GRAND HOTEL EUROPA (part three)

About

Alex Urso presents the final stage of his project GRAND HOTEL EUROPA, with a residency at Unfinished Art Space in Malta, and a show at Studio 87 in Valletta.

Through drawing, collage and installation, GRAND HOTEL EUROPA reflects on the political and humanitarian crises that the EU has experienced in recent years. Each series of works included in the project explores the rise of nationalistic feelings from different perspectives and philosophies, with a particular focus on the migrant flows through and around Europe.

Urso’s visit to Malta will follow the first two chapters of the project, which have already taken place in Belgrade, Serbia and in Ustka on the Baltic Coast. The project takes its name from a large hotel, the Hotel Europa on the Adriatic coast – a childhood memory of Urso’s, representing a stability and unity in Europe, currently threatened by populism and far-right beliefs.

Curated by Margerita Pulè

The project is kindly supported by Istituto Italiano di Cultura La Valletta and Fairwinds Management, hosted by Studio 87 and produced by Unfinished Art Space.

Alex Urso (b. 1987) is a multidisciplinary artist from Italy, graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera, Milan. He works predominantly in the medium of collage, assemblage and spacial installation. His works have been exhibited in public and private art spaces such as Estorick Collection (London), Casa Testori (Milan), Zacheta National Gallery of Warsaw - Project Room, BWA Katowice, Monopol Gallery (Warsaw), Institute of Italian Culture of Krakow, Entropia Gallery (Wroclaw), among others. Together with his practice as a visual artist, Urso is as well engaged in curatorial projects and critical writing. As a curator, his activity is preeminently focused on the relation between Italian and Polish art. In 2017 he has been co-curator of the Biennale de La Biche.