A Collector’s Vision: Roberto Rumi and Rumi Art Space

On the shores of Lake Como, Rumi Art Space brings together collecting, exhibitions and artistic residencies within a former workshop transformed into a space for contemporary art. Founded by collector Roberto Rumi, the project offers artists the opportunity to live and work in Dongo, allowing their practices to develop through a direct relationship with the space, the landscape and the slower rhythm of the territory. In this interview, we explore the vision behind Rumi Art Space, its approach to supporting artists, and the role that collecting can play in creating spaces for artistic research and exchange.

IDA Roberto, before we talk about Rumi Art Space, I would like to start with you. How did your relationship with art begin? Do you remember the moment when you realised that you did not simply want to acquire individual works, but wanted to start building a collection?

RR My relationship with art and collecting began with the places I experienced as a child. My ancestors have an alpine pasture in Val Bregaglia, just a stone’s throw from the Giacometti family’s mountain farm. I spent my summers there among the green pastures that inspired Segantini, working as a shepherd and collecting minerals. In fact, next year I will inaugurate the mineralogical collection that has grown over time and was my first attraction to beauty. My curiosity then led me to explore the artists who lived in the valley and who have influenced my sensitivity towards art.

IDA After so many years of collecting, what are you really looking for in a work of art? Is it something you recognise immediately, almost instinctively, or has your way of choosing evolved over time into a more considered and conscious process?

RR I look for emotion. Every artwork has its own aura and grace, which can remain, grow, or dissolve over time. In my collection, I have several paintings by Giannetto Fieschi that are around seventy years old, yet they have remained fresh and contemporary. True art exists outside the dimension of time and ages well. With the exception of a few artists from the past, I collect almost exclusively works by artists at the beginning of their careers who have stayed here as artists in residence.

IDA In 2019, Rumi Art Space was founded, transforming an existing place into a space dedicated to art, exhibitions and residencies. What did you feel was missing in the way art was traditionally presented and experienced that led you to create a place of your own?

RR actually began with a new wood-and-glass building designed by Darko Pandakovic, who succeeded in making the most of the location. In the following years, my family gradually abandoned its farming activities. The mule stable became an atelier, while the “stallë di vàch”, the cowshed, became the space where I display part of the collection. Last year, I renovated the old sawmill founded by my grandfather in 1946, creating a space for sculptures and installations.

IDA Rumi Art Space is located in Dongo, in a particularly unique setting between the lake and the mountains. How important is the location to the creative process of the artists you host? Do you believe that an artist can genuinely change their work when they change the place in which they live and work?

RR I live in a very particular territory. The Tre Pievi were a semi-independent republic for almost 400 years. This is a borderland between states, religions, languages and continents, and the Insubric Line runs through it, dividing the African and Eurasian tectonic plates. It is a place full of stimuli that undoubtedly influences the creative process. For example, the great painter Mario Sironi frequently visited Dongo, and in some of his paintings the profiles of the mountains overlooking the lake are clearly recognisable. Unfortunately, in recent years, the landscape around Lake Como has been subjected to a process of depletion, scarred and damaged by thoughtless and uncontrolled construction.

IDA Your residency is primarily aimed at young artists, many of whom are still in a phase of exploration and research. What do you look for in an artist before inviting them to Rumi? And how important is it for you to support an artist before the market has decided what their value will be?

RR My choices are guided by intuition. As soon as I come into contact with an artist, I immediately perceive their degree of authenticity. Last year, interesting young artists such as Eric Pasino, Wenliang Zhao and Zhang Qi came to the residency. The originality of their work is already attracting the attention of several galleries. In 2025, I created a bridge with Southeast Asia: 31 emerging artists from what is now known as the “Venice School” exhibited in Manila.

IDA You have been following and collecting Nicola Samorì for almost twenty years. What did you see in his work at the beginning, when perhaps his position within the contemporary art landscape was not yet so evident to everyone? And what do you continue to look for in his work today?

RR I immediately felt a connection with him because of several shared interests, including some that are not strictly related to art. His talent was already evident and well known from the very beginning of his career. His poetics are close to the triad of artists theorised by Giovanni Testori Bacon, Giacometti and Varlin and had Testori still been alive, I am certain he would have been fascinated by his work. I consider him a leading figure of our time, although he has not yet been fully understood or valued. His works have always fascinated me because they embark on extraordinary flights across the skies of experimentation, moving through different themes and transforming them into the appropriate mediums through which to scratch the surface of the mystery of his inner poetics.

IDA At a certain point, perhaps a collection stops being simply a succession of artworks and becomes a kind of autobiography. Looking at the Rumi Collection today, how much do you think it tells us about you? And is there a particular work that you feel is especially connected to your personal story?

RR Perhaps. In the meantime, what they have in common is that most of them were painted here, on site. Those who visit the collection say they can perceive a thread running through and connecting the different works. The works I feel closest to are the sculptures by Aron Demetz, which take me back to wandering as a child through the forests of my valley.

IDA I would like to end with a very simple question, although perhaps it is the most difficult one: if someone wanted to start collecting contemporary art today, without having extensive knowledge or a large budget, what would your advice be? What should they learn to look for before they learn how to buy?

RR My advice is not to start collecting immediately, but to visit exhibitions, artists’ studios and museums. Even with limited financial resources, it is possible to build an original and interesting collection, perhaps by starting with very small-format works.

RUMI art Space