1hourrestaurant by René Stessl. A culinary art project. From the streets of New York to Cologne. Presented by the Teapot Gallery.

An important business dinner, the first date or a secret spy meeting that can’t risk any eavesdropping? Fancy going to a restaurant without having people listening in on your conversation from all directions? Well, you can breath lightly from now on. In autumn, the trained chef and learned artist René Stessl opened up his '1Hourrestaurant' in New York.

Everything he needs for his '1hourrestaurant' fits into a rucksack and a wheelbarrow: 2 chairs, 1 table and a 'fine-dining-three-course-menu'. The meal is prepared at home or in a nearby kitchen. “The tools come from the Salvation Army – including the table, chairs and cutlery, but nobody seems to care really”, ponders the artist, cook, waiter, host and restaurant owner.

The former stops of the '1hourrestaurant': Williamsburg and Carol Gardens in Brooklyn, Downtown Manhattan, Times Square in Midtown, Bushwick, Bedstuy and a rooftop with a view of the Big Apple. Everything must happen as swiftly as possible, no time for licenses and other such nonsense.

Stessl irritates, distorts the fixed image of the location in question, wherever his restaurant opens and intrudes into the everyday life of its inhabitants who walk by each and every day. In case two passers-by overcome their initial reservation and sit down in the restaurant, the tasteful experience hauls them out of their everyday routine and plunges them into a sensual world for the duration of an hour.

“The aim of my art is to exfiltrate people from their habitual mental vicinity and remove them from their everyday life for just a little while”, says Stessl. It's very important that those irritations take place on a positive level though. He admits that his project does have the air of something that tries to make the world a better place. “I show my guests how easy it is to create a positive surprise for your fellow neighbour. I would not mind in the least if people would decide to recreate the experience and invite strangers to a dinner. Sometimes, the world of today swallows up small, positive signals and that is what I want to point out with my restaurant.”

To Stessl, all that matters is the crux of the moment, both in his abstract paintings and his public performances.

Petra Martinez from the TEAPOT GALERIE who will invite the artist to Cologne in January says the following about the happening: “I was a guest in Al Capone's wedding church in NY myself, opposite the Plaza by Central Park. I am a regular customer of the '1hourrestaurant' if you will. Apart from excellent goulash and beef roulades, you can also enjoy being part of an event that unfolds in unforeseen ways. Excitement and surprise sit with you around the table.”

The '1hourrestaurant will open from the 16th to the 21st of January, two times a day in the TEAPOT gallery, a '1week1hourrestaurant' so to speak. 1pm and 7pm each day, don’t miss it!

“What exactly happens in the '1hourrestaurant' and the TEAPOT gallery will remain uncertain until the very end, the only foreseeable parameters is the good food”, explains the gallery owner.

Monday, the 16th of January 2012, 1pm until Saturday, January 21, 2012 7pm.
TEAPOT , Herwarthstr. 3, 50672 Cologne
www.weareteapot.com

TEAPOT will be the first stop of the '1hourrestaurant visits . . .’ photography series. While the '1hourrestaurant' happenings that take place in the public space are all about irritation and evading normality, Stessl's new series is about creating portraits of his guests. The restaurant in this case serves as the axis of intimacy. The plan is to visit ateliers and artists, private homes and friends and the gallery and its visitors.