He created an invisible sculpture and sold it for 15 thousand euros. Is it still art?

Remember Maurizio Cattelan's installation "Comedian" that sold for $6.2 million? Not long ago, everyone wondered whether a banana stuck to a wall could be art. But what about... nothing?

"This is art!?" – ask conservatives walking the corridors of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw . It's always entertaining!

There is some truth in the fact that today artists – aided by good social media marketing – are able to call literally anything a work of art. Or even… nothing.

But that, too, has already happened. In 2021, Italian artist Salvatore Garau sold art that doesn’t exist. Seriously! A work titled “Io Sono” ( “I Am” ) went under the hammer at Italian auction house Art-Rite in May 2021.

Illustrative photo / photo: Unsplash, Dimmis Vart

The final price of the sculpture was 15 thousand euros, or almost 65 thousand zlotys. The new buyer received a certificate of authenticity confirming that the work is real and very precise instructions for the exhibition of the work : It is to be displayed in a space measuring 1.5 by 1.5 meters.

Sounds like… a joke ? Maybe a little. But the author himself convinces us that nothing can be art either.

– A vacuum is nothing more than a space filled with energy. Even if we empty it and nothing remains, according to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, this "nothing" has mass – explained Salvatore Garau, born in an interview with Hypebeast .

This is not the artist's first "immaterial" work.

The artist has created many immaterial sculptures, all rooted in a similar philosophy. In 2023, he presented the installation "Love" and "Immense Love" in Jerusalem . The invisible sculptures were placed in places of great spiritual significance, namely on the Temple Mount and near the Wailing Wall . Marked only by white circles on the ground, they were to encourage viewers to contemplate and feel the presence of what is invisible, but deeply present .

Garau's works make questions about what else art can be return with redoubled force.

– You can't see it, but it exists. It is made of air and spirit. It is a work that forces the viewer to use their imagination, which everyone has, even if they don't believe in it – Garau explained.

Do you buy this or not really?

I am reminded of the video clip that rapper Medium created for the song "Hologram" . Find it and follow the instructions. Maybe it will convince you a little bit to like Salvatore Garau's work...