Wanna Stay In This Cheap, Adorable NYC Cage?

Vacations are expensive, but let me run this NYC option by you. It's a stark Bushwick studio that you can stay in for $1 a night. Four quarters, one Washington, and it comes with a cot, toilet, sink, a clock, and even a meal. Not bad, right? But here's the catch — it's part of artist Miao Jiaxin's "Jail's Seeking Prisoners" installation, and it's a literal cage.

Like, seriously. We're dispelling any and all figurative language here. And if the idea of staying behind bars still hasn't bucked your dreams of a cheap New York vacation, maybe this will. Jiaxin, who installed the cage in his apartment as part of a long-term art piece, requires that any of the temporary residents of his "jail" sit behind bars for three hours a day doing nothing. So no reading, no cell phones, no sleeping — just sitting. And you're being livestreamed while you do it. If you don't serve your three hours a day, you risk losing your $100 deposit.

But someone took the bait. The first guest will be locked up August 1, and the cage is already booked through September. Jiaxin plans on carrying out the cage project for a year.

The "Jail's Seeking Prisoners" project was pulled from Airbnb, where it was originally posted, after 15 hours on the site. But Jiaxin is still taking reservations. In an interview with ANIMAL, Jiaxin said that Airbnb offered no explanation for pulling the listing, only offering that the cage was a "non-accommodation." I mean, yeah. And some might call it, you know, imprisonment.

What a peach of an Airbnb post though, right? "The best cage accommodation you could ever find in New York City." That's great, because I've been looking for great cages to stay in!

Still, Jiaxin seems generally disheartened by the service's rejection of his project. He told ANIMAL that he has previously been an Airbnb host and uses the service when he travels.

It’s sad that I couldn’t work with Airbnb, which is a perfect platform for economy and culture sharing worldwide. However, as a piece of participatory conceptual art, the cage project constantly grows itself. The refusal from Airbnb has accidentally become a new layer of this piece.

So, if you're looking for an affordable vacay, feeling adventurous, good at sitting, and don't mind your being filmed and broadcasted on the Internet, book your next cage vacation courtesy of performance art and Bushwick bohemians.

Images: Facebook/Miao Jiaxin