Hundreds of origami cranes and folded paper cubes dangled from trees in the public courtyard between the Hamilton wing and the Residences at the Denver Art Museum for a few hours this morning.
But the guerrilla art installation that prompted viewers to donate to Japan tsunami victims was pulled down by a museum worker around noon. He said he had been instructed to remove the work because it was unauthorized.
Museum officials have not yet returned calls for comment.
The work was created by Talia Kauk, a student at the Art Institute of Colorado. It was critiqued by fellow students and teachers earlier in the morning.
Chains of rainbow-colored cranes were suspended from fishing line, as were the cubes that were imprinted with quick response, or QR, codes that allow smart phones to read a message or navigate to a particular website. The codes took viewers to the American Red Cross website.
Other filament suspended from the trees held tags explaining how to use a text-message enabled phone to donate $10 to the American Red Cross’s Japan disaster relief work.
According to Japanese tradition, anyone who folds 1,000 paper cranes will be granted a wish, such as long-life or recovery from illness. The cranes often are hung together on strings to create a “Senbazuru,” which can be given as a gift and is considered a powerful and benevolent charm when hung.
