Italian artistic duo Antonio Garullo and Mario Ottocento - who were also one of the first couples to enter into a same-sex marriage in the Netherlands in 2002 - have set up a shocking installation in the Palazzo Ferraioli, in the centre of the city. The installation consists of a life-sized silicon model of former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, apparently on his deathbed. The highly lifelike figure is on display from 30 May.
Entitled "Il sogno degli italiani", the work show presents Italy’s longest serving post-war prime minister in a glass coffin, in a state of apparent bliss. A broad smile stretches across his face. In his right hand, he clutches a copy of a campaign leaflet delivered to millions of Italian voters during the last election, while his left is shown to be resting on the undone flies of his trousers. He is dressed in a shirt and suit, with somewhat improbably Mickey Mouse slippers on his feet.
According to the artists, with this installation, which presents an effigy of ex-Italian leader in a way that echoes presentation of Christian saints, or leaders that were the subject of personality cults (such as Mao or Lenin), in order to underline the once esteemed place that Berlusconi once had in Italian politics, and his fall from it.
Source: Art Media Agency Via: Zeutch
