IKEA Pictures in a Museum

Dutch YouTube pranksters managed to trick more than a dozen art lovers into thinking that a cheap print from IKEA was a valuable work of modern art.

The team placed the cheap canvas on display in a museum of modern art in the Netherlands and asked the art lovers for an appraisal, saying that the art was by a famous Swedish artist called ‘Ike Andrews’.

Apparently, nearly all of the 20 people interviewed fell for the lie; they talked of modernity, symbolism, emotion – the usual talk of an ‘expert’. The team eventually revealed its IKEA hoax and a majority of the art lovers saw the funny side but not all were pleased about being duped.

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Questions

1. Have you ever been duped, or conned?

2. Do you know of any other pranks that duped many people?

3. Have you ever played a prank on someone? If so, what was it, and how did the other person react?

Let us know your thoughts and ideas below!