Mr Berlusconi's fat taken from his fatty bum now a bar of soap displayed for all to see

international | arts and media | other press

Wednesday June 15, 2005 01:12

by iosaf

& this is the sort of cappucino culture you'd get if you had café bars and no doubt about it.

Well now we know Mr Berlusconi a little bit better don't we?

A bar of soap reportedly made from the fat of Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi goes on display for the first time at the 36th Art Basel, which starts on Wednesday.

Aside from the soap, the world’s leading fair for 20th- and 21st-century art will be exhibiting works by more than 2,000 artists.

In the run-up to the six-day event, attention has focused on the latest work by Swiss artist Gianni Motti.

Motti claims the bar of soap, which carries a price tag of SFr23,000 ($18,000), is made out of fat pumped from the Italian prime minister during liposuction at a Lugano clinic 18 months ago.

The Geneva-based artist said he acquired Berlusconi’s surplus body matter from a contact at the clinic.

"It was jelly-like and it stunk horribly, like rancid butter or stale cooking oil," he told the Weltwoche current-affairs magazine.

The work, entitled "Mani Pulite" (Clean Hands), refers to an anti-corruption drive of the same name in the early 1990s and reflects Motti’s unflattering view of the Berlusconi administration.

"I came up with the idea because soap is made of pig fat, and I thought how much more appropriate it would be if people washed their hands using a piece of Berlusconi," added the artist.

Source : Swissinfo.
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=106&sid=5870962&cKey=1118778226000

If you goto the photo-gallery of Libération the french daily you will see two people examining the berlusconi soap bar exhibit.
http://libe.com/page.php?Article=300175&Template=GALERIE&Objet=39505

How we've come tom know Mr B. things:

the eggies:
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=70263
the playboy:
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=70017
the wrinkles:
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=67887