n 1888, Vincent van Gogh, ravaged by
heavy drinking and disillusioned with life in Paris,
found refuge in Arles, intent on creating an artists’
commune. ‘L’Atelier du Sud’ would, he hoped, become
a laboratory to experiment with colours and light,
repositioning the Provençal city as a centre for artistic
production. But the project ended abruptly the same
year, after a series of violent quarrels with his friend
Paul Gauguin – the only artist who had responded
to the invitation – drove the Dutchman to a mental
breakdown, during which he famously cut of part
of his own ear.
Despite its failure, the ideals behind l’Atelier du Sud
left an indelible mark on Arles which, some 130 years
later, may get its artist colony after all. Designed by the
Cuban-born American artist Jorge Pardo, l’Arlatan –
a hotel and artist residence, housed in a 15th-century
palace once belonging to the Counts of Arlatan de
Beaumont – is set to become a hub for the international
intelligentsia brought to the city by the newly
established contemporary art centre, Luma Arles.
Built on an ancient Roman basilica (its remains are
still visible), and a stone’s throw from the Unesco-listed
Baths of Constantine, the 5,500 sq m building boasts
an impressive list of historic features added throughthe centuries, including a classical façade on three
levels, rebuilt in the 18th century; exquisitely painted
wooden ceilings from the 15th century; and a dramatic,
monolithic column from the 5th century, formerly
part of the baths. ‘I thought it’d be interesting to bring
a new dimension, one of the 21st century,’ explains
the president of the Luma Foundation, Swiss art
maverick Maja Hofmann, of the refurbishment
she commissioned.
‘How does somebody like me speak to that?’ muses
the softly spoken Pardo, ruminating on the layered
history of the site. Pardo, whose practice operates
at the intersection of art, architecture and design,
rose to prominence in the 1990s as part of the
relational aesthetics movement led by French critic
Nicolas Bourriaud, which considers social context
as the point of departure of an artwork. ‘What Pardo
consistently creates is spaces that respond with care
to his surroundings, while also skewering convention
to make something truly original,’ says Tim Neuger,
co-founder of Berlin’s Neugerriemschneider gallery,
who has been working with Pardo since 1994.
One of Pardo’s irst high-proile projects, 4166 Sea
View Lane (1998), is a house he built in LA as part of
the city’s Museum of Contemporary of Art’s Focus »I
JORGE PARDO’S ORIGINAL
ARTWORK FOR THIS MONTH’S
LIMITED-EDITION COVER
(AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS,
SEE WALLPAPER.COM) IS A
COMPOSITION OF DIGITALLY
MANIPULATED IMAGES
REPRESENTING THE ARTIST
AND FRIENDS ON MEXICO’S
YUCATÁN PENINSULA
ABOVE AND OPPOSITE, SOME
OF THE HOTEL’S NEW ROOMS
AND RESIDENCES, FOR WHICH
A MILLION TILES WERE MADE∑ 083