As art in hotels presents a discussion about Petter Stordalen and his hotel, and not hotels in general, I will comment on this post in the angle of Stordalen’s hotel. I’m also interpreting picture in the post as a picture from The Thief, and will base my arguments on that observation.
The blog post is well written and easy to understand. The author has used terms related to the syllabus and the arguments are well presented and defined, therefore the reader has no problem understanding what the author is talking about.
While it’s an observation to classify Stordalen as an art investor and a trophy hunter, I want to present a different view. While he does invest in art, he does not buy it for it to increase in value, but to show it off in his hotels as a collector. Though this potential price increase could be a beneficial side effect, it’s not the reason why he bought the art. Hiring an interior designes implies that he buys art for his interior. If he was a trophy hunter, he would stand be interested in explaining how he acquired it, but it is merely put up for display. This makes Stordalen in my opinion a combination of a home collector and an investor, with an ulterior motive to make money on his investment without selling off the art piece.
He didn’t necessarily have to hire an expert to buy pretty looking paintings, but buying old recognized avant garde paintings can only increase his hotels’ and his own cultural value and reputation when discussed in media.
The author links the text to the 7% of the market share sales, which offer us a view of the business, and how the designers and advisors needs customers with economic freedom, nicely exemplified with Stordalen and Sune Nordgren.
What makes the post about Stordalen difficult to interpret according to the syllabus, is that he is a businessman who uses art as a design and not the final product, and indraniolrose should be commended for doing it as precisely as they did. As a businessman Stordalen will always slither between the current terms and lables presented in the syllabus so far.
Another complication, is the line between arts and design. Design is known to solve problems and meeting the needs of the people. Here Stordalen wants to create the feeling of luxury and solves it by presenting an exclusive looking interior. Is it possible for art to keep its function as just an art piece when it’s used for the commercial value of the hotels?
At the end of the post, the author mentions how a luxury hotel will inspire the everyday man to buy art. I somewhat agree, although the everyday man will not have access to the same fine art, but perhaps they will find a kind of aesthetic experience that encourages them to buy art to enhance their interior in the future.
Making sense of art and design industries 