ROTH BAR Debuts at Hauser & Wirth Art Gallery in Chelsea

Located at the temporary downtown New York City home of international gallery Hauser & Wirth, the Roth Bar is a specially-crafted liquor and coffee bar made from locally sourced salvaged materials, designed by Björn Roth, Oddur Roth and Einar Roth, son and grandsons of German-born Swiss artist Dieter Roth (1930 -1998). Formerly at Hauser & Wirth's 18th street gallery, the artwork-cum-bar has been enlarged and updated by its creators Björn, Oddur, and Einar Roth, the son and grandsons of Dieter Roth, whose remarkable life and work have inspired the spirited design of the Roth Bar series of installations in Somerset, UK and New York City.

For its latest iteration, Hauser & Wirth has partnered with acclaimed sustainable New York catering company Great Performances (GP), one of the city's leading food service and catering companies. Operated by GP, the 29-seat Roth Bar offers a rotating selection of seasonally sensitive fare based on ingredients sourced from local farms including GP's own organic Katchkie Farm in Kinderhook, NY. The likes of: Delicata and Butternut Squash Soup with Coconut Milk and Garam Masala; Forest Mushroom Flatbread with Roasted Onion, Preserved Tomato and Pecorino; and Tandoori-Spiced Cauliflower, Curried Chickpeas and Cilantro Oil. There is also a collection of snacks, such as Prosciutto-Infused Spinach, Basil Deviled Eggs and the homemade Roth Bar Pickles. All are complemented by a wide array of beverages, ranging from espresso drinks, coffee, teas and tisanes, to housemade sodas - including rosemary-lemon, cardamom, and orange-ginger. Beer and wine will be offered early summer. Patrons can order online via GP's www.outoflinepreorder.com for consumption on-site or take-out.

A handcrafted three dimensional collage of scavenged wood and salvaged materials, the Roth Bar boasts the likes of large metal cranks from an Icelandic fishing barge that frame the bar and vintage televisions flickering with Roth videos that cast a soft glow on hand-painted signs, plastic flowers, cans of paint - some slowly dripping pigment. Brightly-colored electric lights wrap around architectural elements, while a pair of roller skates from the former Roxie nightclub are juxtaposed sit next to sculptured busts of chocolate - relics from the process that yielded the Roths' 'Selbstturm' (Self-Tower) from their 2013 New York exhibition. Everywhere, the eye is drawn to a different, fascinating and whimsical component that delights and engages patrons as they wonder what exactly it is, where it came from and what would inspire the artists to re-purpose it in such a fashion.

The Roth Bar located at 548 West 22nd Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues, serves Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm. For more information, call the gallery at +1 212 790 3900.

About Roth Bar

'The bar' was a concept first conceived by Dieter Roth in the early 1980s as a dynamic and changing art installation. In 1997, as a condition of his exhibiting with Hauser & Wirth, Dieter Roth insisted that a bar form part of his first show with the gallery. With the assistance of his son Björn, Roth installed the functional 'Roth-Bar 2' around the corner from the gallery in Zurich. Every beer bottle served became part of the installation and visitors' conversations were recorded and archived. The Roth Bar has now become a continuing element in the Roths' cross-generational practice, and various versions have sprung up across the globe - as part of an exhibition in Zurich, in the foyer of Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois in Basel, and at the HangarBicocca foundation in Milan, to name a few.

The New York iteration of this artwork-cum-bar was initially created for the inaugural exhibition at Hauser & Wirth 18th Street, and has been enlarged and updated by its creators and reinstalled at 548 22nd Street for the next two years. Hauser & Wirth is excited to partner for the duration to offer a menu fashioned from locally-sourced ingredients at the Roth Bar.

The gallery's current temporary home in Chelsea is a beautiful four-story masonry structure that hosted Dia Art Foundation's exhibitions from 1987 to 2004. Alongside multiple exhibition spaces and the Roth Bar, the site houses Hauser & Wirth Publishers' first dedicated bookshop, offering an extensive collection of monographs, artists' books, historic exhibition catalogues, collections of artists' writings, and catalogues raisonnés.

Under the continued direction of partner and vice president Marc Payot, across its Chelsea and 69th Street New York City locations Hauser & Wirth hosts an ambitious program of public exhibitions, projects, and events. Its program spotlights the work of some of the most respected and challenging artists of the day, including emerging and established talents, as well as landmark artists whose estates the gallery represents.

About Great Performances

As New York City's premier catering and food service organization, Great Performances (GP) is dedicated to seasonal ingredients, vibrant flavors, and gracious service. GP is known for its celebration of contemporary American cuisine by crafting food that utilizes locally sourced seasonal ingredients, while taking inspiration from the global foodways and devising innovative, visually arresting presentations. Rooted in the arts since its inception, GP remains intensely involved as the exclusive caterer for 12 prestigious cultural institutions, including, Jazz at Lincoln Center, BAM, Brooklyn Museum, Museum of the City of New York, and the Apollo Theater. In addition, it operates some 17 restaurants, cafes, bars, concessions and food trucks in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx,Westchester Co., NY and Stamford, CT. All of which benefit from organic produce grown at GP's Katchkie Farm in Kinderhook, NY - the company was the nation's first caterer to own and operate an organic farm. Visit: http://www.greatperformances.com/.

About Hauser & Wirth

Hauser & Wirth was founded in Switzerland by Iwan and Manuela Wirth and Ursula Hauser in 1992, and is now a global enterprise, with spaces in Zurich, Gstaad, London, Somerset, New York and Los Angeles. The gallery has built a reputation for its dedication to artists and support of visionary artistic projects worldwide and represents over 60 established and emerging artists, including Mark Bradford, Roni Horn, Paul McCarthy and Pipilotti Rist, and is responsible for major artist estates and foundations including The Louise Bourgeois Studio, the Arshile Gorky Estate, The Estate of Philip Guston and the Estate of David Smith.

Focused on a core belief in conservation, education, community and sustainability, food comprises a central element to the experience of Hauser & Wirth's galleries. In addition to the Roth Bar, the art centers in Los Angeles and Somerset both comprise a restaurant - the Roth Bar & Grill in Somerset combines gastronomy with contemporary art and serving honest, simple and seasonal food, and Manuela restaurant in DTLA offers a menu influenced by Chef Wes Whitsell's culinary roots and upbringing in rural North Texas, highlighting artisanal techniques including in-house smoking, fermenting, preserving and pickling. Visit: https://www.hauserwirth.com/.

Photo Credit: Bjarni Grímsson

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