Hong Kong Peninsula Hotel, in front of the media, Sun Yuchen ate that banana, worth 6.24 million dollars.
It was a collection he bought through Sotheby's 7 days ago. Previously, no one expected it to fetch such a high price, no one expected the buyer to be Sun Yuchen, and no one expected it to be eaten so quickly.
Curiosity, ridicule, and controversy roared like the sea. At the center of the storm, Sun Yuchen said this was an artistic act of 'decentralization', and that banana has returned to the story.
This is the focus he wanted, and the expression he desired.
He has an obsession with expression. Seventeen years ago, his mode of expression was literature. That spring, he won the first prize in the ninth New Concept Writing Contest, and earlier winners included Guo Jingming and Han Han.
That year, 55 people won the first prize, and the award presenter was the writer A Lai. During the award ceremony, A Lai patted everyone on the shoulder, saying, 'Young people, there is great hope,' but Sun Yuchen believed it was said just to him.
On the auction day, Sotheby's staff bought bananas at a fruit stall in Manhattan's East Side, spending 35 cents. During the auction, seven people bid, with 32 rounds of bidding, and the final transaction price, including fees, was 6.24 million dollars, a value multiplied by tens of millions.
Sun Yuchen said that within half a minute after the bidding, media outlets like The New York Times and CNN wanted to interview him, and he immediately realized that the banana would become a hot topic. He decided on the spot to 'hold a press conference to eat it'.
Seven days later, at the press conference, he ate the banana, and during his speech, he said that this artwork had changed countless tapes and bananas in different exhibitions, unaffected by time and place, which is the charm of 'decentralization'.
He does not shy away from the promotional effect of the event, bluntly stating, 'The banana is now more popular than I am,' 'even my relatives in my village are asking about this matter.'