Installation and Performance at the Krefeld Art Museum, from May 24 to October 6, 2024

Curated by Dr. Magdalena Holzhey and Dr. Sylvia Martin

Materials: Textiles, 2 Studio Lamps Prolycht Orion 300 FS, Aputure LS C300D II Kit Bowens, 3 Aputure Light Dome II, 3 Tripods, Whistle, Magazine (Art Nouveau from 1898), Glasses, Cocktail Shaker, Sponsored Bar with Bar Furnishings, Fan, Cash Register, Socialist Dining Table with 2 Chairs, Samovar, Small Pot, Vase, Carousel Toaster, 6 Mannequins, 8 Book Editions, Suitcase, Home Organ, Cupboard, 2 Chests of Drawers, Ceramic Pot, A Table with 4 Chairs, Wall Clock, Sugar Bowl, 10 Handmade Postcards, Space Heater, Vat, Laundry Bucket, Washboard, Laundry Pounder, Japanese Woodblock Print, 6 Advertising Posters, Screen (Paravent)

Size: Variable

Boundary shifts are part of the artistic game: reality and fiction, artwork and art experience. Within the space, these relationships are not polar, but continuous. Visitors are actors, figures in their own right. The bar is understood in its function as a stage, on which each and every person tells and imagines their own story. Visitors with Sparkling Wine At a bar in Krefeld, guests sit and converse. They have never seen each other before. It is not an everyday bar on an entertainment mile or in a tavern: but rather in the large skylight hall of the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum. Outside it is summer, and the futuristic counter, at which the strangers meet on this afternoon, forms the center of the installation „dispersed non existence“. I was invited by the curators Dr. Magdalena Holzhey and Dr. Sylvia Martin to create a solo exhibition in their house as part of the „Sammlungssatellit“ (collection satellite) and, in doing so, to build upon my degree.

The scenery is surreal. Illuminated by colored studio lamps, the wide, high room is occupied by six mannequins representing various characters. Each of the costumes is tailor-made for people from my personal environment. For each of the characters, a „Diary of Evil Deeds“ can be found in the exhibition, in which the figures reveal their story. Autofictional life stories, interwoven memories, but above all conflicts of identity and aspiration, which are staged and made experiential within the installation.

The bar at the center bears the name „die sogenannte Gegenwart“ (the so-called present). It serves as a meeting point: from there, visitors can overlook the complex installation and leaf through the diaries of the scattered characters. On this afternoon, the bar is „activated“. A tall bartender with wild curls is present in the exhibition at selected times and serves drinks to the guests. While time flies over the Crémant, the boundary of what—upon entering the room—was still supposed to be clearly art and what was familiar everyday life, blurs more and more.

Realized with the kind support of the Stiftung der Sparda-Bank West, Party.Rent Group, and the Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf.

4 Diaries of Evil Deeds, 1 textile piece (unique), 1 original photograph, 1 leporello with texts and exhibition views, handcrafted archival box

It recalls the historical concept of the Museum in a Box, a miniature museum experience that was presented in various forms by artists such as Hilma af Klint and Marcel Duchamp in the early 20th century.
The exhibition experience becomes accessible in two ways: through an illustrated leporello and through the four Diaries of Evil Deeds, which contain the perspectives and stories of the characters introduced in the exhibition. In addition, the box includes a textile piece as a standalone artwork and a greeting card from the character Karl Florjan, who was first introduced in the context of the 2024 exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Krefeld.
The Bar is a process-based work of mine that expands with each new presentation, incorporating additional characters from different times and places.

• Edition Size: 4 Copies (3/4 available)
• Price: Upon request
• Available at: Museum Shop, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Museum, Joseph-Beuys-Platz 1, 47798 Krefeld

In collaboration with the Büro für Produktbeschwerung

Image 1-13 Installation View and Opening Collection Satellite #9. The Bar. Liora Epstein in Dialogue with Jürgen Drescher and Reinhard Mucha, 2024
Photos by Dirk Rose

Image 14-22 Editions Box for the exhibition Collection Satellite #9. The Bar. Liora Epstein in Dialogue with Jürgen Drescher and Reinhard Mucha, 2024

Photos by Felix Adam

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn