Genius Loci | Residency by Extrartis and DOM Art Residence

The residents in front of the Sorrento <3 Art graffiti downtown.

At the beginning of August, I was on a two-week residency in Sorrento, Italy, arranged by two organisations – Extrartis, based in Sorrento and DOM Art Residence, based in Barcelona. The theme was Genius Loci, meaning "spirit of the place". Read more about it here. The venue for the residency was the beautiful Relais La Rupe, a 16th-century villa located in the heart of Sorrento. We were six invited artists – Luis Olaso, Sabrina Jauffret, Joy Kloman, Reiner Heidorn, Javier Léon Peréz and me. There was also a second group of artists arriving after we had left.

I brought my own materials with me on the flight. It was tricky, but I managed. At the Napoli airport, I met up with Sabrina, and we took the bus directly to Sorrento. The view was magnificent when we arrived in the city.

Relais La Rupe

The villa was balancing on the edge of a deep ravine with the ruin of an old mill at the bottom. The city's landscape was dominated by high cliffs that reached over the sea, here and there interrupted by deep gorges. I utilised that in one of the works I produced during my stay. Here are some more pictures of the house and the breathtaking ravine.

The garden surrounding the house was gorgeous, and many of us used it as a working place. I especially enjoyed the pool as the temperature was quite hot during the day.

Here are some pictures of the Oleander flowers outside the compound, its entrance and my lovely room.

The day after we arrived, there was a grand opening of the exhibition featuring art that we and the other group had submitted in advance. Unfortunately, my two works were stuck in customs. They never arrived, and I got them in return after I went home.

Here we are with both teams in front of the selfie screen.

After that, I started working in the shade of the pergola's foliage, assembling my panels and applying filler. Drying was unexpectedly slow in the heat, but I eventually borrowed a heater, and it worked out fine. I produced three works during my stay.

A clip that Joy took of me in our outdoor studio.

A short promo video by the DOM team for SoMe.

In the first days, I ventured out and explored the city. Though it is very picturesque, it is also crowded with tourists. The next day, I visited the Bagni Regina Giovanna, a natural lagoon with access to the sea through a cave/tunnel. It is also a Roman ruin. Amazing! During my walk there, I think I figured out how to do one of the works. I found a Prosecco cork, and since I had already tried the local popular drink, Limoncello Spritz, I decided to work with imprints of the ingredients.

Here are four of my fellow residents at work. Reiner usually worked in the basement studio, or laboratory, as they call it in Italy, and Sabrina worked in her room. But I still managed to get a couple of shots of them working outside. Luis is the only one missing; he mainly worked late at night.

DOM and Extrartis arranged a variety of activities for us; we had a tour of the city with the mayor, visited a local gallery, participated in a workshop with representatives from the local community, and one day, there was a roundtable discussion about art in a political context. Here is a small video from that.

Halfway through the residency, another exhibition featuring our work opened—this time at Chiostro di San Francesco in the centre of the city. I managed to finish the two works I set out to do in time for that. It was a great event with speeches, limoncello, and a performance.

Here is another small video from the opening.

Joy and Rainer's work would be exhibited in exhibitions in two other venues during the period of the next group, but DOM and Extrartis arranged previews for us. That way, we also got to see more of the gorgeous surroundings.

We also visited the Conca Park hotel, which was devoted to art, and were treated to drinks and a relaxing time in their garden.

I found out Luis played chess, so I bought a board at a Chinese shop, and we spent a lot of hours playing.

So much great food!

For lunch, we usually went to the pasta place right across the street. They had delicious food, but after six o'clock, a long line formed. We called it "the yellow place".

Almost every day, we would have coffee at Monica's, right outside La Rupe.

I was persuaded to do a third work, as a local carpenter could build me another panel. I went out and bought filler from the nearby hardware store and learned it is called "stucco" in Italian. It was used as a backdrop for an interview in my room. In the last picture, it is documented by Agata, Extrartis excellent photographer.

Towards the end, Andrea from the Extrartist team took Javier, Luis, and me in his little Fiat on an excursion to the beach for locals. In the city, most of them were private and expensive. We were surprised by the rain and took shelter in an ice cream shop in a small mountain village. It is the island of Capri you see in the distance in the fourth image.

Here is a cavalcade of all the happy group selfies we took.

The final evening, we were treated to Prosecco in the garden, and the night proceeded to a small party!

There was even some advanced dancing.

I had a wonderful time, and I'm grateful for all my new friends!