You know that, nowadays, anything is art. So this story was probably inevitable:

Artist David Hensel submitted a sculpture to London’s Royal Academy of Arts for consideration for its upcoming “Exhibit 1201” exhibit. But at some point in transit the sculpture, “a finely wrought laughing head in jesmonite,” got separated from its plinth.

You can probably guess what happened next: the Academy blithely selected the plinth for inclusion in the exhibit.

Total number of applicants: 9000.

One wonders what these artists will choose to submit next year. This one’s going to be hard to top.

Actually, the funniest thing about the story is that the Academy has refused to reconsider its selection:

[T]he Royal Academy denies having made an error, for the plinth and hastily carved wooden support were, according to an official statement, “thought to have merit.”

(Ah, the passive voice, last refuge for rogues, thieves, and reality-challenged connoisseurs of art.)