PiAtTO RoSSO

Cover: Alessandro Mendini

The “Piatto Rosso” exhibition at MAD Murate Art District in Florence brings together 104 red plates designed by international artists

The MAD Murate Art District in Florence host the “Piatto Rosso” exhibition, a small yet thoughtful display curated by designer Prospero Rasulo with the support of Valentina Gensini, Creative Director of MAD, and Patrizia Scarzella. The exhibition features 104 red plates, each created by a different artist or designer, and serves as a quiet reflection on the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution.

The “Piatto Rosso” project is a tribute to the centenary of the Russian Revolution, an event that shaped not only the course of history but also the visual and cultural identity of several generations. Originally conceived in 2017, the project faced several delays and setbacks, preventing its realization at that time. The designs, which were initially sent digitally, remained archived until now, when Pierluigi Bemporad’s dedication helped bring the project back to life.

The exhibition marks a significant artistic journey that began with Rasulo’s earlier 1994 “Piatto Fax” project, in which artists from various fields submitted designs for porcelain plates via fax. This time, the plates are red—an unmistakable nod to the symbolic color of the Russian Revolution—and were created as a collective artistic representation of a historical event that left an indelible mark on the 20th century.

While the original plan was to have the plates produced by the Imperial Porcelain Factory in St. Petersburg, the realization of the project was delayed due to several complications. The plates have now been brought to life by Rasulo himself, who took on the responsibility of overseeing the production, financing the creation of the 104 plates. The exhibition’s design catalog, published by Metilene, was crafted by Stefano Rovai.

The exhibition is dedicated to Alessandro Mendini, who in 2017 supported the project idea with his drawings and words, writing a text that exemplarily describes it.
Thank you, Alessandro:
Prospero Rasulo and Patrizia Scarzella

“The round shape chosen here for this plate is intended as a containing disc, as a finished image, as a space capable of expressing, on its small surface, the paradox of the vastness of the universe. And then the Revolution itself, a symbol of one of the greatest epochal changes in human history. And finally, the color red, icon and logo of the energy that, one hundred years ago, together with the red flag, flooded the spirits of the people with its disruptive utopia.
When the red Constructivist and Suprematist geometries were the artistic proof that, after the Revolution, nothing in the world would remain the same. This is the setting in which the one hundred authors of the one hundred red plates move, as desired by this collection, in a respectful homage to a humanistic and economic ideal of redemption that turned into an incredible dream. A great political hypothesis often distorted, but which in its founding core expressed the humanitarian idea of shifting all the rules of the social game towards a new world.”
Alessandro Mendini_July 2017

The exhibition will remain open at MAD Murate Art District in Florence until 29 September 2024.