Page 80 - enLIGHTenment - November 2017

give Peace a ChanCe

“We want to celebrate

peace and make John’s

and Yoko’s message

current, in a non-museum

fashion.”
—Martin Leblanc

(a Montreal-based production & art direction

agency that connects artists, brands, and people).

They include an archival cabinet containing pho-
tos, videos, and historical items, among them a

“Give Peace a Chance” vinyl record.
Visitors will be able to don virtual-reality head-

sets placed on the nightstands on either side of

the bed to partake in the exclusive immersive ex-
perience, which allows them to sense the unique

energy of the bed-in from the point of view of John
or Yoko. The themes of peace, love, and creativity

are front and center in this special design project.

At the time of the unveiling, Sid Lee Collective
and MASSIVart invited Montrealers to gather at

the Place Ville Marie Esplanade for the largest
outdoor bed-in ever to be held in North America

as well as to view exhibition posters for peace fea-

turing art created in tribute to the original bed-in.
The exhibition includes works by 40 artists from

around the world, printed on sheets placed on the
beds arranged along the Esplanade. The proceeds

from the sale of reproductions of the works will go

to Amnesty International.
Martin Leblanc told reporters at a news confer-

ence and tour to mark the suite’s reopening, “We
want to celebrate peace and make John’s and Yo-

ko’s message current, in a non-museum fashion.”

In an article in the Toronto Sun, hotel spokes-
woman Joanne Papineau said the hotel didn’t

always go to such lengths to preserve the event’s
history, since at the time many hotel guests com-

plained about the media circus and the long-haired

hippies hanging out in the lobby. “People asked us
to throw (Lennon and Ono) out,” she noted. “Luck-

ily, we didn’t listen.” According to the Toronto Sun
article, it was only a er Lennon died in 1981 that

the hotel began to take steps to commemorate the

event. Papineau was quoted as stating that guests
who book the 1,370-sq.- . suite before the end of
top: A central le cabinet boasts drawers that “open” to reveal backlit iconic
images from the couple’s lives. above: The master bath includes downlights and 2017 will be charged a promotional rate of $1,969
per night as a nod to the year of the bed-in.
illuminated mirrors to simplify grooming tasks.
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78 enLIGHTenment Magazine | noveMber 2017
www.enlightenmentmag.com