Imposing in its verticality, Sharon van Overmeiren’s scathing version of the bouncy castle rests on a structural logic typical to her previous works: a highly organic architectural composition working as a whole as well as divided and continuously subdivided, giving to the whole the systematic of parthood relationships. But while she most often considers air flow and breathing as a central trope to this organicity, the pvc air chambers of the Farewell Hotel asks for well-sealed fabric, cutting short the relief of unbound flow. A trap, or a liberating maze? As the totemic figure suggests, holding a mask in its hands, the hotel’s wellness enchantment is thought as an initiatory path leading to an act of coronation—the ceremonial lore recalled by the corner tassels of the cushion. Perfectly bouncy, the Hotel announces opportunities leading to opportunities to unlock new opportunities to be at the end.. crowned by a mask reminiscent of a rabbit—champion of rebounding, of course.

Suffocation and lust (the rabbit’s bounces as a marker of its libidinous drive) go hand in hand, functioning similarly to van Overmeiren’s monument, owing as much to the authority of bygone spiritual altars to its newest emanations. Indeed, this bouncy castle could be just a model for a new stage at the techno festival Tomorrowland, tracking here a vernacular of the Low Countries and their own spiritual awakening through the form of rave parties—and today their digestion into the wider world of entertainment. Accentuating the ceremonial center is a way to press on this accelerationism, one step beyond the old divide of what is real or imaginary, to rather ask questions of limits and perimeters, and how to open them up.

— Paolo Baggi