Alain Elkann Interviews

A PLACE OF MIRACLES. Sylvain Bellenger was born in Normandy, took degrees in philosophy and in art history, directed the Girodet Museum and the Castle of Blois in France, and then moved to the United States. He held curatorial posts at the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago and then in 2014 was appointed Director at Capodimonte in Naples by Dario Franceschini, the Italian minister of culture.

PIERCING THE MYTHS. James Reginato is a writer-at-large for Vanity Fair. In his book, published by Simon & Schuster, titled GROWING UP GETTY, The Story of America’s Most Unconventional Dynasty, he has rectified many popular misunderstandings about one of the world’s wealthiest family dynasties.

PICASSO THE MAGUS. Diana Widmaier-Picasso recently published a book with anthropologist Philippe Charlier (Gallimard) titled Picasso Sorcier and curated an exhibition about her mother Maya with Emilia Philippot that is on until December 31, 2022 at Musée Picasso-Paris. She has also had a presentation during Couture Week in Paris of her other activity, which is jewelry. In 2017 she co-founded with Roy Sebag a company called Menē which specialises in 24 karat gold and platinum jewelry.

OPENING UP THE LOUVRE. Donatien Grau is an editor, scholar and museum executive. He was head of contemporary programs at Musée d’Orsay, Paris, and recently moved to the Louvre, where his continuing mission is to oversee the implementation of contemporary projects that echo the museum's collections.

RECALIBRATING THE WINDSORS. Andrew Lownie is an historian and a literary agent. His most recent book is Traitor King, the Scandalous Exile of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

FIGURATIVELY ABSTRACT. The artist Bernardo Siciliano was born in Rome in 1969. He lives and works in New York and is best known for his depictions of urban landscapes and nude figures. The son of writer Enzo Siciliano, who was a close friend of Alberto Moravia and Pier Paolo Pasolini, Bernardo Siciliano is a multi-award winning artist in both Italy and America. His work has been represented by the Aicon Gallery in New York since 2016.

Flesh is my medium. Miles Greenberg is a New York-based performance artist and sculptor. His work consists of large-scale, sensorially immersive and often site-specific environments revolving around the physical body in space.

BUILDING TOWARDS EQUALITY. Alejandro Aravena is a Chilean architect and executive director of the firm Elemental S.A. In 2016 he won the Pritzker Architecture Prize, architecture’s highest honour, and was the director and curator of the Architecture Section of the 2016 Venice Biennale. From 2000 to 2005 he was a visiting professor at Harvard Graduate School of Design. An International Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, he was appointed Chair of the Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury as of March 2021.

AN INCREDIBLE SUCCESS. Roberto Cicutto is President of La Biennale di Venezia, overseeing the city’s prestigious art and architecture biennials as well as the film, dance, theatre and music festivals.

TOP QUALITY. Fabrizio Moretti’s new London gallery in Duke Street, St. James’s, will open on July 1st 2022. The gallery will focus on Old Master paintings and sculptures for top clients and museums.

SAVING THE PLANET ONE MEAL AT A TIME. Dior DeCupper is CEO of Meatless Farm, a plant based food company in a fast growing and purpose led industry.

AN ENTREPRENEUR WITH IMPACT. Brent Hoberman is Co-Founder and Chairman of Founders Factory, Founders Forum and firstminute Capital. He co-founded lastminute.com in 1998, was CEO from its inception, and sold it in 2005 to Sabre for $1.1bn. He also co-founded Made.com which went public in 2021 for $1.1bn.

THE FLAYING OF MARSYAS. Mary Weatherford is known for her large paintings incorporating neon lighting tubes. The Flaying of Marsyas, the exhibition of her new paintings at the Museo di Palazzo Grimani in Venice, runs through the 59th Biennale until November 27th, 2022. These paintings examine the ways in which time has worked on Marsyas and on Titian’s famous painting of the same name.

THE IMPORTANCE OF A CLASSICAL LEGACY. The writer Marina Valensise was recently appointed CEO of the Italian National Institute of Ancient Drama (Istituto Nazionale del Dramma Antico, INDA) which manages the ancient Greek Theatre of Syracuse.

SILENT MESSAGES. Delfina Delettrez Fendi is a designer and jeweller based in Rome, Italy. She founded her namesake label Delfina Delettrez in 2007.

PASSION PROJECTS. Andy Harries produces television series including The Crown and Outlander. He is chief executive and co-founder of Left Bank Pictures.

NIMBLE AND QUICK. Saad Mohseni is co-founder and Chairman of MOBY Group, which has brought top tier news and media content to emerging and frontier markets over the past two decades.

DOING BRILLIANTLY. Roula Khalaf is the Editor of the Financial Times (FT). Born in Beirut, after studying in the United States at Syracuse University and Columbia University she first worked for Forbes magazine. From 1995 she was a foreign correspondent at the FT, and in 2016 became Deputy Editor to Lionel Barber, succeeding him as Editor in January 2020.

IN CONTACT. Riccardo Scamarcio is an award winning Italian film actor and producer who has been working since the early 2000s.

BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS AND A BEAUTIFUL EXPERIENCE. Whitney Bromberg Hawkings is the founder and CEO of the online flower shop FLOWERBX.