Story Casa Wan

It is a very personal project by Nadja von Buseck. I grew up in a hotel myself and later added the component of art to my profession. Today I work at the intersection of the culture and visitor economy and live between Aljezur, Berlin and Salzburg.

I aim to bridge the gap between the visitor and art realms. At my first project house in Portugal, Casa WAN, this concept becomes a reality where guests stay and artists experiment.

WAN is the acronym of the main platform, Where About Now. The initials are also meaningful, not just in a geographical (where) sense but a metaphorical sense, too. Casa WAN is located in a truly magical place and has set itself the goal of questioning: the contemporary (now).

I've been traveling the region since 2017 and from the beginning had felt a deep connection to nature and the place, as if it activated another part of me. When I was not on site, it nevertheless lived on in me. The vast landscape and the theatrical coastline throw me back on me and remind me strongly of California. I like how nature is foregrounded here, it is powerful and stubborn, rather than delicately stylized and picturesque. The pandemic affected my professional life and so I used the time to design my house and build a network within Portugal. Together with a great local team and my longtime friend and interior designer Thibaut Van Hoorebeke we developed the house idea. The concept of use was clear to me from the beginning. The solitude, while being centrally located and surrounded by nature, immediately attracted me to the house.

How exactly I ended up in Aljezur in the first place is a funny, unexpected and surprising story that started at the Documenta art exhibition in Athens and I might tell you in person sometime.