Punizioni (Punishments)

Executed in 1990, Punizioni belongs to a landmark series of works inspired by Maurizio Cattelan’s troubled schooldays – a prevalent theme within his oeuvre. Memories of the punishments he experienced as a student continued to provoke nightmares long into adulthood, and led to a body of work that addressed the relationship between education and civilization at large. In the present work, based on a sheet taken from an elementary school exercise book, the phrase ‘fighting in the classroom is dangerous’ – repeated like punishment lines – is doctored to read ‘class war is dangerous’. Through a simple pun, Cattelan draws attention to the ways in which punitive education strategies underpin the rifts that plague contemporary society.