For architect, urban planner and artist Luc Deleu (b. 1944, Duffel), architecture is a form of visual, sculptural and political thinking about the relationship between public and private space. He explores these themes through his research bureau T.O.P. office, founded in 1970, and in his artistic activities. The same is true of his installation Red and Blue Barricade (2017), a design drawing for which can be seen here. The work is inspired by Eugène Delacroix’s famous painting Liberty Leading the People (1830), which depicts Marianne, the embodiment of France, commanding the revolutionaries. It prompted Deleu to ask questions such as ‘what makes a barricade a barricade?’ He originally began making barricades with junk, books and furniture. Eventually, his eye fell upon Gerrit Rietveld’s Red and Blue Chair. It is an iconic piece that is also easy to produce. Although conceived as ‘design for the people’, it eventually became a priceless collector’s item. The hollowed-out revolutionary potential of this piece of furniture is reinstated in the barricade arrangement of 29 stacked chairs.
