this is worth it or not. I'm not an art expert. Okay, so this is not the point here, but I want to discuss a few points that are very, very relevant for us. The first one is what is the value of what you produce, and why I'm saying this? Because when we saw the buyer of this artwork, uh, a, a cryptocurrency and temperature eating the banana, uh, everybody thought, oh, God, he's eating $6.2 million. And this is not true. This is not true. We need to understand that what was bought and what was on auction was not the banana. It was a contemporary artwork. You may like or you may dislike, but this artwork produced by Maurizio Cattelan in 2019, and first public exhibition at the Art Basel in Miami, and this artwork was a criticism about the commoditization of art and how everything people produce could be perceived as art.
And this show, all this dispute, shows even more the point that Maurizio Cattelan was trying to make. So when you see seven, uh, potential buyers disputing an artwork up to 6.2 million, it looks insane. But the buyer of this work was not buying that banana and that tape. The buyer was buying an artwork and had permission To exhibit that artwork as artwork anywhere. And I know because now there is a movement. People are taping bananas everywhere in New York, in places like New York and places like LA. Why is that banana still worth $0.25, and that banana that was sold is worth 6.2? It's because of the certificate. It's because that style and that frame and that process is called Comedian. And it's an artwork with three pieces that make it an original one. One was donated to the Guggenheim Museum, and two others are in private hands. So this makes me remember, for example, one podcast I recorded a few years ago about cars. So, can I compare a Ferrari with a popular car? A popular, I would say, cheap car. And and despite of both being cars, they are absolutely different products. They have absolutely different drivers. They have absolutely different set of interests behind someone that decides to buy a Ferrari or buy a popular car, for example, someone that's buying a Ferrari. It's buying, I would say, a uniqueness. It's buying exclusivity; it's buying prestige while someone buying a popular car.
It's a buying movement. It's buying the ability to go from one place to the other. Have you ever thought that someone buying a Ferrari is concerned about the fuel consumption of a Ferrari? Do you agree with me that probably the less appealing sales pitch for a Ferrari is, okay this makes an X mile with a gallon, you know. Is this the point? Will this change the interest from someone buying or not? It's the same as the banana, despite the physical aspect being the same, both being fresh fruits, and both are different. Adjusting and the buyer. He was not buying a banana. He was buying an artwork that you may agree or disagree with. You may find it worth it or not. And this is not my point here, but this is what he was buying. So, you need to understand in your project what is the driver of the value of your project. So when people buy the product that you are creating by your project or the service, what is the value that is expected from that? Nobody that is hungry goes inside. Sotheby's didn't say, oh God, I will buy that banana because I'm hungry. So. And goes and pays $6.2 million for that banana. It's not. It's absolutely not. And this drives me to the second learning on that. It's how manipulative communications can be to shift perceptions to prepare this podcast. I took some time going on the news, on the mainstream news, newspapers, and TV. I didn't see a single mention that the Comedian is an artwork.
The owner of this artwork has a script to build and assemble it. The distance from the floor, the size of the tape, and the angle of the banana. And who buys it cannot produce more than one co-existing sample of that artwork, so the buyer cannot put a tape on on the wall with a banana and call it Comedian, produced and created by Maurizio Cattelan. But nobody said that everybody saw him eating the banana and say, he's eating a $6 million banana. No, he's not eating a $6 million banana. He's eating a $0.30 banana because he's not eating the artwork in 30s later, he can go buy another banana and recreate the Comedian, and he can recreate. But you cannot because he has the authorization of the author to produce. And this is contemporary art. You can agree or disagree, you can like or dislike, but you cannot deny. And this is what happens many, many times with our own life, in our projects. How many times we saw misleading communication, how many times we saw that, how many times we saw, for example, a candidate that grows from 1 to 2% telling that he or she grew by 100%. You know, look, this is this is true in the mathematical sense. But, of course, this is absolutely misleading. So, most of the news was misleading, attaching the $6.2 million to the banana. The banana is just the material representation of the artwork but not the artwork.
And this drives me to the third learning. Every time you produce a project, or you make an intervention on a project, or you even buy a product of a project, you need to be responsible with the decisions you make. And this goes, uh, to my third topic. If you are producing a project that is a confrontation of society that creates a feeling and empowers the feeling that something is wrong, is it a responsible action? So, for example, I feel very sad for the owner. Uh, you know, when he was eating that, you know, with that smile and this in a world with such a dramatic inequality and of course, anyone can do whatever he or she wants with their own money, but we need just to be mindful of the differences. And we need to understand how the Bangladesh, uh, fruit vendor. That sold this banana would feel and other people. So if you buy things and you keep yourself anonymous because you're just passionate about art, that's okay. But you need to understand that when you do this in such a, uh, I would say a publicized way, and I don't want to. I cannot find a better way, but maybe an arrogant way. You need to understand that the perception you will bring is not good when you produce a project that results in a product or a service that damage some Intrinsic values of society that empowers inequality and other aspects.
You just need to be mindful that you are not helping to develop a better society. And this is for me, and probably I don't know, I have no idea of who this entrepreneur is, but probably, um, this is why he paid $6.2 million, is to go on TV and maybe eat that and show everybody that, you know, I'm so powerful. I made so much money that I can throw the money in front of other people. That's absolutely valid. I would say I would never, ever in my life, do anything similar to that, but it's okay. But at the same time, um, is the act of doing that helping to move society forward? And this is the point I want to end up with this because many times I'm passionate about art. Okay? For those who not know, you know there are so many misleading arguments about the concept of value, about how communications can be manipulative, and how, uh, how low was the level of social responsibility of the owner, Sotheby's, and the others on showing this in a world with well, where billions are struggling to have $0.25 to buy a banana, and this is exactly why it's so important that when we are managing projects, we understand what is a project in a much more holistic way. I hope you have a great week ahead. Think about this topic, and see you next week with another 5 Minutes Podcast.
