©KATHERINE MCMAHON
Lonti Ebers, who spends some of her time in New York, is expanding her view over the East River—and overseas. Under the aegis of Amant—which translates to “they love” in Latin and alludes to her mother’s maiden name—the collector of such artists as Ryan Trecartin, Carol Rama, Carolee Schneemann, Adrian Piper, David Hammons, Isa Genzken, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, and Sturtevant is at work creating two new artist residency programs to launch next year: one in the bustling Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick and the other in Chiusure, a village in the Italian province of Siena, in the heart of Tuscany.
Each will operate with its own focus—with New York devoted to particular project-related concerns and Italy more fixed on developing artists’ practices in general by way of months-long stays in idyllic environs.
For her new building in Bushwick, Ebers enlisted Florian Idenburg, an architect (and cofounder of the firm SO – IL) whose work she came to revere at the New Museum, where she is currently vice president of the board. The site for Amant will be home to four artist studios, a courtyard, and space for exhibitions and performance. Idenburg described the space as an “arts campus” inspired by the industrial neighborhood’s graffiti-covered warehouses.
In Italy, artists selected for stays at Amant will have access to apartments and studio space in an abbey dating back to the 14th century and famous for its frescoes. “It’s a really magical area,” Ebers said of the locale where she and her husband, financial investor Bruce Flatt, have a vacation home. “This will be an opportunity to work and at the same time look at significant monuments.”
Amant has been developed not to display her own collection, Ebers insisted, but to serve other means. “It’s not about having a collection space—I want to focus on the artists.”
A version of this story originally appeared in the Fall 2018 issue of ARTnews on page 72 under the title “Amant-Garde.”