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

The bar is not a place of exchange, but a deliberately positioned structure in which expectations of sociability and intimacy become visible without being fulfilled. The exhibition negotiates a tension between exhibition situation and everyday-related infrastructure.

In the skylit hall of the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum in Krefeld, a fully functional bar counter stands at the center of the installation, whose use eludes actual execution.

The promise of encounter associated with the bar thus remains suspended. It does not function as a place of exchange, but as an aesthetically constructed model. Delicate consumption, conversation, and intimacy function as a surface beneath which a narrative layer is revealed, structured through the Diaries of bad deeds. The occasional activation by a bartender is part of this proposition and reinforces the ambivalence between function and staging.

Around the bar, mannequins are positioned that mark different figures. Their costumes and accompanying text pieces refer to individual narratives whose status between biographical reference and fiction deliberately remains unresolved. The texts operate with autofictional fragments and attributions, generating a field of tension between personal narration and the analytical consideration of so-called “bad” deeds.

The bar constructs a situation that appears familiar while simultaneously being strictly regulated. It makes visible how everyday life functions as a scenographic construction: every component—from the counter and the lighting to the figures—is part of an arrangement that transfers visitors into an artificial, almost dreamlike scenery.

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