“Created in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, NO VACANYCY (2022) responds to a cultural moment marked by social isolation, business closures, empty streets, urban flight, and, ultimately, resilience and renewal. Yet Neidich’s work resists being read solely through the lens of a public health crisis. Reflecting on the commission, The Mark Hotel owner Izak Senbahar says ‘Post-COVID-19, I wanted to message the world that New York was very much alive. I always had this obsession with roadside neon “No Vacancy” motel signs. I spoke to Warren about it, and he created the sign and brilliantly misspelled it by including “NYC” and made it intermittently blink “No, Vacancy, NYC.”’ The words in Neidich’s 20-foot-tall installation are at once clear and elusive – they come into focus only to disappear seconds later. These alternating terms do not merely signify available rooms, but gesture more broadly towards questions about how we physically occupy space and psychically position ourselves within the city.” – Jesi Khadivi