History Main / MistakenForExhibit

[[caption-width-right:288:[-[[EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory This must be indicative of how we are always looking outward to the world around us for a perspective more fulfilling than the fragile and empty ones we all posses, ever at risk of being crushed by the harshness of the world in pursuit of that fulfillment.]][[note]] [[YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe Dude, it just means someone lost their glasses!]][[/note]]-]]]

* In ''Film/ShortCircuit2'', Johnny Five wanders the streets of New York City and strolls into a modern art exhibition in a park. A couple mistakes him for one of the statues and remarks that he's [[UglyCute repulsive]], leading to Johnny [[PinocchioSyndrome trying some very questionable measures to help him fit in among humans]].

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'': If you 'fail' the "Obtain the services of Sir Sarles for the Temple" {{sidequest}} by trying to fool Sir Sarles with an alloy of his requested {{unobtainium}} (which he'll refuse to work with), the party will be forced to return to the temple with the lump. Instead of failing you, however, the temple's head priest thinks the unworked lump of alloy is the artwork he commissioned and orders it displayed in the temple. If Yoshimo is in the party he'll remark you were all lucky the head priest had a taste for art interpretation.

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'': If you 'fail' the "Obtain the services of Sir Sarles for the Temple" {{sidequest}} by trying to fool Sir Sarles with an alloy of his requested {{unobtainium}} (which he'll refuse to work with), the party will be forced to return to the temple with the lump. Instead of failing you, however, the temple's head priest thinks the unworked lump of alloy is the artwork he commissioned and orders it displayed in the temple. If Yoshimo is in the party he'll remark you were all lucky the head priest was had a taste for interpretive art.

* ''Series/DropTheDeadDonkey''. Some violent doodlings by Joy Merryweather are put on display as artwork, and even she's dubious about why until she discovers the man running the exhibit is bribing an art critic to pass her "infantile scrawl" as art in a scheme to get into Joy's pants. She gets her revenge by displaying him bound, gagged and naked in his own gallery as an exhibit.

* ''Animation/{{Lamput}}'': In "Art Gallery", Fat Doc and Slim Doc, while at an art gallery, are compressed into each other and land in a room full of visitors in this state. The visitors immediately take a liking to their abstract shape and snap pictures of them.

* * ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''. A variation in "Comfort and Joy". The Flash hears some explosions going off in a museum and investigates. He finds some sculptures that look mangled and wonders who would do such a thing. Ultra-Humanite then reveals himself, commenting that he hasn't done a thing to those sculptures; they were that ugly to start with.

'''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_Bron She]]:''' Yes, I see what you mean. Divorced from its function and seen purely as a piece of art, its structure of line and colour is curiously counterpointed by the redundant vestiges of its function.\\

Compare AccidentalArt and AllPartOfTheShow. A person might invoke this trope deliberately to hide; see NobodyHereButUsStatues. If the object being mistaken for an exhibit is a person, it may be related to the LivingMuseumExhibit.

* An inversion where an exhibit is mistaken for garbage: [[http://web.archive.org/web/20150922074253/http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2011/02/18/stupid-employee-trick-of-the-day-workers-trash-50k-artwork "Workers Mistakenly Trash $50,000 Artwork"]].

* On ''Series/Itsalwayssunnyinphiladelphia'', Frank pretends to be an art collector and visits a gallery, where he starts trashing every exhibit as "bullshit," until he comes across one piece he says he loves... the air conditioner. When the owner points this out, instead of admitting his mistake, Frank insists that the piece is "everything," and that, "after all, we're all just air conditioners." The gallery owner seems to agree with his opinion. It's also quite possible that Frank knows it's not actually an exhibit, and just wants to troll the snobbish gallery owner.

** A sketch had the two hipsters discussing the meaning of their favourite piece of street art, only for it to be revealed to be a No Parking sign.
** Another sketch had the hipsters arguing about whether a piece of art was avant-garde or surrealist. A cleaning woman then sweeps up the scrunched up piece of paper.

* An "illicit art mistaken for approved art" variant: Banksy has left his own reinterpretations of famous pieces in museums as though they were meant to be there. They often stay up for days or weeks before someone notices and takes them down.
* [[Main/IvyLeagueForEveryone MIT]] student hackers made their own addition (entitled ''No Knife'') to a 1985 on-campus exhibit of contemporary art: [[https://webmuseum.mit.edu/media.php?module=subjects&type=popular&kv=147&media=1 a cafeteria tray]] with a place setting (but without the eponymous knife), resting on an upside-down trash can, and a [[https://webmuseum.mit.edu/media.php?module=subjects&type=popular&kv=147&media=98 placard]] with a detailed description of the "art" in gibberish terms. [[https://www.news24.com/News24/Years-of-pranks-on-display-at-Hall-of-Hacks-20010205 Allegedly]], no art critic realized it was a joke.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "[[Recap/FuturamaS2E19MothersDay Mother's Day]]", the cast visits a wax museum of famous historical robots:

* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. In "Terminal", Vila convinces one of Servalan's minions to let him take Orac off the Liberator by pretending the computer is a sculpture he's been working on [[NoBudget made out of junk]].

* The ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "Legion": Rimmer, pretending he knows about art to impress Legion, compliments one piece:

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. In "Prime Factors", Harry Kim sees a beautiful alien woman playing what he assumes is a HarpOfFemininity. It's actually an atmospheric sensor that works via sound. That doesn't bother Harry much as he immediately deduces how it works and [[GeekyTurnOn they start bonding over that instead]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Mother's Day", the cast visits a wax museum of famous historical robots:

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': "Headhunters" began with Mabel, Dipper, and Soos mistaking Grunkle Stan for one of the wax figures in the sealed-off room of the Mystery Shack.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "The Death Camp of Tolerance", the boys and their parents attend the Museum of Tolerance, where they are shown waxworks of cultural stereotypes. Randy points out the "Sleepy Mexican", who turns out to be an actual janitor who's taking a nap in the middle of the exhibit.

->'''Pearl:''' All right. Who left their Crust Bucket wrapper here?
->'''Marina:''' Don't touch that, Pearlie! It's not litter-it's modern art!

%%%%%%This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct alphabetical order.%%%%%%

[[folder:Asian Animation]]

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

--> '''Q''': Don't touch that! [{{Beat}}] That's my lunch.

* ''Film/WonderWoman1984''. Diana Prince is showing Steve Trevor (who died in 1918 and has somehow come back from the dead in 1984) the modern world. She says that the entire pavilion they're walking through (specifically The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden) is filled with works of art. Steve stops to stare at one particular piece made from plastic that's about waist-height and hollow. Diana tells him that's just a trash can.

%%* Several times in the stories by Creator/EphraimKishon.

* In the Discworld novel ''Literature/{{Thud}}'', Fred and Nobby suggest that the curator of the local art museum (who has been displaying a number of abstract works that look like piles of garbage) turn the empty frame where a stolen masterpiece had until the previous day resided be turned into a new work entitled "Art Theft".
* Played for horror in the CosmicHorrorStory ''Literature/TheHorrorFromTheHills'' by Creator/FrankBelknapLong, when a statue of the ancient deity [[AnimalisticAbomination Chaugnar]] [[CruelElephant Faugn]] is put on display at a museum. Unfortunately, as we gradually learn, it's not a statue. Chaugnar Faugn is just a world champion at freeze tag.

* On ''[[Series/TwoTwoSeven 227]]'', Mary is helping her friend clean up her art gallery in preparation for a show. When she forgets the bottle of Windex on a display stand, sure enough, the snooty art critic who's been deriding the real artists paintings can't stop fawning and gushing over it -- "Now ''this'' is art!"

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E2CityOfDeath "City of Death"]]: The Doctor and Romana leave the TARDIS at the Galerie Denise Rene. When they return, there are two people standing in front of it...

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E2TheFiresOfPompeii "The Fires of Pompeii"]]: Not only is the TARDIS mistaken for a modern art installation, but an enterprising street trader has sold it to a wealthy marble merchant, kicking off the MonsterOfTheWeek plot.

* ''Series/GetSmart''

* Inverted in one episode of ''Series/MissionImpossible'' where the villain of the week smuggles a sample of a classified alloy out of the US by using it to make an abstract sculpture. The team is tasked with retrieving the alloy from the sculpture at the art museum it is currently being stashed in before its intended recipient can collect it. The general opinion of the museum security staff (who are not aware of the sculpture's true purpose) on the work is "They paid ''how much'' for this thing? We should have been artists!"

-->'''Rimmer:''' Now this three-dimensional sculpture in particular is quite exquisite. Its simplicity, its bold, stark lines ... pray, what do you call it?\\

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* WesternAnimation/TheBeatles are at a weirdo art exhibit (episode "Twist and Shout") where Ringo tries to play a stone exhibit that looks like a drum set. The creator says it's a creation he calls "Portrait of Father."
-->'''Ringo:''' Oh...it's "pop" art!

* Actress Sheree J Wilson (of ''Series/{{Dallas}}'', and ''Series/WalkerTexasRanger'') got her start when she arrived at a fashion shoot to work as a photographer, only to be mistaken for the model in question. She was introduced to an agent who signed her to a contract instantly.