The Bacteria Bar was a pop-up exhibition by Slavs and Tatars at Twelve Gates Arts. It ran from October 15th through December 18th, 2021. A multimedia visual arts exhibition and community space, The Bacteria Bar critiques the politics of “The Other” in globalized Eurocentric society. Combining installation, printmaking, and performance, The Bacteria Bar generates constructive conversations among diverse communities at a time when exclusivist claims to national heritage rage in the United States and abroad.
Slavs and Tatars have long been interested in fermentation as a way to question our assumptions about topics as diverse as identity, reason, and history. The Bacteria Bar greeted the Philadelphia public in the form of an Ayran-machine: serving ayran, a Turkish fermented yogurt beverage, amidst several works from the collective. It was also the site of the book launch of The Contest of the Fruits publication (Haverford College and The MIT Press, 2021).
