Unpeeling the Hype: The Case Against Taking Cattelan's Banana Seriously by Heiman Ng

Abstract:

Maurizio Cattelan’s "Comedian" (2019)—a duct-taped banana—ignited a global media frenzy and became a lightning rod for debates on contemporary art's value. This presentation argues that while the work is a masterful piece of institutional critique and viral marketing, its artistic and intellectual merits are profoundly overstated. We will dissect how the artwork functions less as a meaningful statement and more as a cynical mirror to an art market obsessed with spectacle, celebrity, and commodification.

Biography:

Heiman Ng (伍常) is a senior art and culture advisor with more than 15 years of experience in consulting, curating and training in Greater China.As the founder and director of Art Prince Advisory, he has served as an art consultant for numerous corporations, including Audemars Piguet, Henderson Land Development, HSBC, Hang Seng Bank, the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine at The University of Hong Kong, HKU Business School, and Knight Frank.

He has served as a guest lecturer for the undergraduate course "Global Creative Industries" at The University of Hong Kong, and as a guest lecturer for the MSc in Marketing programme at HKU Business School. Currently, he is a part-time lecturer for the Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Management programme at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. In 2022, he was recognised as a “Youth Cultural Leader 2022” by the Central and Western District Cultural and Arts Association and the JCI Victoria.

“Comedian”, or Maurizio Cattelan’s Banana: Aesthetic, Sociological, and Philosophical Implications by Franco Savadori 

Abstract:

A detailed analysis of yet another artistic divertissement by one of the most renowned artists of our time: Maurizio Cattelan. In addition to being further explored, this artwork will be scrutinized from a socio-philosophical and economic perspective, aiming to uncover the true meaning behind this contemporary provocation.

Biography:

Franco Savadori has been working in the art field for nearly forty years. An essayist, lecturer, curator, and art dealer, he has authored approximately seventy books and art catalogs, ranging from late 19th-century Mitteleuropean Art to Contemporary Asian Art. For many years, he served as a private consultant for mid- and high-level art collectors worldwide, and in recent years, he became the personal advisor to Chinese tycoon George Wong before his untimely death. He is currently engaged in promoting European and Italian Old Masters art throughout the Far East, with a particular focus on Mainland China.