Sharon Stone At Venice Art Fair

VENICE, June 7 (Reuters) Move over Hillary. Sharon Stone is the only woman running in the 2008 US presidential elections, at least as far as the Venice Biennale art festival is concerned.

Stone appears in a mock TV campaign ad dreamt up by Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli and crafted by the same media guru who used to advise US President George W Bush.

Stone's pseudo-opponent in the art installation is French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, who has the benefit of Bill Clinton's former consultant in his corner.

Their duelling, 60-second advertisements play simultaneously on video screens directly across from each other at the Venice Biennale, sometimes called the ''Oscars'' of the art world, which opened for a press preview today.

''I wanted somebody from Hollywood, which is the place where people search for the ultimate fiction. And I wanted somebody from the world of philosophy, which is the search for the ultimate truth,'' Vezzoli said.

''These would be in obvious conflict, one with the other.'' Stone spits out sound bites such as ''peace is not just the end of the war in Iraq''. She receives a glowing recommendation from the supposed mother of a U.S. soldier, who assures that Stone ''is going to do right by our men and women in service''.

Political media adviser Mark McKinnon, who engineered the ad, said it took him four months of production -- all free of charge because of how ''taken'' he was by Vezzoli.

''I think politics is a lot about positioning and creating a credible persona ... and I think this is what Francesco was trying to do,'' said McKinnon, who is currently working with Senator John McCain's real-life campaign.

Vezzoli said his goal was also ''to do a deconstruction of the role of media manipulation''. The title of his exhibition is called ''Democrazy'' and opens to the public starting on Sunday.

Vezzoli is no stranger to the world of celebrity art. His past videos have included the likes of French actress Catherine Deneuve and Brazilian actress Sonia Braga.

His last work at the Biennale was a fake trailer for a fake remake of the film ''Caligula'', which included Benicio Del Toro and Courtney Love.

But Vezzoli said some critics, including people who stripped the ''Caligula'' trailer off the Web site YouTube, thought that his video short was too pornographic.

''Maybe they'll find politics too pornographic as well,'' Vezzoli said.