Architectures of the Night

Inspired by the Invisible Cities of Italo Calvino and by a neo-noir imaginary, Michele Ormas conceived a suspendend Art Bar for Absolut where space and time blur together.

Absolut recently presented a site-specific Art Bar designed by Michele Ormas at Kölner Liste, Cologne, where the artist imagined a “virtual tower” that mixed light design, projections, acouistic elements and temporary architecture.

Michele Ormas, Absolut Art Bar — Michele Ormas, Architectures of the Night, Absolut Art Bar, Kölner Liste. Courtesy of Absolut

Inspired by the Invisible Cities written by Italo Calvino, in which urban landscapes grow from the wishes and fears of the cities’ residents, his Absolut Art Bar features depictions of cities as fragments that hang throught the space. The Berlin-based artist tried to lead the visitors to an immersive experience of the Absolute nocturnal world, as part of a wider project of Absolut Art Bars, where the brand asked several artists to reinterpret its nightlife identity. Taking inspiration from the Neo-Noir film Dark City, where aliens trick humans into believing that they live in a state of perennial night, Orma's concept for his Art Bar mixes time, space and reality.

At the centre of the Art Bar stands the “Virtual Tower”, a five-metre metal construction featuring lights and projections where Ormas' shows fields of wheat, of one of the key ingredients of Absolut Vodka. Overall, Architectures of the Night features a complete sensory experience by mixing art, architecture, sound design and a special Artist Cocktail created by an Absolit mixologist for the occasion.