Cesare Pietroiusti
Si dona
6. April – 26. June 2016

Money, markets and value influence art, but what influence does art have on money?

Italian artist Cesare Pietroiusti takes up this complex issue, and presents at Kunstverein Arnsberg a series of works which defy the perception and logic of economy. Pietroiusti does not sell his work, but instead promotes inflation and speculates with the rules of the art market. 

For Kunstverein Arnsberg, Pietroiusti has produced numerous drawings which members and visitors can take away with them for free, on the condition that they complete the drawing. The new owner of the drawing is contractually obliged to complete the drawing by destroying it.

Paradoxes and mental games feature heavily in Pietroiusti's work and unfold through the participation of the visitor. The authorship and ownership of artwork is also addressed in another of Pietroiusti's works, where visitors will have the opportunity to invest in his art. In Arnsberg Cesare Pietroiusti will chew up a 500 Euro note, turning it into a small sculpture. Visitors can invest in shares of this sculptural artwork, which will then be sold at an international art auction, the revenue from the sale being paid out to the shareholders.

Pietroiusti's artworks are the work not only of the artist's head and hand, sometimes they even wander through his body - for example in his legendary performances where banknotes are swallowed, digested and returned to their owners. Turning around the question of how money changes people, he investigates how people change money. In a triangle of art, money and waste he reflects on principles of economy, and shows his findings with analytical sharpness and a lot of humour.

Cesare Pietroiusti was born in 1955 in Rome. He studied medicine, received his doctoral degree in psychiatry and is professor of fine arts at IUAV in Venice and at Lesley University, Boston. He lives and works in Rome.

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