9 Art and Design Luminaries Share Where They Are Traveling This Summer

Venice, Italy and Hydra, Greece 

Massimiliano Gioni, Artistic Director, New Museum 

“I am planning to be in Venice, especially since my wife Cecilia Alemani is curating the Venice Biennale. Venice inspires me with its cacophony of hundreds of exhibitions with artists from all over the world. There is really nothing quite like it. And this year will be more special than ever because it’s the time since the 1940s that the Biennale has been postponed. That immediately gives an idea of how historical and dramatic the events of the past two years have been and what impact they had on every aspect of our lives. And, sadly, with the war in Ukraine, we are also reminded of how important and complex international exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale are. I always like to go to Hydra; it’s a place that inspires me with its silence. The island has been welcoming artists since the 1960s. I went for the first time 23 years ago and fell for the myth of Leonard Cohen, who wrote some of his most beautiful songs there. This season, Jeff Koons will be the guest of honor at the extravaganza that collector Dakis Joannou hosts in the most unlikely of places: a former slaughterhouse that he transformed into a project space for his Deste Foundation.” 

Berlin

Kimberly Drew, Associate Director, Pace Gallery

“I am dreaming of traveling to Berlin to explore the Berlin Biennale. More than just an art exhibition, the event is always an electrifying cultural experience—one where you leave with a notebook full of artists you didn’t know that you needed to know and a broadened curatorial imagination. I am especially excited to see the curatorial vision of this year’s artistic team led by Ana Teixeira Pinto, Đỗ Tường Linh, Marie Helene Pereira, Noam Segal, and Rasha Salti in conversation with Kader Attia. To me, Berlin is a city that is best enjoyed when you let the spirit flow. I can’t wait to head to dinner at Oh, Panama, have ladies’ night at Möbel-Olfe, hit a karaoke drag show hosted by Pansy, and then round out the evening (and into the morning) at clubs with some of the best DJs and sound systems in the world.”

Puglia, Italy  

Melanie Courbet, Founder, Les Ateliers Courbet 

“I’m going to Puglia to spend some time with dear friends and collaborators. The first person who brought me there was my dear friend Riccardo Cavaciocchi, an architect who founded Paper Factor, which takes the traditional material of papier-mâché, commonly used in antiques restoration in Italy, and applies it in innovative new ways. I will stay at Il Convento di Santa Maria di Costantinopoli, which is an incredible bed-and-breakfast in a former convent that was lovingly restored by an eccentric British collector couple and filled with their horde. It’s like a cabinet of curiosities, and you can feel their soul in every room. There is also have a beautiful garden and they prepare meals from the produce on site. The only other place I would stay is the Palazzo Daniele, in Gagliano del Capo, near the coast, which was beautifully renovated by Ludovica + Roberto Palomba. In a tiny village that I love to visit, there is a limestone church that has eroded, but in such a beautiful, artistic way, as though Mother Nature has the hands of a sculptor. There’s also an abandoned open-air pool that I hope no one will ever try to restore. It has such a romantic sense of a bygone era. I fear Puglia is going to change, as things always do, but there is something still so quaint about the region. It’s quiet and special.”

Alaska 

Paola Pivi, Artist

“I’m planning to travel to my favorite spots in Alaska. At the Homer Spit, I’ll walk on the amazingly long peninsula of gray beach, stretching out in the dark-blue, inhospitable ocean, the chilliest wind whipping at my face, and see eagles by the dozens. I’ll stop at the historic Salty Dawg Saloon, with its quirky installation of banknotes and underwear covering almost every surface. From there, I’ll take a boat across the bay to Seldovia, a remote community of less than 300. This year I got my first dog, an Alaskan rescue; exploring the region with him makes it even more fun because of the way he connects to the land. He comes with thousands of years of Alaskan instinct, and the way he drinks in the environment is a spectacle to admire.”

Tuscany, Italy

Pilar Corrias, Gallerist

“I will be traveling to Porto Ercole and Monte Argentario in Tuscany, a place I love for the beautiful sea. It’s a nature reserve, so it’s incredibly peaceful and unspoiled. The small, local islands of Giglio and Giannutri are wonderful for snorkeling. It’s also near the late American French sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle’s Tarot Garden, which is mesmerizing no matter what age you are. I remember seeing it being built when I was growing up, and I continue to enjoy visiting it. The area is rich with history, too: Porto Ercole is where Caravaggio died in 1610 after being exiled from Rome by the pope; he was initially buried at the local cemetery in San Sebastiano. There is also the beautiful Corsini gardens, which date back to the mid-19th century; they’re a must-visit.”

Capri, Italy

Francis Sultana, Designer

“I’m going to be in Capri, the picturesque island off the Amalfi Coast, which I first visited in my early twenties and is still a place close to my heart. I felt an instant connection that remains to this day. I have just redesigned one of the island’s most iconic hotels, Hotel La Palma, which is my first hotel project. I was so inspired by the island itself, the Amalfi Coast, and the heyday of 1950s la dolce vita. The hotel was once famed as a place where artists stayed and left artworks behind, sometimes in lieu of paying their bill. I will be there for Nomad, the roaming contemporary art and collectible design fair, which takes place in July. An island of romanticism, Capri is imbued with a sense of beauty and great inspiration for creativity.”

Seoul, South Korea

David Maupin, Cofounder, Lehmann Maupin

“I’m planning on visiting Seoul for business but also for pleasure. We just doubled our footprint in the city with a new gallery space in the Hannam-dong neighborhood. To me, Seoul represents the future: the future of art, fashion, technology, real estate, and so many other industries. Seoul has a spirit of cultural innovation and creativity that was always attractive to Rachel [Lehmann] and me. We both started making trips to Korea at an early age, and it’s always captured our imaginations. We established roots there through our amazing artists Do Ho Suh, Suh Se Ok, and Lee Bul. One of the most impressive things to me is the speed in which Korea’s art world has evolved. In the last few years, Seoul has built a very strong museum and gallery scene and started hosting its own biennial and art fairs, with Frieze now joining the list.”

Savannah, Georgia

Daniel S. Palmer, Chief Curator, Savannah College of Art and Design

“I just started my new role at SCAD, so I plan to spend my summer getting to know Savannah and the surrounding area along the coast, which is a truly idyllic setting. The university completely is integrated into the town, and it brings together the past and present in a way that really impresses me. I’m especially enamored by the adaptive reuse of the SCAD Museum of Art building, which is the oldest surviving antebellum railroad depot in the U.S. and has been stunningly transformed into a state-of-the-art facility. In addition to all the delicious seafood, I’m devouring books by the city’s famous writers, especially Flannery O’Connor and Conrad Aiken. Savannah is widely known as a great writers’ town, but it is also a readers’ town too. There are such excellent book shops with thoughtful, kind people running them. And any bench in the many squares and parks is an ideal place to sit with a book. There is perfectly dappled lighting that is created by the Spanish moss hanging from massive live oak trees. The setting is so peaceful and inspiring.”

Positano, Italy

Elena Soboleva, Global Head of Online Sales, David Zwirner

“I am planning to start my summer in Positano, a dream world filled with light and color. It is the ideal place to perfect the art of dolce far niente, which as a new parent is my absolute dream. While there are the typical streets packed throngs of tourists meandering the gelato bars and painted-tile shops, the moment you head down a steep, winding path down the jagged cliffs to the cool, rocky beaches, you’re in a totally different world.  I like to stay at Le Sirenuse, which epitomizes old world glamor and hospitality with all the right contemporary elegance. It’s named after an archipelago of islands nearby where mythical sea creatures were said to have seduced sailors onto the rocks. Its iconic red facade is built into the hill, looking over the cathedral cupola with lemon trees lining the aquamarine pool. They have a splendid collection of contemporary art, and you can stumble upon works by Alex Israel, Stanley Whitney, or Rita Ackerman’s mermaid paintings. For sunset, I’ll head to Franco’s Bar, complete with a neo-Baroque fountain by Giuseppe Ducrot. In the swell of summer, I will then come back to the U.S. and go off the grid to the futuristic escape into the dusts of Black Rock City in Nevada.”

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2022 Summer Issue under the headline “All Who Wander.” Subscribe to the magazine.