Have you heard of a "Love hotel"? It's a place for passion, chaos and play, but not necessarily the kind you might be thinking of. Artist Aiko Yuno interprets the meaning of a love hotel as "not just a place for sex, but a fleeting paradise for people who live rigid lives to visit and enjoy their own fantasies.”

When you switch the lights using the controller near the entrance, the scene suddenly changes-- you’ll see a metallic-hued dollhouse and neon lighting on the wall. Lying there on the circular bed in this momentary paradise, what, or who, are you thinking about?

The artist explores the theme of “happiness” in this strange and dreamy space, though one could also think of self-love, or meditation. What on earth did the artist see in this place? Let's ask and find out.

-- First of all, please introduce yourself.

My name is Aiko Yuno and I was born in 1993.

--What kind of art do you make and what kind of work do you usually do?

I usually make installations, but sometimes I try different forms of expression using various materials like sculpture, and most recently I’ve dabbled into paintings as well.

-- What’s the title of this room?

The title is "1993", which is the year I was born.

-- What kind of room is it?

When they told me about this hotel, I couldn’t stop thinking about the concept of love hotels.

--- So when you think of a hotel, you think of a love hotel?

No, not exactly... how should I put it? It’s more for my own pleasure. See, in my mind, I was thinking, “How could I win an art room competition?” Love hotels have a unique air to them, don’t they? It’s that kind of unique and lasting image that I was looking for, to win my imaginary competition. So I thought it would be even more interesting if I combined my work with the concept of love hotels, since I was already interested in them.

--- Well it worked out perfectly and your ideas really came through in this piece. Do you mind if I ask about your thoughts on love hotels?

I think love hotels represent the human desire that lives inside us our whole life. I wouldn’t say I want to live in a love hotel... but still. Everyone fulfills their needs and desires through different means, like shopping or whatnot.

I didn't know what a love hotel was when I was a kid, but that’s not what kids need to learn about. I just knew that it was like an "amusement park" for adults. One day, I found a book called "Love Hotel Collection", and I got really into it. During the bubble era of the 1960s, there was a saying that a love hotel was where you could escape to another world, away from the hustle and bustle of reality. I thought It would be interesting if I could create such a world. It's like creating an idea for your own work based on something from a movie. The romantic idea of living wild and free “just for tonight,” then return to reality when the sun rises. These moments of “ephemeral joy” are what life is made of.

In that sense, a love hotel holds a sense of intense pleasure, but also the idea of something fickle and short-lived. Because of these themes, I knew I wanted to make something with love hotels.

-- Do you have anything you’d like to say to our guests?

I hope you can enjoy this room all night until morning, play around with the lighting and everything. What a great opportunity this is-- you never get a chance to experience art up close and personal like this anywhere else. Usually, there’s some required distance between you and the art, and there’s almost never any touching allowed-- but here it’s completely different. I hope you enjoy the room with all these intentions, but just make sure you don’t go overboard.

The real thrill of this hotel is that you can enjoy the artwork with all your senses, and not just from the other side of a glass case. This is the only place where the art is right at your disposal, to enjoy each other's company all night.