Come for the Art, Stay for the Party: How Ace Hotel Toronto Plugs You into the Heart of the City
Led by Michael Nyarko, Ace Hotel Toronto partners with local brands and organizations to host a range of public activities. They recently collaborated with JEMS on a series of conversations, workshops and events that center sex and the culture of sex, followed by a public installation with Montreal-based Studio Rats called “The Garden of Inflated Delights”.
True to Ace Hotel’s ethos of embracing local culture in the cities they inhabit, its public and private space art features a diverse collection of works from nearly 40 Canadian creators, including Nadia Gohar, Erin Vincent, Ale Groen, Dahae Song, Rod Mireau, Meera Sethi, Victoria Sequeira, Claudia Gutierrez and Guillermo Trejo.
Nyarko says, “Ace Hotel should be your playground, a safe space and an opportunity to think big and connect. We have various spaces in the building that give you different sensations…Ultimately, if someone calls this their home, we have done a good job”.
Can you describe your role at Ace Toronto? What's your day-to-day like? And why do you do what you do?
At Ace Hotel Toronto, I am the Community + Marketing Manager. Aside from the standard email and Google suite usage, I often get to engage with creatives, brands, curious people and my colleagues to dream about ways to make impactful and exciting cultural moments. Programming gets me excited because I get to witness and contribute to my community in positive and dynamic ways.
Could you tell me about the JEMS event and installation at the Ace? What other events are coming up?
Our collaboration with Jems is called Rubber Hearts, a series of conversations, workshops and events that centres sex and the culture of sex. To bring the partnership to life, Jems invited Montreal-based Studio Rats to install 'The Garden of Inflated Delights' in our Lobby. It was amazing. In the very near future we are working towards a fun drawing class and a mini vogue ball. While not a programming moment, something else fun we have at the hotel is our direct-dial phone to our friends at Superette, purveyors of the best smoke in Toronto. You can find the phone in the lobby, give them a call, and have their budtender guide you through their offerings. They're just around the corner from the hotel, so it's an easy stroll to collect your goods and have a great time around the city.
Which artists commissioned for the public art space are you most excited about? And why?
I enjoy Nadia Gohar's work in the Lobby. Her use of colours, and textures of brush lines gives a very human example of home to me. David Umemoto's monochromatic yet highly-architectural concrete mural up at our rooftop bar Evangeline ; I really like its Escher-esque structure. Alo Groen's piece in our restaurant, Alder also gets a shout-out. His take on still life perfectly sums up the spirit of the space. Good food and good company.
Hotels are oftentimes spaces of exclusion - neutral spaces where people can escape to. Yet, they are also spaces for intimacy and gathering. What do you want people to feel when they visit the Ace Hotel?
Ace Hotel should be your playground, a safe space and an opportunity to think big and connect. We have various spaces in the building that give you different sensations. Alder hits the taste buds – courtesy of our Chef partner and Toronto icon Patrick Kriss – the Lobby allows you to relax or work, and Evangeline should be where you free yourself. Ultimately, if someone calls this their home, we have done a good job.
