[dentifier] K2026-003

"I found it [Domus] an essential magazine because it covered art, architecture and design alike. You'd find articles on new buildings alongside reports from the Venice Biennale. I found it a thousand times more interesting than the art magazines of the time. It was an important source of inspiration, because it showcased the convergence of different disciplines." Richard Venlet in BRUZZ, 2019.

Frieze (After Sottsass), Red is a mural that can be reproduced time and again according to a fixed protocol. 23 red blocks are painted at equal intervals along the top edge of a wall, together forming a horizontal strip. The intervention simultaneously makes the visitor more aware of the architecture of the exhibition space, which thus becomes part of the work – a recurring element in Richard Venlet's work.

The mural refers to a graphic motif designed by architect and designer Ettore Sottsass in the early 1980s for the magazine Domus. He placed a red-and-white striped band along the top edge of the cover. Venlet faithfully reproduces this motif, including one important detail: the fifth block remains empty. On the magazine, that empty space coincided with the upper curve of the letter 'd' in the Domus logo. But when the motif is transposed into architectural space, that empty space stands out and creates a pause, like a silence on a musical score. Through this precise form of citation, Venlet explores processes of translation, transposition and appropriation, and questions notions of authorship and originality.