By Tim Binnall
A jaw-dropping video from a Russian art show features the moment when a now-former guard tasked with overseeing the showcase inexplicably tried to eat one of the pieces. The bizarre incident, which was captured by a security camera, reportedly occurred earlier this month in the city of Moscow at the VDNKh exhibition center. Among the works on display at the site is a piece entitled 'Escape of the Goldfish,' which consists of a fake depiction of the animal leaping from a bowl of water onto a painting of the ocean.
Something about the piece proved to be particularly compelling to the site's security guard as he can be seen walking over to the work and closely examining it, though what he did next left officials at the exhibition stunned. Initially, the man merely plays with the fake fish as if he is attempting to discern if it is real. The guard then attempts to pull it off of the painting, but it remains stuck to the work. Clearly determined to get to the bottom of his personal fish mystery, the guard eventually manages to rip the fish from the painting, smells it, and nibbles on it, seemingly solving the matter in his mind.
Upon discovering the damage to the piece, exhibition officials looked over the security footage from the room and found that the caper had been a literal inside job on the part of the guard. When they questioned him as to why he had vandalized the piece, the man offered the fairly flimsy excuse that a lack of sleep led him to deface the artwork. As one might imagine, his explanation did not fly with his bosses and he was subsequently fired. Meanwhile, 'Escape of the Goldfish' has since been restored to its former glory without any bite marks.