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The Arts Intel Report

The Golden Toilet Heist

Maurizio Cattelan, America, 2016.

Maurizio Cattelan is known as the prankster of the art world. The Italian artist’s most infamous bit of mischief is the conceptual Comedian (2019), a fresh banana affixed to a wall with duct tape. A close second, and a prime example of his satirical touch, is America (2016), a fully functioning toilet plated in 18-karat gold. Over 100,000 people used the toilet during its tenure at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and despite seeing many down sides, it is still valued at $6 million. The toilet was then shipped across the pond to Blenheim Palace, where it was installed in a water closet once used by Winston Churchill. A few days later, the pot of gold was gone. “I always liked heist movies and finally I’m in one of them,” Cattelan said of the robbery. Instead of rewatching Ocean’s 11, cozy up to the BBC’s new documentary about the art world’s most embarrassing theft. —Carolina de Armas

Photo: © Getty Images