Scopin: Chelsea Hotel

From 1969 to 1971, the photographer and filmmaker Albert Scopin lived in the creative soul of New York, the Chelsea Hotel. An assistant to photographers and fellow residents Mikel Avedon and Bill King, the young Scopin began to document the hotel's lively goings-on as discreetly as possible, aiming for an unfiltered view of its inhabitants. His resulting images depict an as-yet-unknown Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe as a fledgling couple; film directors Wim Wenders, Rosa von Praunheim, Milos Forman and Jonas Mekas; a staged production by the Warhol crowd; a raucous basement party thrown by the hotel staff; and occupants contemplating the future up on the roof. Chelsea Hotel presents Scopin's diaristic photographs in book form for the first time. The images are accompanied by brief contextualizing texts as well as an interview with the photographer regarding his dizzying years in the world-famous hotel.