A pair of glasses left on the floor became one of the main attractions at a gallery this week.

During a visit to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 17-year-old TJ Khayatan and his friends decided to play a practical joke on the rest of the visitors. The group had been wandering around the gallery and were unimpressed by some of the work on display – namely a “stuffed animal on a grey blanket”. Speaking to Buzzfeed Khayatan said: “Upon first arrival we were quite impressed with the artwork and paintings presented in the huge facility. However, some of the ‘art’ wasn’t very surprising to some of us.”

In a bid to prove that anything presented in an art gallery setting can become a postmodern masterpiece, Khayatan set the glasses on the floor and walked away. Then, sure enough, a number of visitors started to surround the ‘artwork’, staring pensively and taking pictures of what they thought was a part of the installation. What does it all mean?

The photos of the art prank have since gone viral, garnering around 45,000 RTs. While some tweeters are using the stunt as a reason to condemn the art world the prankster himself isn’t quite as bitter.

Khayatan, who also played a similar practical joke using a baseball cap and a bin, added: “I can agree that modern art can be a joke sometimes, but art is a way to express our own creativity. Some may interpret it as a joke, some might find great spiritual meaning in it. At the end of the day, I see it as a pleasure for open-minded people and imaginative minds.”