On July 18, Fotografiska Shanghai is proud to present Nøtel, a groundbreaking solo exhibition by artist Lawrence Lek, marking the project’s first comprehensive showcase in China. This is an ongoing series that has been continuously evolving by Lek since 2015. Nøtel envisions a speculative model of future habitation, one that is fully globalized, standardized, and fundamentally transient.
Through multimedia installations, interactive gaming, and recursive virtual environments, with music composed by electronic musician Kode 9 (Steve Goodman), the exhibition immerses audiences in a futuristic space oscillating between luxurious experiences and technological alienation.
During the exhibition, Fotografiska’s space will be transformed into a real estate marketing suite for the fictional Nøtel Corporation, Lek’s design for the luxury hotel of the future. This immersive advertisement allows visitors to experience Nøtel through interactive video games, guided walkthrough trailers, and CGI prints, presenting the global hotel chain as if it already exists.
For the Shanghai exhibition, Lek has added a "CEO Art Collection" — a new room inside the game that replicates the installation in Fotografiska Shanghai's space, along with trailers from his previous works. Lek has created new wallpapers and prints for the physical exhibition space, intertwining virtual scenes from the game with the real world, embedding and reflecting the virtual space into the physical environment. This blurs the boundary between the virtual and the real, expanding the infinite possibilities of simulation as a form of spatial art.
Nøtel constructs a dystopian vision of the future through its “fully-automated luxury hotel” concept. In this speculative future, AI, drones, facial recognition and omnipresent sensor systems replace human labor, anticipating every guest's need to deliver ultimate privacy and hyper-personalized service, while simultaneously erasing both the traces of human work and any sense of belonging.
More than an exhibition, Lek employs speculative aesthetics to unpack the implicit consequences of technological reliance. The works seduces viewers with futuristic opulence, yet its sleek automation demands critical reflection: When algorithms preempt all desires and living spaces become replaceable, standardized commodities, do we consciously relinquish our privacy and autonomy?
