Latest news with #HauserWirth
Telegraph
30-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Scottish hotels have moved on from whisky and tartan – and become cool as a result
Blame it on tartan and whisky if you will. For decades, hotels in Scotland were a hum-drum (hum-dram?) affair of brown furniture, weathered Black Watch and Royal Stewart upholstery, creaking floorboards and lacklustre breakfasts with naff toast racks and Nescafé. Golfing resorts brought in the Succession bros by default, while Asian and American tourists armed with maps of island distilleries kept the majority of hotel rooms occupied year-round. But in under a decade there's been a radical shift. And it's still shifting, attracting a whole new kind of visitor. Internationally, it's Gleneagles that is the best-known luxury hotel in Scotland. It marked a century in business last year and has always retained its 1920s glamour. There have been huge refurbs, but it still represents a somewhat old-school approach to what a luxury hotel should be. It's a serious golfing hotel, where the clientele expects a certain kind of stasis of style. Not so elsewhere. I remember going to the Fife Arms the year it opened in Braemar in 2018. I'd been to Inverlochy Castle a few months before. The experiences were a world apart. Inverlochy is grand in one way but depressing in many others. It feels like a 1970s version of Victorian luxe. The Fife Arms, I knew instantly on arrival, was going to be a game changer for the whole country. Artfarm, the hospitality offshoot of the wildly glamorous Hauser & Wirth international art galleries empire, had a new vision about how to repurpose Victorian architecture. It was bold and experimental and like nothing anyone had seen before. Designer Russell Sage, along with a group of major artists, created a fever dream of the Highlands. Today, it's up there with Naoshima Island in Japan as a place for aesthetes who want to be wowed in style. It's been such a success that Sage is currently in the process of upgrading the hardware of some of the already superb suites to up the luxury factory even more. Bookings drastically exceeded the business plan's targets. No matter that it's a minimum 90-minute drive from Dundee, people can't get enough of it. Alongside Artfarm, the Danish-owned WildLand company has been continuing to expand its portfolio north of the border. Lundies House was the best, most stylish hotel I visited last year. This year, work is underway by WildLand to turn the old Jenners department store in Edinburgh into a mega hotel under the design direction of David Chipperfield. At the same time, there's talk of them turning the Dores Inn on Loch Ness into something chic for 2026. All these things will be magical when they come to fruition because WildLand is owned by Anders Holch Povlsen, a Danish aesthete who loves the Scottish landscape and also happens to be the richest man in the country. This isn't a chap who'll scrimp on flower budgets in the lobby. 'I'm currently finishing work on Ardbeg House on Islay for LVMH, which will open with 12 bedrooms in September,' says Russell Sage. 'We have been creating bespoke furniture for it, including wardrobes customised with graffiti in Gaelic. We worked with lots of local craftspeople on the design, as well as Edinburgh-based blacksmith Jack Waygood. It's been a knock-out project [and] it's like nothing else you've seen.' Ardbeg would still probably be a success with a more low-key approach. But with Sage allowed to run wild, it's going to be one of the most talked-about openings of the year. Some Scottish hoteliers have gone mod but prefer to keep the visual noise down. Gordon Campbell Gray changed the design pace of the London hotel scene when he opened One Aldwych in 1998, a year before Ian Schrager's first opening in the capital. It was cool but grown-up. Today Campbell Gray has downsized somewhat and runs the Wee Hotel Company in Scotland, incorporating the Three Chimneys on Skye and the Pierhouse in Argyll. 'As a Scot I can admit that, historically, when it came to design, we did good really well and bad really badly,' he tells me. 'Happily, things have changed. We want to have a sense of place wherever we travel in the world and historically Scotland has perhaps leant too heavily on the traditional designs associated with it. I do worry that design can become too much of a statement, but then there is the generic bland design of the major brand hotels. There is a balance to be struck between comfort and excitement.' The balance is just right at Gairnshiel Lodge and its nearby cottages, not far from the Fife Arms. It was first put on my radar by a friend who asked if I'd been 'to the place in the wilds of Aberdeenshire that looks like Rick Owens designed it'. Each of its rooms has been limewashed in a different blend of dark colours, accenting whatever that room looks out onto – the passing river, moss or heather of the landscape. There's furniture by Apparatus, Charlotte Perriand and Dirk Van Sliedrecht. It makes most of what's in World of Interiors look like Ikea and it's indicative of the Scandi sensibilities that have influenced so many new places in Scotland. Another low key, super-chic gem is Folingall Hotel that reopened in Glen Lyon this summer, after being bought and transformed by interior designer Annabelle Holland. As with Belgian designer Nathalie Van Reeth who reimagined Gairnshiel, Holland has let the landscape take the lead. There's no chintz. The interior is easy on the eye. The hotel scene in Scottish cities is also catching up, but faster in Edinburgh than Glasgow, which really deserves some Artfarm or WildLand love. When Blythswood Square opened in 2009, its use of more modern types of Harris Tweed and the architecture of the old Royal Scottish Automobile Club made for something impressive. But today Glasgow needs to up its game. Plans for a Soho House were shelved and it's been too long since something truly remarkable opened in one of the most fun cities in Europe. House of Gods opened another of its maximalist steam punk-meets-Cecil B. Demille hotels here last year, giving it 28 bedrooms in town along with 22 over in the capital. Perhaps more hotels will follow suit and open up in both cities. It seems like a new hotel opens every week within 20 minutes' walk of the Royal Mile. There is so much more than the Witchery in 2025. A swanky new Hoxton opened this summer and Gleneagles Townhouse (a younger, cooler urban sister of the original) still has a lot of buzz after opening in 2022. Its members bar feels like a scene on the rooftop and the main restaurant in the dining hall is as glam as anything else carved out of an old banking hall anywhere in the world. While it's a local sport to mock the architecture of the new W Hotel, there's no denying that its interior and rooms are impressive. And, most importantly, if you do want to sink into a retro fantasia of rococo Scottish glam, there are places doing it better than they ever did before. Go to Prestonfield House, half an hour outside of the city, and you can drown yourself in all the velvet, leopard-print and tapestries you could ever hope for. Sometimes you want Scandinavian form and function, sometimes you want to wake up hungover somewhere so camp and opulent that it forced you to misbehave. And if it's been done well, that's still as cool as anywhere else.
New York Times
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
In ‘A Natural History of the Studio,' Many William Kentridges Add Up to One
William Kentridge, the renowned South African artist, began to film himself in his studio during the coronavirus pandemic while he meditated on the practice of self-portraiture. Although he set out to examine the workings of the studio space and how it relates to the production of art, every image seemed to end with a painting of himself as a coffeepot. The result was 'Self-Portrait as a Coffee-Pot,' a nine-part film series. These episodes, now on the streaming service Mubi, are part of 'A Natural History of the Studio,' Kentridge's first show with Hauser & Wirth in New York. All the drawings from the film series — more than 70 — are present for the first time in a single exhibition, alongside new sculptures. They combine into an effusive repertoire: an artist's study of his disparate selves, and the materiality of his forms. The drawings follow Kentridge's recognizable use of charcoal, pastel and colored pencils, usually in the form of a collage on dry paper. Phrases he gathers from his favorite books adorn some of the paintings, like heavy drooping earrings. This effect is most embodied in 'Drawing for Self-Portrait as a Coffee-Pot (The Moment Has Gone),' a 2020 piece depicting a tree with phrases across the work, like, 'You will be dreamt a jackal.' In 'Drawing for Self-Portrait as a Coffee-Pot (Self-Portrait, Crouching),' 2020, a stunning render of himself, the artist is slightly bent forward. It is unclear if he is naked (although he is surely wearing a wristwatch), but his age — he is 70 now — is apparent in the small folds on his head, his back, the quiet protrusion of his belly, a tender rendering of oneself. Kentridge's explorations of the human self can result in multiple insights, and contradictions. Often in his video series multiple Kentridges or doppelgängers argue and disagree on ideas, methods and even memories. (These videos are influenced by his engagement with the world of theater, and at the Hauser & Wirth show they are displayed in a corner of the gallery emulating his studio.) Because the artist draws mostly with charcoal, the notions of erasure, overwriting and haziness in the paintings are heightened, making it plausible to debate and even dispute everything. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Forbes
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Mika Rottenberg debuts in Spain with surreal take on production systems
Mika Rottenberg and Garlan Miles construct the bar, sculptures and lamps that adorn Manuela restaurant in SoHo, New York Oresti Tsonopoulos for Mika Rottenberg Mika Rottenberg's work explores the pure absurdities of our current world. Hers is a direct critique of the banalities of global capitalism and its entanglement with labor and production, told through a body of work that is at once familiar yet strange, moving between the real and the fictional to fascinating and powerful effect. In her first Spanish solo outing, at Hauser & Wirth Menorca, the Argentinian-born New Yorker pairs the much celebrated video installations 'Cosmic Generator' (2017) and 'Spaghetti Blockchain' (2019) with the latest 'Lampshares' series (2024/25), accompanied by drawings that stitch together the many loose ends of her thinking. The gallery's setting, marooned on the tiny island of Illa del Rei reached by boat from the Mahón harbor, feels cut off from reality, and is an ideal stage for her looped, surreal narratives. 'Mika Rottenberg. Vibrant Matter', Hauser & Wirth Menorca, 2025 Damian Griffiths/Mika Rottenberg/Hauser & Wirth The show begins with 'Lampshares,' a colorful body of work, positioned across the gallery floor and hanging from walls and ceiling. These are fantastical pieces, oddly human-like lamps that glow, literally, with toxic beauty. They are also a direct hit at the lack of environmental effort, in this case from the powers that be in New York public housing. Rottenberg collaborated with New York's Inner City Green Team and craftsman Gary Dusek to use bittersweet vines—an invasive species choking her upstate farm and the surrounding forests—and fuse them with melted, reclaimed-plastic 'urban gemstones,' as she coins them. Having realized that the local public-housing complex lacked a recycling system, Rottenberg's team worked with residents to sort their garbage, mining everyday waste (laundry-detergent bottles, milk jugs, water containers) for color. 'My daughter and her friends helped with the plastic recycling for the prototypes, at the beginning, but soon I realized we needed a lot of garbage.' She jokingly refers to the lamps as 'eco rococo' for their elaborate, curvaceous and strangely sexual, anthropomorphic designs. Mika Rottenberg 'Lampshare' (bx 1.4) 2025. Milled reclaimed household plastic and plant Lighting component: resin and electric hardware Pete Mauney for Mika Rottenberg The effort is equal parts social project and material experiment. 'Lampshares' is accompanied by a series of drawings of loop fingerprints, disembodied limbs and sensuous tendrils, all of which are long-standing motifs in her work that nod to female labor and non-normative bodies. They look whimsical at first glance but up close these images, 'made with a lot of mess and with fingerprints,' as she explains, expose the imperfections in our world that fuel Rottenberg's wider critique. 'For me it's not only about the environment, but the people, the labor. The thing that really excites me is the idea of green employment in New York City. The title refers to the action. When you buy one, you're buying a share of this project. And it all gets fed back into buying more plastic.' The process, she admits, is 'laborious, because they are modular parts,' but once those parts exist 'then it can be super creative, almost like a painting.' Saying that, Rottenberg is under no illusion that her project will fix New York's recycling dilemma—the studio-collective has processed three tons in almost two years— yet the gesture points toward an economy where trash gains renewed value instead of ending up in landfill. Installation view 'Cosmic Generator' at 'Mika Rottenberg. Vibrant Matter', Hauser & Wirth Menorca, 2025 Damian Griffiths/Mika Rottenberg/Hauser & Wirth In her video work, Rottenberg has sought to expose the hidden labor behind mass produced goods, making visible the invisible. In 'Cosmic Generator' we see tunnels from a Chinese plastic-goods market to the Mexico–California border, then ruptures into candy-colored back-lots where goods and people disappear through hidden portals. Filmed on location, her documentary style slips into magical realism, reminding us that global supply chains remain largely out of sight. Elsewhere in 'Spaghetti Blockchain' ASMR bubble-popping meets Siberian throat singing, CERN's antimatter lab, a potato harvester grinding across a field. The title references blockchain technology, a system where data is continuously transferred and validated across a network of computers, free from central ownership, regulations or control. In a similar vein, Rottenberg layers image and sound into a constantly shifting stream of associations—a mesh of disparate sources that loop without resolution, as she probes the mechanics of production, commerce and power. She explains, 'I am interested in these human-made systems where the starting point is to have no clue what is really going on and to try to impose a certain logic on things, and the madness of that.' Mika Rottenberg 'Spaghetti Blockchain' (video still) 2019 Mika Rottenberg Taken together, Rottenberg's works form an intense loop of images, sounds, materials and ideas, that demand both attention and response. On an island already removed from the mainland, her biomorphic, viscerally alive objects and disjointed films sharpen our sense that the world we inhabit—the one we consume daily—may be governed by rules we're only partially allowed to see. And that, for one, is becoming increasingly difficult to digest—and dangerously so. 'Mika Rottenberg. Vibrant Matter' is at Hauser & Wirth Menorca until October 26, 2025. For more on art and design, follow my reviews here .
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Vogue
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue
The Kinetic Force of Art World Couple Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely Comes to Life in Somerset
We considered Hauser & Wirth in Menorca, but the team insisted on Somerset—somewhere I had never been! But I trusted the professionals. When I arrived, I was shocked at how on point it was. Jean and Niki moved out of the city early on and worked in barns. They loved the rural life. It felt very beautifully British, but also meant to be. Jean Tinguely, La Grande Tête (The Big Head), 1988. Photo: Ken Adlard, courtesy of Niki Charitable Art Foundation and Hauser & Wirth Photo: Ken Adlard, courtesy of the artists and Hauser & Wirth I had such a visceral reaction to seeing the exhibition. The gorgeous gardens, the curation. You start with Tinguely's moving kinetic machines, then you move to Niki's stark and solemn shooting pictures, then you look out the window and see the Nana sculptures in the gardens. I think it's beautifully curated. I'm thankful this is happening right now, before the big exhibition in Paris, where we see Tinguely, Niki, Pontus Hultén…all artistic friends. Then we're opening an exhibition for Jean's centennial in Geneva. You see the real scope of both of their work. In Somerset, we have their very intimate correspondence on display. You see their love, humor, and generosity. In the Somerset gardens, they get the fountains on and children run through the water with the Nanas. I was fortunate enough to be a kid around Niki and Jean, so I truly got to understand the magic of their work. I think it's wonderful to get people young to understand art, and see that art is a part of life. How did you even begin to distill the scope of their work? For Niki in particular—from the shooting paintings to the Nanas—the range in form and storytelling is so vast. I think it's really always important to tell stories, or at least to create a path so that people can create their own stories. We show all these different creative languages that they used both together and separately—from imagery to cinema, to moving machines, and the fountain. I think it's wonderful to blur the boundaries between public and private art in this exhibition, and that's actually very rare. And while this show is so much about joy and humor and providing a bit of a solace from the darkness of the world, the heavy subjects are there—but in a poetic way. Installation view. Photo: Ken Adlard, courtesy of the artists and Hauser & Wirth Photo: Courtesy Hauser & With and the artists I think that's the beauty of their work: there are converging and contradicting ideas. I love that you can see how intensely they collaborated, but also the real delineations between them. You would maybe think, as a couple, that they would have mirrored each other more. Instead, they have a singular sense of artistic identity.
The Independent
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Eugenie tells of delight at becoming mentor to changemakers at King's charity
Princess Eugenie has expressed her delight at becoming a mentor for The King's Foundation's new 35 under 35 network of changemakers. The late Queen's granddaughter praised the selection of young creatives for their 'outstanding work in areas the King is passionate about'. Charles's niece Eugenie visited the Garrison Chapel, the London exhibition space of the monarch's charity, last week to meet some of the group. The 35 under 35 have been brought together in the foundation's 35th anniversary year to promote the change the King wants to see globally across sustainability, traditional crafts and the arts. Eugenie's new role for the King's charity emerged last week and the princess, who is a director at Hauser & Wirth contemporary gallery, said she was looking forward to sharing her passion for art. The princess said: 'I'm delighted to be working with this group of exceptional young people who have been selected thanks to their outstanding work in areas the King is passionate about. 'Given I recently celebrated my 35th birthday, it's fitting to take part in the charity's 35th anniversary celebrations and share my passion for art with the 35 under 35.' Other mentors include designer Samuel Ross, artist and influencer Sophie Tea Art, and historian Alice Loxton, who has millions of followers on social media as @history_alice. The list of 35 under 35 includes woodworker Eli Baxter, embroiderer Angelica Ellis, basketmaker Florence Hamer, stonemason Freya de Lisle, milliner Barnaby Horn, painter Jo Rance, and environmental filmmaker Jack Harries. This week, Eugenie was specially invited to the Buckingham Palace garden party by the Prince and Princess of Wales, after they requested she and Zara Tindall accompany them.
