Other People’s Rooms
Found and Repurposed Furniture and Fabric
Hyatt Centric South Beach, 1600 Collins Avenue
My initial approach to any project is to consider the site. A little bit historian mixed with explorer and storyteller. I like to work within given architecture and spaces highlighting oft-overlooked aspects of the space.
I also like to challenge people’s usually way of moving though a space (as in without really noticing the details) as well as their assumption of the mundane and even natural laws – like gravity. I also like to see what materials might be available in a given space – what are the byproducts, leftovers or remnants left behind after people have come and gone. So in collaborating with a hotel for this project I would want to spend some time there, see the people that travel through, observe the going ons, go behind the scenes where guests rarely get to go, and find out what materials or spaces may be best used for an intervention. Depending on the space & traffic I could see a collection of upside down dressers “propped up” with fanciful objects and patterns; or a few clusters of upside-down hanging lamps creating large chandelier-like objects; or near ceiling-touching stacks of neatly folded sheets balancing atop delicate looking tables. But after interacting with the hotel, employees and patrons, the collaboration that unfolds could be entirely different. Though I would most definitely utilize ordinary objects in extraordinary ways.
There is also an interesting public/private aspect to hotels which fascinates me. Patrons bring their own items and mix those with items provided by the hotel and commingle with strangers from around the globe in near intimate settings, almost (and sometimes) crossing the thin barrier between public and private. It’s a fascinating stage and audience that I would enjoy working with.
