The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam is currently showing the exhibition “Vorm – Fellows – Attitude” (until 12 August) in its Bodon hall. Once again, the Vienna-based collective Gelitin has made profane use of the body – or more accurately, its products – to focus attention on the human condition. Their work lies at the intersection of painting, sculpture, pop music, architecture, sport, fashion and theatre. They are inventors of machines and scenarios for creating excitement. Since 1993, they have created installations and performance art, some erotic and some irreverent. As they say, they are more shocking than provocative. To give a few examples: they’ve created an enormous ice lolly from urine, filled a gallery with roller coasters, constructed a pink toy rabbit 55 metres long on a hill in Artesina (Cuneo), which will be left there until 2025 to rot, and much else besides.

This exhibition, curated by Francesco Stocchi, is made up of works shaped like giant turds. The collective’s goal is to subvert morality by celebrating the first true work of art produced by a human being. The act of transforming what is seen as a waste product converts the social being par excellence into a creative animal. The idea behind it is to destroy the negative connotations and the taboos associated with the depiction of faeces. This critical rethinking involves impartial curiosity and the active, unhindered participation of museum visitors. The public is invited to put on costumes representing nudity and to interact with the work. It’s a way of leaving behind your adult identity and reclaiming the innocence of a child

Why have you called this project “Vorm – Fellows – Attitude”?
“Vorm” means “form” – the form of a turd, which we’ve transformed into sculpture. The uglier it is, the better. “Fellows” refers to the involvement of our closest friends – we couldn’t have created the project without them. “Attitude” means the right approach – if you don’t have it, you can’t do something like this project.

The public can interact with the works and can try on some of the bizarre costumes, which simulate nudity. What have the reactions been?
We produced the costumes with the help of Anna Schwarz, but we don’t think of them as bizarre – they’re extremely elegant. When children and older people put them on, they seem relaxed and at ease. We’ve noticed though that people aged 20 to 40 start to play around and become a bit too exuberant. Perhaps they feel a little insecure and compensate with over-the-top reactions.

If a child asks you what you do in life, what do you say?
Art. It’s easy to tell children what you do. Explaining it to their mothers is more complicated.

Who are your teachers, your role models?
Perhaps the next generation of young artists – they’re uncontrollable missiles, packed with energy.

Why did you decide to work as a group? What are the positive and negative aspects?
We didn’t decide, it just happened. There were many more of us at first but some became doctors, architects or photographers. Those of us left have never been able to get a job. Positive aspects: something you can be lazy and you know there’s someone else who can pump in energy instead of you. We’re all very different and so we can communicate with different people. Someone might like Ali but not Florian, for instance. Negative aspects: it’s not a subject we want to tackle, but as Keith Richards’ biography will tell you, you find the answers inside.

You’ve said that “good things come from tension and boredom” and that “too much entertainment is a form of hell”. Can you tell us what you mean?
Good ideas are the products of tension and boredom. When you’re constantly being entertained, your mind isn’t free to play with your thoughts and your feelings. The idea connects to the Roman saying “bread and circuses” – when you entertain people, they don’t revolt. Being bored is a good state because it pushes you to create something to change the situation. Tension too needs solutions and leads to great creativity.

You’ve also said, “each limit is a source of inspiration and the biggest limits are those inside us”. What, if you have them, are your fears and your limits?
We don’t have fears – there are already too many people with endless fears these days.
We believe it’s good to have limits when you start thinking about an exhibition. For example: space, time, money, who your partner in the exhibition will be, the museum, your art dealer, creating a smash hit. We also need internal limits because there are four of us working together. So when we’ve agreed we’re going to make a shit, we make a shit – not something else, not flowers or pirouettes or pizza. We just make a shit. That’s a limit.