Can a Hotel Be a Contemporary Art Museum, Too? An Interview with 21c Curator Alice Gray Stites
Ever want to sleep at a museum? Neither did we, until we went to 21c. We recently stayed at the 21c Art Museum Hotel in St.Louis as well as the 21c in Bentonville, Arkansas and had the best time. 21c locations combine actual contemporary art museum gallery exhibitions which are free and open to the general public (whether you stay there or not) with fine dining, billiards, hang out areas, a cozy cafes, and more, and are populated by a roving herd of upcycled plastic penguins which just seem to pop up everywhere.
We’ve attempted staying at designer hotels before, but they always seemed cold and uncomfortable with a stoic staff , too often paired with a dance music soundtrack. 21c has somehow found the right combination of style, comfort. You’ll also find actual relevant contemporary art from thought-provoking international and local talents, with a subtle sense of humor infused into the mix. It’s a recipe that made us feel at home, away from home.
21c operates seven different Museum Hotels and was founded by contemporary art collectors and preservationists Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, with an eye for art that stimulates discussion that is created by living artists.
We had a chance to interview 21c’s curator Alice Gray Stites about their unique format for presenting art and their various touring exhibitions and their new Nightwatch immersive Suites.
H.F: All of the 21c Museum Hotel exhibitions are open and free to the public,, and open 24 hours a day. And yet, you must have some visitors/hotel guests who don’t know the hotels surprised at what they find inside, or at least not expecting. When you curate shows for 21c, do you keep the happenstance visitor in mind? I’d imagine that many of the viewers of your exhibitions weren’t aware that they were about to see a world class array of thought-provoking contemporary art.
Alice Gray Stites: Yes, 21c’s viewers span the spectrum from arts professionals and enthusiasts seeking out exhibitions of contemporary art to business travelers who are surprised to find themselves surrounded by thought-provoking artworks. We want everyone who walks through the doors of a 21c to feel welcome, inspired, curious, and connected, whether that happens through deep engagement or osmosis. This doesn’t shape the curatorial approach—for which we prioritize the artist’s vision and creating a visual narrative—but rather the understanding of the diversity of the audience impacts how we share the exhibitions and programming. We want everyone to see themselves and their culture represented, and to discover new faces, places, ideas, and perspectives.
We want everyone who walks through the doors of a 21c to feel welcome, inspired, curious, and connected, whether that happens through deep engagement or osmosis.
Above: The Way Out West installation stairwell in 21c St. Louis, by duo Fallen Fruit
We loved The Way Out West installation stairwell at 21c St. Louis by artist duo Fallen Fruit. While immediately taken back by its ornate beauty, when we looked, actually that’s incorrect, when we walked into it, further, we noticed the symbols and history of St. Louis in the details. Among the birds, flowers and fauna that are native to the area, there’s guns, depictions of colonialism and the complex social justice history of St, Louis woven in the pattern-scape that greets the guests… It kind of sneaks up on you. There’s deeper meaning, if you choose to delve into the details.
Fallen Fruit, which as you note, is an artist duo (David Allen Burns and Austin Young) has developed a unique and impactful practice creating immersive, site-specific artworks that explore—in amazing detail—the evolution of communities. Their aesthetic is often dazzling in color and form, as is the imagery in The Way Out West, and typically is drawn from photographs taken from archives and from life (in botanical gardens, libraries, museums, and more). As you experienced, their work rewards a longer look: the more time you spend absorbing the imagery embedded in the wallpaper, the carpeting, and the objects, the more stories unfold, the more connections are made, and the layered, complex identity of the history, mythology, and reality of the city and the region emerge. As David and Austin describe it, “The Way Out West is an immersive artwork installation for the historic stairwell that connects the public spaces and art galleries. The artwork, which utilizes the interior architecture as a frame, is sourced from hundreds of photographs taken by the artists around the city at different times of year, including images of flowers and plants from public parks, artifacts from historic collections, as well as drawings of birds and pollinators native to the region. The title, The Way Out West, refers to the 19th-century cultural belief that American settlers had a divinely-ordained right to expand the nation westward, St. Louis being one gateway to this destiny. This proclamation of sovereignty was foundational in American history and Fallen Fruit’s work confronts the notion that history unfurled from one perspective alone. The COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing social unrest and protests highlighted and exacerbated the current era of cultural evolution, one in which we must question frameworks of history, and how it is told, for whom, and by whom, to create a more inclusive, accurate story. In our current moment of cultural evolution, we find ourselves on a journey to redefine legal frameworks, complex legacies, civil rights, concepts of inclusion, political representation, and to harmonize the voices of all people.
…the more time you spend absorbing the imagery embedded in the wallpaper, the carpeting, and the objects, the more stories unfold…
Above: installation in the galleries at 21c St.Louis, followed by a textile work by April Bey featured in the current exhibition in Bentonville, Dress Up, Speak Up: Regalia and Resistance, then a painting by Fahamu Pecou
21c is described as a multi-venue museum, one that is spread across your seven locations, can you explain how the exhibits tour throughout your hotels throughout the Bible Belt?
While each 21c property is a unique design—and six of seven are renovations—the museum component is holistic, curated and operated with a consistent vision and mission. The exhibitions debut either as the inaugural show for a new property, as is the case for Revival: Digging Into Yesterday, Planting Tomorrow, which began in St Louis and is now on view in Cincinnati, or they are launched from 21c Louisville, which, as the very first 21c, is the mothership, and where most of the museum team and the collection are located. Not all the exhibitions will travel to all locations, due to a variety of pragmatic factors, such as works on loan that have to be returned to lenders, or artworks that should be on display for extended periods of time. The exhibitions contract and expand as they travel, due to differences in the amount of exhibition space in each building, and because we strive to keep the exhibitions relevant and timely. The themes of 21c’s group exhibitions address current events and issues, from the environment to identity to technology and labor, all topics that are evolving daily. Our exhibitions need to reflect the latest information shaping these issues, so we add and subtract works accordingly, adding new artworks that have been acquired for the collection and augmenting with loans. We copy-morph, not copy-paste! 21c actively lends artworks to other museums, by the way.
The last time I checked, the Bible Belt doesn’t include Chicago, or possibly Cincinnati, so our multi-venue museum is more expansive than this characterization.
Above: a view of a Nightwatch room, and an oil painting by Ruth Owens on display at 21c
Oh, pardon my coastal ignorance! You have just announced the Nightwatch immersive Suites. It is described as a “sleep-in installation” and a ‘sensory experience where “The moving light uncovers the animated magic hidden within the forest, reminding us of the vibrant life that continues while we sleep.”
I imagine this to be a relaxing and even moving experience or honestly, quite the opposite, depending on my mood. Can you explain what this new addition is about?
What if a visitor is overwhelmed?
Chris Doyle’s Nightwatch is a truly unique and magical experience you can only access at 21c Cincinnati, Bentonville, and Lexington; there is nothing like it anywhere in the world, in a museum or hotel. By day, the space immerses guests in an enchanting, forest-inspired dreamscape. Custom-designed wall coverings, carpets, and curtains envelop the room in a whimsical world—part surrealist landscape, part cinematic fantasy, reminiscent of the magical wonder of Fantasia.
As night falls, the suite awakens. Projected light animates the walls, bringing the environment to life. In the living space, a searchlight casts shifting geometric forms, while the bedroom reveals ethereal birds in flight—an ever-evolving display of movement, shadow, and color that captures the mystery and energy of the forest after dark.
The feedback we’ve been receiving from guests who’ve stayed in Nightwatch has been overwhelmingly positive; people really enjoy watching the projections of light, and of birds in flight (you can ‘count the geese ‘to fall asleep in the bedroom). A simple on-off light switch controls the projections, so if you’d rather just take in the colorful imagery on the walls and carpeted floors, just turn it off!
Your exhibition Refuge: Needing, Seeking, Creating Shelter, now at 21C in Durham, addresses the environmental and refugee crises. That area has also been hit by a devastating storm last year. It’s a pretty hard hitting exhibition, but the timing is a bit haunting…
Yes, that exhibition did resonate especially poignantly in that location in the aftermath of the devastating storm that hit the Carolinas, but the climate crisis and migration are affecting communities worldwide these days, so the exhibition would be relevant anywhere it is installed. Natural and human-made disasters aren’t predictable, so we can’t, and wouldn’t, curate with those in mind. Our goal is to showcase the visions and voices of contemporary artists that need to be seen and heard, and which can inspire conversation and connection. I do believe that artists are often uncannily prescient, though, which is why we should all pay attention to their work if we want to understand our world, our past, present, and future.
While each museum hotel showcases renown living contemporary artists, It appears that each 21c location taps into the local artist network, with smaller satellite exhibitions on display…
21c is more than a hotel or restaurant; each one is a community cultural space, where we hope local artists will feel at home, and where they’ll find opportunities! Starting in Louisville, Deborah Berke and her team designed spaces on each guest room floor for showcasing works on loan from local and regional artists, allowing guests visiting from outside each city to experience the art can culture of the community. For this reason, we call the program “Elevate at 21c”—and also in reference to expanding the audience for and awareness of these artists’ work. This has been so successful that we are now installing Elevate exhibitions in other spaces, inside and outside, in small galleries, restaurant lounges, and on exterior walls, and more. This is all possible because of the deep engagement our Museum Managers have with their communities (each 21c has a dedicated Museum Manager), visiting artist’s studios, galleries, MFA exhibits, and more.
If a guest is interested in an artwork on display, we will connect them with the artist or their gallery; 21c doesn’t get involved in the commercial aspect of these transactions. The Elevate program has been a rewarding way to source new artworks for the permanent collection, too; about a dozen works have been accessioned through various Elevate initiatives. And Elevate artists have participated in a wide range of cultural events, making presentations and doing performances that are, like all 21c Museum programs, free and open to the public.
“People really enjoy watching the projections of light, and of birds in flight (you can ‘count the geese ‘to fall asleep in the bedroom)…”
Above: 21c curator Alice Gray Stites
“Our guests, staff, and public fell in love with the penguins, and when we went to install a new show, protested mightily, so the penguins stayed.
We really enjoy seeing the videos of Steve Wilson, exploring art fairs, finding works for 21c, discussing works with the artists. 21C started as a way to exhibit the collection of the Wilson’s. Now with many locations, how does the curatorial process work there?
Yes, that’s true: one reason that Steve Wilson and Laura Lee Brown created 21c was to share their collection with the public. They had received numerous requests over the years from interested groups and individuals to tour their collection at their home, and so were inspired to create a more expansive and accessible way to do that. As 21c has grown to multiple locations, Steve and Laura Lee have continued to collect with the larger public in mind; the collection now numbers over 5,000 works of art in all media, from painting, sculpture, and photography, to film, video, and VR. As collectors, they are incredibly adventurous and generous, since a lot of the artwork they acquire goes directly to one of 21c’s exhibitions. They do continue to rotate the collection on view at their home, however, so that they and their friends, family, and guests can see new work there as well as at 21c.
We recently published a large feature on Cracking Art in Hi-Fructose issue 72. Their brightly colored penguins have become synonymous with 21, with each location having a flock of penguins in their own color. The penguins appear in guest rooms, at dinner with guests, in alcoves, elevators, magically moving about the premises of your museum hotels. We fell in love with them when we visited St. Louis and Bentonville. They provide surprise and levity and we miss hanging out with them, Did you know that these sculptures, created from upcycled plastic, would be such a hit?
We did not! I always say that at 21c, we have too much respect for the public, and for the diversity and discernment of the public, to predict how our visitors will respond to any particular artwork, and this has proven to be true. The Red Penguins by Cracking Art were acquired by Laura Lee and Steve in 2005, after they’d been installed throughout Venice during the Biennale that year. The following year, when 21c Louisville opened, we included the Red Penguins in the very first exhibition, Hybridity (there were a lot of animals in that show), placing them in the large atrium space and moving them around in different configurations from time to time. Our guests, staff, and public fell in love with the penguins, and when we went to install a new show, protested mightily, so the penguins stayed. Today you can find them in the galleries, hallways,on the rooftop, dining with guests in the restaurant, or even staying overnight in guest rooms. When 21c began to expand to more locations, Steve Wilson struck an agreement with Cracking Art to create a different color penguin for each 21c location. Each penguin flock has a unique origin story. For example, yellow was chosen for Cincinnati, since as number 2, it was the first new 21c, so yellow represented the dawn of a new day. Yellow also has the longest wavelength on the color spectrum; it reaches out to you and, as such, is the color of welcome!
See more and vsit 21c Museum Hotels, here.
Below: Works on Display for the Refuge exhibition at 21c: photo by Din Q. Lê (top) and photo by Ana Teresa Fernández.
All art courtesy of and provided by 21c.
Mike Kelley is regarded as one of the most influential and perplexing artists of our time. The work he produced between the mid-70s until his death helped shape the face of contemporary art. His retrospective on view at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA has been traveling since 2012, but the experience here is unique. Every review you read will point out how the massive installations and audio works overload the senses. The show is literally screaming. Read more after the jump.
Fans of Japanese contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama need no introduction to the Kusama pumpkin- her dotted signature motif and yes, alter ego. Her pumpkins have been famously recreated from hotel rooms to textiles and designer hand bags by Louis Vuitton. She's even taken us inside of their surreal, organic structure, as in her Selfridges London pop-up store this time last year. So the story goes, Kusama's family once owned a storehouse full of pumpkins during World War II, and she developed a fondness for them. Ever since, she has continually used them throughout her career as a symbol of growth and fertility. Just in time for Halloween, Victoria Miro in London is showing a new body of bronze sculptures and paintings 2 years in the making, simply titled "Pumpkins".
The Internet has changed the art world immensely, and Giant Robot has been there to witness and evolve alongside it. Conceived as a humble, photocopied zine focused on Asian American arts and culture in 1994, Giant Robot now exists as an unclassifiable entity. It was published as a magazine for 16 years and later manifested in the physical realm as an art gallery and shop, as well as a website. To celebrate its 20 years, Giant Robot 2 in LA will debut "Giant Robot Presents: 20 Years Art x Mags," an extensive group show featuring many established and emerging talents. Among the line-up are Yoshitomo Nara, Takashi Murakami, Ryan McGinness, Geoff McFetridge, Yoskay Yamamoto, Jeff Soto, James Jean and a great number of other artists. "#GR20Years," as the show is nicknamed, opens March 15, 5 - 10 pm, and will be on view through April 2.