Gucci’s ingenious creative director, Alessandro Michele, and Italian artist, Maurizio Cattelan, cross paths in a dream which will be brought into existence on October 10, 2018. Their exhibition project will take place in Shanghai, the homeland to “the copy is the original” thought.
“The Artist is Present”, curated by Cattelan and powered by Michele’s Gucci, is an act of appropriation highlighted by its title which is borrowed from Marina Abramovic’s 2010 exhibition.
The two connoisseurs of the significant role of appropriation in the history of arts and both well versed of the complex and long-lasting relationship between image and reality, explore in this project how originality can be reached through the act of repetition as well as how originals themselves can be preserved through copies. The show focuses on the work of artists who propose simulation and copy as a paradigm of global culture.
Filmmaker Yuri Ancarani shot Cattelan and his team during the creative process and their trip in the Chinese metropolis, Shanghai, and created a compelling video and visual deluge.