Discover Belmond’s Latest Art Installations at Hotels in Mallorca, Italy, England, and Brazil

The first work to appear this season was by Italian sculptor Arcangelo Sassolino, whose massive black claw Hunger (2006/2007) debuted at La Residencia in early May and will remain in place through October. Also in May, Cuban artist Yoan Capote installed six works in the gardens at the Grand Hotel Timeo in Taormina, Sicily, which will be up through January 7, 2024, as well as his piece Family Portrait (2022) at Villa Sant’Andrea, on view through October.

“What we learned from last year is that Belmond truly aims to play a cultural role by supporting not just aesthetic but meaningful projects to raise awareness about the transformational power of the arts,” Fiaschi tells Galerie. “What we appreciate the most is the trust they have in the gallery and in the artists we represent. This second edition of MITICO is more engaged and reflects on the relationship between humans and the environment that surrounds us.”

For the sophomore season of MITICO, artists were asked to draw on the concept of identity, resulting in works like Family Portrait, for which Capote explored his own Cuban heritage or the hyper-realistic figures Beijing talents Sun Yuan and Peng Yu created, replacing their heads with boulders, for their work Teenager Teenager (2011), on display through September 17.

In selecting the participating talents, Fiaschi looked to the hotel locations themselves to find common themes. “Belmond legendary properties, their unique history, their cultural heritage and natural landscape, is what inspired the selection of the artworks,” he says. “To give you an example, the vegetation covering the facade of Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons reminded me of Loris Cecchini’s sculptural installation composed of a branching lattice of stainless steel. The artist has therefore been invited to create a sculpture for Le Manoir which traces, restores, and renews the building itself—just as natural processes are constantly doing.”

The latest work to be unveiled is Stallers (2013) by New York artist Nari Ward, which consists of myriad large-scale colorful strollers which dot the bucolic landscape at Castello di Casole in Tuscany through November 12. On June 30, Cecchini’s work Arborexence (2023) will be unveiled at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire, England, with one more yet-to-be-named artwork to debut this fall at Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro.

“We decided to expand internationally because with Belmond we are motivated by the same desire to explore the complex and extensive cultural landscapes of our territories,” says Fiaschi. “This year’s edition deepens the project’s connection with the nature of human identity, belonging and our relationship with the natural world around us—as well as our mutual responsibilities with those landscapes.”

Additionally, the Mallorca location will host Ukrainian painter and textile artist Anastasiia Podervianska, Kosovan mixed-media artist Sislej Xhafa, and photographers Pixy Liao and Takahiro Morooka for a three-month residency, during which they will create work to be permanently exhibited at the hotel. “Belmond properties are places full of memories of the past and it is very exciting for us to engage with this heritage and give a continuity to this rich history through contemporary art,” says Fiaschi. “It is more challenging to display artworks in such environments, comparing to ‘white cube’ spaces, but this is precisely what animates us. Respecting the memory of the past and create what will be part of the history of the next generations is the most interesting aspect for us.”