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Press information KRIS LEMSALU November 16, 2018 – January 20, 2019 Press conference: Thursday, November 15, 2018, 11 a.m. Opening: Thursday, November 15, 2018, 7 p.m. The Estonian artist Kris Lemsalu creates sculptures, installations, and performances that fuse the animal kingdom with humankind, nature with the artificial, beauty with repulsion, lightness with gravity, life with death. She combines animal bodies and porcelain objects with found (natural) materials such as furs, leather, seashells, wool, or paper in theatrical installations that whisk us off into a world of the fantastic imagination. Endeavoring to erase any distance between herself and her objects, the artist also uses her installations as stages for performance pieces in her sculptures become an integral part of her attire. Although Lemsalu’s work often broaches dark and raw themes, it feels fragile and delicate, incorporating references to ancient mythologies and rituals from various cultures. In addition to abstract sculptures, her art also includes self-portraits and photographs, many of which depict her as a creature with masculine as well as feminine traits. Combining fabrics, makeup, wigs, and other props, she creates short-lived exotic identities for herself. Kris Lemsalu studied ceramics at the Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn, and art at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Kris Lemsalu born in 1985, lives and works in Tallinn, Estonia and Berlin. The exhibition program is conceived by the board of the Secession. Curator: Annette Südbeck; Assistant: Verena Österreicher Publication An artist book is published in conjunction with the exhibition. Curators’ guided tour Friday, November 23, 2018, 16 Uhr Guided tour through the exhibitions by Ed Ruscha, Philipp Timischl und Kris Lemsalu with curators Jeanette Pacher, Bettina Spörr und Annette Südbeck Press images Installation views are available for download at https://www.secession.at/presstype/vorschau/ and www.secession.at/en/presstype/aktuell Press contact Karin Jaschke T. +43 1 587 53 07-10 F. +43 1 587 53 07-34 E-Mail: [email protected] secession Vienna Secession, Association of Visual Artists Friedrichstraße 12, A-1010 Vienna, Austria T. +43-1-587 53 07, F. +43-1-587 53 07-34 [email protected], www.secession.at Tuesday – Sunday 10 am – 6 pm Permanent presentation: Gustav Klimt, Beethoven Frieze Public funding and supporters: Cooperation-, media partners, sponsors: .

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Baltic Triennial 13 – Give up the Ghost
BALTIC TRIENNIAL 13 – GIVE UP THE GHOST Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius 11 May – 12 August, 2018 Private view 11 May, 6pm Artistic Director: Vincent Honoré BT13 – GIVE UP THE GHOST launches its fi rst chapter at Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius on Friday, 11 May with an evening of performances followed by a public programme on Saturday, 12 May. BT13 in Vilnius includes works by Caroline Achaintre, Evgeny Antufi ev, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Darja Bajagić, Olga Balema, Nina Beier, Huma Bhabha, Dora Budor, Miriam Cahn, Jayne Cortez, Melvin Edwards, Daiga Grantina, Max Hooper Schneider, Anna Hulačová, Pierre Huyghe, E’wao Kagoshima, Sanya Kantarovsky, Ella Kruglyanskaya, Benoît Maire, Katja Novitskova, Pakui Hardware, Anu Põder, Laure Prouvost, Ieva Rojūtė, Rachel Rose, Augustas Serapinas and Michael E. Smith alongside a public programme of performances by Liv Wynter, Adam Christensen, Anton Lukoszevieze, Ieva Rojūtė and Žygimantas Kudirka celebrating the Triennial. The Baltic Triennial has historically taken place at the CAC Vilnius only. For its 13th edition, it will - for the fi rst time - be organised by and take place in Lithuania, Estonia (opening on June 29th) and Latvia (opening on September 21st), taking the form of three distinct chapters. Baltic Triennial 13 is informed by a shared concern: what does it mean to belong at a time of fractured iden- tities? BT13 – GIVE UP THE GHOST unfolds through and with this very question, careful not to off er a single or illustrative response. Instead, it opts for a collective vision of what is at stake: independence and depen- dency—and everything that lies in between—to territories, cultures, classes, histories, bodies and forms.
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Living Content 7 1 Kris Lemsalu, Born in 1985 in Tallinn, Estonia, Talks About Why She Switched a Future in Fashion for a Future
Kris Lemsalu Kris Lemsalu, born in 1985 in Tallinn, Estonia, Living Content You grew up in Tallinn, talks about why she switched a future in Estonia, went to school in Denmark and fashion for a future in art. She reveals how Vienna, and now you live in Berlin. Do you feel attending a secret party in Estonia further that Estonia has had a particular influence on sparked her interest in costume making and your practice? performance, and how traveling informs her work. Now, as a skilled ceramicist, Kris knows Kris Lemsalu I think that a lot of the her materials intimately and integrates both materials that I use can be traced back to my sculptural elements and performative acts in childhood but I really don’t read these roots as her installations, to map the world around her directly connected to Estonia. For instance, I as a semi-fictional ground and to create what spent a lot of time in the countryside, milking she likes to call “a personal newspaper”. cows and stuff like that, so I have this direct — experience with nature and animals. It’s a difficult question. To get to the core of this Living Content 7 1 Freud would have to invite me to lie down on his couch and dig into my childhood LC The way you’re talking about the memories... physical feeling of making objects with your own hands, seems to be very gratifying for you LC Oh no, no (laughing). We don’t want to - just looking at your work I can imagine that get in psychoanalysis.
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Kris Lemsalu ! Lives and works in Vienna !Born 1985 in Tallinn, Estonia 2013 Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Wien 2008 Estonian Art Academy, Tallinn !Danmarks Designskole, Copenhagen Solo exhibitions 2012 Top sinner Pro Choice, Vienna EVIAN DESERT Galerie Tanja Wagner, Berlin Being together with Edith Karlson Tenmikova & Kasela, Tallinn Kris Lemsalu with Mads Westrup Hinter Haus des Meeres, Vienna 2011 Schneiderei.home.studio.gallery, Vienna 2008 !gallery Window 108, Copenhagen ! Group exhibitions and performances (selected) 2013 Urschleim Fauna, Copenhagen ART IST KUKU NU UT 2013: PRADA PRAVDA Tartu Art Museum, Noorus Gallery and Y gallery, Tartu is my territory. curated by MONICA BONVICINI Christine König Galerie, Vienna Jeden Tag Gelatin 21er Haus, Vienna The Mediterranean Dog COLE Gallery, London ephemeral self - ﬁnite projections Galerie NTK, Prague 90 years of ceramic education in Estonia Estonian Museum Of Applied Arts, Tallinn 2012 The scientiﬁc people Kunstraum Niederösterreich, Vienna Discussing Metamodernism Galerie Tanja Wagner, Berlin BLACK PAGES #31 Galerie Emanuel Layr, Vienna In passing 14 with Lilo Nein Künstlerhaus, Vienna Performance with the artist group Gelitin Tanzquartier Wien, Vienna Elaine MGK, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel IHM Fair, Munich 2011 Art Forum, Helsinki Modeling agency 68squaremetres, Copenhagen There was a job to be done and everybody thought somebody would do it Kunstraum Niederösterreich, Vienna 2010 Kunstperformancenacht IV Ballhaus Ost, Berlin Reality Check with the artist group Gelitin Prague Curated by Pawel Althamer: Filmiki Dana Charkasi gallery, Vienna STATUS QUO VADIS, performance Melk Sammlung Lenikus, Vienna Creative House, performance Steiermark 2008 Space of doubt Undervand, Copenhagen RIHO !Estonian Art Museum, Tallinn Scholarships and awards 2011 BKV Prize, Munich .
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Anthea Hamilton, Hauptraum Anne Speier, Galerie James Richards & Leslie Thornton, Grafisches Kabinett Press Conference: Thursday, September 13, 2018, 10 A.M
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Kris Lemsalu Eike Eplik 2016
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Punk Pagan Trickster Feminist Sci-Fi Shaman: Kris Lemsalu CONVERSATIONS Mousse 64 by Andrew Berardini Lately my work feels more like a lone man’s smoke signal at sea, trying to find other humans. —Kris Lemsalu In a grand Edwardian opera house in London last year, a single voice rose from the darkness. As the lights slowly came up, the singer emerged standing on the balcony wearing only her makeup and an open, sky-blue caftan scattered with pink feathers. Like pure light through crystal, her song beamed with an ethereal beauty, rising in force as she chorused over and again, “In Heaven everything is fine.” One at a time, four figures (listed as archangels) emerged from the wings: David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Prince, and George Michael. All of them had just died. A tribute to be sure, this message did not belong to them, but to all those grieving these musical heroes: the joyous outsiders, space oddities, and beautiful losers, those who bend this way and that, with no right angles or gravity to hold them down. Though it was only four actors playing these legendary song-makers, this song of mourning softened the tragedy of their deaths with the beauty of the performance. There’s a certain silliness in impersonators, but these stand-ins underlined the enormity of what we’ve lost. All we’re ever going to have of them now are copies, recordings playing over speakers, covered here and there with our own voices singing along as we always have. The singers have died; we sing on.
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