The museum itself is located off the main lobby of the hotel but the art and antics are not confined to this area. It is behind the counter, in the restaurant, in the bedrooms, the elevator, the corridors and even the bathrooms. It is as if the building is possessed by clever and wonderful art. Some of my favourite pieces were those scattered around the building.
In Proof, a five star restaurant with a fabulous bar, there are four alabaster goats, each almost five feet in height, which appear to be hung by rope from the wall where the open kitchen is on view. The most interesting and funny piece, however, is the installation in the bathrooms off the lobby. The artist is a plastic surgeon by profession and an artist in his free time. In his work, he specialises in dealing with blind patients. During his years working with them he began to get annoyed at how fully sighted people seem to feel it is okay to stare at the blind because they cannot see them. In this installation all eyes are on you. The artist filmed blind people’s unseeing eyes and placed them in tiny TV screens in the mirrored wall. In the ladies’ room, they are located in the mirror, which makes reapplying your makeup a whole new experience. In the men’s, they glare down from right above the urinal. Wilson claims it teaches a lesson in vanity.