Café Dasein

The collective group exhibition Café Dasein by InterStar International, featuring artists Eilert Asmervik Alfred Brekke Olga Corcilius Nigel Gavus Anna Gien Anaïs Horn Estelle Hoy Joakim Mathisen Christian Tony Norum Earl Sixteen o'One Preben Simensen Emmanuel Troy Verena Walzl merges the historic significance of the coffee house with contemporary art. Staged as a functioning café, the exhibition integrates artworks, unique InterStar Interior furniture made of salvaged frames and canvas, and artist-designed utility objects, fostering an environment for social interaction, inclusivity, and critical reflection. Life-size animated papier-mâché figures “Stammgästs“(“regulars") by Eilert Asmervik, styled by Olga Corcilius,, having “conversations” written by writers/artists; Estelle Hoy, Anna Gien, Earl Sixteen O’one and Verena Walzl, interactive installations, and on-site portrait-making by Alfred Brekke enliven the space, while a curated selection of zines, books, and music expands the café's role as a creative hub. Special features include a "coffee-table-book" showcasing works on paper, accompanied by performances and events. Blurring boundaries between art and everyday life, Café Dasein celebrates the coffee house as a democratic space for cultural and social exchange, challenging hierarchical exhibition norms and inviting visitors to engage with art in a welcoming, communal setting. Exhibitions texts: As the flowing steam of old day Sufic mystic traditions sways in swirls out of the bone white espresso cups, we ask ourselves—why did we ever stop drinking the black gold in the middle of the night? The Kabbalists too agreed, nodding in an appreciative gesture towards the liquid link the holy brown soup has bridged in betwi x t the metaphysical daydream of the Middle Ages in the middle of the night and the now-being, the talkative ex tension of the spirit of post-modern language tools. The spiritual aspect of the contemplative association, understanding night as day, and day as night, historically never conformed to the conventional space division of the four- walled coffeehouse, but e x tended beyond into the eight and the ninth sphere, inquiring all the heavenly angelic, noisy choirs of the sky above to please shut it for a minute while we hold our thought. Try to keep it there even just for a brief second— And then again, the thought floats away like a tic-tac steamboat tank, hovering above the dark literal depths of what once was one of the elemental elements, while being pressed down and away from our sky-brothers, the sun and the like. Dante Alighieri struggled not only through the hellish flames of feverish imagination, and the lonely wanderings of our purgatorial chains, but had to ascend to the stars, the STELLE, only to realise that the clouds that rise above our heads never turn brown for a quite valid reason—the process of human interaction leads the thumping top of the flesh to purify earthly manners, rising above to creation itself again, making way for translucent clouds to be penetrated by the young morning sun ever again - Joakim Mathisen SI Sleepingly furbished clouds of glosalia turn prose to flintstone sparks of highlight densities lightwells spring tours of terms aiming at Open Lye lush wishes of blessy volumes for friends compassion cores a gifted candle light-speed the light arrives Turnpike of valuables A fluttering center at heart the churn of unfolding the distorted curves of the POV as the diamond-vision spins, the prisma splitting color curves into frequency bands of radiant length relations - Eilert Asmervik Since 2019 InterStar Verlag has published DIY zines and publications in Oslo, Vienna, Amsterdam, New York and Paris. With fanzines compiled of a wide range of image material, Interstar seeks to highlight the cut-outs of lyrical work, the hallucinating concoction of image-sampling in interaction with a widespread group of international creative initiatives. Café Dasein is InterStarʼs first event with the artist-run space No Institute AKA Norse Institute Central Europe (N.I.C.E.) located in Vienna’s Innere Stadt. Thanks to Katharina Reményi / WEST, Karasek Wein, Almdudler, Teuchtler Records, Philʼs Frames.