Balarte is a hotel born out of the collaboration of designer and architect Sergio Adamo and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Catania. The objective of this alliance has been to create art installations in the rooms of the hotel. The project has granted young artists the challenge, having distinguished themselves in their research and experimentation of the various techniques in image creation and design, to produce a piece with concrete, permanent settings.
The artists were selected by means of a competition directed exclusively at young students and graduates of Catania’s l’Accademia di Belle Arti.
From the pioneering Atelier Sul Mare art hotel (whose rooms are all designed by artists) to the international chain Design Hotel with its worldwide locations, the hotels of the third millennium are tending to become principally a place of aesthetic pleasure rather than simply a place to relax.
The hotel, defined by the somewhat overused expression as a ‘non-place’, now becomes a recognisable public space. The anonymous, bare rooms that may be comfortable with all the latest accessories but lacking personality, are substituted for spaces and surroundings whose design and creation are the products of talented artists and architects’ imagination.
Balarte aims to be a ‘provoc-action’ for the area, coming to life in the wondrous Modican countryside; a land of ancient anthropization and baroque beauty. But it has been infected by the vivid explorations of these young artists who, unravelling the thread of memory, carry us back to yesterday’s youth, to those who, born in this land of legend, would look to the avant-garde movement and, in particular, to Futurism as a possibility for cultural regeneration and redemption.

The warm reception area welcomes you, whilst its soft red wall reminds us of the names of forgotten Sicilian authors, poets, playwrights and artists. From here, the guest is guided along a passageway where, in front of every room, a panel displays a reproduced parolibero (“Words-in-Freedom”) work by seven authors: E.Cavacchioli, R.Vasari, Vann’Anto’, L.Nicastro, B.Joppolo, G.Janelli, S.Quasimodo. Seven authors who, in the last century between the years of 1915 and 1925, took part in the cultural and artistic renovation represented by Marinettian futurism.
Indeed, Futurism at the start of the twentieth century represented the first true international cultural phenomenon, that is, being capable of encompassing every aspect of culture – from the visual arts to literature, from music to cinema. It had the ability to penetrate daily life and stand out as a movement that had the capacity to become a global cultural expression. 1
Balarte wants to be a journey of recollection and projection, that sees a return to the wish to look to the past from the perspective of the future, through the most vital creative energies of the area. It wants to renew the drive and determination of the youths born in this marginalised territory, this frontier, and participate in a national and international artistic-cultural debate, continuing the traditional of old.

It is a project of ‘close contact’ that toys with the idea of physical space. It takes us on a journey that acknowledges these authors of the early nineteenth century; the corridor being transformed in order to guide the guest and invite them to cross each doorway which foretells of the promise located within.
This effect of ‘close contact’ manifests itself at each and every doorway; the effect of opening and communicating, of closing and separating, of binding futurismi and futuribile2 and advancing. Elaborate, artistic settings are the products of this collaborative endeavour which considers the artist not as solipsistic author but rather as being able to communicate freely with other professional and creative figures. Most importantly, it sees the artist communicate with a public who are invited to be not only spectators but participants capable of connecting with the work; capable of living it.

The passageway acquires both spatial and temporal dimensions, as we are lead into the interior of each room. Each one is furnished by the creativity of the artist who brought it to life through incorporating into his original inspiration the objects and images that shape its environment. This strict fusion of creation and arrangement of images, objects, sensations revolutionises its perception. No longer is comfort the foremost feature we expect, now we find projected multiform identities; enticing, dizzying and destabilising, others ironic and frivolous, and others still, inviting interaction and response.
For the architect Adamo, the rewarding enterprise of interpreting art with furnishings thus emerged from the rapport of dialogue and interchange with the artists over time.
The authors of Balarte are Daniele Alone, Carmen Cardillo, Tiziana Contino, Daniele Denaro, Fattidarte, Filippo Leonardi, Vittoria Petronio, Vanila Privitera, Mary Siverino, Angelo Spina.

Rosario Antoci

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1. See the comprehensive study of the exhibition ‘Futurismo e Futurismi’ edited by Pontus Hulten. Venezia. Palazzo Grassi, 1986. Catalogo edizioni Bompiani.
2. Il futuro del futurismo (The Future of Futurism) edited by Giacinto Di Pietrantonio e Maria Cristina Rodeschini Galati, Bergamo, GAMeC, 2007. Catalogo Electa. Analyses the effects of the influence of Italian Futurism upon the (developments) of art from the nineteenth century until the present day/the most recent contemporary researches.