LONDON.- Selfridges celebrates the advent of Valentine’s Day like never before: by opening a Golden Gai bar from which a maximum of 6 people can be served beer and Sake at any given time. Possibly the smallest bar in Britain during its four-week run at Selfridges on Oxford Street, the Lip Bar is the creation of legendary Japanese artist Daido Moriyama who is best known for his gritty black and white photography of Japan and its city people.

The 2 metres by 3.3 metres Daido Lip Bar, presented at Selfridges by special arrangement with Hamiltons Gallery, is first and foremost an art installation that is designed to be functional but can also be bought. A tribute to the tiny bars of Golden Gai, an authentic quarter in Shinjuku, a vibrant district of Tokyo, the Lip Bar replicates Bar Kuro, one of Daido’s favourite drinking spots. The Lip Bar comes in a limited edition of only three and the Selfridges installation will be the last – and longest – time Daido’s Lip Bar can be experienced. The Lip Bar, which takes its name from a close-up lip shot by Daido plastered on all surfaces of the bar in red and black versions of the now iconic photograph, will welcome customers from 7 February to 3 March. They can book their £10 seat in advance via the Selfridges.com website (slfrd.gs/DaidoLipBar) for 30mn at a time. The price includes entrance fee and the choice of a beer or a cup of sake. Walkins will be managed on a first come first served basis against the availability at the time of asking. Singletons are encouraged to book on their own or with one other single friend to maximise the opportunity to meet new people in an unusually small space. Limited edition merchandise, including hoodies and t-shirts bearing the lip motif will be available to buy from the temporary Art Store at Selfridges in London and online as a memento of the visit.

To take the full experience home, anyone with £80,000 spare will be able to buy the third and last rights to own a Daido Lip Bar. All enquiries will be managed via Hamiltons Gallery London.

The Lip Bar is one of the main artist interventions scheduled in the Art Tank at Selfridges as part of the retailer’s three-month State of the Arts campaign running to March 31. The campaign which aims to present arts in unexpected places, take them out of galleries and museums and make them more commonplace and democratic. State of the Arts galvanises the output of dozens of artists, both established and emerging, across all four Selfridges stores, online and social media where Selfridges has commissioned young digital artists to create exclusive content and videos which have gone viral with hundreds of thousands of views.

Suspended from the ceiling of the spacious Duke Street corner window of Selfridges London, the virtually transparent glass and steel Art Tank has become a focal point of activities and interactions for the campaign. It has hosted a series of captivating oneoff art happenings, art classes and artist residencies, open and accessible to all (via booking at Selfridges.com/stateofthearts) and will continue to do so after the Lip Bar ends its run.