PALERMO, SICILY
June 10 - November 04, 2001
Maurizio Cattelan has been invited in 2001 for the 49° Venice Biennal. Weary of his fourth participation, he wished to move the context of his participation to the city of Palermo, Sicily.
Maurizio Cattelan constructed on the hills of the city a perfect copy of the sign "Hollywood", emblem of the american star system situated on the hills of Los Angeles.
This huge installation, constructed near the municipal dumb, it's 22 metres of height for 180 metres of lenght.
150 people among collectors, critics and curators were invited the day of the opening of the Biennal to take a plane from Venice direction Palermo for a special cocktail in front of the installation and then back to Venice the same evening. The public was so urged to leave a paradise of tourisme of luxe to go to visit a city stroken by 22% of unemployment.
The guests received on the plane a big catalogue, published by Vanity Fair, were all the Hollywood stars were reproduced. The cover was the image of the fake Hollywood of Palermo.
This photo, taken by the helicopter during the opening day, gives the idea of this huge project. Indeed, through its back side view, we can discern, in the order, the proportions of the letters, the cocktail, his public and the city at the bottom.
Many Cattelan's works function through the rumour. This piece has been propagated by 150 guests, only witness that day of this project. It's quite rare that an artist becoming famous makes fun of the star system itself.
Would Hollywood be the capital of the world-wide cinema if movies on the sicilian mafia would not have been made?
"The construction is a cylindrical structure, made up of innumerable nylon wires that stand vertically and to which are attached nails whose points are turned toward the visitor. When these are approached, sensors are activated that make all tips shift in one collective, threatening movement. The fragility of the structure and the delicacy of the movement itself, however, seem to restrict the action and thus negate the potential aggression in the act."
