Singapore Biennale 2011 (Part I) - The Merlion Hotel

The theme for this year's Singapore Biennale is "Open House".  "The Merlion Hotel", which is definitely the main highlight of this event, has opened its door to the public during the day from 13 March to 15 May 2011.  From April 4 to May 5, there will be a couple checking into the hotel every night at a cost of $150.  If you are thinking of spending a night here, too bad, it was fully booked within one hour when the hotline was opened.

The 'hotel', a 100 sq m luxury room built around the Merlion, is an art installation by Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi.

Some info about this Japanese artist:
-  He was born 1960, nagoya, japan; he lives and works in berlin and tokyo,.
-  He uses scale and distance in his installations to propose fresh perspectives on what might be taken for granted or otherwise seem ordinary. his best-known projects have involved the building of rooms around public monuments or architectural elements.
-  The result is two-fold: on one hand, an 'instant sculpture' appears in a private space, and on the other, that same piece disappears
-  From the public sphere. within the room, this dramatic shift from public to private creates an encounter with the sculpture that is both fascinating and uncanny; there is egalitarianism in nishi's desire to expose art to all.
-  tatzu nishi works under a variety of names as part of each project, including tatsuro nishino, tatzu oozu and tatsurou bashi.   (credit:  http://www.designboom.com/)

Hey, these people were not advertising for M1 service provider.  Haha.... The orange umbrellas were provided by the staff so that the people will not melt under the scorching sun.  Hubby and I joined in the queue too in order to get into the Merlion Hotel.  We queued for around 15 minutes, not too bad actually.

The prominent red "Merlion Hotel"

Seized the opportunity to take a shot with the red building while queueing.

The bottom part of the Merlion, looked quite run down

Going up the stairs to get into the room

Entering the luxurious 5-star hotel...

Nice view of the esplanade from the window at the study table

Our Merlion!!

I think this was the first time I was actually taking picture with a erm... bathtub :D

Dressing table

Wall paper, printed with some of our Singapore icons.

Side view of the Merlion....

The friendly staff helped both of us to take a last photo with the Merlion before we left.