Once a thriving metropolis, a city of gold – with the end of Apartheid, Johannesburg experienced a fundamental change: Houses were suddenly empty, the crime rate rose, and the infrastructure crumbled. Today? A lively, exciting, and pulsating city. At its very center a hotel which hosted many protagonists of these political and economic developments, as well as numerous stars from around the world. The five-star Carlton Hotel was closed in 1997 and is now guarded around the clock for fear of illegal occupation and vandalism. An empty shell with more than six hundred rooms on thirty-one floors. Much has transpired in the various rooms of this hotel – numerous meetings and congresses were held and ground-breaking decisions made.
With their unique photographic documentation, Leif Bennett and Yvonne Mueller, two Swiss artists from Basel, provide fascinating insight into the once best hotel in the southern hemisphere.
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