"Black Rose Trick Hotel, an ambitious theatre project in Malmö, invited guests to a twilight land of dreams and nightmares.
A young private sits on his bed with a knife, threatening to commit suicide: ‘This is a game, but we have to take the game to the end.’
Just another night at the Black Rose Trick Hotel which transformed an abandoned Malmö smokehouse in was transformed for ten days into an ambient theatre project conceived by award-winning concept artist Signa Sørensen. From 4-14 March, the hotel-theatre served as home for 50 Swedish, Danish, and German actors who assumed the roles of military personnel, hospital and hotel staff, and entertainers.After waiting for up to an hour on the steps, visitors were greeted by the diabolical, whip-brandishing General Jimmy Adler, who demanded guests to demonstrate ‘self-organisation’. Guests slowly filed up to the registration desk where they received their ‘passport’ and were led into an orientation session. Here, a staff member explained that the military presence and surveillance cameras were strictly for our own safety: ‘The Black Rose Trick Hotel is the safest place on earth.’ Visitors learned about the deadly E.N.D. Syndrome that ravaged residents of the hotel and the shady business dealings of the hotel’s owner, Miss Black Rose. Afterward, visitors were free to wander throughout the space and stay as long as they wished. Speaking with actors and other guests, visitors could gather information and rumours and piece their own narrative together. There was the chambermaid Lulu who politely made a guest’s bed and explained that she had been working at the hotel for several months, sending money home to her family. There was Gracie, who always felt happy, because there was so much dancing and really no need at all to think about the Syndrome. Peculiar items quickly became apparent: The barren interrogation rooms lit by a few harsh light bulbs in the basement. Guest rooms atrociously decorated in the best East German kitsch. Betty Day singing ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’ in the blood red cocktail lounge, in a scene that borrowed heavily from Twin Peaks.
In the clinic on the top floor, plates of stale beef stroganoff grew mould in the windowsills. Beds went unmade and antiquated medical equipment lay strewn about. Here the sleep-deprived Doctor Fleischer, dressed only in his white frock, babbled on about how ‘the mind is a dangerous thing. ’Ultimately, the juxtaposition of these elements created a sinister yet captivating atmosphere. One where dreams, nightmares and reality blended together and fascism, decadence, and good customer service mingled like guests at a cocktail party. The Black Rose Trick Hotel can be seen as a giant metaphor for the state of our contemporary culture. A place where disease and dark secrets in the basement can easily be avoided by ducking into the entertainment lounge to hear pleasant music and dream about a place over the rainbow. And like the mysterious hotel in the Eagles’ song, you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave”.

- Copenhagen Post, March 17th 2005



Time: 4 – 14/3, 2005
Place: A large abandoned factory building at Suezgatan 11 close to the harbour of Malmö, Sweden
Duration: 10 days nonstop (250 hours)
Number of performers: 55
Resumé: The Black Rose Trick was a large scale performance installation which evolved around a complicated bureaucratic apparatus through which hierarchical and social power structures emerged. The audience was invited to explore the many rooms and secrets of a strange three-floor hotel being watched 24 hours a day by 16 cameraes. After being taken to the sign-in room for registration and information, visitors were guided to the hotel rooms where they could stay for as long as they desired.
In addition to the rooms the hotel featured a lobby, a shop, a 24 hour reception, a dance restaurant with classic live performances, a bridal suite, a bar, a poker room, a basement military unit and a large medical ward.


CREDITS

Concept: Signa Sørensen & Arthur Köstler
Installation: Signa Sørensen and Amanda Wickman assisted by Hanna Sersam, Helga Ottengren, Marie Bergman, Nana Francisca Schottländer, Marianne Saapunki, Joel Kästel, Frank Bätge and many more
Direction: Signa Sørensen and Frank Bätge
Performers: Arthur Köstler & Signa Sørensen, Amanda Wickman, Birgitte Klæbel, Buster the Dog, Cæcilie Østerbye Sørensen, Camilla Bonde, Camilla Jørgensen, Casper Tjellerup Nielsen, Denise Jacobsen, Eli Ingvarsson, Elin von Wright, Eva Ulvan Handberg, Frank Bätge, Gabriella Grundemar, Hanne Dankert, Jenny Stigsson, Jens Ibsen Kure, João Lobo, Joel Kästel, Julie Arndal Engstrand, Julie Ekner Koch, Kenneth Harrison, Kristian Pallesen, Kristoffer Ernst-Lyngbye, Lene Lavtsen, Loiusa Aisin, Mads Fahnøe, Marcus Leyman, Maria Rugbjerg, Marianne Saapunki, Marianne Sveum Hendriksen, Marie Cecilie Arendt, Mette Schwarz Sørensen, Momo Subotic, Nana Francisca Schottländer, Nina Carlinfanti Zahle, Ojuna Njama Petersen, Sascha Botilde Handberg, Sofia Johansson, Sonja Salkowitsch, Søren L. Mühldorff, Stig Eivind Vatne, Stine Schmidt Madsen, Susanne Saapunki, Tristan Alexander Kold, Zille Gellert, Åsa Lindholm
& The Sentimentals
Sound: Elin Assarsson, Henrik Sundh, Kicki Renberg, Mats Persson and Åsmund Boye Kverneland
Light: Eva Ulvan Handberg assisted by Kristoffer Ernst-Lyngbye
Telephone system: Flopper
Photos: Flopper, Jessica Frank, Erich Goldmann, Egor Jagunov, Caitlin Mooney, Daniel Navarro, Signa Sørensen
Produced in collaboration with: Kanonhallen and Subotnick
Supported by: Nordscen, Malmø Kommune, Københavns Kommune, Wilhelm Hansen Fonden and Fonden for Svensk-Dansk Samarbejde
Main Sponsors: Skanska, SYSAV, House4IT, Saveway, Stickma

Homepage: www.blackrosetrick.com

The Black Rose Trick was awarded with Malmö-Lundapriset for best theatre performance in 2005