|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
.................... |
2007.04.25 Press Release ROYAL
SLEEPLESS
AT THE GREAT EASTERN HOTEL 19
MAY – 3 JUNE 2007 – Private view invitation to follow. Great
Eastern Hotel Open
9am – 10.30pm daily, free admission www.platform10.co.uk
SLEEPLESS is a collaboration between The Great
Eastern Hotel and fourteen students from the Royal College of Art’s acclaimed
Design Products department led by Professor Ron Arad. Fourteen designers present their individual
interpretation of the hotel. Reactive installations and objects invite guests
and visitors to take part in an experience and step into a hidden dimension
where a hotel is more than just a place for the night. The students are all part of platform 10, one of
six teaching units within the Design Products department run by designers
Roberto Feo and Daniel Charny. Daniel Charny explains how the project
evolved, “ Hotels have doors and corridors, lobbies and restaurants in which
many peoples stories unfold, and fuse into shared experiences daily and
nightly. Platform 10 started this project through story telling, first was
the banquette in the mysterious Free Masons Lodge in the basement of the
hotel where we heard stories of all sorts from the people that work night
shifts. The students then went on to use a narrative approach to generate
their ideas; they all wrote short stories and learned to edit them in a
workshop with writer, journalist and playwright Damian Barr. From these
stories new ideas were extracted and transformed to fit into the hotel in
different locations to entertain and provoke the wakeful.” The collaboration with the Great Eastern Hotel
follows the success of last year’s exhibition Disturbance. Exhibited works: Jessica
Nebel - Leave a Message A door on which to display messages without the
need for notepads or doorknob signs. Yasuko
Bell - Behind The Curtain A playful curtain, which feeds the imagination on
an event that might be going on behind. Gini
Coates - 'Come Enjoy the Madness' The Great Eastern Hotel used to be the site of
Bedlam, the first asylum for the clinically insane in Maja
Ganszyniec - 'The Case of the Pillows' A collection of objects, that tells the story of
the hotels most silent members of the staff. Portraits of caring and
attentive pillows, that work hard to provide customers with the best service
and a more meaningful experience of sleep. Tiago
da Fonseca - Bedtime Stories Once upon a time there was a blanket. This blanket
had several sheets containing a traditional bedtime story. Each
"page" adds a layer of linen making you warmer (or cooler) and
comfier hopefully guiding you and your partner into a pleasant night’s sleep.
Tiago
da Fonseca - I Spy with my Little Eye A curtain that let’s you spy with your little eye,
without being caught in the act. Gregor
Timlin - Chopper light A reactive light for entertaining guests in
waiting areas. Alon
Meron - Fat Bar Bar and lounge furniture are covered with a layer
of fat. Turning them into rude objects in an environment normally reserved
for the tamed and fashionable. Tithi
Kutchamuch - Tea Service Order a precious experience for your teatime.
Creating new drinking rituals through a redesigned tea service bringing new
environments and drinking suggestions. Christopher
Raymond – Dream Service A 'dream service' where guests choose from a menu
of specific cheeses that induce and stimulate certain types of dreams, served
on a cheese board that helps you sleep. Jochem
Faudet - Waonder Carpet Wander through the hotel and experience how your
footsteps can make you walk into a world of Wonder. Freddie
Yauner –Signs of Life We spend our lives being directed by signage, but
what do the signs get up to when they have no one to tell what to do?
Reactive signage, giving a look into the lives of overworked pictograms. Catherine
Greene – Incident Report 11.05.07 ‘Due to the recent number of incidents caused by
clumsy guests we have decided to remove all vases around the hotel. A new
system of flower arrangement is being launched to hopefully eliminate further
spillages.’ Jordi
Canudas - Big Dripper Big Dripper is a dripping machine connected to a
sensor that drips paint onto a window every time someone approaches. The more
people try to look through the window the less they are able to see. Raquel
Martins - ‘Seasons at The Great Eastern’ Unexpected indoor natural phenomenon. A
transposition of outside to inside, creating unpredicted spaces through
sound, volumes and movement. ENDS For further information or images please contact Sue
Bradburn, Media Relations Officer, Royal College of Art on +44 (0)20 7590
4114 or sue.bradburn@rac.ac.uk NOTES
TO EDITORS Platform
10 Tutors: Daniel Charny, Roberto Feo Platform 10
encourages the design of alternatives to existing product typologies, through
a design process that is both playful and thoughtful. The underlying interest
of the platform is of a social nature; we see design as a means of exploring
ideas about service, relationships, community, utopias, etc. The platform
looks at products as anthropological objects, while the design process is
taken as a method to foresee what they may become in the future and how they
may support or change the way we behave. Design
Products www.designproducts.rca.ac.uk The Royal College of Art Design Products Department,
directed by Professor Ron Arad, was established in 1999 bringing together the
Furniture and Industrial Design courses. The MA course is a two-year full
time programme that includes collaborative projects with commercial and
industrial organisations that are friends of the course offering their time,
expertise or financial support. www.rca.ac.uk The Royal College of Art is the worlds only wholly
postgraduate university of art and design, specialising in teaching and
research and offering degrees of MA, MPhil and PhD across the disciplines of
fine art, applied art, design, communications and humanities. There are over
850 masters and doctorial students and more than a hundred professionals
interacting with them – including scholars, leading art and design
practitioners, along with specialist advisors and distinguished visitors. Great
Eastern Hotel www.london.greateastern.hyatt.com Great Eastern Hotel delivers guest experience via
credible interactive partnerships. Partners from the creative worlds of
Design, Fashion, Architecture, Music and Art. For further information on the hotel contact:
simon.warrington@hyattintl.com April
2007 |
|
