Maurizio Cattelan

First exhibited in 1991 at the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Bologna, Stadium is the first major sculptural work created by Maurizio Cattelan; it is a football table over six meters long that can accommodate two teams for a total of 22 players. The work is activated by artistic happenings in which two teams face each other: one composed of white people and the other of migrants, the A.C. Southern Supplies. With the team name, Cattelan refers to the inexhaustible source of under-skilled and underpaid labor provided by migrants from the global south. Created as an anti-racist manifesto to reflect on the rising xenophobic climate in Italy in the early 1990s, Cattelan’s work creates a short-circuit between what is considered a national passion, soccer, and the still very topical issue that is the migrant and refugee crisis. Balancing between entertainment and social critique, Stadium proves to be a poignant reflection on the models of integration – somewhere between encounter and clash – that European societies have adopted in recent years toward migrants.

Maurizio Cattelan (1960, Padua, Italy) lives and works in Milan and New York. Since the 1990s, Cattelan has been internationally recognised for his ironic and provocative works that test the limits of contemporary value systems. By choosing recognisable symbols for his works, Cattelan triggers complex systems of meanings while refusing to take moral or ideological positions and stimulating the viewer to reflect. His solo exhibitions include: UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing (2022), Pirelli Hangar Bicocca, Milan (2021); Blenheim Palace, UK (2019); La Monnaie de Paris, Paris (2016); Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, Switzerland (2013); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2012); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2011); The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas (2010); DESTE Foundation, Athens (2010); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2008); and Tate Modern, London. In 2004 he received an honorary degree in Sociology from the University of Trento.