Drum Café

Rirkrit Tiravanija

One of the key artists in the history of relational aesthetics, Tiravanija has designed and created one of the bars, located on the ground floor area of The Tower designed by Frank Gehry. The bar is designed as a lived-in artwork and includes the use of a huge array of material. Walls in stainless steel with exposed pipes and panels made from sunflower marrow: this restaurant and bar transforms the notion of hospitality with its very strong visual identity. Conviviality and sharing lies at the heart of Tiravanija’s practice and the bar and restaurant inevitably becomes one of the crucial representations of time spent with others.

The design is utilizing materials of the bioregion of the Camargue and natural resources, such as sunflower pulp, local wool, natural pigments and fabric dyes. A 10-metre long monumental tapestry created with artisans in Aubusson factory, central France, is the landmark of the space. It was made over many years and has used unique tapestry techniques and materials, in collaboration with designers and researchers from the labs of Atelier LUMA.