‘Kolaj’ is a three-dimensional interpretation of a series of digital collages designed by architect/artist Kaan Alpagut for the South Place Hotel as the winner of the annual SPH Art Commission. A floating painting with a void, subverting the link between the ‘frame’ and ‘art’. The installation introduces a new perspective from both the facade and the lobby space of the hotel while questioning the relationship between the civic and private spaces within the city. The marble echoes the materials that are of the surrounding buildings of financial power and authority, and seeks to re-contextualise it back into the realm of sculpture. The scale and shape of the piece not only mimic the language of a cash machine, but the void in the centre of the installation directly references ‘a hole in the wall’.

Being named one of the ‘Big Six: Art Hotels’ by The Independent, art and design are clearly at the heart of South Place Hotel. The luxury boutique hotel by restaurateurs D&D London, celebrates and supports the local art scene with the annual South Place Hotel Art Prize, providing an exceptional opportunity for emerging artists to display their work to the general public of the Square Mile.

Design: Kaan Alpagut
Photography: South Place Hotel