the artwork by removed by cleaning staff has now been fully reinstalled.
— Museion (@MuseionBZ) WASHINGTON 鈥斅燗n art installation in an Italian gallery was supposed to look like trash. Evidently, they did a good job, because last week the cleaning crew treated it accordingly.
The piece by the artistic team of Goldschmied & Chiari is called 鈥淒ove andiamo a ballare questa sera?鈥� (Where Shall We Go Dancing Tonight?), and according to , in the South Tyrol town of Bolzano, it鈥檚 intended to look like the aftermath of a party聽鈥� a comment on the end of 鈥渁 period of consumerism, financial speculation, the advent of commercial TV and much partying鈥� in Italy.
鈥渢he aftermath of the party, the leftovers of the feast: the metaphorical tree of abundance in ruins.鈥�
Unfortunately, when the cleaning crew came in last Saturday to clean up after an actual party, they got their detritus mixed up, and hauled the art piece away.
鈥淚t was the result of a misunderstanding with the staff of the cleaning company,鈥� the museum says in a statement. Museum director Letizia Ragaglia tells聽, 鈥淲hen she saw all the bottles of Champagne in the foyer, she thought that must have been the right room.”
All involved were in luck: Thanks to the fact that everything went into the recycling bins, everything but the 30 Champagne bottles was retrieved, and the exhibit was rebuilt.
The museum adds that this isn鈥檛 the first time this sort of thing has happened, and says, 鈥淚t all goes to show how contemporary art is capable of arousing great interest, or even annoying people. We believe it is essential to keep this dialogue open.鈥�
Indeed, the museum is holding a talk next month entitled 鈥淎rt or trash?,鈥� tracing the use of found and recycled materials by artists such as Picasso and Duchamp.
Critic Vittorio Sgarbi isn鈥檛 having it, though.
“If she thought it was rubbish, it means it was. Art should be understood by everyone 鈥� including cleaners. The fact that the museum could simply pick the pieces from the trash bin and put them back together shows you that wasn’t art in the first place,” he聽tells NBC 草莓传媒.
