The senses are the most reliable medium through which to understand the meaning of the artwork. In contrast to reason, the senses offer us veracity. It is not the object that possesses value, but our experience of it, of what it gives: smell, touch, colour, taste… Hence the force of Piero Manzoni’s Artist’s Shit resides not only in its conceptual facet but in our physiological mechanism of perception. The temptation for any collector would be to open it to make sure that the piece is real and its content is as stated on the label. All the more so if the collector is a professional perfumer. Then the value of the art would be in its fragrance or stench. The can is only a conceptual game, the experience is in the interior. But it is not always possible to experience the work without destroying it. Herein lies the paradox.

Eugenio Merino, 2010