STANDARD | Designed by MICHAEL STEELE | RESERVE THIS ROOM

The Walls are Speaking, was generated by a desire to inscribe the ephemeral social history of the hotel directly onto the architectural fabric of the establishment itself.

ARTIST STATEMENT

To map is to explore or survey for the purpose of record and instruction. Visitors will map the surface of a new city and construct their own physical and mental picture to be carried home with them. The map room sets out to engage with these ideas of "mapping"- to acclimatize and then to disseminate visitors.

Maps serve as the "new bible" for the hotel visitor- a reference manual to be carried around in the exploration of new undiscovered space. After a long day of sightseeing, the visitor may lie in bed and begin to make connections between their "bible" they have studied so intimately, and the details of the architectural molding overhead.

In the Map Room, the visitor is surrounded by the folds of a map.   A whitewashed ceiling and headboard wall schematically chart the city streets surrounding the Gladstone Hotel using traditional molding mitered frames to define city blocks, parks and major streets. In contrast, the grid is intentionally broken by Dundas Street, running on the diagonal to the north-south-east-west axis.   Set against this three dimensional wall and ceiling detail, a mid-century inspired mobile tracks the movement of travel from point A to B using counter-balanced and rotating black spheres.   This kinetic sculpture pin points the location of the Gladstone Hotel and the visitor's "you are here" starting point on the map overhead while a framed magnetized map will serve as the mapping of each guest to be used by the next. The room's color scheme and detailing take cues from the map's legend; a stitching detail in the headboard for example, defines the paths of the Toronto Island Ferry routes. A line drawing of the ferry route and street grid repeats on a drawing in the washroom, allowing the visitor to make connections between details. The picture of the Queen above the headboard close to the ceiling, acts as a visual clue to the meaning of the architectural detail, marking Queen Street, and also plays with the meaning of the old adage - "just lie back and think of the queen."

ARTIST BIO

Michael has a degree in Interior Design from Ryerson University, has studied new media at The British Columbia Institute of Technology, and has a degree in Art History from the University of Victoria. His interest in visual art, sculpture, mobile manufacture, interactivity, transformability and contextualism has fed into much of his work over the past six years living in Toronto. Michael works currently as a designer.   

THANKS | Peter Kingstone, Suanne McGregor, Christina Ziedler, Lesley Kriekle, Louie De Luca, Gerald Hannon, Lilly Liaukus, and Alana Boychuk.

CONTACT | Michael Steele
Address: #1- 291 Euclid Ave. Toronto ON M6J 2K1
Telephone: 416 703 7053
Email: steelemichael@yahoo.com