Naples, fire devours Venus of rags

around 5.30 Venus out of rags I got burned. It is one of the versions of the work first conceived by Michelangelo Pistoletto in 1967. The one that burned completely yesterday morning was made of fiberglass seven meters high, placed in the center of Piazza Municipio in Naples: the obverse, that is, the top of an enormous mountain of rags, facing the port to which Cruise passengers disembark from it, Terga towards the Palazzo San Giacomo, seat of the Municipal Council. Flames covered the entire installation, turning it into ashes. By 10 o’clock only the scaffolding on which the breach had been lifted was left standing. While presenting the initiative, the administration emphasized: “The clothes are fire-resistant.”

The central area, a stone’s throw from the police station and prefecture, is crowded with cameras, so in the afternoon a 32-year-old homeless man was arrested for the crime of arson and destruction of cultural property. Decumani Outpost agents tracked him down in the soup kitchen in Via Marina: recorded photos show Simon Ezea arriving on the field, taking out his lighter and setting his clothes on fire.

The business opened on June 28 in the center of the space redesigned by Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza, who oversaw the Metro Art station. Comments were received throughout the morning against what was described as an act of vandalism. “To set fire to a work of art is a very dangerous act that must be severely condemned, an act of indecency not deserved by so many honest citizens and tourists who appreciate and respect the beauty of the city at all. The city of Naples does not deserve this, ”says the head of the municipal council, Enza Amato.

Among the first suspects, there were very young boys running around downtown even at night. There was also talk of a social challenge to this campfire, even bringing in street urchins. Boys often face difficult socioeconomic conditions, to which very few answers are given, they are often singled out as bad Napoli, where economic and educational poverty is imparted without real chain-breaking interventions.

Pistolito’s installation itself has generated controversy. Inserted within the program of interventions of the Municipality of Naples dedicated to public art, it seemed to be an intervention aimed primarily at tourists, just as the two main city museums, the Capodimonte and the Archaeological, were emptied of identifying works, which are sent around the world. The first, in fact, “converted” about 70 works, including Caravaggio’s Skin, in the Louvre. The second contains high value pieces in many exhibitions in different cities. Including, as told by Valentina Porcido in Il manifesto, the Pompeian fresco depicting Io from the Temple of Isis, which was sent to Marseille with visible cracks.

Mayor Gaetano Manfredi explained yesterday: «Naples will react and Venus will be rebuilt. We will launch a fundraising campaign to ensure that this reconstruction also takes place with popular participation. In the end progress, beauty and civilization always prevailed ». Pistoleto himself was the most subtle in his comments: “I do not declare a preemptive war on all who have made this disastrous gesture, but I propose a preemptive peace.”