By Public Collectors
Public Collectors, Chicago, IL, 2026
Pages: 16
Dimensions: 6 in x 8.25 in
Cover: Paper
Binding: saddle stitched
Process: Digital printing
Color: Full color front and inside covers, black interior
Edition size: 450
ISBN: none

When your studio goes wherever you go, why not take it on the road for a couple nights and give yourself a self-initiated residency in a hotel at cheap off-season rates and see what you make? 

From the back cover:

Since founding this project in 2007, Public Collectors has always focused on what can be done informally, without institutional support or validation. This booklet describes how a self-initiated artist residency in a hotel can be a productive creative retreat that doesn’t require an application or invitation. 

Artists probably started making art in hotels soon after hotels came into existence. Some hotels today have artist in residence programs where they invite artists to stay in their rooms and use them as studios. This approach depends on the artist receiving an invitation and isn’t open to anyone. Other kinds of artist residencies require applications and can be very expensive if they aren’t funded by the residency program.

In 2024 I started exploring the idea of giving myself a short residency whenever I wanted one by looking at off-season hotel prices in the Midwest, where I live. I started thinking about specific approaches to making that would be well-suited for a hotel room, what I should pack, and how I should structure my brief stay. The idea of a self-residency in a hotel is not novel but every time I say to someone that I’ve done this, they tell me what a useful idea it is and how much they want to try it.  Hotel residencies may be particularly enticing for artists that work from home and don’t normally spend money on an off-site studio.

The self-initiated hotel artist residency is for people who think a simple room in an uninspiring place might be just the ticket to complete a project that doesn’t require much more than a quiet place to be. If you can bring your own supplies and inspiration and prefer solitude, sometimes a room without much of a view and a plate of complimentary breakfast might be all you really need to make your work for two or three days. 

This booklet was completed in a quiet smoke-free room at a chain hotel near the Milwaukee airport that was designed for me to unwind and get a great night’s rest.

Marc Fischer / Public Collectors