Similar cities due to their size, Durham, Louisville, Cincinnati and Bentonville all have something else in common. These 4 cities (and Lexington, soon) are lucky enough to have a 21c Museum Hotel within their “city walls”. For the past 20 years, Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson have been acquiring and commissioning contemporary art. Lucky for us, their aim was to provide a way to exhibit contemporary art to an audience who might not be privy to it normally. Exhibiting living artists and integrating art into daily lives has been the successful mission of Brown and Wilson.
Also unique, each location is housed in a historic building. The initial hotel in Louisville, for example, lives in 5 previously deteriorating 19th century buildings (which are said to have been warehouses for tobacco and bourbon). All locations are free-of-charge, multi-venue museums with thousands of feet of exhibition space throughout.
Brown and Wilson are innovative preservationists who have managed to empower smaller communities through art. They revitalize cities through the creation of an additional economic driver, which stimulates discussions and evokes new ideas!
Cracking Art Group was founded in 1993 by 7 artists: Alex Angi, Kicco, Renzo Nucara, Carlo Rizzeti, Omar Ronda, Marco Veronese and William Sweetlove. They have exhibited widely throughout Europe and first exhibited at 21c Museum in 2005. The Red Penguin sculptures that are exhibited throughout 21c were commissioned for a public art project at the 2005 Venice Biennale.
Cracking Art Group, Red Penguin, 2005, edition of 200, 47″ X19″ X 18″, plastic
The 40 penguin installation has become the hotel’s signature feature in Louisville’s 21c Museum Hotel. Louisville was the first location and opened in 2006. In the heart of historic Louisville, Southern hospitality doesn’t disappoint!
Image courtesy of: Kiwi Collection
An original mosaic graces the Cincinnati hotel’s first floor. The building’s first tenant was a hotel in the early part of the 20th century named, “Metropole”. Now, the hotel’s restaurant bears that name.
Image courtesy of: Cleveland.com
In Durham, the 21c Museum Hotel opened last year in the footprint of a former bank ballroom. Artwork fills the second-floor gallery, lobby and hallways throughout the 17 floors.
Image courtesy of: News Observer