Serbelloni Palace

An auction of a hundred works of art organized by auction house Sotheby's had to find space in a historic neoclassical palace in the center of Milan amidst stucco, decorations, and original furnishings. The challenge was to not visually interfere with the palace's splendid surroundings and to make visitors focus on the works up for auction.

Large plywood panels covered in gray fire retardant fabric were placed on the floor in the center of the large rooms available and away from the existing furniture and decorations on the walls in such a way as to be perceived individually. In order to make them structurally self-contained, the panels were placed back to back in a triangular pattern so that they could support each other and offer the participants the three walls on which the selected artworks were fixed.

The dark color of the fabric was chosen to reduce the brightness around the individual works and bring out the lights and colors of the painting or sculpture placed on the panel.