The four site-specific installations are located in two Prestige Suites and a Junior Suite on the hotel’s 29th floor, as well as its top-floor executive lounge, Club Millesime. Running for a couple of weeks, they feature wall works, sculptures and personal objects encapsulating the artists’ creative visions, inspirations and personalities.
General Manager Greg Brady comments: “Sofitel hotels around the world have a love affair with art and culture. While our hotel is essentially rooted in French joie de vivre – that, “anything can happen” lifestyle – we also pride ourselves on embracing and celebrating Sydney’s vibrant culture scene.”
Myriam Conrié, the hotel’s Director of Sales & Marketing, adds: “Today’s luxury travellers are looking for unforgettable, immersive and enriching experiences. So whether through a contemporary art installation or an exquisite dance performance, we constantly strive to explore this deeper connection to our local culture. Having previously worked for major contemporary art institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, it gives me great joy to be able to bring this meaningful experience to our guests.”
Nadia Hernández, whose works are being shown in the hotel’s top-floor executive lounge, is a young Sydney artist, originally from Mérida, Venezuela. Articulated through textiles, paper constructions, painting, music, installations, sculptures and murals, her artistic practice is informed specifically by the current political climate of her home country and her diasporic experience as a Venezuelan woman living abroad. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Queensland University of Technology, has partaken in both solo and group exhibitions across Australia and was selected as the official artist for City of Sydney’s NYE 2017.
“It was really exciting for me to be part of this project. My works are joyful and colourful, revealing a natural affinity with Sofitel’s playful French lifestyle. But they also entice guests to look closer, ask questions, be curious about other cultures and ultimately start a conversation. To me, at the heart of hospitality is this art of the conversation – this ability to bring people together across cultures,” Hernández reflects.
Tony Albert is a contemporary Australian artist working in a wide range of mediums including painting, photography and mixed media. His work engages with political, historical and cultural Aboriginal and Australian history, and his fascination with “Aboriginalia” (a term he coined to describe kitschy objects and images that feature naive portrayals of Aboriginality). Albert has exhibited his work at numerous museums, biennales and institutions around the globe, including the Musée d’Aquitaine, Bordeaux, France; the Singapore Art Museum; and the National Museum of China, Beijing. He is well represented in major collections including the National Gallery of Australia; the Australian War Memorial, Canberra; the Art Gallery of New South Wales; the Art Gallery of Western Australia and Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art—Queensland Art Gallery.
Sarah Contos creates soft sculptures, embroidered images and quilted works that revolve around themes of identity, femininity, popular culture and history. Originally from Perth, now Sydney-based, she worked in theatre set design on the west coast and in Europe before completing a Masters of Art at the College of Fine Arts, Sydney in 2010. Since then she has held several solo exhibitions as well as being included in several group shows, building a name for her sensual forays into soft sculpture, embroidered images and quilted works that broach multiple pop-cultural, personal and art-historical strains and references.
Louise Zhang is a Chinese-Australian artist, whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, sculpture and installation. Her work negates the space between the attractive and repulsive. With an interest in horror cinema, Zhang investigates the idea of the visceral as medium and explores the intersection of fear, anxiety and a sense of otherness in the construction of identity.
The four temporary installations will run at Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour from September 5, for a couple of weeks. To experience the works, guests can book a Junior Suite with Club Millesime access from $889 a night, or a Prestige Suite from $1,139 a night (both rates are inclusive of breakfast, afternoon tea, evening drinks and canapes, and butler services). To book, please call 02 8388 8838 or email H9729@sofitel.com. Mention the special code SYDNEY CONTEMPORARY at time of booking enjoy a 20% discount and 2 complimentary tickets for Sydney Contemporary Art Fair (Sept 12-15).
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