In May 2003 McKenzie and Olowska temporarily ran an underground bar called nova Popularna in Warsaw, Poland, and held concerts and performances there each week. They designed the bar's interior, including its murals, curtains, customized second–hand furniture, and sculptures, and bartended with the help of friends and locals. After Nova Popularna closed they began producing works to commemorate and historicize the project. This collaborative series of collages incorporates visual materials that inspired the bar, including images of artworks such as Édouard Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882) and Edgar Degas's The Absinthe Drinker (1875–76), along with clippings of models from contemporary fashion magazines and Art Deco interiors from architecture and design publications.
Gallery label from Compass in Hand: Selections from The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection, April 22, 2009–January 4, 2010.