Il Corso del Coltello

A 78-foot ship in the form of a Swiss army knife plies a canal in Venice, its blades unfurled; Lord Styrofoam and Georgia Sandbag embark on a romantic gondola voyage, while cream-of-cork soup is served at a bohemian cafe, and a lion statue sings from Verdi's Otello. These strange goings-on took place at a performance/art spectacle concocted by Oldenburg with California architect Gehry and writer van Bruggen. The Knife, which made its maiden voyage in Venice in 1985, was reconstructed for an exhibition at New York's Guggenheim Museum. Celant, who produced the event, describes it as a ""mysterious and magical world'' full of mythic and ritualistic associations, but readers will decide whether Oldenburg et al. ``redeem the banal'' or perpetuate it. From rehearsals to characters crashing into one another, the book captures the whole shebang. (July 10)