Japan offers many quirky products to tourists and inhabitants alike, but the most recent one I've discovered is a "capsule hotel." Capsule hotels, once deemed "dog kennel hotels"by the American media in the 70s, are aptly named because the space in which one stays for the night is only 3 ft x 3 ft x 7 ft, just enough space to sleep in.
Fakeshop's installation created a link between the actual existing capsule hotels of Tokyo with a gallery installation that had similar structures. In the gallery capsules, the compartments were enhanced with internet, videoconferencing and other networked communications. The project allowed visitors to be part of a collective piece of performance art and narrative that lasted for 14 years.
While certainly an object to shudder at for claustrophobics, capsule hotels certainly hold an economic appeal--only $30/night. But the fact of their existence brings up some questions about human needs, psychogeography, privacy and the possibility of surveillance. The Art Collective, Fakeshop, responded to this "utilitarian absurdity of society" (Christiane Paul, Digital Art, 163) in their project, entitled Capsule Hotel, which ran from 1995-2009.
