Estonian art news: October/November 2018
CCA, Estonia publishes a newsletter on contemporary art news in Estonia in every two months. October/November 2018 newsletter can be found here.
TOP PICKS
VI Artishok biennial
@Balti jaam waiting pavilion
20 – 28.10
From 20 to 28 October, the passenger terminal of the Baltic railway station in Tallinn will host the VI Artishok Biennial (VI AB) which will use the format of a fashion exhibition. For curator Sten Ojavee (Center for Contemporary Arts, Estonia), the main aim of the exhibition is to offer a critical approach to current ideas about national identity and to offer a range of viewpoints on interpreting contemporary nationalism. Artishok Biennial is an experimental exhibition format created in 2008 where every participating artist makes a new work and every writer writes an article about these works. The texts are exhibited alongside the works in the gallery. Participating artists: Dmitri Gerasimov, Ragne Kikas, Laivi, Kris Lemsalu, Claudia Lepik, Tanja Muravskaja, Kärt Ojavee, Jaanus Samma. Participating writers: Aet Annist, Gustav Kalm, Oliver Laas, Margit Lõhmus, Francisco Martinez, Siim Nurklik, Aleksander Rostov, Anne Vetik, Annamari Vänskä.
“How to: live. Virtual biographies” and “one-on-one. on skills”
@EKKM (Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia) 29.10 – 04.11
The exhibition duo, displayed at EKKM during October, brings into focus the tradition of applied arts in Estonia. On the ground floor, three artists – Ingrid Allik, Dre Britton and Laura Põld – display objects inspired by personal life and domestic spaces, calling on viewers to imagine what their biographies might be. This show, titled “How to: live” is curated by Marika Agu (Center for Contemporary Arts, Estonia). On the upper floor, for the first time EKKM will host an exhibition presenting works by renowned Estonian applied artists in dialogue with material-sensitive and process-based works by a younger generation of artists. A catalogue accompanying the two exhibitions will be presented on November 4th.
“The X-Files. [Registry of the Nineties]”
@Kumu art museum
02.11.2018 – 14.04.2019
Curators Anders Härm and Eha Komissarov view cultural discontinuation, the replacement of well-established customs and objectives with new ones as the key concept of Estonian contemporary art in the 1990s. The exhibition takes an investigative approach to the art history of the decade, examining some of its less-known and ignored aspects. The X-files interact with the hidden backstage of the nineties, from which many new ideas sprang. The opening of the exhibition is accompanied by a conference on November 1 – 3 “Lost and Found Spaces: Displacements in Eastern European Art and Society in the 1990s”, and The Kumu Art Film Festival that is to examine the borders and possible definitions of the art film, as well as the relations between visual art and cinematography. The programme of the third KuFF focuses on everything new introduced into this relationship by the 1990s.
New building for Estonian Academy of Arts is open
@Põhja pst
This September, the new building of Estonian Academy of Arts was opened, after almost 10 years of struggle to find a proper place for the Academy. The building is located in the lively Kalamaja neighbourhood, near the newly renovated Balti jaam train station market. The building itself, built in 1929, is a former sock factory, now renovated by Kuu architects as a functional Academy building. The building also has a gallery and various events, from talks to workshops happening at the Academy all year round. See the programme on the Art Academy’s website.
VII NU Performance festival
@Various locations, Tallinn
20 – 28.10
The focus of VII NU Performance Festival: Object with Audience is the timeline and performative possibilities of object art, and performances that reinterpret the role of the audience as a part of the performance, both in the individual as well as collective experience. The curators Mihkel Ilusand Henri Hütt are interested in looking for performativity where one is not used to finding it. The festival collaborates closely with the sonic art festival Üle Heli 2018 to bring wider spectre of experiences for the audience that appreciates experimentation. The artists list includes Andrius Katinas, Gideonsson Londré, Gisèle Vienne, Julía Rodriguez, kadrinoormets, Kristjan Suits, Laivi, Lawrence Malstaf, Mårten Spångberg, Nanna Nordström, Oliver Kulpsoo, Peter Rehberg, Salla Salin, Vera Nevanlinna, and others.
See the full list of recommended art events in the newsletter here.
