No, not like every year. No more idyll, that could be the motto of the Null Stern Hotel in 2022. “At a time when the world is falling apart, it is difficult to ignore the current world situation,” say Frank and Patrik Riklin. The two artists from Switzerland founded the hotel concept “Null Stern – the only star is you” in 2008, which they have been developing at various locations in the Alpine country ever since.
“In view of the current world situation, it is not time to sleep,” say the Riklins. That’s why the Null Stern inventors have developed an “anti-idyllic” suite this year, in which you use your doze to reflect and question yourself.
Self-reflection instead of deep sleep
At a gas station in the small town of Saillon in the Rhone Valley, the two have set up a double bed between a gas station and the main road, in tried and tested collaboration with hotelier Daniel Charbonnier. “This hotel room, which can both fascinate and disturb, should keep us all awake: What is security? What is luxury? How can we conserve resources and reduce our energy consumption?” ask the bed makers.
Art does not hang in a frame over the bed like in conventional hotels, but in the suite without walls or ceilings, art and the hotel industry enter into a new connection and enter into a dialogue. “With the new room we are trying to address the human contradiction between ideal and reality. Humans are part of nature, but at the same time they are alien to it by putting their needs above those of nature,” say the artist brothers. “If we continue as before, there could soon be more anti-idyllic than idyllic places in the world.”
In addition to the location at the petrol pumps, the Riklins have arranged three more suites in western Switzerland: the Bayart, Farinet and Weinberg suites. These Zero Real Estate Suites will be open until September 18, 2022. The price per night for two people is 325 Swiss francs.
Further information: https://nullsternhotel.ch
More photo series with zero star suites by Frank and Patrik Riklin:
– Zero-star hotels in Switzerland: is it art or can it go away?
– Open-air nights: snooze in a double bed under the starry sky