Andrea Villa's satirical poster targets Di Maio and Salvini in Turin

Andrea Villa, dubbed the 'Turin Banksy', installed a satirical poster in Turin featuring middle fingers directed at Deputy Prime Ministers Luigi Di Maio and Matteo Salvini, with the EU's 2019 Italian GDP growth forecast of 0.2% above their heads. The work, placed on advertising billboards on via XX Settembre, corso San Maurizio, and lungo Dora Firenze, criticizes recent government actions including Salvini's immunity from trial, the Rousseau vote, the failure to evict Casa Pound, low GDP predictions, and Salvini's social media mockery of a disabled boy and a girl with purple braids. Villa explicitly cites Ai Weiwei's 'Study of Perspective' series (1995-2003), where the Chinese dissident photographs himself giving the middle finger at global monuments as a form of rebellion against authority. Villa explains that while Italy is not a communist regime, oppression now occurs through social media and politicians' threatening posts. He references Marshall McLuhan's theory of media as extensions of the nervous system, arguing that politicians like Salvini lose touch with reality when using social media to insult opponents, including a disabled minor. Villa calls on young Italian artists to overcome fear and critically analyze contemporary society, drawing parallels to the Dadaist and Futurist movements of a century ago. His first work, 'Il Quinto Stato' (2014), parodied Pelizza da Volpedo's painting, and 'Eau Di Nolfi' referenced a Dolce & Gabbana ad.