Hotel Intourist
June 2024, during artist residency in Sorry No Rooms Available
The building of the Intourist-Zakarpattia hotel is a monumental architectural form of brutalism, built in the Soviet period in 1979. Since then, the hotel has become an ambiguous symbol of Soviet Uzhhorod and Transcarpathia, which at one time framed the western gate of the Iron Curtain. Formerly a 5-star hotel with a night bar, also known for prostitutes and smugglers, which also starred in Uldrich Seidl’s film Import-Export.
Today, the rather neglected hotel is inhabited by Indian medical students for whom it serves as a dormitory, IDPs from different parts of Ukraine who have found refuge in Uzhhorod, as well as visual artists who have been coming here for residencies since 2016 or have studios here. Some rooms or corridors are transformed into temporary galleries.
