A private gallery in a hotel, featuring original photographic art? This isn't just wishful thinking - it's reality at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Mannheim, and it's not just a temporary installation.
Design and photographic art are combined there with a local flavor, as several hundred works by the Mannheim-based photographer Horst Hamann hang in the hotel lobby, in the rooms and suites, as well as in the hotel's corridors. Under the motto PANORAMANNHEIM, an exclusive series of photographs was created for the Radisson Blu Hotel over the course of two years. We want to take you on a journey through the photo gallery and introduce you to the idea behind it…
Master of the Gallery
Horst Hamann was born in Mannheim in 1958, and has been taking photographs since the age of 11. He has spent half of his life in the United States, and has been called simply "the genius of composition" by the New York Times. The creative demands were an extreme challenge for the photographer, with the new artworks requiring the creation of completely unique pictures. So each individual room of the hotel is a private gallery containing original photographic art.
"I have been asked to work for hotels a number of times previously," says Horst Hamann. "At the Radisson Blu Hotel, Mannheim [...], I was given full artistic freedom from the very start, as well as the management's complete confidence. There was also agreement that every room should have a different photograph, so each would have a unique print. It was a challenge that I gladly accepted."
Unique Prints in Each Hotel Room
The only requirement was the core theme: MANNHEIM. The city should be reflected in an artistic way with PANORAMANNHEIM. The work of Horst Hamann at the Radisson Blu Hotel now comprises several hundred unique prints showing fascinating verticals and, for the first time, triptychs of Mannheim. Each room in the hotel is thus its own private art gallery. The corridors and public areas can be experienced as an artistic space by all the guests. It is also amazing that there are no duplicate images. The pictures thus provide good navigational aids, not least in the hotel corridors.
The hotel is very pleased with the outcome and tells us: "We are proud of the fact that our hotel has a specific Mannheim flavor, which the guests can see in the entire corporate identity. The unique works of Horst Hamann also make our hotel a one-of-a-kind place. So we are proud to welcome our guests here."
And if that wasn't enough…
… as a continuation of the "Eyes Wide Shut" artistic project, Hamann created more than 160 portraits of employees of the corporate group and their partners on site in a mobile studio in order to provide representations of all those involved in the development, planning, and realization of the Q 6 Q 7 urban district, in which the Radisson Blu Hotel, Mannheim is located.
How this looked can be seen here:
Horst Hamann hopes that particularly those visitors only staying at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Mannheim for a short time can experience Mannheim through his pictures. But even those who already know the city well will no doubt see it in a new light via the images. Has this piqued your interest? Then feel free to visit Mannheim and experience the private gallery in person. You will then have the opportunity to take "a piece of Mannheim" home with you in the form of high-quality printed photo cards or a coffee-table book.
More impressions of the private gallery:
