I bought the Italian version of the catalog of the exhibition by Maurizio Cattelan at the Guggenheim in New York. It is a catalog of ordinary and abnormal together. The catalog is anomalous because it is packaged as a book of medium size, hard cover with red inscriptions in gold, high-quality paper, with the characters through. An ancient book. I think the idea is linked to the second aspect, the ordinary one: contrary to the shows the catalog provides an orderly and systematic account of all the works of the artist. Indeed, it is a veritable monograph devoted to the artist, curator Nancy Spector wrote it with rigor and austerity. It seems to me that in parallel to the complicated set-up work, Cattelan has commissioned (or accepted) a work of reflection on his career so far I do not think anyone had ever attempted. In interviews in recent days Spector said that Cattelan is not taken seriously and this book seems to me that he wanted to fill this gap. Moreover Cattelan in the same book-length interview with Catherine Grenier says that “few critics have been able to do a proper job of digging to get to understand what I do”. Here are home to 255 of 179 pages of a long essay by Spector chapters with high-sounding titles: “The aesthetics of failure”, “political dimension”, “Dualism and death”, “From the irrilevance to the iconoclasm”, “Culture and entertainment mediated image”. The text is stuffed with notes and is completed with a long bibbliography. The rest of the pages are the real catalog in which each work is shown with a small picture and a paragraph of explanation about the circumstances and starting points for interpretation.

The text of Spector need to be read carefully. I have limited myself to read the two pages (too few) dedicated to “The Ninth Hour”, the work of the Pope struck by a meteorite. I must say that, unfortunately, I was very disappointed. Accomplice in a typical stereotypical prejudice for the Catholic Church, the analysis is fairly flat and take out things much deeper Cattelan said about this work is in the interviews for the exhibition in Milan in 2010, both in the book of Gernier. Too bad.

Artribune has published some photos of the exhibition at the Guggenheim by Cattelan. I have the impression that this exhibition enhances the image of Cattelan more than his works, confirming the fact that the Paduan artist’spieces draw much of their strength from their location. De-contextualize works such as the Ninth Hour, Him, or All means subtract 80% of their charm.Cattelan Guggenheim tries to impress everyone by becoming a single work all the works carried out since the beginning of his career. The exhibition should be seen live, but from the images that come from New York I do not know if the bet was won. On the contrary. I unfortunately I can not go to the Guggenheimand will remain throughout life with doubt (unless one of my four readers did not offer me a return ticket to the Big Apple).

Premessa: forse è tutta una balla. Ma nel caso i primi a cascarci sarebbero stati quelli del New York Times che hanno dato la notizia in anteprima. La notizia: il 4 novembre inaugura al Guggenheim di New York la tanto annunciata retrospettiva di Maurizio Cattelan e a sorpresa – e come se no? – la mostra sarà allestista appendendo le opere a delle funi in mezzo al “buco” in mezzo alla spirale disegnata da Frank Lloyd Wright. Opere come salami. Giovanni Paolo II, Hitler bambino, i poliziotti a testa in giù, i cavalli (già appesi), Cattelan stesso… tutti appesi come dal salumiere.

And so it happens that beginning on Nov. 4 the Guggenheim will mount one of the strangest, most audacious exhibitions in its half-century history, suspending several thousand pounds’ — and many tens of millions of dollars’ — worth of high-end, internationally collected art from cables attached to a heavy-duty aluminum truss installed almost 90 feet in the air under the museum’s glass dome.

Sarà vero?

A pochi minuti dalla proclamazione del vincitore del Turner Prize 2010, NO NAME è orgoglioso di presentare la short list del Flower Prize 2010. Il premio, istituito nel 2009 ma già considerato a livello internazionale, si propone di segnalare la miglior opera eseguita nell’anno appena concluso e vista di persona dal titolare del presente blog. Ricordiamo che nel 2009 il Flower Prize venne assegnato a Marc Quinn per l’opera “Thomas Beatie”.

La proclamazione del vincitore avverrà il 12 dicembre alle ore 12.

Ecco dunque la short list:

1) CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI con PERSONNES

2) GIOVANNI FRANGI con GIARDINI PUBBLICI

3) JULIA KRAHN con MUTTER

4) MAURIZIO CATTELAN con L.O.V.E.

5) JAMES TURREL con DHāTU