The APOD Solution

Abstract

The two light and video installations, ‘The APOD Solution’ and ‘In the Palm of our Hands’, developed from my criminal law and criminological research into crimes in motel rooms (McKay 2022, forthcoming 2026). In 2024, I was invited to create new art installations for a curated group exhibition ‘Boundaries: Transcended’ at Watt Space, University of Newcastle (UoN). With a brief to respond to issues concerning refugees and migration, I systematically researched the use of hotels/motels in Australian migration caselaw via the JADE BarNet legal database. This revealed hotels/motels as ‘Alternative Places of Detention’ (APODs) throughout Australia. This aligns with a 2022 UNSW report that mapped the extent of APOD hotels/motels, and a 2023 Australian Human Rights Commission report. There is little other literature. My research and artworks seek to draw attention to hotels/motels as APODs, and the incongruence of conflating places of hospitality with places of detention. Detention is diametrically opposed to the original purpose and spatial logic of hotels and motels as places of hospitality. Hospitality involves acts of invitation, reception, welcome, incorporation and safety from the host to the guest. On the other hand, detention suggests hostility, containment, punishment, power and control, reinforcing the strange and uncanny nature of APOD hotels/motels.