SHOWstudio, Bruton Place, London | Autumn 2011
Reimagining the Café as a Cultural Nexus
In Autumn 2011, Nick Knight and Carrie Scott curated The Café, an exhibition at SHOWstudio, Bruton Place, London, that sought to revive the spirit of the café as an artistic and intellectual hub. Featuring works by Piers Atkinson, Gyula Halász Brassaï, Robert Doisneau, Emil Hoppe, Nick Knight, Terence Koh, Stephen Lapthisophon, Steven Meisel, Misha Milovanovich, Mother Of Pearl, Vincent Ramos, Tim Roda, Keith Tyson, Ed Van Der Elsken, Luke Waller, Franz West, Morgan White, and others, the show explored the intersection of fine art, fashion, and film through the lens of coffee culture.
A Space for Ideas and Exchange
Coffee shops in the 21st century have become mundane and formulaic, far removed from their 19th- and 20th-century counterparts, which once served as gathering places for artists, writers, and revolutionaries. Yet, despite their commercial ubiquity, cafés remain spaces of romanticized creativity and conversation.
By breaking down the conventional structures of both the gallery and the café, The Café examined why these spaces continue to captivate the public imagination. Through a combination of art, sound, and live interaction, the exhibition revived the social, intellectual, and artistic energy of historical café culture.
A Visual and Sonic Tribute to the Café
One of the exhibition’s central features was a wall of iconic black-and-white photographs capturing the essence of café culture across time. Works by Brassaï, Robert Doisneau, Emil Hoppe, Nick Knight, Steven Meisel, Tim Roda, Ed Van Der Elsken, and Morgan White depicted intimate moments, fleeting conversations, and the quiet rituals of daily life.
Interwoven among these images were Diem Chau’s delicate porcelain sculptures, creating small, intimate vignettes of café life. Meanwhile, the works of Stephen Lapthisophon and Franz West explored the ephemerality of memory, using humor, sensuality, and abstraction to convey the chaotic energy of artistic gatherings.
A Narrative of Everyday Moments
Luke Waller’s nine-panel polyptych portrayed a couple fighting outside a Los Angeles café, frozen in time in the early morning light after a night of indiscretion.
Vincent Ramos’s sound installation presented a hauntingly translated love letter, read over the distant hum of a café’s background noise. The letter, originally written by Jean Tinguely to curator Pontus Hultén in the 1970s, evoked a ghostly longing to reconnect with the past.
Nick Knight’s sound piece, streamed live from SHOWstudio’s own café space, captured the lively conversations of guests, expanding the notion of the café beyond a physical location into a global, digital forum.
The Café
Curated By Carrie Scott
Fashion as a Living Installation
Fashion was also central to The Café. Mother of Pearl, the contemporary luxury label founded by Maia Norman, collaborated with Keith Tyson to create a capsule collection of café-inspired pieces. The collection featured:
Crockery and tablecloths designed exclusively for SHOWstudio
Quilted linings and leather raincoats
Bold prints and vibrant colors that contrasted against the minimalist aesthetic of classic café uniforms
Tyson’s work explored the intellectual underpinnings of café culture, questioning the creation of art, its function, and its wearability. His contributions invited visitors to consider whether art is something to be worn, used, or simply observed.
Misha Milovanovich examined consumerism and its impact on artistic form, turning coffee tables into surrealist sculptures, while Piers Atkinson’s Autumn/Winter 2011 collection, “Paris,” paid tribute to dark Parisian cafés, cabaret, and showgirls, featuring hats adorned with neon-lit “Café” signage reminiscent of the streets of Montmartre.
A Café in Motion: Live Artistic Sessions
In keeping with the organic creativity of historical cafés, The Café invited artists and designers - including Terence Koh and Stephen Jones - to physically engage with the space, encouraging them to:
Sketch on napkins
Interact with visitors
Create new work live on-site
These activities were streamed online via SHOWstudio, transforming the exhibition into a dynamic, participatory experience.
Redefining the Café as a Creative and Cultural Hub
By turning the gallery into a functioning café, The Café challenged conventional perceptions of both exhibition spaces and coffee culture. More than just a place to get a drink, the café became a site of social exchange, artistic creation, and intellectual discourse.
The exhibition left visitors with lingering questions:
Can the café still function as a space of artistic and political revolution?
Does the modern café suppress creativity, or does it still offer moments of serendipitous inspiration?
How does contemporary culture romanticize and commodify the past?
A space for reflection, conversation, and artistic engagement, The Café invited visitors to reconsider their everyday surroundings, offering something to brew on long after they left the exhibition.
