Robert Frankle responds to Anna Battista’s brief: “Many fashion companies are investing into art/ art spaces / museums, or restoration projects. – Is this genuine patronage or just another way to strengthen a brand’s identity and presence on the market?” @irenebrinatio with an extract from his work Monumenti (2011-15).

This is part of a series, presented as postcards, that has been an ongoing project since 2011. Two new images were made on the occasion of the opening of the 56th Venice Biennale and Press Room’s presence in Venice at that time.

Perhaps most infamously covering the Bridge of Sighs, these billboards promoting luxury and mass commercial brands have covered many of Venice’s most famous sites for years. Oddly enough on the occasion of the opening of the Venice Biennale in May 2015, they disappeared, except for a couple intended to promote Biennale events and which at the same time situated the Biennale on the same level as the brands that usually inhabit these spaces. In the summer, once the contemporary art VIPs had long vacated the city, the billboards re-assumed their usual profiles.

robertfrankle.com