If you think that only the former creates some risk, then visit the Guggenheim Museum and stand under — that’s right, under —  the behemoth of “Maurizio Cattelan: All,” up through January 22, 2012.  The Italian artist has taken his work, mainly sculpture, and suspended it from the ceiling. Much of the work deals with frustration, animals, politics, and Cattelan’s likeness, or play with proportion. There is a miniature functioning elevator, a little boy who drums out a non-rhythm sitting on a horse cart, realistic pigeons that claim all of the works involved, and 121 other works of art.

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At the top floor visitors can see the circular metal platform which holds up the densely presented works; most of the ropes (whether for physics, aesthetics, or for a more fanciful idea) hold up only one piece but drop off at varying heights throughout the rotunda’s six stories from ceiling to lobby level — in other words the rope does not tie to one sculpture and then continue down to hold another sculpture’s weight.  It is a retrospective, where the work is an end to itself.

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But is it really?  When you go, and please do, pick up a booklet of exhibitions. The photographs of previous Cattelan exhibitions show some of the pieces individually. In the retrospective though, many lose their message because the viewer is either not presented with the sculpture in its entirety, or is just bombarded by the repeating views the Guggenheim’s spiral provides. Also, the setup is questionable because the proximity of some works orchestrates a conversation between them. For example, a sculpture of a boy sitting at a desk, his hands pinned down by pencils, tries to look toward the core of the rotunda, but his view is obstructed by the image of praying hands emerging from sand. This may or may not be a comment on the separation of church and state in education.

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On the one hand, Cattelan was involved with the retrospective and it shows: its presentation warrants it as a single multifaceted piece. It is like translating a book– you can go word by individual word, or you can simply rewrite the book around the same plot. But we should be a demanding audience and request even more.  Cattelan could have pushed his use of the exhibition space further. While the Guggenheim has previously used its central space, it is unprofessional to leave the ramps so bare. Remembering the dizzying journey down, I am disconcerted that the ramps, which I find beautiful on their own, are a boring blur.

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I am offended if the exhibition design expects me so cheaply to look solely inward into the rotunda. Cattelan’s work is loud and comical, but should not rely on sheer crowding to pull in visitors.  I would have liked to see a better use of space to gradually pull the visitors’ attention in from the edges.