Finding a needle in a haystack sounds tough, which is why the idiom is thrown around as a way of calling something impossible. But one Italian artist decided to take on the challenge to really find a needle in a real haystack... all in the name of art.
Sven Sachsalber, who is based in New York, installed hay in the middle of the Palais de Tokyo gallery in Paris. He had no idea where the needle was and it took him 48 hours to finally find it, reports The Daily Mail.
As NBC News notes, the gallery live-streamed the entire event on YouTube.
Of course, since this is art, the act meant more to Sachsalber than just trying to prove that one could find a needle in a haystack. Gallery president Jean de Loisy said that the artist was also exploring the relationship between words and the actions they describe.
“I don't think there is anyone, regardless of whether they like modern art or not, who would not be intrigued by this childish question - can it actually be done, or is ‘Searching for a needle in a haystack’ simply a turn of phrase?” De Loisy told reporters.
Sachsalber doesn’t really consider himself a “performance artist” specifically, but he has done crazy stunts in the past as art. The gallery notes that he has also eaten a poisonous mushroom, spent 24 hours in a room with a cow, and tried to cut a tree by hand.
image via Twitter from Palais de Tokyo