Maurizio Cattelan: Sussurro

The Serralves Foundation – Museum of Contemporary Art presents “Sussurro”, a major retrospective of Maurizio Cattelan. Curated by Philippe Vergne and coordinated by Giovana Gabriel, the exhibition unfolds across the Serralves Villa—a 1930s Art Deco landmark—and the surrounding park, offering a unique contextual encounter with Cattelan’s work.

“Sussurro” brings together a selection of sculptures and installations that reflect the artist’s enduring engagement with history—its traumas, transitions, and iconic figures. Cattelan focuses on liminal moments: between childhood and adulthood, life and death, eras and emotions. These elusive thresholds form the symbolic language of his practice.

Conceived as theatrical saynètes, Cattelan’s works are peopled by a surreal cast of characters—historical figures, self-portraits, animals, everyday objects, and references to artistic ancestors such as Beuys, Fontana, Kounellis, and Warhol. With a cinematic sense of space and scenography, he choreographs meaning through spatial arrangement, making framing and perspective integral to interpretation.

Echoing the hallucinatory vision of Bosch’s Temptations of Saint Anthony, the exhibition stages its own “Temptation of Porto”—a grotesque theatre of absurdity and moral ambiguity. Cattelan hacks the visual codes of culture and belief, creating images that provoke, disturb, and amuse in equal measure. “Sussurro” becomes a whisper that resounds loudly, confronting viewers with laughter steeped in unease.