Artists in Residence Parkhotel Mondschein

Art is a close companion to hotel creators, the Dissertori family, owners of Parkhotel Mondschein, Villa Arnica and 1477 Reichhalter in South Tyrol. For their latest project opening in May 2022, interdisciplinary artist Irene Fernández Arcas and photographer Karla Hiraldo Voleau were chosen as the first resident artists, commissioned to ignite the creative and artsy past of this reborn hotel, Parkhotel Mondschein. Their brief 'use art to let the visitor travel and explore worldly concepts through the eyes of innovative artists.'

And we’re not talking a few pictures here and there, the hotel housed two artists in residence at the Parkhotel Mondschein before guests arrived. Here they could live and breathe in the building, allowing room for creative juices to follow, and giving them free reign to design work that would specifically sit, custom-made, in parts of the hotel that the artists felt was most appropriate.

Irene Fernández Arcas

One artist in question is interdisciplinary artist Irene Fernández Arcas who merges drawings, paintings, photography, texts and performative rituals in her art. Based fluidly between Malaga and Berlin, her art often takes an abstract form, characterised by bold use of colour. For Parkhotel Mondschein, Irene Fernández Arcas played on the notion of womanhood, describing it as state any gender can find themselves within. Using fluid line drawings in striking mono-colour, the female form is explored through a variety of abstract idioms.

Karla Hiraldo Voleau

The French Dominican photographer Karla Hiraldo Voleau, who studied in Lausanne, also contributed to the artistic output at Parkhotel Mondschein. Her photographs explore a range of subjects - she’s known for her free and fearless representations including her first book Hola Mi Amol, the sensual, intimate yet also disquieting portrayal of Dominican Republic men. Her photographs show the intensity of beauty, the transient nature of love and sex and ultimately the loneliness of our time.

Both artists worked in tandem, mixing up the use of analogue photography and more traditionally created paintings, supplying Parkhotel Mondschein with a truly original cultural input. Installed by the artists personally, their work adds another dimension of curatorial charm to this unique Bolzano bolthole.