Art, part 2

Regular sniffy aficionados will know about my little problem with "art".

Nice then to learn that a £42,500 "exhibit" may have been mistakenly drunk by a visitor to an art exhibition in Devon, or Dorset or somewhere (£42,500 bottle of water snatched). Here's a snippet from the account:

The two-litre clear plastic bottle containing melted ice from the Antarctic was devised to highlight global warming by artist Wayne Hill. But the warm weather is thought to have got the better of someone who snatched it at the Ways with Words festival at Dartington Hall in south Devon.

American-born Mr Hill said the bottle was clearly a work of art.

He said: "It looked like an ordinary bottle of water. But it was on a plinth, labelled, described and in the programme of the whole festival."

The piece, entitled Weapon of Mass Destruction, vanished half way through the festival. Mr Hill fears the bottle was taken and then drunk.

"It was there and then it was gone," he said.

"You do not expect people that come to the festival to be grand theft type of people and security at Dartington is very good, so it is a mystery."

He added: "It is a strong piece and I would like to get my hands on it. It was scheduled for further exhibitions later on in the year, and it was getting around and gaining a small reputation for itself."

Tosser