"Clean Hands" - Photo, Migros Contemporary Art Museum
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Migros Contemporary Arts Museum in Zurich says an “unimposing bar of soap” currently on display is made of fat removed from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi during a liposuction procedure in Switzerland.
Swiss-Italian artist Gianni Motti, 52, allegedly got the fat from an unidentified Ticino clinic where Berlusconi underwent cosmetic surgery in 2004 to remove abdominal fat. The AFP news agency says the clinic vehemently denies the artist’s claims.
Motti’s 2005 work called Mani Pulite or “Clean Hands,” makes reference to Italy’s “Clean Hands campaign,” a judicial investigation into political corruption in the 1990s.
According to the exhibit’s curator: “Mani Pulite is an ironic commentary about a tragi-comical political figure who ‘milked’ the story of his cosmetic surgery for publicity. [Someone] vain enough to buy photographs from press agencies in order to prevent them from reaching the public.”
This is the first public display of the object since it was purchased by a private collector in 2005.
The off-white soap, which is the size of a conventional bar, will be exhibited until 28 November.
