Artist's shit
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"Artist's shit" (Italian: "Merda d'artista") is a work of art by the Italian artist Piero Manzoni. The work is a tin can in an edition of 90 labeled in Italian, English, French and German with the description '"Artist's Shit", contents 30gr net freshly preserved, produced and tinned in May 1961.' They were intended to be sold for their weight in gold, the price fluctuating according to the market.
At the time this piece was created, Manzoni was involved in creating works that explored the relationship between art production and human production. Another example of this would be the piece "Artist's Breath" ("Fiato d'artista") a series of baloons filled with Manzoni's breath.
On May 23, 2007, a tin was sold for EUR124,000 at Sotheby's[1], and in October 2008, tin 083 was offered for sale at Sotheby's with an estimate of GBP50-70,000.[2]. The increasing value of this work of art adds to its level of irony. It is not known whether the can actually holds the contents advertised on its label.
