The island of Capri is renowned for its crystal aquamarine waters, limestone cliffs and glamorous resorts – but this Italian gem has more to offer to sun-seekers as the third edition of its annual arts festival gets underway. Curated by Arianna Rosica and Gianluca Riccio, this year’s Festival del Paessagio (Festival of Landscapes) is headlined by the group exhibition, ‘Postcards’, which brings together artists from across multiple generations.
Among them, Milan-based Albanian artist Adrian Paci, and London-based Italian architect and food designer Francesca Sarti (who previously caught our eye with this artful Caesarstone collaboration) have created new works inspired by the island’s landscape especially for the ‘Postcards’ exhibition, as part of an artist residency programme at luxury hotel Capri Palace. Situated atop the island in Anacapri, the hotel launched its Travelogue/Artists In Residence initiative in 2008, and has seen the likes of Alessandro Mendini, Sandro Chia, and Ettore Spalletti take part.
Souvenir Kiosk, by Francesca Sarti
For their residency, Paci and Sarti worked with local high school students in a series of workshops incorporating a variety of different mediums – illustration, photography, video, and painting. Sarti’s workshop – entitled ‘Souvenir Kiosk’ – challenged her students to upend the clichés associated with Italian knickknacks, and create a series of dishes imagined as ‘culinary souvenirs’. Paci, meanwhile, honed in on some of the most famous movie scenes filmed on Capri, such as Luigi Comencini’s L’imperatore di Capri (1948), and JL Godard’s Il disprezzo (1963), along with images and videos from the family archives of the students participating in the workshop.
‘Art is the instrument through which students have the opportunity to learn, recognise and appreciate the beauty surrounding them,’ explained Ermanno Zanini, Capri Palace managing director and CCO of Mytha Hotel Anthology, a global group of seven Mediterranean-inspired properties. Capri Palace has a long-standing connection with art: the hotel features 17 art-themed suites among its rooms, from Mirò to Magritte and Warhol, while its White Museum has amassed a formidable collection over the years, including works by Allen Jones, Fabrizio Plessi, and a site-specific installation – a 4om-long ‘sort of Atlantis’ – by Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro. §
