NEWS: Maurizio Cattelan’s Golden Toilet in the Time of Trump

Maurizio Cattelan came out of his self-imposed, five-year retirement from the art world just in time. His work has always been prescient, sometimes uncannily so. His life-like wax portrait of Pope Paul II in full papal regalia lying inert under a felled meteorite—La Nona Ora (The Ninth Hour) (1999)—presaged the sexual abuse scandals of the Catholic Church. AC Forniture Sud (Southern Suppliers FC [Football Club]), a performative piece from 1991 in which the artist organized an Italian soccer team exclusively comprising North African immigrants, coincided with the establishment of a xenophobic political party in Italy. What Cattelan couldn’t have predicted was the unprecedented number refugees that would land on Italian shores seeking asylum, or the rising tide of hatred and fear now sweeping Europe in response. Read More Read More