What (the fuck) is art?
According to 67-year-old Italian sculptor, Salvatore Garau, it’s whatever you make. His latest work, which was just sold for $US18K, is an invisible piece made up of air titled, Io Sono (I am). So what did the buyer get? They got a certificate of authenticity and a set of display instructions stating it’s a 5×5-foot square and must be displayed in a private space free from obstructions where lighting and climate control are not required.
“The vacuum is nothing more than a space full of energy, and even if we empty it and there is nothing left, according to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, that ‘nothing’ has a weight,” Garau says. “Therefore, it has energy that is condensed and transformed into particles, that is, into us.” Much like how we “shape a god we’ve never seen.”
While this may have us common folk, who can’t flaunt that kind of money on art, scratching our heads, it’s about as ridiculous as any other art piece when you think about it. Someone is paying money for something unnecessary that makes them feel a certain way, whether it’s marble, paint and canvas, digital, or air, it all comes down to the beholder.
That said, reach out to me by email for a similar work that I’m selling at a fraction of the price. Let’s say $1K per square metre. Sound good?
