ROTTERDAM.- Staff at Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, are baffled by the mystery that unfolded yesterday, when an artwork measuring 30 x 11m disappeared from its façade.

"Between you and I" is a year-long collaboration between Witte de With and SKOR which presents four massive artworks mounted as billboard-sized banners on its building (located on Rotterdam's cultural artery, the Witte de Withstraat). It is part of Witte de With's ongoing Morality project, that sees a range of activities taking place inside and outside the art center, including two exhibitions that open this Friday.

Yesterday, as the first artwork, "The Feast of Trimalchio" by Russian artist group AES+F was being removed from the building, the massive artwork was stolen from the pavement. Workmen were busy installing the second artwork, an image of the late Michael Jackson signed by German artist Isa Genzken, when the work mysteriously disappeared.

Witte de With's director, Nicolaus Schafhausen, expressed his amazement that such a theft could take place in broad daylight, given the size and weight of the canvas. The artists have been informed and police are now searching for a banner the size of a playground.