The Chelsea Hotel – Artists and Outlaws of New York’s Rebel Mecca

The Chelsea Hotel: Home to numerous artists, writers, actors, musicians, hippies, and counterculture activists, these long-term residents established the unforgettable spirit of creativity and Bohemian life of the place. Stories, legends, and scandals add to this mood. Among the residents were celebrities like Arthur Miller, Sarah Bernhardt, Charles Bukowski, Jack Kerouac, Sean Penn, Ethan Hawke, Patti Smith, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, Andy Warhol and many more.

In this class we will look at The Chelsea as a building. We will investigate living in a hotel permanently, hereby applying Foucault’s theory of heterotopia, and we will read literature on the life at The Chelsea between the middle of the 20th century till the early 2000s when the hotel was finally shut down. In addition, we will study some of the works of the famous residents and find out how they influenced each other. Documentaries by or about the residents will help to recreate the spirit of The Chelsea.

Most of the reading material will be uploaded on Moodle.

Assignments and credits will be discussed in the first session.