Red Frames
Projects
Year: 2019
Edition: Unique
Technique: Industrial acrylic paint on concrete
Framed: No
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SECURITY
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AUTHENTICITY
All artworks on IdeelArt are original, signed, delivered directly from the artist's studio, and come with a certificate of authenticity."Red Frames" is a monumental, permanent wall painting created by Swiss artist Daniel Göttin for the Art Zuid 2019 Sculpture Biennial in Amsterdam. Located in the bustling pedestrian and bicycle passage beneath Amsterdam Station Zuid, the installation consists of a series of interventions on ten massive concrete support pillars. This project is a definitive example of how concrete art can migrate from the gallery to the "non-places" of urban transit, permanently altering the daily commute for thousands.
Artistic Vision & Technique
Göttin’s approach to the passage was to treat the structural pillars as a sequence of canvases. By painting the recessed faces of the pillars a stark, luminous white and "framing" them with thick, vibrant signal-red borders, he created a "gallery without walls." The technique is deceptively simple but architecturally profound. The red frames act as a visual highlight, pulling the viewer’s eye toward the rhythm of the structural supports. This intervention turns a traditionally dark, utilitarian "grey" space into a rhythmic, aesthetic experience. It challenges the passenger to stop seeing the tunnel as a mere shortcut and start perceiving it as a curated environment.
Context & Significance
Commissioned for Art Zuid, a biennial typically known for standalone sculptures, Göttin chose instead to engage directly with the existing architecture. The "Red Frames" serve as a dialogue between the "White Cube" of high-art galleries and the industrial reality of a transit hub. By making the intervention permanent, the city of Amsterdam acknowledged the power of minimalist abstraction to humanize and organize public space. It stands as a testament to the artist's ability to find the "hidden" geometry in our most functional environments.
Key Technical Details
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Scale: 10 structural concrete pillars.
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Medium: Permanent site-specific wall painting.
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Materials: High-durability industrial acrylic paint.
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Location: Pedestrian/bicycle passage, Amsterdam Station Zuid, Netherlands.
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Exhibition: Art Zuid 2019 (Sculpture Biennial).
Bring Art to Your Space
This project illustrates the ability of our artists to produce monumental, custom works for public, corporate, or private environments—ranging from urban scale interventions to specialized architectural "highlighting." IdeelArt invites you to commission a unique, site-specific installation tailored to the technical and emotional character of your project. For inquiries regarding custom murals, urban interventions, or monumental abstract works, we invite you to contact our curatorial team.
Daniel Göttin is a Swiss artist whose work is divided between site-specific projects and coloured or painted objects for walls. He lives and works in Basel.
Education / Residencies
Initially working as a technical draftsman for an engineering company, Daniel Göttin later entered the School of Visual Art in Basel, where he graduated in 1990.
He has held artist residencies at the Fremantle Art Foundation (now Artsource), Australia in 1990, Donald Judd's Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas in 1993, the Shed im Eisenwerk, Switzerland in 1994, the:artist:network in New York in 2005, and Youkobo Art Space in Tokyo in 2007 and 2013/2014.
Technique
Göttin works with common industrial materials such as paint, tape, wood, metal, polystyrene, plastic, and carpet. The concept for an installation depends on the site and its conditions. For his objects and paintings, he uses similar materials, examining the subjective nature of perception and playfully responding to the characteristics of architectural spaces. His works made of aluminum and painted MDF direct attention to the space within the object, highlighting the interplay of light and shadow, thus creating a new quality of perception between concrete and abstract reality.
Inspiration
His artistic background relates mainly to Minimal Art, Concrete Art, and Conceptual Art. Besides these tendencies, he also incorporates aspects of Dada/Merz, Constructivism, and Arte Povera. For over 25 years, Göttin has focused on creating temporary and permanent site-specific installations, public art, objects, paintings, drawings, collages, and prints.
Relevant Quotes
“Daniel’s art possesses clarity and thoughtfulness. But this clarity is not the result of a fixed or repetitive position or strategy. Instead, his art is iterative, responding to changing conditions and environments. Different aspects of his work, both the wall pieces and the objects made for the wall, are inter-related and reflect on each other. There is a wholeness to what Daniel refers to as an entity—his body of work.” (Chris Ashley, Minus Space)
Notable Distinctions
Daniel Göttin has received grants from the City of Basel, Switzerland.
Exhibitions
Göttin has organised over 60 solo exhibitions and projects since 1990 at museums, galleries, and public collections across Europe, Japan, Australia, Mexico, and the United States.
Together with his partner Gerda Maise, he founded the art space Hebel_121 in Basel in 1998, providing a platform for installative exhibitions. Hebel_121 continues to showcase innovative art.
Wenger, Zurich, Switzerland
Conny Dietzschold, Sydney, Australia
Gen, Tokyo, Japan
Minus Space, Brooklyn, NY
Photos credit (from top)
- Daniel Göttin
- Stefan Altenburger Photography Zürich
- Serge Hasenböhler
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