Cafe [This Is Not That]

Photo courtesy of
‘Café Stühle’
courtesy of ‘mueritz’

The Phillips Collection is opening a new cafe tomorrow. This would be rather blase news, except this cafe is not that. Almost too-deep and meta for me to grasp (I’m having to reach back to my time at art school, here) Cafe sounds badass. Pairing actual art, with a literal eat-place, bound by the concepts in and around art, (see, told you this was deep) Cafe challenges the typical.

The press release says: “CAFÉ is built in the space between: between art and institution, structure and idea. It is a place for the development and cultivation of living ideas — not nostalgia, but unformed notions and half-conceived plans.” Broken into components, Cafe at the Phillips Collection is hosting all kinds of interesting events around the following four points. WALL bounds the space with posters that are and yet are not reproductions of works in the museum, including the artwork CAFÉ. FOOD explores ideas of desire, possession and satisfaction, offering items available and unavailable for consumption. BOOK reaches outside CAFÉ to writers and thinkers, inviting them to join the conversation inside by sending books. GAME bends the rules of play, offering newly invented board and parlor games that players may change along the way. The first Thursday of each month is an evening dedicated to a specific element of CAFÉ.

The slightly cryptic Web site has a listing of all the events Cafe is hosting interacting with the four elements. Game night stands out to me as the most fun, but those of you more like Acacia will find Poet Night and Word Night more intriguing. Cafe is located in, around, and outside of the Phillips Collection at 1600 21st St. NW in Dupont/West End.

Katie moved to DC in 2007, and has since embarked upon a love affair with the city. She’s an education reform advocate and communications professional during the day; at night and on the weekends, she’s an owner here at We Love DC. Katie has high goals to eat herself through the entire city, with only her running shoes to save her from herself. For up-to-the-minute news and reviews (among other musings), follow her on Twitter!

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