01.1 the artists

A MELTING POT COMMUNITY

A broad range of contemporary art is at the very heart of the Swatch Art Peace Hotel project. The Swatch Art Peace Hotel Guest Artist Program invites known and unknown artists from around the world, including China, to live and work in artist studios on the hotel premises for periods of up to six months.

Artists who wish to apply to the Swatch Art Peace Hotel Guest Artist Program are invited to register and fill out an application here.

All applications are reviewed by an international committee whose efforts ensure that a broad range of artistic disciplines, styles and national origins is represented. The selection process aims to integrate artists, known and unknown, from around the world in a spirit of openness and curiosity about creativity in its diverse forms and contexts. The artists are accommodated in the Hotel at the invitation of Swatch Group, which for its part asks only that they leave a “trace” of their visit. A trace is typically a piece of art created by the artist during his or her stay; it is up to the artist to determine what form such a trace will take. The traces will become part of the Swatch Art Peace Hotel Collection and will, periodically, be presented to the public.

At present, the members of the Artist Selection Committee are: Nayla Hayek, Chair of the Board of Directors, Swatch Group; Nick Hayek, CEO, Swatch Group; Esther Grether, Board Member, Swatch Group; George Clooney, Actor; François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO, PPR; Mikhail Kusnirovich, Russian Entrepreneur and Chairman of the Strategic Development Committee of the Department Store GUM; Sir Francis Yeoh, Chairman of YTL Group.

Artists who are invited to participate in the Swatch Art Peace Hotel Guest Artist Program will live and work on the second and third floors of the hotel in studios made available to them at no cost. Eighteen modular apartment-workshops can accommodate between thirty and forty artists per year, giving them the unique opportunity to discover Shanghai, to establish contacts with each other and to work on parallel or joint projects of their choosing.

Eight studios are designed so that artists have a working space at their disposal which is separate from their living quarters; ten incorporate the workshop into the living space. The type of activity and the needs of the artists determine the type of housing to be awarded. Workshop space can also be shared.

The concept anticipates times of residence limited to a maximum of six months; the rotation is designed to facilitate effective interaction among the artists. The first floor features an art gallery and exhibition space offering a congenial environment for special presentations and thematic displays.