Public art · Action
Arte da Rubare: for twenty years, the work has come alive by disappearing
The collective initiated by Marco “Canz52” Cantarelli leaves artworks in cities for passers-by to take and complete the performance.
In brief
Arte da Rubare began with a gesture by Marco Cantarelli, known as Canz52: leave artworks in the street and allow anyone to take them. The object is not simply given away; it becomes a device waiting for a decision.
For more than twenty years, the action has crossed streets, alleys and peripheral spaces. It works best when the finder does not yet know they have entered a performance.
How the project works
Artists leave paintings, sculptures and small works in public places. A passer-by may carry one away, becoming an active participant in the work.
A message on the back invites the finder to send a photograph of the work in its new location. The street creates a relationship no guest list could programme.
The first message
Canz52 recalls that one of the first replies arrived in 2005: “Thanks for inciting crime, fuck the Guggenheim; if you need more canvases, let me know.” The humour and enthusiasm of that email encouraged him to continue.
Later, a simple email address became a more explicit and welcoming message. The name Arte da Rubare remained: calling the work a “gift” would have erased the challenge and ambiguity that turn the ordinary act of taking into a conscious gesture.
Who is the artist?
The project shifts the meaning of authorship: the person who takes the work completes its journey. Material production remains important, but the unexpected encounter is the climax.
In 2016 the collective included Canz52, Zeitwille, Emme.xyz, Pino Boresta, Federico Cimatti, Francesco Brancheri, Mr Minimal, Daniele Tozzi and Andrea Gandini. Its composition may change; the format remains open to collaborations and actions in different places.
A temporary counter-market
Arte da Rubare temporarily suspends price and replaces economic exchange with attention, minimal risk and narrative. It does not deny that artists must live from their work; it isolates a space in which the work is not produced to answer market demand.
Value does not disappear. It changes form: the artist’s time, the passer-by’s surprise, the memory of the street, a private relationship and the documentation of the action. Owning the object means having entered its story by chance.
Sources and further reading
Sources allow readers to verify and explore. Official artist links are part of the feature, not an appendix.
ADVAcquistare Arte recommends: Resin-sealed books, words and layered images turn melancholy into a material narrative.
Painting · memory · collage
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