Why didn’t this work?
Remember the KLF? Sure you do. British? 80s-90s? Hrm.
Well, they created a foundation for promotion of avant garde arts, and as part of this they burned a million quid of their own money. Here is the documentary, in 6 parts. The burning is in part 2:
part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
part 6
By most measures at the time and since, this act was an artistic and social failure. Wikipedia has more. The question is, what made this sad and gross, and not art?