Napoli

Naples, what a city! People are smiling all the time. At first you feel uncomfortable when a person start to chat with you without any reason, but then you realize it's just their way to be...so different from London!
Naples is a beautiful city, full of history and art, with amazing parks and a lovely seaside.
In Naples there is also a very good and big Contemporary Art Museum.
Its name is Madre (in Italian, mother).


An art installation by Bianco-Valente, called Relational, in the yard of the museum.

What surprised me in this Museum was the huge presence of works by Damien Hirst, really impressive, I've never seen so many, and all together!
Except this, I was delighted to see their collection: Anish Kapoor, Jannis Kounnelis, Georg Baselitz, Mimmo Paladino, Francesco Clemente, Vanessa Beecroft and many others...
In the museum, they also organize night with DJ and cinema screening...amazing!!
When I was inside, I discovered that the exhibition continued in the adjacent deconsecrated church. I was suprised. In a city still so traditional, where the biggest attraction are monuments from the past as churches, castles or monasteries, it is strange to see a church used as a contemporary art location.
Anyway, my surprise didn't end here. I entered and I've seen a piece by Maurizio Cattelan hanging down in the altar. Cattelan is well known for being a provocateur, but he always does it in a smart and unexpected way.
Well, to see this artwork inside a church in Naples was a strong experience for me. I sudden thought: this must have created loads of polemics. When I came back in my hotel, I checked in the Internet and actually what I thought was true. Cattelan's piece didn't get a lot of support from Naples.



I discovered that Cattelan took the image from a picture of the artist Francesca Woodman, famous for her black and white photographs featuring herself, who died in 1981 for suicide.



In the first exhibition, the artwork didn't have the box all around. But then Cattelan saw it packaged, and he understood this was the finished work.

In Italy sometimes things are really predictable. I knew this artwork was criticized, even if I still don't understand why. I know it is a strong image, but not stronger than some olden painting with martyrs rapresented.
But for a contemporary critique artwork, doubt and disdain are automatic as a matter of course.