Maurizio CATTELAN

Who has the power over art, society, life, and death? Using satire and humour, provocation and seriousness Maurizio Cattelan, one of the most prominent and irreverent artists of our times, questions the conventions of society in general and the art world in particular. The exhibition "The Third Hand" includes several of Maurizio Cattelan’s most iconic works alongside pieces that he has chosen from Moderna Museet’s collection.

Born in Italy in 1960, Maurizio Cattelan has been living in Milan and New York for the past thirty years. The scrutiny of power and belief systems is a theme that runs through his entire body of work but he leaves the interpretation of his artworks to the viewer: 

A pope is struck down by a meteorite, pigeons watch us from above, a shrunk Sistine Chapel lets us see all the amazing details at eye level, a dictator becomes a pathetic figure, perhaps asking for forgiveness, a monumental fascist greeting is nullified by missing fingers, a man and a dog seem to share a common dream or death… 

The exhibition’s title is open to interpretation. Perhaps it is Maurizio Cattelan himself who is the third hand, who inserts himself between the institution Moderna Museet and its collection to interrogate and shine a critical light:

Which art should be part of a collection? Which works should be exhibited? What or who decides what is important art? 
Maurizio Cattelan’s encounter with and selection from Moderna Museet’s collection extends over six galleries, in which works by Swedish and international artists are shown together with his own.