Why Booking A Room At This Hotel Is Impossible

It does not offer rooms or services, and the building cannot be entered.

Damjan

• Published in Interesting
• August 31, 2024

Modern art often defies expectations and plays with perceptions, and one striking example is Hotel EastLink. Situated beside a motorway outside Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Hotel EastLink is a seemingly ordinary high-rise hotel.

However, this building is not what it appears to be. It's an elaborate piece of art that has puzzled and intrigued motorists for nearly two decades.

At first glance, Hotel EastLink appears to be a high-rise hotel, a notion reinforced by its imposing size and the prominent "HOTEL" sign at its top. Standing 20 meters tall, 12 meters wide, and 5 meters thick, it indeed mimics the dimensions of a typical high-rise structure.

However, upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that this is not a functioning hotel but an elaborate sculpture created by artist Callum Morton.

Morton's design is intentional in its aim to deceive. The sculpture's realistic appearance, with illuminated windows that give the impression of occupied rooms at night, has led many to mistakenly believe it is a genuine hotel.

The confusion is compounded by the sculpture's location in a barren field along the EastLink toll road in Melbourne’s Dandenong neighborhood, further isolating it from any factual context of a typical hotel.

Despite its impressive size, Hotel EastLink's proper function is purely ornamental. It does not offer rooms or services, and the building cannot be entered. Instead, it is a testament to artistic illusion's power and visual trickery's impact. Morton's work invites viewers to question their assumptions and perceptions about familiar structures.

Hotel EastLink, positioned by a motorway on Melbourne’s outskirts, resembles a hotel but is a sculpture.

“Motorists will view it from the car as an actual hotel and perhaps over time as a strangely de-scaled prop that has escaped a theme park or film set,” artist Callum Morton described the concept of this project.

Callum Morton, born in Montreal in 1965, studied Architecture, urban planning, and Fine Art. He completed an MA in Sculpture at RMIT in 1999.

Over the years, Morton has taught at various institutions, including the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, the University of Melbourne, and the Victorian College of the Arts.

His work has been showcased in solo exhibitions at venues such as the Santa Monica Museum of Art (1999), the National Gallery of Victoria @ Federation Square (2003), the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney (2003), Gimpel Fils in London (2004), and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (2005).

The hotel, created by Canadian artist Callum Morton, was revealed in 2007.

"I think it’s kind of interesting how putting something in a space that is slightly beguiling or is a little bit strange, how that maybe changes the way people think about art or practice,” Callum Morton said about his one-of-a-kind artwork.

"Eastlink Tollway FAKE Hotel Art Piece – Getting a Drone Up Close! "

Almost twenty years after it was first installed, Hotel EastLink still fascinates and surprises people. It's a great example of how art can mix with everyday life to create moments that make us think and wonder.

Morton's work isn't just about how it looks; it also gets people talking about what they see and what it means. Hotel EastLink shows how art can challenge our views and engage our minds, making it a notable part of Melbourne’s art scene.

Damjan