The Willy Little Suite created for you by artist Mel Brimfield celebrates the career of fictional entertainer Willy Little and his performances at ‘The Ocean Hotel’ – the former name of Art B&B.
Performance posters, show biz signage and whole walls of text evoke the spirit of theatrical seaside entertainers (real and imagined).
“Now You See it… Suite” has been created by artist and writer Professor Tim Etchells. His intimate-scale gallery quality neon sculpture playfully invokes the mystery and delight of another era’s popular entertainment – “Now you see it…Now you don’t” (which can also be dimmed or turned off)
This magical room has been created right before your very eyes by artist and magician Augusto Corrieri. Images and tricks are hidden behind small velvet curtains, but the real magic happens when you fall asleep and they conjure imagination and creativity in the right side of your brain to help combat the restlessness of ‘the first night effect’.
Creative Director Dr. Marisa Carnesky has adorned this evocative and spacious room with showgirl and show-woman inspired ephemera including pieces of costume and artefacts that embody the experiences women performers, past and present, who have graced Blackpool’s legendary stages. There are 4 telephones which relate the stories of Blackpool’s palaces of entertainment and the women who made them come alive from 1950s to the present day.
This sleep-in installation by artist Mark McClure has bold coloured patterns and panels that spread across walls and ceilings. It has a second life at night when the interactive light installation – which you can change via touch sensitive panels – transforms the dark room into a celestial light show from gentle phasing to full on frenzy. Or you can switch it off, pull the curtains and enjoy extreme blackness.
The Moon Room has been created for you by the artist Adrian Pritchard.
Inspired by the discovery of planets orbiting other star systems known as ‘exoplanets’, Adrian has twinned these discoveries with his own creations to visualise these new worlds like precious jewels. The largest one is Proxima Centauri B.
Peep Fiction Room at first glance, is a simple contemporary hotel room with all the comforts you would expect but it has been created with a twist by artist Noah Rose.
Cunningly hidden around the room (and in other locations around the hotel) are a number of stereoscopic photographic viewers exploring the hidden histories of Blackpool,
The Queer Room has been created for you by Manchester based artist Jez Dolan. The room design is centred around the concept of an LGBT+ / queer space which reflects Blackpool’s national significance and popularity as a home and a destination for LGBT+ people for many years.
Choreographer and dancer Louise Ahl has created a bespoke soundscape for this cool contemporary minimalist room called ”Unless we dream, we doubt”. Multiple speakers built into the room, and even into the bed, create an hypnotic sound installation which focuses on choreographed sound and stories, moving the guest in and out of meditative states.
The Lumiere Cinema Room is a spacious bedroom that has been created by the artist Lumiere in a contemporary art deco style with a huge cinema screen, HD projector and enhanced sound.
It has been created by the artist Christopher Samuels to give visitors a taste, with a strong sense of humour, of what it is like to face access barriers, as disabled people regularly do, across the UK hotel network. Everything in this room functions – but not as easily as it should – as you will enjoy finding out. Chris uses an electric wheelchair and he cannot get into the room he has designed so it is definitely NOT suitable for people with restricted mobility.
The Comfortable Room has been created with care by the artists Jenny Gaskell and Lisa Mattocks as a ‘place of wonder, a place to dream.’
It is particularly aimed at those who need a rest – rest from work fatigue, life fatigue or chronic pain. The specially curated objects around the room and the full wall projection film are aimed at giving you as comfortable and pleasing a stay as possible.
Artists Catherine Peters and Claire Griffiths have installed an array of glowing badges for you in their ‘Been There, Got the Badge’ installation of slogans and aphorisms that chart the people and places of Blackpool’s collective experiences and alternative tourism.
The bold patterns and colours in our 4-bed dorm room are born from Kristina Veasey’s frustration as a disabled artist battling to keep up with the housework! Kristina shares the surprising results of this unlikely friendship in strange but beautiful imagery, celebrating unnoticed splendour by transforming images of common household detritus into stunning fabrics and furnishings.
The Plenty and Progress artwork on a series of mirrors is based on unrealised 1935 neon designs for Blackpool illuminations by French lighting company Claudegen.. The title reflects civic design and aspiration in Blackpool whose town moto is ‘Progress’
It has specially chosen lighting and a relaxing green colour to help you spend the night dreaming of searing neon reflected on seafront limousines.
The Life Room has been created by the artist Helen Stratford.
What do you do everyday? Every week? Every month? How do you organise your daily life? Is it productive? The walls have giant flowcharts that Blackpool residents created to depict their daily routines … and you are invited to make diagrams of the day-to-day challenges and routines experienced in the spaces of your own daily life.