Bar Code is a photo project (a number of 10 (24 x 36) Fujichrome 64T slides & Lambda prints, 30 x 40 cm) on the nearly invariable aesthetics in bars, on the bar as a place of stay for (drinking) consumption with the search for social relations. The aesthetic uniformity found at bars, irrespective of whether we are located in Sweden, Denmark or Belgium, is in many ways a strange occurrence. The cause to this aesthetic constancy is something of a mystery, not the least its presence which do surpass most national diversities.
In capacity of a trading spot, the bar is a platform of two extremes; partly the depressed barfly, who consumes beverages to suppress its misery, and partly the triumphant bar visitor who celebrates its newly-won success by consuming alcohol. Grey zones between these two manifestations hardly exist. Just like the chessboard, the bar is a black-and-white meeting place between two teams of which only one of can leave the field as the winning one.
The social games played at the bar are often as impregnated as the bar aesthetics. The customary conduct is not only a matter of practice here, but also a matter of stereotype behaviour.