Be Our Guest confronts the difficult realities of the hospitality industry, where working conditions — the hours, the pay system, occasionally violent altercations with customers who are “always right”, and so on — are beginning to conform to the American business model. The artist plunges visitors into an atmosphere that is intimate yet
standardised; it is accompanied by a sort of muzak sound track, the kind of music associated with hotel lifts and lounges. On the wall, Hilary Galbreaith has drawn the evolution of the notion of hospitality, while on the floor there are anonymous accounts collected by the artist from waiters, waitresses and receptionists. Some are students, some are professionals, working from choice or necessity; they all paint the picture of an environment conflicted between structures of control and a genuine commitment to service.

Soundtrack by Hilary Galbreaith and Alix Desaubliaux: https://www.ninaprotocol.com/releases/be-our-guest-soundtrack-to-hilary-galbreaith-s-installation-be-our-guest

Sound track: 1. Éclore − Hilary Galbreaith (4’58’’); 2. Rébus − Hilary Galbreaith (3’12’’); 3. Nonetheless 1 − Alix Désaubliaux (4’21’’); 4. Sweet Dreams − Hilary Galbreaith (3’01’’); 5. Waiting Room − Hilary Galbreaith (6’13’’); 6. Nonetheless 2 − Alix Désaubliaux (5’56’’); 7. Entracte − Hilary Galbreaith (2’11’’); 8. The Grey Stuff − Hilary Galbreaith (1’59’’); 9. Travail mécanique − Hilary Galbreaith (4’25’’)
Commissioning work Jeune création internationale — Institut d’art contemporain, Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alpes
With the support of Tapis François Entreprise

Be Our Guest was selected by ARTnews as one of the outstanding works at the Lyon Biennale: https://www.artnews.com/list/art-news/artists/2024-biennale-de-lyon-standout-artworks-1234718687/
as well as by Beaux-Arts magazine: https://www.beauxarts.com/expos/10-oeuvres-qui-font-de-la-biennale-de-lyon-2024-un-cru-memorable/