Sweet Tooth Hotel to Open in Dallas

Get your selfie sticks ready: There’s an Instagram-worthy museum pop-up rolling into Dallas this spring. The Sweet Tooth Hotel will open in Victory Park on May 18th, National Museum Day. The pop-up will welcome visitors to wander through five rooms of sugar-themed eye candy.

The concept comes from husband and wife team, Jencey and Cole Keeton and will be executed by design and fabrication shop Built By Bender. Every room will be themed after a different treat, but, much like a box of chocolates, we don’t know what we’re going to get.

In addition to the “hotel,” there will also be The Gift Shoppe with Leatherology, Hairstory, Read Between the Lines, Valfe and JOY Macarons. The shop will feature a rotating selection of work from local artists Jeremy Biggers, Shamsy Roomiani, Jojo Chuang and Ilse Valfré.  

If similar concepts like the Museum of Ice Cream or Refinery29’s 29Rooms are any indication, the Sweet Tooth Hotel should have crowds lining up.

Which raises the question: Will this become a mere backdrop for selfies? 

While I could make an extended argument that Instagram is taking over the world, I’ll stick to the confines of the art world for now.

The social network’s influence over modern art is only getting stronger – especially in our own backyard. Think of Kusama’s pumpkins at the DMA, Pia Camil’s colorful maze at the Contemporary, or Ashley Longshore’s glitzy installation at Forty Five Ten – all of which, by the way, I thought were wonderful and held their own merit. But, would they have been presented and received with such joy if they weren’t so darn photogenic? Maybe, maybe not.

The Sweet Tooth Hotel is different, though. It’s not only marketed for Instagrammability, it’s designed for it. At least, that’s the idea that I get.

That said, I want to go, and yes, I want to take selfies. Tickets went on sale last week, see y’all there.