Who are these ghosts who come into our room when we’re not there? Where do they come from? A war zone, an economic crisis, a suburb? What have they experienced, what do they know about other people’s lives? How many naked bodies, flooded bathrooms, dishevelled beds, sleeping people, strange clothes and smells do they encounter in the course of one day?

“Maids” is an installation composed of biographies. Each visitor adopts the role of a chambermaid responsible for five rooms per hour. But instead of cleaning, the audience spends the hour walking through the five rooms, where they discover portraits of the cleaning staff: films, original voice recordings and photographs that bring to light something of the invisible spirits who clean up after others.

Credits

HOTEL Berlin
Ibis Anhalter Banhoff
With José Angel Hernandez Garcia, Jinrong Li, Bich Müller, Susanne Stalder, Jean Gaston Tagne
Set, video and sound Mikko Gaestel / Expander
German translator Huberta von Wangenheim
Artistic collaboration and Assistant Kerstin Lenhart

HOTEL Buenos Aires
Ibis Hotel Congreso, Hipólito Yrigoyen 1592
With Edith Vallejos, Cecilia Albano, Patricia Laura Amarilla, Luisa Carina Soría, Iris Lagos
Video, assistant director Nele Wohlatz
Video, sound Marcos Medici

HOTEL Zurich
Ibis Hotel, Schiffbaustrasse 11, 8005 Zürich
With Carlos Alexandre de Aguiar Cordeiro, Chandravathani Krishnakumar, Valjeta Jasiqui, Hakima Ulrich, Zulfije Ziendi
Video Andi A. Müller
Sound Markus Keller
Assistant & Translation Jessica Kordulla
Scenography assistant Moïra Gilliéron

HOTEL Warsaw
Ibis Hotel, Ul. Muranowska 2
With Barbara Lesiak, Beata Nadstawna, Edyta Pachulczak, Karolina Rutkowska, Krystyna Wisniewska
Video Jakub Kowalczyk
Assistant Anna Stapor
Scenography assistant Olga Bednarz

HOTEL Utrecht
Ibis Utrecht
With Virginia Makatini, Kadriye Dogan (Albatros Hospitality)
Assistant for interviews Rozemarijn Morreau
Sound Iwan van Wijk
Set Mikko Gaestel
Scenography assistant Trudy Hekman
Technical assistant Bart Haakman