2012

Honorable Mention The Hotel

Submitted By: Tatzu Nishi – Japan Arataniurano Tatzu Nishi : The Merlion Hotel

From March 11, 2011 – May 15, 2011 Marina Bay, .

My project ”Hotel Merlion” in Singapore Biennial, I constructed a building surrounded the Singapore Merlion monument and operated this building as a hotel where visitors were able to have the symbol of the country to themselves for a night.

To take in the upper part of the huge Merlion into the room, I set a hotel floor 4m above ground level (which is 6m above sea level) on scaffolding, holding a 100-㎡ quest room, reception and bathroom up on the air with scaffolding. The upper part of the huge Merlion sat behind the bed as if it was a part of the décor. Anyone could visit during the day for free, but it also functioned as a proper hotel room for people who reserved to spend the night for 150SGD. I used widely known monument, kept the hotel charge reasonable compare to the neighborhood hotels, and opened the place for anyone during the day, to attract audiences who usually do not have interest in art.

Singapore has developed as a port town which kept the important position of sea route in the world, and that has been historically distinguished place where people were coming and going. This characteristic of port town links to the characteristic of a hotel where people from far distance come and stay for a while and leave. I condensed the characteristic of a port town where strangers from distant places meet, spend for a while, and leave again to the shape of a hotel.

By taking in an exterior monument into interior of the room, I reverse exterior and interior. Then, running as a hotel and the Merlion statue kept by the visitors for a night, I reverse public and private. By changing the situation drastically bringing the existence which people usually look up to the height of their eyes, the object shows completely different side. From this new perspective, people are able to know things much more deeply or understand differently.

This artwork using widely known monument must be the subject of the conversation of people who are not usually interested in art. A famous exterior public monument is enclosed in a room. Overnight guests at a hotel occupy the public monument only for a night. People may have fresh look at detail parts of Merlion inside of a hotel room and may understand it more deeply. Merlion becomes a public statue which stimulate the imagination of visitors more than ever before by showing new aspects of it . NISHI Tatzu� The Merlion Hotel� 2011� Singapore �

Photo: Tatzu Nishi� NISHI Tatzu� The Merlion Hotel� 2011� Singapore Biennale�

Photo: Yusuke Hattori� NISHI Tatzu� The Merlion Hotel� 2011� Singapore Biennale�

Photo: Yusuke�Hattori� NISHI Tatzu� The Merlion Hotel� 2011� Singapore Biennale�

Above photo: Singapore Biennale� Below photo: Yusuke Hattori�