Inside a 13th-Century Italian Palazzo-Turned-Art Residency

Carl-Emil Storm Gabrielsen talks Palazzo Monti, the dreamy artist’s residence he both curates and documents in beautiful Brescia

Carl-Emil Storm Gabrielsen was captivated when he first heard that a 13th-century haven was taking in contemporary artists. “I knew I had to get involved,” he tells AnOther. Flash forward to 2017, and the founder of Dry now co-curates and documents the artists at it.

Entitled Palazzo Monti after its founder Edoardo Monti, this residency self-identifies as an “incubator” for creativity, in frescoed and Frama furniture-clad halls. Terracotta walls present the perfect backdrop to works such as the eerie ceramics of Frederik Nystrup Larsen, Daniel Martin’s painted faces and Heather Guertin’s vivid abstract colours, while Leonardo Anker Vandal’s Murano glass Moon Mirror sits resplendent, glorifying and rejecting its surroundings in one fell swoop. “Contrast and unlikely connections are at the heart of my vision,” says Gabrielsen – and the interplay between the resident artists and the space is part and parcel of the palazzo’s abundant allure.