Le Meridien Hotels & Resorts Announces Its Partnership with SH Contemporary 2011

Le Royal Meridien Shanghai Debuts A New Perspective Event on Television and Video Art

SHANGHAI, Sept. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Le Meridien Hotels & Resorts announced its partnership with SH Contemporary 2011 with the presentation of A New Perspective Event at Le Royal Meridien Shanghai on September 8, which was part of SH Contemporary 2011 VIP agenda. Le Meridien has a thriving relationship with art fairs around the world and particularly values the opportunities that working with these institutions to expand the brand’s passion on contemporary art.

Le Meridien has curated approach to the arts: Jerome Sans, currently director of the UCCA, Beijing, was appointed Cultural Curator for the brand in 2006 and has since been working to encourage Le Meridien’s involvement in the contemporary arts. Jerome Sans, along with the brand, founded LM100™: a global community of creative spirits and cultural innovators who work together to interactive cultural experiences into the hotels as a way of life for the guests.

'A New Perspective' event series is designed to showcase LM100 members through an interactive experience exploring an LM100 member's talent and will allow guests to gather new insights and stimulate dialogue. Jerome Sans, Le Meridien's Cultural Curator, is the founding member of the LM100 programme which was created in 2007 and now has 23 members.

"Le Meridien is committed to transforming its hotels into creative hubs for its guests and local community, delivering a new perspective in a relevant way," said Arnaud Champenois, Director of Brand Management, Asia Pacific, Le Meridien and W Hotels Worldwide.

Today, 'A New Perspective' event with LM100 Members Marcus Kreiss and An Xiaotong takes place in Le Royal Meridien Shanghai. Marcus Kreiss led a discussion on Television and Video Art with An Xiaotong and local artist - Song Tao, a member of Birdhead.

Marcus Kreiss is a filmmaker who kept looking for a third way to produce and distribute images between filmmaking and painting and finally invented a new way to distribute video art: TV. To enrich guests' unique artistic experience in Le Meridien, Marcus has made a 24-hour art video program for Le Meridien worldwide and some special artworks for certain Le Meridien hubs as well.

An Xiaotong is a painter and illustrator whose art works are mainly about people and urban sceneries and have been exhibited from Paris to Beijing. She selected a collection of her urban scenery works that reflects the character of digital era and the blundering modern sensitivity for Le Meridien hotel gates.

Song Tao has created many experimental video works since 2001, on which he pays a close attention on daily life of urban youth. Beside his video works, Song Tao is also a member of Birdhead, which is the collective identity founded by Song Tao and Ji Weiyu in 2004. The name 'Birdhead' came about by randomly typing two Chinese characters when creating a document of all their photographs.

About Le Meridien

Le Meridien, the Paris-born hotel brand currently represented by 98 properties in 50 countries, was acquired by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT) in November 2005. Since then, Le Meridien has gone through a brand re-launch, which included appointing a full-time Cultural Curator - French arts-provocateur Jerome Sans - and transforming numerous guest touch points, thus bringing unique and interactive experiences to its guests. With close to 80 of its properties located in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Le Meridien provides an international complement to Starwood's strong North American portfolio. Plans call for dynamic expansion of Le Meridien hotels and resorts within the next five years, concentrating in the U.S., Latin America, and Asia-Pacific, including destinations such as India, Thailand and China. Le Meridien recently opened new hotels in Dallas, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Shimei Bay (China), Xiamen (China), Chongqing Nan'an (China), Qingdao (China) and Taipei and recently signed a new deal in Coimbatore, India. For more information, please visit www.lemeridien.com. 

About Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with 1058 properties in 100 countries and territories with 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels, resorts and residences with the following internationally renowned brands: St. Regis®, The Luxury Collection®, W®, Westin®, Le Meridien®, Sheraton®, Four Points® by Sheraton, and the recently launched Aloft®, and Element SM. The company boasts one of the industry’s leading loyalty programs, Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), allowing members to earn and redeem points for room stays, room upgrades and flights, with no blackout dates. Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts. For more information, please visit www.starwoodhotels.com.

About SH Contemporary

Every September, Shanghai becomes a key destination for the international art world, as the entire Asian contemporary art scene comes together during SH Contemporary for the most dynamic art week of the year.

SH Contemporary is the perfect response to the demands of the developing international art market. The combination of explosive growth among the wealthy Asian upper middle class and the trend towards Asian contemporary art, have created a market searching for development and enlargement of offer within the Asian Pacific geographical area.

Launched in 2007 and with a growing reputation as one of the most prestigious art fair in Asia, SH Contemporary is now the platform for Asian contemporary art attracting the highest number of collectors, art lovers and VIP's from across the world.