Monika Sprüth Wears Stone Island's Felted Wool Cardigan

Monika Sprüth wears Stone Island's 5100042 Felted RWS Wool knit, a cardigan from the Autumn Winter 2026 collection, in the brand's Community as a Form of Research campaign. The Cologne gallerist was photographed by David Sims, and she answers questions curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, whose list runs to one hundred per subject. Her answers are short and specific, and the cardigan she wears for them is a coarse gauge 7 knit.

Gauge 7, Felted Wool, a Concealed Placket

Style 5100042 is a knit cardigan in felted RWS wool, which means wool certified to the Responsible Wool Standard that has been felted into a denser, matted fabric. It has raglan sleeves, angled hand pockets, a contrast fabric undercollar and a concealed front button closure with a double placket. The gauge is 7.

That number sets it apart from the rest of the season's knits. Retail listings for the Autumn Winter 2026 range put the pure RWS wool crewneck 5100011 at 12 gauge and the GHOST lightweight crewneck at 14, so a gauge 7 cardigan is a visibly coarser, heavier knit. The undercollar in a different fabric and the buttons hidden behind the placket keep the front clean; the only contrast sits where the collar turns. On a body it reads as a coat shape built from a sweater, which suits a sitter photographed from the front for a question and answer project.

Salt and Sugar, Courtesy of Boetti

Question 01 of 100 asks who the artists are that inspire her, and Sprüth names Alighiero Boetti. Her answer: "Alighiero Boetti, pointing out the contradictions of life: order and disorder, coincidence and necessity, nothing to see and nothing to hide, salt and sugar."

Order and disorder is a Boetti subject by name. His embroidered letter works include Ordine e Disordine, and the Italian artist's own 1971 statement held that everything contains its opposite. Sprüth Magers lists Boetti among its artists, and the gallery's New York show Insecure Unconcerned in 2024 was followed by a panel with Mariuccia Casadio, Peter Fischli and Obrist on the theme of ordine e disordine. Obrist, who curates the questions here, has already discussed that theme on her gallery's stage.

Cologne, February 1983

Question 16 asks what achievements she is especially proud of. Her answer is one line: "Giving women more visibility in art."

It is a record before it is a sentiment. Sprüth opened her first gallery in Cologne in February 1983 with a focus on female artists. In 1985 she began publishing Eau de Cologne, a magazine featuring almost exclusively women artists and art practitioners, with contributions from Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Cindy Sherman, Rosemarie Trockel and Louise Lawler. Her gallery merged with the one Philomene Magers opened in 1991 to become Sprüth Magers in 1998, and the combined gallery now has spaces in London, Berlin, Los Angeles and New York.

Question 36 asks for her favourite city. She answers: "I have no favourite city. Any place where I have friends or where I can be quiet."

A Season of Portraits

Sprüth is one of the later portraits in the campaign. The season opened with table tennis world champion Xu Xin, DJ and watch dealer Adrian Douzmanian, filmmaker Nick Love, three time WNBA champion Breanna Stewart and photographer Simjae. Fakemink, Skepta, Stephen Graham, 3House, Samir Bantal, Sprüth and Jia Zhangke follow through the season.

Her piece is the wool counterpart to the denim and nylon that carried the first portraits. Stephen Graham and Skepta carried the Denim Research line, a 13.5oz coach jacket in Graham's case, and Graham also curated a playlist for Stone Island Sound. Skepta wore the Tela Resinata jacket from the six fabric No Seasons pattern. Fakemink's piece is a bright orange nylon jacket with a resin treatment and heat pressing, and 3House wears a lightweight jacket made through a hands on process, so most of the portraits so far lean on coatings and finishes. Sprüth is dressed in the opposite register: no resin, no spray, a felted knit at gauge 7.

The project is a continuation of The Compass Inside, the manifesto Stone Island launched in January 2024 with a Spring Summer 2024 campaign. That campaign also paired David Sims portraits with questions from Obrist, then ten per participant. The Stone Island badge has its own history, traced to a sailboat. Moncler Group, which bought Stone Island from the Rivetti family in 2021, owns the brand that commissioned it.

Stone Island was founded in 1982. Sprüth's first gallery opened in Cologne in February 1983.