ESPRESSOBAR | slimetech.org - work by Theo Triantafyllidis

ESPRESSOBAR, 2025 - ongoing
Egill Sæbjörnsson, Theo Triantafyllidis, Polina Miliou
Immersive Installation
Presented at Art Genève 2026 by Swiss Institute, New York.

A walk-in art installation where you can also sit down, drink coffee, and chat.

Swiss Institute is pleased to present ESPRESSOBAR, a participatory artwork by Egill Sæbjörnsson, Theo Triantafyllidis and Polina Miliou, that explores world-building, gaming, and performativity, creating a hybrid space where conversation and artistic gestures mingle with the commercial format of an espresso bar. ESPRESSOBAR also highlights the cultural exchange of coffee rituals, bridging traditions of social gathering and experimental artistic approaches. Guests can sip coffee while enjoying the space, engaging in conversation with other guests and the baristas; the work blurs the lines between an art exhibition and a commercial space, mixing real life with gaming and performance.

While at ESPRESSOBAR, sometimes everything is quiet and normal, but sometimes the coffee is hot, the energy strange, and nothing quite what it seems: orders become incantations, conversation is part of the choreography, and the espresso flows like lava from an ancient machine god. Visitors are both customers and co-conspirators in an unfolding drama. The work examines our relationship with the non-human species of caffeine, a community built around food and drink, and the collective imagination of humans—and possibly, the coffee plant itself.

ESPRESSOBAR is a participatory artwork created by Egill Sæbjörnsson and Theo Triantafyllidis, in collaboration with Polina Miliou, exploring world-building, gaming, and performativity, creating a hybrid space where conversation and artistic gestures mix with the commercial format of an espresso bar. ESPRESSOBAR also highlights the cultural exchange between Greece and Iceland, bridging traditions of social gathering and experimental artistic approaches. Guests can sip coffee (by donation) while enjoying the space, engaging in conversation with other guests and the baristas; the work blurs the lines between an art exhibition and commercial spaces, mixing real life with gaming and performance.

Step inside and you’ll think you are in a rather normal cafe. Then, after a while, you will notice that the two baristas are not quite normal—one a jittery prophet of espresso chaos, the other a mellow ritualist of the bean/coffee plant promoting balance. At ESPRESSOBAR, sometimes everything is quiet and normal, but sometimes the coffee is hot, the energy strange, and nothing quite what it seems: orders become incantations, conversation is part of the choreography, and the espresso flows like lava from an ancient machine god. Visitors are both customers and co-conspirators in an unfolding drama of what it means to be a person in society. The work explores our relationship with the non-human species of caffeine, a community built around food and drink, and the collective imagination of humans - and possibly, the coffee plant itself.

The opening of ESPRESSOBAR has been scheduled to coincide with The DESTE Foundation and the New Museum’s collaborative exhibition In a Bright Green Field at the Benaki Museum, Athens (in which Triantafyllidis and Miliou are featured). Following the debut installation at Ithakis 28 Studio, conversations are underway to bring ESPRESSOBAR to Art Athina, and the ESPRESSOBAR artists are exploring the possibility of permanent installation locations as an operational cafe, signaling a bold new fusion of the art and hospitality worlds.

ESPRESSOBAR is the third in a series of collaborations between Egill Sæbjörnsson and other human and non-human artists and forces. The first espresso bar was created with the imaginative trolls Ugh & Boogar for the Icelandic Pavilion at the 57th Biennale Arte in Venice in 2017. The second espresso bar was created jointly with Icelandic artist Ívar Glói Gunnarsson in Reykjavík 2017.