Cattelan speaks in public for the first time. The full text of the speech

During the ceremony of conferring the title of honorary professor of the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara, held today, Monday, April 23, 2018, Maurizio Cattelan (Padua, 1960), confessed that today was his first speech in front of an audience. Therefore, we offer the full text of the Veneto artist’s speech.

“This is the first time I am speaking in public. First of all I would like to thank this Academy, its faculty and its director for this beautiful ceremony and this honor. In my case it is proof that sometimes you learn more on the school road than in the school. I want to thank all the artists past and present for being my silent teachers. Each of them has shown me that boundaries do not exist. Our vocabulary can be invented every day, and if something does not exist, we can create it. They taught me that rules must be learned, but to miss all the fun they must not be constantly broken. Some of them showed me that making art is like owning minds. Through their practice, many artists have suggested to me that without discipline, silence, determination, sacrifice, passion, joy, madness, risk and irrationality, the result of our work is purely an exercise in style. Everyone agrees that an artist’s mission is to discover symbols. Only with those can we transcend fashions, taste and well-thinking, and engage in a battle with history and dialogue with our darkest fears. I would like to thank all the people who have stood by me over the years and with much patience have helped, advised and often usefully criticized me. Without them my work would have been less punctual and much more riddled with mistakes. Thanks to the friends who are here with me today and for whom I collaborate on various projects, for allowing me to explore the peripheries of the language of art and discover new languages. Thanks in particular to Lucio Zotti, whom I could call my third eye: together we started this adventure called art and together we saw the birth of many of my works. Finally, I would like to thank Carrara, its marble and the pride of those who work it, because here I discovered a material with which history is written. I would also like to thank all the students of this Academy, who with their enthusiasm and creativity will be the artists of tomorrow.”

Pictured: Maurizio Cattelan (...sponsored by Huawei!) today during the ceremony at the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara.

Cattelan speaks in public for the first time. The full text of the speech

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