HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE REALITY OF MURALESS ART HOTEL, HOW DID THE DECISION TO PURSUE THE PROJECT AS MURALESS ART HOTEL DEVELOP IN YOU?
The project was proposed to me by the owners, amid Covid period, and I was immediately drawn in by the energy of this deeply innovative and creative enterprise. The involvement was total: from the definition of the themes of Italian excellence, to the choice of room furnishings. A complex project, but one of great personal and professional satisfaction.
MURALESS' PLACE OF ACTION IS DIFFERENT FROM THE STREET CONTEXT, SO, WHAT CRITERIA GUIDED THE SELECTION OF ARTISTS AND WHAT WAS THEIR RESPONSE? HOW IMPORTANT, IN YOUR PERCEPTION, CAN THE (EXHIBITION) CONTEXT BE?
Our curator, Chiara Canali, worked on the selection phase, she personally knows THE ARTISTS and has been following them for years. The choice fell not only on the most historical groups such as the TdK Crew from Milan and/or the group of Paduans with Joy and Made but also on emerging artists. More than 50 artists have collaborated on our project, some certainly more mature than others, with a path from an educational point of view complete and who have already been part of the street art scene for many years, while others are still in an emerging phase. This is reflected in the artistic design of each individual room, in some you can breathe an important artistic maturity, you can see it in the murals they have given us, others have a simple but artistically valuable figuration.
The project was received with great enthusiasm, working on a uniqueness, creating something totally new, dedicated to Made in Italy, enhancing the culture of the area by exalting Italian excellence but in a way that went beyond the criterion of Italianness. The rooms were curated by Italian artists, the exterior façade created by French artist Mr. Brainwash and the entrance floor by Agron Hoti, an Albanian artist who has lived in Verona for several years.
Working on the rooms, as opposed to the street, was also a challenge for the artists themselves, because they were in an enclosed, bounded environment, different from the very large surfaces of the walls on the street. Here they were able to create totally immersive murals, they were able to create beautiful and proportionate designs, even though they had to reverse the direction of the work by acting on both walls and ceilings. Only Federico Unia, in art Omer, had already tackled the hôtellerie theme, working, however, on only one wall. The ARTISTS, faced with the physical space of the room, created a dialogue with the walls, with the spaces, giving rise to works, which I believe, surpassed the original idea and sketches. It was a challenge that promoted a strong creative stimulus.
I READ THAT YOU ARE THE FIRST HOTEL IN EUROPE, IF NOT THE WORLD, TO LEND ITS SPACES ENTIRELY TO URBAN ARTWORKS. WHY SPECIFICALLY IN VERONA?
Simply because the entrepreneur, Gianmaria Villa, is from Verona and therefore the ownership is absolutely Veronese, he is a person in love with the city who has also given a lot on an entrepreneurial level. The hôtellerie business is not part of his corporate core business; it was a challenge for him as well. Buying this property that was already a hotel, completely redeveloping it was a revitalization of something that was already important to the city of Verona. The Cristallo Hotel was very well known in the city and unfortunately had declined a bit in recent years. The desire was to bring this beautiful structure back to life, with the intention of not abandoning the city of Verona and creating a new business project.
THE BUSINESS HAS BEEN UP AND RUNNING FOR A FEW MONTHS NOW, HOW IS THE PUBLIC RESPONSE? DO THE CLIENTELE FEEL THAT THEY ARE IMMERSED IN ART AS AN EXPERIENCE OR MORE LIKE A MUSEUM DEFINED BY MALRAUX AS 'CHE SEPARA L’OPERA DAL MONDO' (SEPARATING THE WORK FROM THE WORLD)?
This is where you become part of the art; Agron Hoti's idea in creating the flooring in the lobby was to create the color palette to which the artists would dip their brushes to bring the murals in the rooms to life. To create a continuity, to give a beginning to the work within the individual rooms. Our idea is just that, our guests are also part of the artwork.
As for the response, however, speaking first about the city of Verona, or rather Castel d'Azzano, a small town south of Verona, a different reality from a metropolitan city, it was not satisfactory at first, we received the classic negative reviews on social media. To date, however, the customer base has changed, we have art lovers, many customers from abroad where Street Art is already an absolutely recognized and appreciated art form. Today, in Verona we are a well-known, appreciated reality, the surrounding industry is also benefiting. It is an important project, a great break from the Veronese tradition with mostly family-run hotels, with traditional structures handed down from generation to generation. The Muraless hotel is a completely new experience, it is a beautiful challenge. Our guests are all very curious, they are interested in seeing the rooms, that is why at the entrance of each room in addition to the number, there is a QR-code that framed offers the description of the work inside and the biography of the artist. we deliberately chose not to include the images of the rooms to stimulate the desire to return to stay with us, in a different room as many as 94 times.
OUR MAGAZINE IS COLLECTING DIFFERENT VIEWS AND OPINIONS OF PROFESSIONALS ON THE TERM STREET ART/URBAN ART, WHAT IS ITS DEFINITION? WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO DEDICATE AN ACCOMMODATION TO THIS ART STYLE AND WHY NOW? COULD WE CALL IT A MATURE PERIOD?
In my opinion we are approaching maturity, street art is no longer considered an art of denunciation, which it was until a few years ago. Artists used to be considered the classic wall painters who with spray cans would go and smear the work of others or otherwise create messages of protest. I think now the transition is other, there are accomplished/complete artists, the level is very high. Street art, which is a desire to express oneself, to play with what are the possibilities of an artist who with a drawing, an image manages to communicate a message. Here we have done it in fullness, in completeness, giving great prominence to all the excellence of Made in Italy. We have really embraced so many fields, and we believe that we have succeeded in perfectly rendering what is the message of freedom of expression of street art, especially by channeling it into its own artistic idea, which is very complex, no longer just using a spray can on the wall, but a project that goes beyond that.
AS FOR THE CRITICAL TEXTS/ROOM DESCRIPTIONS, DID THE CURATOR TAKE CARE OF THAT?
Rooms' descriptions come from the artists themselves, even though sometimes they like to talk very little and can have very complex personalities. I got to know them all as long as they were working here inside the facility and I was faced with truly very different people like Silvia Pezzotta in art Octofly, an explosive girl, full of desire to communicate, to photograph, really a lot of social, to others head down and just drawing. Really very different personalities, however now when we asked them for a description of their works, they were precise, punctual, they told us anecdotes regarding their life path, it was a bit of entering into their intimacy.
STREET ART IS SYNONYMOUS WITH STREET, FREEDOM AND THEREFORE NOT ALWAYS PROTECTED, THIS GIVES THE POSSIBILITY OF STRATIFICATION, CHANGES NOT ONLY DUE TO CLIMATIC-ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS, BUT ALSO TO PEOPLE, IN YOUR CASE THIS RISK IS THERE, THE IDEA IS TO RECREATE THIS PARTICULARITY AS WELL, FOR EXAMPLE, MODIFYING OVER TIME THE WORKS?
We leave every possibility open, in the sense that it is precisely part of the street art philosophy that it is not eternal. There is someone who goes over it, there is someone who erases and destroys, there is someone who adds. For example, in the room dedicated to Canova, made by Mr. Save The Wall, the artist decided that whoever sleeps inside his room, has the opportunity to add elements, he will come after a year to see the finished work. So, there are protected rooms/works, because anyway we want to keep the heritage that we have right now, however, it is not necessarily that over time it can also take different forms. There is a very nice project that we have recently launched: Adopt a room, which gives the possibility for companies interested in street art to be able to adopt a room for a specific time and take care of it. It also means taking care of it at the level of cleaning, restoration, patronage 2.0. With this project, the companies have the opportunity to support us in maintaining the artworks, the artists will also have to be willing to do touch-ups on their creations to give a prominence to the company that takes care of them. Become an exchange, this could be the change within our rooms.
SO, IT PROMPTS US TO BELIEVE THAT THERE WILL BE A BIG FOCUS ON STREET ART IF COMPANIES ARE ALSO INTERESTED IN IT?
Yes, we already have a few that have adopted rooms, which is why I was saying earlier that Street art right now is very close to maturity. So many realities now believe in this art form, the companies we deal with operate in very different sectors. The project has just been launched, an important project, Muraless is being talked about a lot, so we could become a vehicle/vector for the same companies. But our purpose remains to maintain the work, our heritage. In our hotel everything is very delicate.
IN WHAT SHOULD A REALITY LIKE MURALESS ART HOTEL DARE?
The main purpose that we are trying to pursue is to keep order, an order on the level of communication so as not to result in an image different from what we want to be, not a hotel dedicated to street art, but an art hotel. Also, from a communication point of view, we intend to create art-related events. Soon there will be Art Verona in Verona, so we will clearly tie ourselves to the fair so that we can create something dedicated to our hotel/structure. In all this, we never forget that we are a four-star hotel and therefore, able to offer high-level services. Our strength is to be able to make both sectors communicate, so that we can meet the needs of different types of customers, from the family to the business customer to the art enthusiast. To answer the question there is to be daring, but not too much, here, let's say that we still try to stay connected to the idea of hôtellerie, of hotel services in a certainly very particular artistic context. It is an experience what we offer to our clients, a well-rounded experience.
by RA/RC
for DARE CLAN