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Gucci’s Alessandro Michele and Maurizio Cattelan explore the complex relationships between representation and presentation and image and reality.
Entering a long, tunnellike room devoid of decoration save from a line slashing the middle to separate the Baker-Miller pink-painted area and the blue-fluorescent lighted area, artist Kapwani Kiwanga opens the “Artist is Present” exhibition with a question about using architecture to control bodies and counter behaviour—in this case, the supposed use of blue fluorescence to discourage drug abuse by reducing the visibility of veins, and of Baker-Miller’s pink to reduce aggressiveness, by copying and applying interdisciplinary studies with use of raw materials.
The bigger question posed throughout the 16 rooms at the exhibition is whether to copy or to not copy. One of the ever-challenging questions that echoes throughout the ages across the whole world, especially in today’s digital age that enables instant dissemination, is the stimulating issue that is even stronger in the creative realm.
This is why Gucci’s Creative Director Alessandro Michele stepped forward to answer it on a platform together with Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, who curated the pieces and angles at the Yuz Museum in Shanghai, China, from more than 30 diverse artists.
To announce the exhibition, posters of “ArtWalls” were painted in notable spots around Milan, New York, London, and Hong Kong leading up to the opening, and a special one in Shanghai revealed just days before the opening. Until December 16 visitors are able to digest and dissect the paradigm of the global culture that is chock-full of appropriation, simulation, and copy, starting from its title, the “Artist is Present”. With the main poster as an adoption with permission from Marina Abramovic’s notable solo show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the duo posit that the act of copying can be considered a noble act of creation, stemming from admiration and taking the result to a different context while still featuring the same artistic value as the original piece.
This story appears in the December 2018 issue of Indonesia Tatler. For the full story, grab the copy at your nearest newsstand, or subscribe here.
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Edith Emeralda is the editor of Indonesia Tatler who covers diverse topics from food, to watches, and even space! To fill the spaces between words, she worms through books, or discovers life’s nooks and crannies.
