A 33-year-old homeless Egyptian man was arrested by Milan police for the deliberate arson of Jacopo Allegrucci’s whale sculpture outside the city’s Triennale museum this morning. Police officers apprehended the suspect as he attempted to leave the scene, identified by eyewitnesses.
The individual reportedly uttered incoherent statements before being transported to police headquarters, where he was formally arrested. The large blue papier-mâché cetacean, created for the exhibition opening May 13, formed part of Allegrucci’s “The Fragility of the Future” project. It was one of four installations representing endangered species commissioned by the Triennale. Allegrucci is also a master craftsman for Viareggio’s famed Carnival floats.
Culture Minister Giuli condemned the attack as “a vile and senseless act” striking “not only a work of extraordinary symbolic power, but also the culture, creative freedom, and civil conscience of our country.” He expressed full solidarity with the artist and the Triennale, stating the arson “wounds a project that, through art, denounced the fragility of the future and the need to protect endangered species.”
Triennale President Stefano Boeri, echoing the artist’s sentiments after speaking with him, described the act as “senseless” and quoted Allegrucci: “It was obtuse human violence” against a work “intended to denounce the fragility of species facing extinction.” The whale was created for the 24th International Exhibition of the Triennale.
Artist Jacopo Allegrucci told ANSA: “I am deeply sorry because the whale was the sculpture that inaugurated” the exhibition. “Three other endangered species sculptures are still to be exhibited, and we agree with the Triennale to proceed” despite the incident. The artist, a graduate of Carrara’s Academy of Fine Arts specializing in papier-mâché, noted his large-scale paper sculptures are also famous at Viareggio Carnival, where he has won multiple times.
Allegrucci explained the whale was placed outdoors in a public area: “I had considered minor vandalism possible, but I never imagined it would come to this.” He emphasized the works’ message concerns “fragility, species extinction – a fragility testified by the paper itself, which is fragile. With the weather and climate change, this work was meant to disintegrate slowly, gradually, through rain and sun.”
Through papier-mâché, the artist aimed to convey climate change impacts and the “vulnerability” of animal species. “We had thought of everything except fire,” Allegrucci concluded. “Now we await installing the next animal.”
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