NGV Triennial to Show Maurizio Cattelan's Duct-taped Banana

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Cattelan’s fruit-based conceptual work will make its Australian debut at the National Gallery of Victoria‘s Triennial exhibition from 3 December 2023 to 7 April 2024.

’Maurizio Cattelan is a leading global artist whose work encourages us to consider some of the contradictions and paradoxes of contemporary society,’ said NGV Director Tony Ellwood.

‘This Australian-exclusive iteration of Comedian will doubtlessly connect with visitors in different ways,’ he added.

Comedian (2019), which is satirically based on the conceptual premise of sticking a banana to a gallery wall with a piece of duct tape, has sold for as high as US $150,000 for an edition.

Cattelan described the work as ‘exactly like an apple for Cézanne: the minimum common denominator that everybody recognises. But you need to alter its condition.’ ‘Cézanne does it with brush strokes, I do it with gaffer tape,’ he stated.

The controversial artwork made artworld headlines in 2019 when artist David Datuna removed the banana and ate it as an unsanctioned performance at Art Basel Miami. In May this year it was eaten again, by a Seoul university student at the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul.

The actual banana is replaced every three-to-five days, according to the artist’s specifications—making the cost of the destruction of the physical work little more than the price of the banana and some duct tape.

The NGV Triennial’s third edition will present over 75 projects by more than 100 artists, designers, and collectives across all four floors of NGV International in Melbourne.

Other recently announced additions to the show’s line-up include Paris-based artist Ulla von Brandenburg‘s new film and textile installation Underwater Theatre (2023), commissioned by the NGV; and three video works on First Nation perspectives in North America by Ho-Chunk Nation artist, film-maker and MacArthur ‘Genius’ Sky Hopinka.

The NGV will also present clothing from recent collections by established Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen, and rising fashion star Thebe Magugu.

Artists including Shara Hughes, and Glenn Brown have also been added to the Triennial’s roster.

The exhibition will feature works by a number of internationally recognised names, including Yinka Shonibare CBE, Yoko Ono, and Tracey Emin. —[O]

Main image: Maurizio Cattelan's Comedian at UCCA Beijing/Shenzen-Leeum, Seoul, 2023-Roma Palazzo Bonaparte, (2023). Courtesy UCCA Center for Contemporary Art.