A 24-karat, £8.3 million golden cube has shown up in Venice during the city’s Biennale, however the sculpture will only be in town for one day.
What’s more, this is expensive artwork you can touch! ‘Artwork’ might be a bit of a stretch – it’s just a golden cube of unnecessary opulence – but if they call it ‘conceptual art’ we can’t disagree and will just have to abide by their classification. Conceptual art you say? Conceptual art it is.
The block appeared in the heart of Venice in front of the Ça’di Dio near St. Mark’s Square. Unveiled by German artist Niclas Castello and art historian Dieter Buchhart, it has been dubbed The Castello Cube.
Niklas Costello with his conceptual art. Credit: Sandra Mika
Credit: Sandra Mika
You’ll be pleased to hear that the statement announcing its arrival was devoid of the pretence you may expect from a giant gold cube claiming to be art. “The Castello Cube is a conceptual work that seems to have arrived from another world and will now stand on the cobbles of Venice, without a pedestal,” the statement says…
The pretence was not done yet though. “It’s incredibly soft,” Buchhart said. “You literally imprint the gold if you touch it; it gets a piece of you in it. It connects us all.” In Venice for only a few hours longer, Biennale attendees will have a chance to leave their mark on history.
The Castello Cube first appeared in New York’s Central Park earlier this year. Apparently, it was part of Castello hoping to attract press for an impending NFT. As it was, the golden block made for some decent internet meme-age:
NY apartments:
Photo on In real
Zillow life pic.twitter.com/U772XkeuOS— Freddie Campion-Awwad | فريد عوّاد (@FreddieCampion) February 4, 2022
Ugh, I’m so hungover… I remember going to Central Park last night and that’s it… *patting my pockets* Wait a minute, where’s my gold cube worth $11.7 million?
— ❥ 𝑪𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑭𝒂𝒏𝒔 ❥ (@tonyhawktruther) February 3, 2022
