This series was shot in Liverpool and Bremen. Both port cities, formerly flourishing trading centers, which are now experiencing difficult economic times, have a long history of pub and bar culture.

The images focus on the interiors of these places of cultural exchange, where the private and the public mingle and show excerpts of the interiors. Characteristics of the design are analyzed as social and cultural signs. Wall pictures and materialities take center stage and are examined for motifs that convey questions of history, memory and longing.

The series was created as part of Cities on the Edge, an exhibition and book project curated by John Davies in cooperation with the Liverpool Culture Company during Liverpool, Capital of Culture 2008. The images are part of the Open Eye Archive Collection.