Adda-Matinée

The Democratic Club is a dialogue between the Indian Coffee House and the Viennese coffee house – both during their heyday important places of everyday sociability and intellectual exchange. After India’s independence, the coffee houses – formerly organised under the auspices of the British Raj – were transformed into a cooperative society. As an open space for discussion this contributed to the development of the young democracy by extending the public sphere into the inside. Ongoing changes within society, accompanied by the emergence of international coffee chains, has already left traces of erosion on these public interiors.

Bhaswati Bhattacharya, historian and ethnographer, Georg August University Göttingen
Moderation: Carina Sacher / Lukas Vejnik, curators “The Democratic Club”

The Democratic Club. Exhibition 19.10.-18.11.2018, Jan Arnold Gallery, MQ / Q21, Museumsplatz 1, 1070 Vienna