Vienna Festwochen, 2022

POP UP, VIENNA FESTWOCHEN,  ARCHIVE  

Fermentation is a transformative process: it turns sugar into alcohol, and fresh vegetables into preserves. It tantalises the taste buds. For the Wiener Festwochen, the international acclaimed artists’ collective Slavs and Tatars is opening a Pickle Bar. Every Tuesday and Thursday this Slavic version of an aperitivo bar serves pickled delicacies and fermented juices, and raises exceptional toasts (not the edible kind). In performances that change weekly, the five invited artists Selin Davasse, Onur Karaoğlu, Mai Ling, Veronika Merklein and Nora Turato explore the unique ambience of this special setting. During the weekends, Pickle Bar host the reading group by adO/aptive. For their research projects, Slavs and Tatars venture out into the territory east of the Berlin Wall and west of the Great Wall of China, embracing a teasingly playful interaction with Eurasian languages, ideologies and belief systems. The Pickle Bar raises a glass (or two) to the close affinity between speaking and eating, all the while celebrating the principle of hospitality. So, three cheers for fermentation!