Antonio Riello. AirMart

Used to observing the world of art from the wrong side, as he himself says, Antonio Riello has produced, during the course of his career, many works that border on provocation. On the other hand, with wry wickedness, the artist merely demystifies the commonplaces of the collective imagination, playing with the appearances of things to the point of transforming weapons of war into luxury accessories, or instruments of torture into elegant design pieces. So Riello explores the esthetics of social relationships by acting on the collective rituals of the art system. The drawings he has made for this book, virtually a notebook of jottings, are a record of his most recent undertaking, where he actually made a museum, the Mart of Rovereto, vanish. The exterior of the large building designed by Mario Botta was transformed into something else: the concourse of an international airport. Through a complex decontextualization of objects and signs, Riello uses irony to examine the role, image, and power of cultural institutions.