Cornelia Parker, an artist, interfered with The Kiss with the consent of the Tate Britain gallery, where it was on display at the time, by surrounding the artwork in a mile of string in the spring of 2003. This was a nod to Marcel Duchamp's 1942 usage of the same length of rope to build a web inside an exhibition. Although the interference had been sanctioned by the museum, many spectators of the artwork deemed it insulting to the artwork, provoking a further unapproved action, in which Parker's rope was severed by Piers Butler, as lovers stood around indulging in live kissing. One has to wonder if the interference of Parker’s work can itself be considered an act of art. Whether it was deemed so by the gallery seems rather immaterial - none of the artists who intervened with the original piece had the artist’s permission in the first place. Art is often reactionary, so, as long as the original artwork was not damaged, then perhaps both acts can be regarded as artistic efforts.