With Roller Skates, Cavenago introduces an initial relationship with the human figure. The horizontal plate, shaped according to the shape of the human foot and placed on four wheels, invites a natural interaction on the part of the viewer, also suggested by the placement of the work on the floor.

The first installation of roller skates, realised in 1989 at Studio Marconi in Milan, comprised a dozen elements, all different from each other, modelled on the measurements of the human foot. The skates were installed scattered over the three floors of the gallery, arranged in pairs facing each other.

The individual elements, ready to be used to move in space, seemed to invite the public to experiment with movement on wheels. Apparently functional, the installation teased the visitors, unconsciously inviting them to a real test of interaction. The various elements also had a pedestal value because the absence of the human figure above them created a vacuum that solicited a 'compatibility test' with themselves. Although the whole thing was fiction and metaphor, the work turned many observers into real skate users. These, without hesitation, climbed on and off the works to test the potential their form declared. However, the slender structure of the skates, unable to withstand this natural interaction, collapsed, bending and deforming under the weight of the Art audience.

Cavenago, with this work, fails in his intention to involve the spectator and finds his installation abandoned and discarded, like a series of non-functioning objects, broken and judged inadequate with respect to the promises made during the vernissage.

An extraordinary failure that, with the passage of time, leads the artist to a new redefinition of the project. Borrowing the reproach of his father, who many times, after finding broken toys or tools, would literally tell him: "you need your things to be built fool-proof". This criticism, although harsh, turned out to be a valuable lesson for Cavenago.

Years later, the memory of those words prompted him to develop a new prototype work, made of thick, strong and resistant steel. This time, Cavenago designs the work to withstand public interaction without failure.

His father's warning thus becomes an integral part of the work, also adopted as the title for the series of skates made later.