The Return of Bruce Nauman’s Bouncing Balls (2006)

Conceived as an ironic tribute, the “Bruce Nauman Trilogy” harks back to some of the works by the celebrated American artist, cross-pollinating their meaning with references to contemporary media culture. While Greatest Hits: Milva Canta Bruce Nauman: Vattene dalla mia mente! Vattene da questa stanza! is Francesco Vezzoli’s melodramatic rereading of the installation Get Out of My Mind, Get Out of This Room (1968), in Flower Arrangement he replaces the flour in Nauman’s work with red roses. Similarly, in The Return of Bruce Nauman’s Bouncing Balls, Vezzoli abandons the conceptual coldness of the original work to present a slick video based on the canons of pornographic filmography starring Brad Rock and his infamous American gay-porn testicles.