Baltic exhibition guide
May
06/05/2019
As the days get warmer and the summer is closer, Arterritory.com offers you the monthly Baltic exhibition guide for May!
TALLINN
Art Fair Foto Tallinn Open Call
Until 3 June
Until 3 June Art fair Foto Tallinn is accepting applications from both Estonian and international photo artists, galleries and project spaces to participate in the fair that will take place from 27 to 29 September 2019 at the newly opened Kai Art Centre in Port Noblessner, Tallinn.
Participants of the fair will be selected by an international jury consisting of Bruno Barsanti, Evita Goze, Karin Laansoo, Kati Ilves and Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk.
This year, Photo Tallinn that previously was held under the name “Estonian Photographic Art Fair” is taking place for the ninth time. It is being organised by the Estonian Union of Photography Artists and is a part of the main programme of the Tallinn Photomonth contemporary art biennial.
For it’s 2019 edition, Foto Tallinn is glad to announce Artproof Production Grant – a 5,000-euro production grant for one participating artist at Foto Tallinn.
Sigrid Viir. False Vacationer in EKKM
27 April till 16 June
Sigrid Viir, False Vacationer (2019)
From 27 April till 16 June a solo show “False Vacationer” by Sigrid Viir will be on view at the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM). Curator of the exhibition is Maarin Mürk.
The name of the exhibition comes from the Roland Barthes essay The Writer on Holiday, in which he looked at writers as the bourgeoisie might see them – as false workers, who by the same token can only be false holiday-makers as well, who can be spotted reading a book even when they’re lazing on the beach. In the knowledge-based economy, the borders between work and leisure time have become more complicated, creativity has become an integral part of more than just the cultural field, and it takes a concerted effort to disengage even for the moment from one’s professional or working life.
False Vacationer is a voyage through the entirety of the EKKM, starting from the external facade of the building and leading through the three storeys inside, posing questions about attitudes, habits and insecurities common these days in the holiday and work culture. The viewer can choose whether they come to the exhibition in ‘work’ or ‘holiday’ mode and that choice determines what route they will take through the building, accompanied by an audio guide.
Sigrid Viir works and lives in Tallinn. Her practice - both solo as well as a member of Visible Solutions LCC together with Karel Koplimets and Taaniel Raudsepp - is situated between photography, installation and performance practices.
Tommy Cash and Rick Owens in KUMU
3 May till 15 September
Tommy Cash. Photo Kertin Vasser
From 2 May till 15 September the KUMU Art Museum in Tallinn will welcome its visitors to Estonian rapper’s Tommy Cash and American fashion designer’s Rick Owens collaborative exhibition “The Pure and the Damned”, curated by Kati Ilves.
The exhibition at the KUMU displays both the individual works of Tommy Cash and Rick Owens, as well as their jointly executed artworks for the show. Although different in practice and background, Cash’s and Owens’s interests overlap considerably: Cash’s visuals feature a great deal of aestheticized uncanniness, whereas Owens’s practice carries a kindred approach to the balance between functional design and the pure manifestation of form. This exhibition aims to emphasise their artistic positions, which, although originating from different realms of culture, boldly shape the larger picture of the visual arts today.
The Tallinn-born Tommy Cash sources his images from various themes: his curiosity about pop culture blends well with a distorted body image and supports his non-binary approach. The visual language that runs through the body of Cash’s works is rich and colourful, and the exhibition tends to follow this aesthetic, applying it to both the newly produced art works and the spatial set up, also manifested through sound and lighting.
The American fashion designer Rick Owens’s multifaceted works unfold through a coherent selection of garments, objects and furniture. The display covers a large period of his practice, allowing runway video documentation to support the garments. Contrary to the colourful exposition of Tommy Cash’s works, a shadow world emerges. Here the presentation is executed in a grey scale: a massive monochrome display with only a few colours characterising the soul of this zone.
“The End” at Temnikova & Kasela gallery
3 May till 29 June
Edith Karlson and Dan Mitchell, The End
From 3 May till 29 June Temnikova & Kasela gallery will host an exhibition by Edith Karlson and Dan Mitchell entitled “The End”.
The work transforms the gallery into a cave — the original gallery — and so introduces us to the start of human history. The audience are invited to meet The End, maybe their end, the end of civilisation? The end of art, the end of the audience? They will be able to reflect on human efforts to date - are we making our own end? Has it come to this? The insects and animals are dying off as walls threaten to cut us off from our neighbours, but we’re still drinking coffee in the department store cafe, chatting with our pals as we sit and wonder if tonight's meal will be TexMex or Pan Asian... The End.
Edith Karlson lives and works in Tallinn. She has shown extensively in Estonia and internationally, including at AV17, Vilnius; Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig; Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn; Amatorska gallery, London; and Tallinn City Gallery. Karlson has collaborated on projects with art collective Gelitin and with British artist Sarah Lucas. Her works are often produced with robust materials and feature people and animals as the main protagonists.
Dan Mitchell lives and works in London. He is the founder of DEATH LOLZ, publisher of Hard Mag, co-founder of the Artist Self-Publishing Fair (ASP) and Poster Studio (1994-97). Mitchell’s works have been exhibited widely in the UK and internationally, including at Jenny’s, LA; Svetlana, NYC; Gagosian, London; Oracle, Berlin; Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn; Luma Westbau, Zurich. His work often features images collaged and culled from magazines and the internet.
Ex Nihilo by Mihkel Maripuu
3 till 20 May
Mihkel Maripuu, Ex Nihilo
From 3 till 20 May a solo show “Ex Nihilo” by Mihkel Maripuu will be on view at Hobusepea gallery in Tallinn.
Exhibition “Ex Nihilo” is a continuation of previous researches and artistic practices of Mihkel Maripuu. Concerning the adaption of technology to everyday consciousness (also vice versa), thus managing the formation of modern visual language. Challenging timely and valid principles, highlighting important issues between technology and human relationships, development potentials, originality vs. anonymity and existential nature. Leading attention to digitally generated images, slowing down their habitually chaotic progression in the field of perception, to analyse their meaning and influence in the contemporary art field.
The exhibition is a continuation of earlier projects, where research-related topics have been the nature of post-Internet in contemporary art, neo-materialism and other subcultural manifestations, and the peculiarities of the digital age that have influenced the development of modern visual language.
Mihkel Maripuu is an artist whose practice is characterized by a multidisciplinary approach. Manipulating with sound and image, thought and material, carrying spiritual values into the mundane. He has studied at Tartu University’s Department of Philosophy, Painting Department (BA) and graduated Estonian Academy of Art’s Painting Department (MA).
RIGA
Katrīna Neiburga solo show “Hair”
25 April till 9 June
Katrīna Neiburga, Hair
From 25 April till 9 June the solo show “Hair” by Katrīna Neiburga is on view at kim? Contemporary art centre in Riga.
Virgin hair, locks of love, ropes of hair, new-borns’ hair, hair from the dead, hair markets, bald domes, hair that has fallen out, hair pain, bad hair days, hair in food, wigs, hair fetishes, lifeless hair, permed hair. Hair worn up, braided, slicked back, combed. Split ends, sweepings, messy hair. Dry, coloured, greasy, shiny, blonde, and black hair. And then the hair dressers – hair dressers in fashionable salons, hair dressers in apartments, hair dressers in small town salons, and in market stalls. Hair dressers in kitchens, hair dressers under the stars, and in bars.
Artist Katrīna Neiburga visited several masters of their trade over the period of several months. They each styled Katrīna according to her facial structure, her aura, by reading the stars and according to their mood – fringes, chignons, locks and curls, braids and pony tails. Sharing stories about themselves and their clients, which have amassed almost like hair folklore over years of working in the trade, Neiburga’s videos reveal these hairdressers to be something similar to therapists. Like healers. Anyone who has tilted their head back and let the water flow through their hair clasped in a hair dresser’s hands will agree that there is something very intimate to this relationship.
Katrīna Neiburga’s art is subject to a desire for emotion, authenticity, and memory preservation. It is poetry which works on the level of perception and emotions – it has been stripped to the bone, and saturated with truth. It is stinging and beautiful. One of Neiburga’s main modes of expression is her deeply personal iconography which shines through in her video installations at her performances and in her scenography. She is interested in sociology and studies preconceived notions about the state of things.
“No comments” at the Smallest gallery of Riga
30 April till 7 June
Kaspars Podnieks, No comments
From 30 April till 7 June the new art space the Smallest gallery of Riga will welcome observers and enthusiasts of art to view work entitled “No comments” by Latvian artist Kaspars Podnieks.
The artist Kaspars Podnieks lives and works in Drusti, Latvia. He has graduated from the Visual communication department of Latvian Academy of Arts and has participated in several exhibitions in Latvia and abroad, including the International art exhibition Venice Biennale in 2013 (in collaboration with Krišs Salmanis). His areas of activity are video, installation and staged photography.
The Smallest gallery of Riga is an experimental art space in Riga, founded in January of 2019. The space consists of one showcase of the historic building K. K. fon Stricka villa, in which the works of recognised Latvian artists are displayed.
Riga Photomonth 2019
from May 15
Viacheslav Poliakov
From 15 May the annual Riga Photomonth will take place in various spaces in Riga, including the Latvian Occupation museum, Latvian Museum of Photography, Latvian Museum of War, Art station Dubulti in Jūrmala, etc.
The theme of this year’s Photomonth is “Eating Pineapples on the Moon” and it has been inspired by contemporary cultural situations of the post-truth era where false news, partial truths and content of social media based on current algorithms is at the heart of the day-to-day routine of global society.
As part of the festival, in parallel to the main exhibition (curated by Arnis Balčus), there will be a number of solo exhibitions by Iveta Vaivode, Eva Saukāne, Elīna Semane, Maria Kapajeva, Andreas Meichsner, Jari Silomäki and Martin Kollar. A broad educational programme with lectures and presentations, film sessions, outdoor projects and other events will also take place.
Survival Kit 10.1. Outlands
23 May till 30 June
The largest annual contemporary art festival in the Baltics, Survival Kit (organised by Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art), will take place in Riga from 23 May till 30 June. The international exhibition and events programme with the participation of 34 artists from Latvia and abroad is curated by Solvita Krese, Inga Lāce and Àngels Miralda.
Building on the first part of its programme, held at the Riga Circus in September 2018, the second part of Survival Kit 10 continues the festival’s investigation of the concept of outlands, questioning the traditional division of geopolitical and cultural space into centre and periphery and shedding light on the complex construction of identity.
Like every year, an empty building in Riga has been chosen as the venue of the festival, in order to draw attention to the potential of its future development. This time, it is the former Faculty of Physics, Mathematics and Optometry of the University of Latvia, which was built in 1888 and originally served as a German orphanage, and later – as a police academy.
Such artists as Kristina Norman, Inga Meldere, Meric Algün, Romāns Korovins, Diāna Tamane and many other will participate in the exhibition.
Performance event “No New Idols”
25 May, 29 May till 1 June
Curated by artist, curator and cultural producer Justin Hoover, a time-based performance event “No New Idols” will be held in Riga as a part of the Sculpture Quadrennial Riga 2020. “No New Idols” presents a curated sample of artists across the globe and focusing on the Baltic region, with select artists from the United States, Europe, and Scandinavia to investigate how new manifestations of performance, ritual and post-modern identity rely on the ancients for their source code, their root forms, and their teleological trajectories.
Including the mediums of performance art, experimental theater, social practice, and video art, “No New Idols” is a festival of time-based-arts. As a program of the Sculpture Quadrennial Riga, “No New Idols” experiments with new ways to look at the sculpture, positing sculpture as inclusive of body-based and temporal practices. In this way, this festival repositions sculpture as a relationship between the viewer and his/her experience of time and space. The goal for “No New Idols” is to show a wealth of practices by internationally renowned artist and excellent local artists and to draw unexpected connections between seemingly disparate forms of art.
The concept behind the program is to look to contemporary performance as a reframing of ancient rituals and a way to build communities of healing, resistance, and reinvention. It focuses through a post-colonial and feminist/queer lens centring on actions of the body.
Such artists as Anda Lāce, Guillermo Gomez-Peña, Gundega Evelone and Molt will take part in the event.
VILNIUS
Animal – Human – Robot in MO Museum
6 April till 25 August
Animal - Human - Robot. Photo Emerging Europe
From 6 April till 25 August the Mo Museum in Vilnius is hosting an exhibition “Animal – Human – Robot”, curated by Erika Grigoravičienė and Ugnė Paberžytė.
The exhibition explores the ever-changing relationship between humans and other beings: from animal species to organic and mechanical entities created by humans, such as genetically modified organisms or artificial intelligence. What does modernist art and photography reveal about humans and their interaction with non-humans? How do contemporary artists in Lithuania and other European countries imagine the future of a hybrid society?
The exhibited artworks from the MO collection as well as the pieces by artists from Germany and the Baltic States will depict our changing attitude towards other forms of life: from mythical beasts to futuristic hybrids.
Marija Olšauskaitė. Witness on our behalf
26 April till 26 May
Marija Olšauskaitė, Witness on our behalf
A solo show “Witness on our behalf” by Lithuanian artist Marija Olšauskaitė is on view at Vilnius Contemporary Art Centre from 26 April till 26 May. The exhibition is curated by Asta Vaičiulytė.
In her practice, Marija Olšauskaitė employs various modes of collaboration and explores the themes of relationships, openness, intimacy and belonging. To participate in a show Witness on our behalf she has invited friends, artists and other creators, in an attempt to create a space in which intimacy, affinity and privacy are exposed, and passers-by become guests. Curated and staged occurrences and events are experienced alongside continuous and out-of-control situations. Small talk, gossip, and bragging take place in full vulnerability and sharing, or the state of honesty and truth, becomes a given responsibility. As the participants exchange their ideas, authorship is no longer important. In the words of the artist, "Like a kiss between five people, you don't feel whose lips are whose, but it's definitely a kiss". Participants in the show: Ms Carrie Stacks, James Massiah, Eglė Budvytytė, Tomislav Feller, Carolyn Lazard, Elena Narbutaitė, Steve & Samantha, Dodomundo, Antanas Lučiūnas, Maria Tsoy, Ieva Kabašinskaitė, Raimundas Malašauskas, Jonas Žakaitis and others.
Two exhibitions at Vilnius Contemporary Art Centre
26 April till 26 May
Brud. A Shrewdness of Apes
From 26 April till 26 May the Vilnius Contemporary Art Centre will host two new exhibitions, curated by Virginija Januškevičiūtė – “Yuji Agematsu. zip: 05.01.14 … 05.31.14” and “Brud. A Shrewdness of Apes”.
The exhibition of Japanese born artist Yuji Agematsu at the CAC displays his sculptures made during May 2014. For more than 20 years, Agematsu has made one miniature sculpture every day, comprised of various bits of debris and waste that have caught his eye in the streets of New York. The identical cellophane wrappers of cigarette packs that he uses as tiny display cases contain fragments of the landscape of New York, and are reminiscent of the tradition of miniature art in its aesthetic.
"I am old. The planet is old. And there’s no way to get rid of all this plastic. And we’re shooting the shit into space. I used to want to go to space. For what? To see all this garbage floating by", the artist once said in an interview. Yuji Agematsu was born in 1956 in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, but has been living in Brooklyn, New York since 1980. In his youth, the artist studied with Tokio Hasegawa, the founder of the band Taj Mahal Travellers, and the jazz percussionist and choreographer Milford Graves.
The exhibition “Brud. A Shrewdness of Apes” stems its title from an old practice rooted in the English language where groups of animals are called by different names depending on their species. This tradition dates back to the 15th Century and is linked to the English writer and prioress, Juliana Berners. An "unkindness" of ravens, a "murder" of crows, a “pride” of lions, and a “troubling” of goldfish are a few collective nouns attributed to her. A congregation of apes is called a "troop", or a "shrewdness".
Brud is an atmosphere surrounding the camera. Brud’s artwork consists of multiple intricate and overlapping automata that unfold over varying scales of space and time. It is an erudite practice that draws from knowledge systems of different areas and historical periods. The screen and the stage are imperative to Brud, and for this exhibition, the White Cube of the Contemporary Art Centre turns into a "Dark Room" (literally, a camera obscura) borrowed from sex clubs, photo labs, and black box theatre. Like Desmond Morris described human beings in The Naked Ape, Brud views the Camera as a new species of intelligent life.
Brud are represented by Benevolent Dictator Aditya Mandayam and Éminence Grise Emilia Zalewska. The goal of Brud is to replace Brud with better Brud.
International Contemporary art fair Art Vilnius 2019
30 May till 2 June
Nelson Pernisco, Crystal Meth (2019)
From 30 May till 2 June the annual International Contemporary art fair Art Vilnius will take place in Vilnius, exhibition and congress centre LITEXPO. This year the art fair is celebrating its one-decade anniversary and its focus is on emerging artists and French art scene.
ArtVilnius celebrates its 10th edition anniversary with a #FocusFrance programme represented by 11 galleries selected by Aurélie Faure. Dedicated to emerging artists, the programme will offer a high-quality panel of the French scene.
The French curator offers this opportunity to promote a new generation of galleries and also welcomes established French galleries, such as Galerie Thomas Bernard with works, among others, by the famous multidisciplinary artist and musician, Rainer Lericolais, collected by such prestigious private and public collections as Centre Pompidou; Galerie Ceysson-Benetière and others.
The #FocusFrance will be complemented by a programme curated by Aurélie Faure with the exhibition project “On the Edge” which will link paintings and videos by emergent artists to build connections in History of Art between these two practices through worldwide contemporary challenges such as economy, environment, new technologies, migrations, etc. The French curator will also highlight new wave performers including the last creations made by Alexandre Bavard (Neo Archeologia) or the group of artists SUZANNE (STATU, Mercure) who was invited last year to international contemporary art festival “Do Disturb!” at Palais de Tokyo, or Nuit Blanche.
Alongside the main gallery programme, ArtVilnius’19 will traditionally organize a number of projects and events.
ArtVilnius’19 is featuring 66 galleries and showcasing 300 artists from 20 countries. The art fair will host leading galleries from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine. In addition, art fair visitors will have the opportunity to see Danish, Italian, German, Austrian and Belarusian galleries. Several displays will offer works by the underground film legend, Jonas Mekas (1922-2019), who was born in Lithuania.
