In October 1997, the first message salon on Ankerstrasse in Zurich’s Kreis 4 ended and Esther Eppstein travelled to Appenzell with her legendary Off Space and the artists to recuperate. As an artist, she was invited by curator Bice Curiger to present the message salon art project in the summer of 1998 in the exhibition “Wahlverwandtschaften”, Art&Appenzell.
Esther Eppstein acquires a second-hand Tabbert caravan, which is to be the new message salon home. The message salon caravan is placed in the small town of Appenzell and furnished with photos, a VHS video club, record player, documentaries, fridge, ashtray, fairy lights, woollen blankets and an open-air kitchen under the awning.
In the message salon holiday colony, the artists invited by Esther Eppstein each live in the caravan for a week. (With Edith Oderbolz, Serge Pinkus, Köppl/Zacek, Lutz&Guggisberg, Stini Arn&Nicoletta Wartmann, Antonio Pate, Dave Muller, San Keller&Andrea Roca, Karin Müller&Davix, Treppstein).
At the end of the exhibition, the caravan returns to Zurich. In what was then no man’s land on Pfingstweidstrasse, between Vulkaro Occasion fridges and vegetable wholesalers, the message salon is stationed in the industrial quarter until 2001, organising meetings and small art interventions. (With Lutz&Guggisberg, San Keller, Franziska Koch, Jörg Köppl, Selina Trepp, Serge Pinkus, Andreas Bühler, Antonio Pate).
The caravan only travels once more on a lorry through Switzerland to Fribourg. Esther Eppstein has been invited by Fri-Art director Michel Ritter to install the message salon caravan in front of the art institution in summer 2000 for the exhibition “Etat des lieux”; smaller art interventions will take place. (With Susann Walder, Franziska Koch, Kerim Seiler, Lutz&Guggisberg, Stini Arn, Nicoletta Wartmann, Eric Schuhmacher, Paul Deuth, Jenny Schrider). Esther Eppstein’s family with Moritz, Maria and Mauro Arnold are always present in the message salon caravan.
In 2001, Esther Eppstein assembled the message salon caravan into a time capsule as a work of art, with documents about message salon and the Zurich art scene since 1995. The message salon caravan was purchased by the then director Rein Wolfs as a work of art for the Migros Museum collection and has since been exhibited in the Migros Museum in 2001 and 2014.