A New Era of Contemporary Art at Le Sirenuse
The swimming pool at the Positano, Italy icon is given an artsy makeover by Swiss artist Nicolas Party
It goes without saying that Le Sirenuse is a icon in Positano; its cherry-red façade stands out against the azure Mediterranean, surrounded by great swathes of terraced gardens, lemon groves and the rugged backdrop of the Lattari mountains. It’s been an astonishing example of family-led hospitality since its opening in 1951 when Anna, Aldo, Paolo and Franco Sersale opened their seaside family residence to guests for the first time. Today, the property is led by Antonio and Carla Sersale, joined by their sons Aldo and Francesco, exuding the same warm and authentic spirit that has been present for over seventy years.
Since its opening, art has been intertwined throughout the property, which showcases beautiful, artisanal finds collected by the four siblings. Franco, who was a skilled photographer and avid art collector, assembled a collection of 17th and 18th century Neapolitan and southern Italian pieces as well as neo-Moorish and central-Asian furnishings from his travels. Then, of course, the property has been adorned with examples of local Italian craftsmanship, with the family commissioning individual artisans to create most of the fittings and furnishings. Examples include the glazed ceramic floor tiles across the hotel by local craftsmen at Fornace De Martino, the beautiful rattan furnishings on the terrace of Aldo’s Cocktail Bar & Seafood Grill, designed by Mario Bonacina, as well as the tableware by Laboratorio Paravicini and ceramic decorations by Lucio Liguori.
While maintaining the importance of working with artisans, Franco’s son Antonio and his wife, Carla, introduced contemporary art through the “Artists at Le Sirenuse” program launched in collaboration with British art advisor and curator Silka Rittson-Thomas. This consists of inviting leading international artists once a year to create site-specific installations. These are then displayed throughout the space, bringing a creative twist on the timeless, classic design of the hotel. For example, the program in 2016 was kickstarted by Scottish artist Martin Creed who produced a neon “Don’t Worry” installation that hangs from the ceiling of Le Sirenuse’s original indoor bar. This was the first of many, with Stanley Whitney, Alex Israel, Matt Connors, Rita Ackermann and Caragh Thuring to follow—until the latest released this year by Swiss artist Nicolas Party.
The eleventh edition of “Artists at Le Sirenuse” is perhaps the most ambitious and groundbreaking commission to date, in which Party has given a makeover to the hotel’s iconic pool with an exuberant play of overlapping and interlocking organic forms. He has drawn inspiration from the sweeping, colorful Positano landscapes and composed a vibrant tableau of abstract forms using Bisazza glass tiles to create a wonderful mosaic. Bisazza is a premium, historical mosaic brand based in Vicenza, northern Italy, with a rich portfolio of previous works with leading designers and artists, from Piero Fornasetti to Patricia Urquiola, Sandro Chia and Hiroshi Sugimoto. As the little colored glass tiles reached Positano in January 2024, the Fabrizi brothers, known as “expert mosaicisti” began to lay them and finished just in time for the hotel’s opening in spring.
This contemporary statement alludes to Antonio’s father Franco’s vision from the mid-’70s. He was the first to transform Le Sirenuse’s pool—requesting Positano-based designer Raimonda Gaetani add a mermaid mosaic to the small pergola at the eastern end and, later, he had the pool entirely relaid in mosaic tiles reproducing the border of a Greek-style floor mosaic that had impressed him in Berlin’s Pergamon Museum. “When we asked Nicolas to create a mosaic for the pool, we were really just carrying forward a tradition inaugurated by my father almost forty years ago,” says Antonio.
While you swim in the pool, you feel as though you’re suspended between sea and sky; with this kaleidoscope of blue hues, you enter a new realm in which you seem to float in another dimension. At the center of this monochromatic medley, the artist has placed a disc made of golden mosaic tiles that, he says, “people will think of as the sun, because it’s gold and a circle… so when you jump into the pool, you’re jumping into the sky.” Inspired by ancient Chinese landscape painting, Party provokes this thought through metaphorical interpretations of nature encouraging a deeper appreciation of the beauty and complexity of the surrounding environment.
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