The city of Milan announced a new project with Maurizio Cattelan, one of the most celebrated artists of his generation.
The event comes a decade after the donation by the artist of “L.O.V.E.,” his now-iconic marble monument that portrays a hand with severed fingers, except for the middle one, installed in front of the Milan Stock Exchange.
The eloquent yet not trivial work has become a symbol of the city of Milan since its inauguration in 2010.
The new project, titled “Lullaby,” is the result of a collaboration between the Museo del Novecento, the Maurizio Cattelan’s Archive, and the Cimitero Monumentale. The exhibition is opening in the cremation room of the Monumental Cemetery on 30 March.
The title stems from the work with the same name created by Cattelan in 1994. It is one of two works made of layered sacks filled with rubble from an explosion at the Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea (PAC).
In 1993, a Mafia-related terrorist event that killed five people instigated much public outcry.
The work, which is particularly meaningful for the history of Milan, will be donated by the artist to the City Collections.
At the end of the exhibition (6 November), the work will enter the collections of the Museo del Novecento.
“I am very grateful to Maurizio Cattelan,” said Tommaso Sacchi, the Councilor for Culture of the City of Milan, on Tuesday morning during the press presentation of the Milano Art Week, the annual week-long event that celebrate art and culture.
“He has a long relationship with this city,” added Mr. Sacchi.
Cattelan’s latest solo exhibition titled “Breath, Ghosts, Blind” recently closed at the Pirelli HangarBicocca. The project featured three works, including a monumental new one presented to the public for the first time: a giant monolith with an airplane intersecting it at its top.
A solo exhibition of his work is also opening in the coming weeks at the Milan gallery MASSIMODECARLO.
