and institutions of power, the museum being just one among many targets of ridicule. His goal is not to do away with the museum as a platform for art but rather to harness its energy in order to create the unexpected, to change the terms defining what constitutes an exhibition and an artist’s involvement in its making. In short, to work successfully with Cattelan means to become complicit with his schemes and take institutional and personal risks—whether allowing him to break into galleries, steal the contents of another exhibition, or plan an escape route from the show. A host of curators, museum directors, and gallery owners before me have aligned their vision with the artist’s to achieve remarkable and memorable projects that tested the limits of their respective institutions, and the same is true for the Guggenheim, where Cattelan’s astounding response to our invitation to present a retrospective of his work has required a critical leap of faith from the museum’s administration and all the lenders who have so graciously and bravely shared their works with us. This is not to say that the museum has thrown caution to the wind or short-circuited its fundamental values of scholarship and connoisseurship to realize the artist’s site-specific installation. In accepting his dramatic proposal or, perhaps I should say, his dare, we needed to reconcile our institutional standards and best practices with the outrageousness of his ideas. This exhibition and accompanying catalogue attest to both the power and provocation of Cattelan’s concept and the museum’s ability to remain agile and responsive in the face of the truly experimental.
Maurizio Cattelan: All is a retrospective in the truest sense of the word; it contains key examples of almost everything the artist has produced. As a site-specific installation in the museum’s soaring Frank Lloyd Wright–designed rotunda, its utter cohesion in the space makes it also seem a work of art unto itself. The exhibition comprises a temporary monument to Cattelan’s brilliant artistic career, one that has melded the most traditional of art forms—figurative sculpture—with a comic, Pop sensibility to create indelible imagery infused with both melancholy and searing social critique. In the all-encompassing spirit of the exhibition, this book provides a detailed overview of the artist’s oeuvre, complete with entries on virtually every object he has made and every action performed since the late 1980s. Modeled on an old textbook, with an additional, undeniable stylistic reference to the Bible, the publication also documents what was not possible to capture in the exhibition: Cattelan’s ongoing and highly significant extracurricular activities as a curator, editor, and publisher.
The concept and execution of this exhibition and book represent a true collaboration between artist and institution. Though Cattelan challenged and prodded us throughout the entire process, from inception to realization, he has been a most receptive and engaged partner. Cattelan’s critical approach to his own production and his keen understanding of how the work best functions in the world have been a constant source of inspiration. It has been a true privilege to assist him in realizing his unorthodox vision at the Guggenheim. I am most grateful to him for sharing his thoughts and ever-poignant art with me. This book greatly benefited from his exacting eye and intuitive understanding of print media. I must also acknowledge the essential contribution of Chad Kloepfer, who not only expertly designed the catalogue but contributed in many vital ways to its conceptual development. I would like to recognize Katherine Brinson, Diana Kamin, William S. Smith, and Susan Thompson, who wrote the entries on the works in the exhibition and key performative actions by the artist, which also form the core of an app accompanying the show.
The exhibition has been achieved through the critical and sustained support of many gifted and devoted individuals. Our utmost gratitude is reserved for Lucio Zotti, Zeno Zotti, and Jacopo Zotti, who form the nerve center of the Maurizio Cattelan Archive in Milan. They helped mastermind the unique installation design and also provided invaluable assistance with our inquiries regarding loans and reproductions. Photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari responded to our many requests for images with much-appreciated speed and precision. A special thanks is reserved for the staffs of Cattelan’s galleries, who have been enormously helpful in our research on the current owners of his works all over the world. I would like to mention specifically the following individuals: in Milan, Massimo De Carlo, Oda Albera, Elena Micheluzzi, Anna Maria Soverini, and Stefano Zicchieri of Massimo De Carlo; in Paris, Emmanuel Perrotin, Nathalie Brambilla, Philippe Joppin, and Soizic Oger of Galerie Perrotin; and in New York, Marian Goodman, Rose Lord, Catherine Belloy, Elaine Budin, and Brian Loftus of Marian Goodman Gallery.
I would also like to extend my appreciation to those who provided vital assistance with the research necessary for planning the exhibition and producing this book, as well as the enthusiastic champions of the project since its inception many years ago: Naomi Abe, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Kimberly Aubuchon, Artpace, San Antonio, Texas; Charles Barachon, Technikart, Paris; Christopher Bastock, Tate Library and Archive, London; Chiara Bertola and Valentina Sonzogni, Castello di Rivoli, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli-Turin; Jimena Blázquez Abascal and Elisa Pozzi, Fundación Montenmedio arte contemporánea (NMAC), Cádiz, Spain; Francesco Bonami; Cécile Brilloit, Musée de Grenoble, France; Piero Cadoni, GAM Galleria civica d’arte moderna e contemporanea, Turin; Amy Cappellazzo, Christie’s, New York; Emanuela Porta Casucci, Centro per l’arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy; Clarenza Catullo, MART Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Italy; Germano Celant; Silvia Chiodi, My Private, Milan; Jeanne Lil Chvosta, The Rachofsky Collection, Dallas; Valérie Martine Civita; Francesca Cogoni, Umberta Genta, and Nicola Trezzi, Flash Art, Milan and New York; Meritxell Colina, MACBA Museu d’art contemporani de Barcelona; Valentina Costa, Galleria Massimo Minini, Brescia, Italy; Michael Darling and Jennifer Draffen, Museum of ContemporaryArt, Chicago; Jade Dellinger, Artsites, Tampa, Florida; Flavio Del Monte; Lisa Dennison and Jessica Yakubowicz, Sotheby’s, New York; Nell Donkers, de Appel, Amsterdam; Isa Ferri and Valeria Marchi, Fondazione galleria civica, Centro di ricerca sulla contemporaneità di Trento, Italy; Claire FitzGerald, Mamco, Musée d’art moderne et contemporain, Geneva; Laure Genillard; Gino Gianuizzi, Galleria Neon, Bologna; Massimiliano Gioni; Marven Graf, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany; Stefan Gronert, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany; Anna-Lena Gugger and Judith Welter, migros museum für gegenwartskunst, Zurich; Sandy Heller, Zuzanna Ciolek, and Chloé Geary, The Heller Group, New York; Carol Huang, Yageo Foundation, Taiwan; Astrid Hulsmann, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands; Madeline Hurst; Esther Jackson, Time Out, London; Brigitte Kappenberg, Münster Marketing, Germany; Meta Kordiš, UGM Umetnostna galerija Maribor, Slovenia; Odile de Labouchere and Isabelle Nahum-Saltiel, Groupe Artémis, Paris; Tabitha Langton-Lockton, Corvi-Mora, London; Seungmin Lee, Kukje Gallery, Seoul; Angela Macelli, Musei civici di Pavia, Italy; Sonia Magri; Tiziana Malaguti; Marylène Malbert and Barbara Polla, Galerie Analix Forever, Geneva; Paola Manfrin; Carla Mantovani, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; Charlotte Morris, Ben Brown Fine Arts, London and Hong Kong; Simone Moser, MUMOK Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna; Esty Neuman; Elisabeth Nowak-Thaller, Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz, Austria; Bernie O’Brien; Hans Ulrich Obrist; Jeanette Pacher, Wiener Secession, Vienna; Suzanne Pagé; Kay C. Pallister; Béatrice Parent; Giovanni Parenzan; Martine Péan, CAPC Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, France; Peter Peer, Universalmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria; Daniele Perra, Kult, Milan; Natasha Polymeropoulos and Eugenia Stamatopoulou, The Dakis Joannou Collection Foundation, Athens; Flavia Possenti; Maria Luisa Prete, Inside Art, Rome; Paolo Priolo, Klat, Milan; Umberto Raucci, Giorgio Salzano, and Carlo Santamaria, Galleria Raucci/Santamaria, Naples; Debbie Rizzo; Berta de la Rosa, Antonio Colombo arte contemporanea, Milan; Juan Roselione-Valadez, Rubell Family Collection, Miami; Ryan Russo and Sandra Sanches, The Buhl Collection, New York; Allan Schwartzman; Nicola von Senger, Galerie Nicola von Senger, Zurich; Carla Sgaravatti; Mo Shannon; Sarah Stein-Sapir, Phillips de Pury & Company, New York; Andrew Stewart, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; Ali Subotnick; Patriciana Tenicela, Inked Magazine, New York; Dirk Teuber, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany; Flavio Urrai; Ivan Maria Vele, Boiler Corporation, Milan; Roberto Vidali, Spazio Juliet, Trieste, Italy; Yvonne Force Villareal; Monica Viti, Hager and Partners, Bolzano, Italy; Amy Weinblum; Maria White, Tate Collection, London; and Silvia Zancanella.
The Guggenheim Museum has a long history of giving form to the most radical of artistic visions, often achieving what one thought to be impossible. Maurizio Cattelan: All required an entire team of inspired coworkers who believed in the
