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America (Cattelan)

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America is a sculpture created in 2016 by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. An example of satirical participatory art,[1] it is a fully functioning toilet made of 18-karat solid gold.[1][2] It was stolen in 2019 from Blenheim Palace, where it was exhibited on loan from the permanent collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

America
Golden toilet
Sculpture installed at the Guggenheim Museum in 2016
ArtistMaurizio Cattelan
Year2016
MediumGold sculpture
ConditionLost

Exhibitions

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Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

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Cattelan created the toilet in 2016 for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. It was made in a foundry in Florence, cast in several parts that were welded together. Made to look like the museum's other Kohler toilets, it was installed in one of the museum's bathrooms for visitors to use.[3][4] A special cleaning routine was put in place.[5] The museum stated that the work was paid for with private funds.[6]

According to the museum, over 100,000 people waited in line to use America, and a security guard was posted outside the bathroom. According to Cattelan, the work was made of 103 kilograms (227 lb) of gold, which in September 2019 was valued at more than four million dollars as bullion.[4][7] As an artwork, it has been estimated as high as six million.[8]

In September 2017, when the museum declined a White House request to loan its 1888 Van Gogh painting Landscape with Snow for then President Donald Trump's private rooms, curator Nancy Spector offered to loan America instead. Any reply by the White House was not reported.[7]

Blenheim Palace

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In September 2019, America was installed at Blenheim Palace in the United Kingdom, where it was available for use as part of an exhibition of Cattelan's works.[9] It was placed in a water closet formerly used by Winston Churchill.[10]

Theft

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On 14 September 2019, the sculpture was stolen from Blenheim Palace. A representative of the palace previously said that because America was plumbed in, and potential thieves would be aware of its use, security was not much of an issue.[11] Because it had been connected to the building's water pipes, the theft caused structural damage and flooding to the World Heritage Site.[12][13] Two men were arrested and released in connection with the incident.[14] Cattelan commented: "I always liked heist movies and finally I'm in one of them."[15]

Blenheim's insurance company has stated that up to approximately $124,000 can be paid in reward for the return of the toilet. In mid-October, three new arrests were made in connection to the theft.[16][17] As of August 2023, the total number of arrests was six, all of whom have been released without charge.[18][19] In November 2023, the Crown Prosecution Service charged four men with the theft of the toilet.[20] The men have pleaded not guilty and a trial is scheduled for February 2025.[21]

Speculation about the fate of the toilet includes it being melted down, that it has been hidden fairly close to Blenheim and that the theft is a prank by Cattelan. Local imitations of the work have been made, including one that was itself stolen.[18][22]

Interpretation

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Marcel Duchamp's 1917 sculpture Fountain

The Guggenheim museum linked the meaning of the sculpture to the career of Donald Trump, writing in September 2016[23] that "the aesthetics of this 'throne' recall nothing so much as the gilded excess of Trump's real-estate ventures and private residences".[3] Cattelan himself declined to give an interpretation of his work, which he conceived of before Trump's presidential candidacy.[7] He said that the connection to Trump is "another layer, but it shouldn’t be the only one."[23]

The work has also been described as an interpretation of Marcel Duchamp's 1917 sculpture Fountain.[24] Art critic Calvin Tomkins called it Cattelan's most beautiful artwork, and said "for viewers who crave a one-to-one relationship with art, this piece cannot be topped."[5] Art critic Jonathan Jones, using the work at Blenheim Palace, opined that it felt "Much like peeing on porcelain. But here, among all the photos of young Winston, it also feels like pissing on British history." He also found the sculpture reminiscent of then prime minister Boris Johnson's hair.[25]

Other gold toilets

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In 2002 Winger Lam Sai-wing [zh], a Hong Kong businessman, included two gold toilets in what he called a shrine to Lenin. He referred to a comment by Lenin[a] about the use of gold after the victory of socialism.[27]

In 2019 the Hong Kong jewellery firm Coronet displayed a gold toilet in Shanghai. This toilet had a bulletproof seat containing more than 40,000 small diamonds.[28][29]

Cattelan said that he made three gold toilets.[18]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Maurizio Cattelan: "America"". Guggenheim. 12 May 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  2. ^ Wise, Louis (25 August 2019). "Maurizio Cattelan interview: the enigmatic Italian artist on his golden loo". The Times. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  3. ^ a b Gabbatt, Adam (16 September 2016). "On the throne: what it's like to use the Guggenheim's solid gold toilet". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Golden, Going Gone: 18-Karat Gold Toilet Is Stolen". The New York Times. 14 September 2019. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  5. ^ a b Tomking, Calvin (14 September 2016). "Gold Toilet". The New Yorker. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  6. ^ Kennedy, Randy (19 April 2016). "Duchamp, Eat Your Heart Out: The Guggenheim Is Installing a Gold Toilet". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  7. ^ a b c Schwartzman, Paul (25 January 2018). "The White House asked to borrow a van Gogh. The Guggenheim offered a gold toilet instead". The Washington Post. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  8. ^ "Artist pans claims he orchestrated theft of solid gold toilet". The Guardian. 15 September 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2019. Initial reports had said the golden toilet was worth an estimated £1m, but Blenheim Palace's chief executive, Dominic Hare, said it has been valued at about $6m (£4.8m).
  9. ^ Brown, Mark (3 May 2019). "Flushed with success: solid-gold toilet to be installed at Blenheim". The Guardian.
  10. ^ "Maurizio Cattelan Has Installed His Golden Toilet in the Stately Bathroom Where Winston Churchill Once Sat". artnet News. 13 September 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  11. ^ "Busted flush: gold toilet reportedly stolen from Blenheim Palace". The Guardian. 14 September 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  12. ^ Emily Dixon; Augusta Anthony (14 September 2019). "Solid gold toilet stolen from Blenheim Palace". CNN Style. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  13. ^ "Golden toilet worth £1m stolen from Churchill ancestral home". The Independent. 14 September 2019. Archived from the original on 17 September 2019. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  14. ^ "Second man arrested over solid gold toilet theft". BBC. 17 September 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  15. ^ "Artist behind £4.8m gold toilet praises thieves who have taken it". Sky News. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  16. ^ "Stolen gold toilet insurer offers £100k reward". BBC. 2 October 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  17. ^ Guy, Jack (16 October 2019). "Three new arrests in the case of the stolen gold toilet". CNN Style. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  18. ^ a b c Marshall, Alex (20 November 2019). "What Happened to the Stolen Gold Toilet?". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  19. ^ "No charges over theft of £4m gold toilet stolen from Blenheim Palace four years on". 29 August 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  20. ^ Davies, Caroline (6 November 2023). "Four men charged over theft of £4.8m gold toilet from Blenheim Palace". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  21. ^ Harland, Gee (19 January 2024). "Trial date set for men who deny stealing £4.8m gold toilet from Blenheim Palace". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  22. ^ Cassady, Daniel (29 August 2023). "UK Police Make 'Major Breakthrough' in Search for Stolen Maurizio Cattelan Toilet". ARTnews.
  23. ^ a b Dover, Caitlin (15 September 2016). "Game of Throne: Maurizio Cattelan's "America" Comes to the Guggenheim". Guggenheim. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  24. ^ Carrier, David (2018). Aesthetic Theory, Abstract Art, and Lawrence Carroll. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 64. ISBN 9781350009578. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  25. ^ Jones, Jonathan (13 September 2019). "Hitler in Churchill's birthplace more shocking than the golden toilet – Maurizio Cattelan review". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  26. ^ "The Importance Of Gold Now And After The Complete Victory Of Socialism". www.marxists.org. Marxists Internet Archive. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  27. ^ "Hong Kong gold toilet shrine to Lenin a 'dream come true'". South China Morning Post. 2002. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  28. ^ "A lot of people can 'enjoy' this $1.3 million diamond studded gold toilet — but in a museum". Business Insider. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  29. ^ Jain, Sanya (29 November 2019). "Solid Gold Toilet, Set With Over 40,000 Diamonds, Captivates The Internet". NDTV. Retrieved 14 November 2021.

Notes

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  1. ^ "When we are victorious on a world scale I think we shall use gold for the purpose of building public lavatories in the streets of some of the largest cities of the world."[26]
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