"Armed with his $3.5 million Stradivarius violin, Bell pitched up at the top of an escalator in a metro station in Washington DC during morning rush hour, put a hat in the ground to collect donations and performed for 43 minutes... By the end of his performance, Bell had collected a measly $32.17 in his hat."
From the Art chapter. Not my kind of gig so I doubt I would have stopped or donated, but it is funny how the value of art is perceived based on the context and the reactions of others.