a former rail depot converted by US irm Selldorf
Architects, soon to be lanked by a glistening, 56m-high
Frank Gehry tower, due in 2020. (‘We’re waiting for
it like the Messiah!’ exclaimed our taxi driver as we
made our way from the train station.)
Together with her ‘Core Group’ – a troop of
art-world superstars acting as advisors, including
Hans Ulrich Obrist, Liam Gillick and Beatrix Ruf –
Hofmann has imagined Luma Arles as an urban
archipelago, where buildings are in conversation with
one another as well as with their environment (the
central drum of Gehry’s tower, for instance, echoes
Arles’ iconic Roman amphitheatre). ‘It becomes a more
transversal way of thinking,’ argues the art collector
and patron, whose programme at Luma Arles features
large-scale art and architecture exhibitions, talks,
institutional collaborations and a social-design
workshop focusing on Arles’ surroundings.
With its artists’ residences, l’Arlatan is certainly
set to become a vital resource for the centre. Since
its inception, Luma has organised a number of
tailored, invitation-based residencies with the likes
of Turkish artist Ahmet Öğüt, French critic and
curator Anna Colin and, currently, Spanish philosopher
and transgender activist Paul B Preciado. ‘A communal
space will change the dynamic of the residencies,’
explains Julie Boukobza, who runs the programme.
‘It will enhance the conversation between residents.’
From a Roman basilica to a Renaissance palace
and now a contemporary, art-friendly hotel, l’Arlatan’s
many lives share a distinct legacy of enlightened,
artistic conversations. ‘History repeats itself,’ airms
the conservation expert Renzo Wieder, pointing to theheritage of art and architecture that has shaped the
aesthetics of the site throughout the centuries.
As for van Gogh’s artist colony, time will tell
whether it was just a doomed fantasy or a reality now in
the making. In the meantime, Pardo’s intervention at
l’Arlatan ofers an uncanny response to the Dutchman’s
prediction that, ‘the painter of the future will be a
colourist the like of which has never yet been seen’. ∂
L’Arlatan, by Jorge Pardo, opens late summer 2018; enquiries
via luma-arles.org. Pardo has an exhibition of new work at
Neugerriemschneider, Berlin, 14 September–20 October,
neugerriemschneider.comLEFT, A SERIES OF PAINTED
DOOR PANELS BY PARDO,
SOME OF THE THOUSANDS OF
BESPOKE PIECES DESIGNED BY
THE ARTIST FOR THE PROJECT
BELOW, A ROCKING CHAIR
WAITING TO BE INSTALLED
IN THE NEW ROOMS. MOST
OF THE FURNITURE IS MADE
USING PAROTA, A GOLDEN-
BROWN WOOD SOURCED
FROM CHIAPAS, MEXICO‘The aesthetic is not necessarily responding to the antiquity,’
says Pardo, but is more about light and colours
086 ∑
Art