January 23, 2008: Italian ball pit!
 

http://cellar.org/2008/ItalianBalls.jpg

It's not just art, it's fun! Italian artist Graziano Cecchini recently released more than a million plastic balls from the top of Rome's famous Spanish Steps monument in a political protest.

"This was an artistic gesture to demonstrate the problems we have in Italy and to do so, I used art," he said. "Both the Left and the Right are telling us so many lies, and I and the Italians have had enough. They have broken our balls and hence this live art display."

Thus we see that scrotal puns can, in fact, survive translation. This is not the first time he has clashed with the powers-that-be in Rome: just a few weeks ago he dumped several large containers of red dye into the Trevi Fountain to resemble blood. Cecchini is now facing prosecution for the ball-pit stunt, but should be able to afford a good lawyer as he has revealed he was paid £14,000 by a mystery sponsor to pull it off.

"...recently released more than a million plastic balls..."

Did he just imagine them to be there and so they came to be?

Apparently the significance of it all is in the Italian word for “balls” (”palle”) which can also mean “untruth”. The symbolism behind 500,000 “untruths” rolling through town is beautiful in it’s simplicity, noticeability, and ability to totally piss people off.

more here: http://shapeandcolour.wordpress.com/...alls/#comments

May I have ten thousand marbles please?

Not what I was expecting (and hoping for) when I read the title. hahaha

I seriously have to ask myself what you did think, and I call myself jaded.

back on topic, once you learn the significance of the word balls in italian, it makes more sense and isn't a totally missing the point, like most works of modern art.

Oh boy, my son would absolutely love to play in that. He would have a ball. :p

i heard that there were little venomous snakes nesting in that ball pit.

Its all fun and games till those balls end up in the ocean and some stupid fish try to eat them and choke to death.

balls (and all other euphemisms for testicles) in apporpriate context = bullshit in British English. No sublety required.

I don't know about that but I did hear there are HIV infected needles and heroin filled syringes in there.

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/parental/archer.asp

How does one get a million plastic balls to the top of the Spanish Steps without some cop saying, "WTF"?

Pretty easy in Italy: The carabinieri do not speak English.
Kind of weak comment, hm?
Here's a vid how they did it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFYdUhhcJFQ

calling it a political protest is understandable; calling it art is bullshit. like most modern art is.

Morie
www.rantsaboutchina.page.tl

Man, it took a lot of balls to do something like that.:rotflol: :rotflol: :rotflol: :rotflol:

Right, because art is only art if it's an oil painting, and it's of something specific, and it looks exactly like the thing it's supposed to be. Art isn't supposed to make you think. Art isn't to make you feel a certain way. Any so-called "artist" who manages to arouse a reaction in a person's mind in a non-traditional manner should be refered to by their real name: a terrorist. They need to go back to art school and learn how to paint pictures of bowls of fruit that look just like real bowls of fruit. Because that has real value.

I don't know why people have to be so goddamned sarcastic every time they talk about bowls of fruit. I mean, what the fuck did bowls of fruit ever do to you people? what the fuck is wrong with painting their portrait? And calling it a Still Life is such a crime? Get all excited and go to a Yawning festival.

The only bowl of fruit around here is your cranium!

You should have a picture or video two depicting the balls rolling down the Spanish Steps.
Here it is.

Interesting.
But for me, neither art nor protest should disaccommodate people who haven't caused the problem. I'd be quite irritated if I were a street sweeper cleaning that up - yeah thanks mate, more work for those of us at the bottom of the pile.

Now releasing them into the Senate - yes, that would be fun. But they provide their own entertainment in there: