The famous Hotel Dolder Grand has worked closely with Finnish artist Jani Leinonen (born 1978 in Hyvinkää) for years. His works can be found in the hotel's comprehensive art collection holding over 100 works by diverse artists. It is publicly accessible and offers digital tours by way of a QR code. Hotel and external guests can have a coffee, a dinner, or a cocktail at the bar while they look at the collection.

Significant Pop Art

Jani Leinonen is known for his provocative and playful works that focus on capitalism and our egocentric consumer society, as he calls it. He regularly tackles contemporary issues and mirrors them back to society at large.

«I frequently use finished objects and take them from the real world. That can include cereal packs of muesli or cardboard signs used by the homeless and similar. From that I make art», Leinonen maintains.

Inspiration by Famous Brands

He often gets his inspiration from popular culture and the recognized brands of large companies as well as their marketing strategies, making his objects a source of ridicule that in a way turns our daily lives into cliches.

Jani Leinonen, Kellogg's Packages - closer look warranted. (Image: finews.art)

Kelloggs and Cuckoos

One of his famous works includes the publishing of a series of videos that mirrors the advertisement of Kellogg cereal figure «Tony the Tiger», which shows him moving through a grown-up world of prostitution, police violence, and suicidal individuals. The opening of a fake fast food restaurant called «Hunger King» in Budapest was a project that also garnered significant public attention. In fact, one of his famous cuckoo clock sits in the Dolder Grand near the restaurant entrance on the lower ground floor.

Cuckoo Clock in Starbucks Design

The large green and white one, is the mother cuckoo clock, the artist states, and it has Starbucks written prominently above it. The objective was not to make portraits of businesses but to shock or otherwise prompt certain questions by viewers when they see a common piece of handmade handiwork paired with a prominent, shrill consumer brand. 

Leinonen with the Starbucks cuckoo clock (Image: finews.art)

E-bike Art

His newest coup is doing up the latest version of the Twinner e-bike. The futuristic carbon bike is a technical masterwork and a mobile canvas for Leinonen's art. It was the idea of Mark Jacob, the CEO of Twinner. For a long time, he had wanted to produce a Twinner series with art. He asked the artist about doing up the first model and he spontaneously said yes.

It took just three weeks to produce the new bike with the phrase «Do you want the truth - or some/thing beautiful...?». It gives the bike a certain depth and prompts the viewer to think. In the hotel, it is placed before his largest work of art, the «Chapel of Remorse».

Installation of the new Twinner e-bike in the hotel (Image: finews.art)

For the Guests

This chapel was originally on display in the 500-year-old barn Stalla Madulain in Graubunden (Grisons) and the tainted glass is painted with an old Munich-based technique. The installation doesn't only include the glass but it also includes elements of a medieval Swiss barn. The glasswork criticizes capitalism and consumer society and shows that both aesthetics and reproval can be part of the same package.

The bike stands in front of that facade and it is set up on a stand in front of the windows. It can't be purchased but in future hotel guests will be able to use it.

New Mobility Standards

Twinner was designed by a Swiss high-tech network and has a prominent design that is a revolutionary integration of vehicle technology. The Carbon-Speed-Pedelec links optimal comfort with safety, style, and durability and sets new stands in electrically-powered mobility. It is outfitted with a powerful motor and has tremendous acceleration and speed, while its long battery life allows for extended ranges and long rides.

According to Jacob, the e-bike should herald a turning point in city mobility, most of all in Zurich. It is far cheaper than a car in any case. The standard high-tech e-bike goes for 12,750 francs. There can be additional costs depending on the options chosen.

Detail view of the Twinner e-bikes by Leinonen (Image: finews.art)

«But I would not paint a Tesla!»

Why art on an e-bike? Leinonen answers: «I want to make art accessible for everyone. I like unconventional spaces as opposed to private collections or museums. That is why I like to have my artwork exhibited in a hotel like the Dolder Grand or have them ride around on a bike. But I would not paint a Tesla!»

In any case, Leinonen has tried the bike out and explored the Zurichberg. He did not say whether he paid more attention to the art, the bike, or both.  

Further information on the artist: Jani Leinonen.