Koen Deprez

Bruno Mussolini (1918-1941), the second son of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, was a pilot in the Royal Italian Air Force. He was killed while test-piloting a new aircraft prototype. The damage to the plane was catastrophic: the cockpit was separated from the fuselage and the pilot's body was sliced in two. Deprez has therefore conceived Bruno Mussolini's home as an incomplete entity – the second part has not yet been developed. The first section, however, was inspired by the chrome dial on an old set of scales in Deprez's childhood home.

Nevertheless, this project remains purposefully on the drawing board. By separating the artistic process from the application phase, the artist renounces his authorial authority and distances himself from any symbolic meaning that can be attached to the residence. Dedicating a project to such a controversial client as Bruno Mussolini, however, raises interesting questions: to what extent does architecture support a manifesto, and at which point does the architect become a political accomplice?