On Art Book Publishing His Issue of Estonian Art Focuses on the Phenomena of Art Book Publishing in Estonia

On Art Book Publishing his issue of Estonian Art focuses on the phenomena of art book publishing in Estonia. he rise of independent book publishers run by and for the artistic community has become a notable trend in how contemporary Estonian art and design is conceptualized and distributed both locally and internationally. From the Lugemik Bookshop in the yard of the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia in Tallinn to ;paranoia publishing group ltd’s bookshop in Tartu Art Museum—art publishers in Estonia has reconigured the current cultural climate. We trace the lifeline of art publication from concept and design to the publishing house loor. he story of art book publications and independent publishing in Estonia is told by eight authors. Marika Agu talks to Kiwa about ;paranoia publishing and considers the efects of ;paranoia publishing group ltd. Ott Kagovere writes about Lugemik and graphic design in Estonia. Martin Rünk talks to the editors of the multi-media publication project New Material and New Number. Andreas Trossek, editor of Estonia’s oldest art magazine, talks about KUNST.EE and the digital turn and Laura Kuusk and Pascale Riou speak about the Side Efects book and projects. here is a photo essay by Liina Siib on Tallinn Book Printers and artwork by Triin Tamm. ART PUBLISHING ARCHITECTURE

3 Marika Agu 46 Tüüne-Kristin Vaikla ;paranoia—See Where it Takes You The Story of Memory Field

7 Ott Kagovere 55 Francisco Martinez Lugemik: Books That Speak Aesthetics of Amalgamation Volumes About Themselves 58 Angela Wheeler 10 Martin Rünk The Pleasurable Aspects of Notes on New Number Breakdown

14 Andreas Trossek 61 Carl-Dag Lige Art Journals and Magazines after The Baltic Exchange the Digital Turn. The KUNST.EE Example BOOKS 18 Laura Kuusk From, To, By, For and With 68 22 Liina Siib Tallinn Book Printers EXHIBITIONS

69 ART

30 Maria Jäärats A National Landscape

33 Kati D. Kivinen Overseas Shopping—A Tale of a Museum Collection

37 Pau Waelder A Place Called Home

DESIGN

40 Triin Jerlei Nostalgia in Estonian Design

42 Ott Kagovere In Search of Meaning Marika Agu ;paranoia— See Where It retrospective “Autoportait with the Unknown” Art at Tartu Museum.

Marika Agu (b. 1989) is a curator and art critic; in 2015 she curated Kiwa’s Takes You

he heyday of institutionally promoting creative in- of literature, the publishing house positions itself as dustries has passed in Estonia, and among its efects part of the performance art scene, creating impressive we can ind interesting outcomes at the intersection shows for each book launch. of visual arts and publishing. Contemporary artists have been compelled to acquire market vocabulary, ;paranoia is seemingly run by a number of high-rank- tools and reasoning, and ;paranoia publishing group ing directors (managing, general, creative, art and a is an example, although an ironic one. director of the board of directors), as well as several heads of departments (n0rmc0re, columnists, trans- ;paranoia publishing group was founded by the mul- lation, AV solutions, personnel, photo and manu- timedia artist Kiwa in 2014. Its brand reproduces the scripts). At the top sits the president of the corpo- aesthetic of a global corporation, creating the impres- ration: Dr. M. Valdemar. To the general public, he’s sion of an elitist cultural product. Indeed, its logo known as Paavo Matsin, a member of the experimen- seems to have spread all over the world—Hong Kong, tal literature group 14 NÜ, which was active in the London, Los Angeles, Kolõvan (an ancient name for mid-1990s in Estonia. Tallinn), Paris and Tokyo—with its head-oice ap- parently in Tallinn. ;paranoia insists on providing the In the same vein as 14 NÜ, ;paranoia publishing literary market with the most abnormal texts, intend- group’s product presentations are spectacular events, ing “to achieve consumer satisfaction and destruction with emphasis on attractive performances instead of of reality”. just reading texts to audiences. At the inauguration of ;paranoia and the presentation of their “Anthology ;paranoia focuses on experimental literature. One of of Non-Existent Books”, Dr. M. Valdemar conducted its goals is to produce a sense of estrangement in lan- an alchemical ritual. On many occasions, ;paranoia guage and to deliberately challenge what is familiar. hijacks some bigger event, for example the opening Starting with their name: instead of referring to the of the 16th Tallinn Print Triennial at KUMU. his psychological condition “paranoia”, it derives from strategy guaranteed a large audience, including the the Fenno-Ugric words para (absolute) and noid (sha- Minister of Culture, which would otherwise require man/stalker). Aside from producing intriguing works huge communication and advertising eforts.

5 ;paranoia mascot. Photo:

;paranoia mascot. Photo: ;paranoia publishing he launch of Neon Black (Neoonmust), a magazine ested in authors who are not attractive to mainstream of ictional tabloid articles, represents the other end of publishers and whose manuscripts have been rejected their agenda. he event was promoted through yellow (e.g. Valegiid by T. Novek), or who don’t intend to journalism and was attended by local socialites, which publish their texts in the irst place (e.g. “Psaiko” by is an exceptional achievement for a publishing house Psaiko). he latest issue of the so-called Beloved Clas- of experimental literature. In its press release, Neon sics series is by R. Velbaum, a notorious situationist, Black was described as a new international trend mag- whose aphorisms wouldn’t have come to the surface azine, which “is now accessible also to the Estonian from the underground club scene of Tallinn without reader”. Actually, the magazine had never been pub- the initiative of ;paranoia publishing. lished abroad though ;paranoia’s website refers to the non-existent product through ictional cover designs. In this regard, Kiwa works as the PR manager for But, who cares? What’s important here seems to be experimental art and literature, bringing readers to the desire to play with the norms of capitalist con- unknown phenomena. he large network of people sumer society and induce desire through appearance. whom he has gathered in the functioning of ;para- Creating a glitzy image for oneself is common nowa- noia publishing guarantees its unpredictability. Even days; people are famous for being famous, for no appar- though the publishing house has a seat for a president, ent reason. this is rather symbolic. In reality ;paranoia publishing is lead by incidentalism: every member of the It is not possible to ind the edition number or the so-called corporation may shape market relations. year of publishing on Neon Black’s cover, so its sus- Indeed, ;paranoia’s slogan, “see where it takes you”, tainability is not guaranteed. he idea of a tabloid rag delivers on its promise: all that one has to have is curi- is created, producing everything around it, except for osity and a sense of irony. the magazine itself. he texts inside are ictional, although inspired by real-life events. For example the article “Mel Kaldalu osutus SNOWDENIKS” [Mel Marika Agu Kaldalu turned out to be SNOWDEN] refers to the media-trickster and political activist Meelis Kaldalu, Interview with Kiwa who stole a computer from the parliament building in 2013. MARIKA AGU What is ;paranoia that other publishing houses One shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but it is ev- are not? ident that the majority of ;paranoia products (27 works released so far) are distinctive because of their ;paranoia clinically clean layout and occasionally toxic neon co- ;paranoia publishing is a metamedium. besides lours. he laconic style attracts with its lack of pre- producing printed matter, we deterritorialize tentiousness. he products are designed by the noted every single phenomenon in the broad field that graphic designer Tuuli Aule, with whom Kiwa start- connects text production and consumption, ed co-operation back in 2004, when he published his usage of language, words, letters and punc- irst book Roboti tee on nihe / Salatühik. (he way of tuation marks, the imperative notion of litera- the Robot is the Shit / Secret Void). ture and ego-centred narrative techniques, the post-market situation, the current indie-pub- Aule has managed to create a signature style for a lishing wave and books as tactile multiple ar- large variety of products. To illustrate the scope, there tefacts (we do exclusive small editions, usually is a colouring book (TKUN ORHA PNUL by M. from 50 to 500). we value the self-filling of the Kleis and R. Jakapi), post-cards (by H. Hütt and E. text, and question the established hierarchies Müürsepp), a music album (“Memorial”, by Cubus of meaning within the semiosphere. Larvik), a magazine (Neoonmust), a reference book (the 1st volume of A List of Every Band Ever, by Cel- instead of a homogenetic perspective, we mod- er Tambre), a book of verse with accompanying CD el a space of dynamic interpretations on the (“Sulgunud ruum”, by Joanna Ellmann and Kiwa), polysemic horizon at a certain level of different along with rather normal textbooks, although there’s and distinguishable structural, material and po- nothing normal about their content. ;paranoia is inter- litical apparatuses.

7 the twins are like dynamic processes in a given space a given in processes dynamic like are twins the the twins symbolize the cognitive shift in pattern rec pattern in shift cognitive the symbolize twins the ;p the isolator and twins play central roles as the mas the as roles central play twins and isolator the ;p MA Besides the distinctive design, what other ele other what design, distinctive the Besides MA the shapes of the books are inspired by geo inspired are books the of shapes the imagery create text, to the back power to give most the in content insane most the possibly ;p Tuuli Aule designer the with Your co-operation MA agateway to as square, ablack as wefunction wave synchronization occurs for the same reason. same the for occurs wave synchronization brain energy. of division the are patterns rhythmic energy. of timing by the determined is medium, certain a as observed be can which life, all necessary. are patterns rhythm experience, to have acognitive time. the transpersonal dimension. ognition. identification as “becoming something” and contact with the mysterious stranger. ing into tarkovsky’s mirror on the planet epic solaris. gaz bitch pavlov’s like pattern. humanoid the confirms which them, love clients our because but so, to be cots of ;paranoia publishing not because it was meant ra-twins” and the writer’s “isolator”? writer’s the and ra-twins” “pa the of role the What’s house? publishing the of branding the in have applied you ments they feel like part of one’s body. one’s of part like feel they shape, body’s to the smoothly so adapt books the as ergonomics. and comfort on emphasis an with design, unique by the guaranteed is fort com reading book. the of shape geometric the and body the of shape streamlined the tween be contrast the to underline figures metric without visuals. without book-like form possible. clinical, minimal, rigid, normative, conventional products? ;paranoia for have you applied strategy design the describe you Could ways. of number infinite an in read be can it away that in ordered is text the content: and form in unconventional very is Void), which /ASecret Shift The is Robot the Way of (The /Salatühik nihe on tee Roboti book your designed she when 2004 in back began tonauts. cogni of anetwork as and experiences untitled ------;p ;paranoia publishing group ltd. is a major internation amajor is ltd. group publishing ;paranoia ;p Which ;paranoia? of strategy import-export the What’s MA productive for cube white apersonal is isolator the as an agency, we offer platforms, contexts and pro and contexts platforms, agency, weoffer an as — irreversibly immanence-crossing deterritorializa dataflows transborder psychotic most —the operations: textual selected carefully with clients our weprovide — a breakbeat of meta-meanings and hallucinating psy our aims are responsible action, consumer satisfaction printed literature, non-creative and —experimental lish and what is the target group for them? for group target the is what and lish to pub choose generally you do artists and writers 1925. from prototype gernsbeck’s hugo after modelled is isolator the hallucinating. starts and void the experiences mind the where condition aperfect is stimuli outside off cutting alienation. texts in the contemporary literary market. literary contemporary the in texts al publisher, providing statistically the most abnormal tion and promotion. fessional for services authors: production, distribu tion and the destruction of reality. of destruction the and art. text and matter cho-geographies ------

8 Cover of Neoonmust (Neonblack) magazine Ott Kagovere ed philosophy Lugemik: Books That Speak Volumes at Tallinn Universityat Tallinn and graphic design at the Estonian Academy of Arts. About Themselves Ott Kagovere is a freelance graphic designer and design critic. Has studi

What does it mean to publish a book? his question is he book is 95% percent photos. Many of them are both the most childish and the most serious of ques- shown only partially and lack explanations. Never- tions. he childish part is asking questions about the theless, the book is fascinating. It speaks in code and obvious. Publishing a book means designing it, bind- it invites the reader to decipher. Most importantly, it ing it, printing and selling it. What more is there to was made with care, precision and the utmost atten- ask!? But one can see this question as childish only tion to detail. when one’s relation to publishing is trivial. he seri- ousness comes in when one actually meditates on the We might think that such an approach is common question. In this case, the question is as perplexing as among publishing houses, but Lugemik is in the mi- the meaning of life itself. nority internationally and a rarity in Estonia. It was founded by two friends: Indrek Sirkel, a graphic de- I now ofer you a small challenge. Step into a nearest signer and Anu Vahtra, an artist and a photographer, bookshop, grab the irst book and try to igure out if who had studied together in the Gerrit Rietveld Acad- the relationship of the publisher towards the act of emie in the Netherlands. Ater graduating in 2007, publishing is trivial or serious. he nearest bookshop they set out to work as freelancers, while teaching in for me is the Lugemik Bookshop in Tallinn, which is the Estonian Academy of Arts graphic design depart- open during the summer on the premises of the Con- ment. hey had worked together on various projects temporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM). I step and publications, but the initiative to start publishing in and the irst book that I reach for, Anu Vahtra’s grew out of frustration. hey had collaborated with Untitled, published by the Lugemik publishing ini- various museums and galleries and were surprised by tiative, is perplexing. he dust jacket of the book is how little most of these institutions paid attention a huge folded black and white photograph. Some of to the process of publishing an exhibition catalogue. the pages are not cut open and they make the reader Most saw it as a tradition, something that had always struggle or play (depending on the person) with the accompanied an exhibition, and thus never asked the pages a little to see the pictures and information fully. question “why publish?” or “what should/could the

9 and the content of important the book are equally It well. shows as that us the formbook, egalitarian is product, and the inal becomes the actual egalitarian far-reaching consequences. he process of publishing oration statement his simple is enough, but it has participants closepublish in collab all books with which driven is Lugemik, by a conceptual to agenda: hese are only examples two of the whole corpus of exhibition. it such exhibited as was Neeme as in of art, Külm’s a“traditional”seen as artist’s awork book, but as also pitch-black be book can his and nothing else. pages he hardcover book athick, is Külm. book with collaborationand made in Neeme the with artist book “Shimmer on the Surface”, published 2012 in most suitable for Another her example good art. the is apuzzlelooks to like abystander, but approach this is motives. he book by VahtraAnu (mentioned above) of the book invisible, they it use to emphasize their neutral to the make form and so, instead of trying For themik. the form of never abook can truly be out!” But too is narrow this a philosophy for Lugem neutral form, in so that the content of the book stands onsize the form of the book: “A book good should be proach pretentious, because it puts too much empha objectsart themselves. Some consider might ap this documentations of work, artists’ but stand out as hese are publications that do not mere function as close years, six toIn 50 items have been published. and produced Brussels in her new performance. MonkoMarge the Popposition alternative in fair art For the instance spring in of 2016 they represented movedhas beyond publishing only printed matter. joined her and through the gang initiative Lugemik the autumn ofIn 2015 member, athird Laura Toots, collectionstanding of books and other printed matter. established and ever since they have published out an hus 2010 in publishing the initiative Lugemik was ofwas utmost importance. ecution. For them the question “why publish abook?” placeirst and what would the be means of perfect ex why through of to just do doing it the it, in thinking photograph etc.) into close collaboration and instead involved publishing in a book (writer, designer, artist, the opposite: exactly was mik the people to bring all theiring work separately. he initiative Luge to start mostly many isolating, people working on it, but do hibition?” he process of was publishing acatalogue role of apublication the context in be ex art of an ------exciting work. exciting and keeps exists that is Lugemik on producingthing (Tootsand artists and Vahtra), but the important careers adesignertime individual pursuing as (Sirkel) toage keep initiative at the while this same going, Nobodyes. knows how Sirkel, Toots and Vahtra man scene,design hosting various events and book launch tioned important an venue as the Estonian in graphic he bookshop opened was 2013 in since and has func Bookshop. houses to Estonian audiences the through Lugemik various printed matter from other publishing small introduce abroad,tonian they also art foreign and art street, promoting at least and while for Lugemik, Es (Kopenhagen).Books But promotion a two-way is Book (Norway) Fair Bergen Art and One housand (Berlin),Books Ofprint (Paris and London), the the Newfairs: York Book Fair, Art Friends With promotethey also them abroad various through book actively publishingWhile books by Estonian artists, we come to appreciate the format of the book. ter—and tender, this through but constant reminder, he books remind of us what they are—printed mat techniques,ing fonts and presentation of imagery. chosen papers, carefully through and binding print but utterly important decisions. design hey speak abouthey constantly themselves talk small through oten these books are not just anonymous bystanders. ten communicative as is the content as itself. Quite and that the form of the and quite be book can of ------

Graphic designer Will Holder hosting Marcel Duchamp’s 128th birthday 10 at Lugemik Bookshop for the participants of Asterisk Summer School 2015 Marge Monko’s book “Don’t Wind It Up, Turn It On”, which is part of the Neeme Külm “Shimmer of the Surface”. Photo: Anu Vahtra performance with the same name. Photo: Anu Vahtra 11 an art form in itself, that might act as acatalyst for form itself, as in act that art might an appearance one If of one’s texts. takes own as writing the with formatexperimental and playful and visual “We Estonia. in to encourage try writers to more be not as much writing, experimental to is art found be ofhe the goal project to is address the question of agroup in explained, interview.team to decisions.” the table on and weighs in making the ideas new brings Everyone environment. work chical Tuulberg.and Eda “We a non-hierar to maintain try Eva-Erle Evelyn Raudsepp, Lilleaed, Reinert Brigita Esko, Marten order: Viktor Ehasalu, Gurov, Madli the co-editors alphabetical in of are, the magazine Academy For background. year’s of this Arts issue, ers and graphic designers acommon with Estonian he people behind the project are writ young art and editorial board. ty art-project/magazinean identi name, ashiting with candy. the is presentation his of the second issue of relective and the mask occasional nibble of cotton windowless concrete where hall, everyone given is a alabyrinth of leads through corridorschimney to a he dooring. at the foot of meter the 90 red-brick situated the historical in Tallinn Power Plant build freshly renovated the Kultuurikatel, creative hub Flickering outdoor people guide candles inside the Number New on Notes Rünk Martin - - - - art and culture. Again, more maga just art than an Again, and culture. art communication, hype contemporary and populism in Number!, continuing the project the with topic of ment, appropriately entitled Uus Number! /New instal out anew with English–Estonian bilingual issue, they irst have the successful very Ater come thesaid editors. creative editorial team” two), we could describe ourselves aproject-based as house collective or art (or an alternating between the object. of Instead art being and apublishing an azine whole. between being amag “Both of our issues fall its formconceptually and content link into aseamless only it was acollector’s item, but to managed it also It aphenomenon was when it came out 2014. in Not writers, philosophers, engineers, designers and artists. the return of materiality, contributions with from art the topic objectsart tackling of new materialism and tom-made six-kilo concrete box containing and texts Materjal (New Material), impressive an was cus Uus only issue called he Estonian irst language ways with ing of and presenting writing texts.1 texts.” they have And done that by exactly expement texts’ or journalists critics’say cultural or texts just that we are interested authors’ in compared texts, to that sense in So we writing. could art say in changes - - - - - Martin Rünk (b. 1982) is an art critic and PhD student at the Estonian Academy of Arts. 12 New Number. Photo: Anu Vahtra zine it’s also a carefully conceptuaized object with a world, as most of the writers have emphasized in their design that is in dialogue with the previous issue. In writings. In helping artists gain international recogni- stark contrast to the heavy concrete box issue of New tion, it takes a group efort to spread the word and cre- Material, the new issue New Number looks like a half ate leverage. With a country the size of Estonia, it has metal foil half translucent bubble of air—a publica- always been a question of how to become part of the tion heat-sealed in a plastic bag illed with air. larger art scene and art market, how to gain visibility and credibility. his can be achieved only through he topic of materialism is brought home and works professional contacts and a long-term strategy. A few of of the Marxist perspective of creating added value cases emerge from interviews and articles that em- by communication and hype, and focusing—in a ig- body the recent success stories of “breaking through”. urative manner—on the air surrounding the product. he air is just a symbol and should not be read in a One of the most notable cases is the Temnikova & judgemental way. It’s there; it’s the core of the thing. Kasela Gallery, which has had an unparalleled impact Commerce is everywhere and the ield of art and cul- on the presence of Estonian artists in the internation- ture is no exception. he measures taken to succeed, al art market. For the gallerist Olga Temnikova, last to achieve goals, to reach an audience, can all be de- year was particularly successful, with the unprece- scribed in terms of branding, marketing, communi- dented amount of international media coverage Kris cation and pubic relations work. Art is made to be Lemsalu and her installation/performance Whole communicated. Alone 2 received following the Frieze Art Fair 2015 in New York. In an interview with Tallinn Television, Evelyn Raudsepp, one of the editors of the magazine, wear- Another PR success story involves the giant mega- ing a mask, talked about a short story written by the phones installed in a forest in southern Estonia, also Dutch art critic and gallerist Kitty van Leeuwen that in 2015. It was a school project carried out by the is included in the current issue. he story is about an students of the Interior Architecture Department of important exhibition opening, with the entire in- the Estonian Academy of Arts under the supervision ternational art scene present. Ater wine, gossip and of Hannes Praks. In New Number!, Triin Männik professional networking, the audience is given masks shares her experience of doing PR for the project, with relecting surfaces and inally shown into the ex- which went viral and ended up receiving unprece- hibition space. To their amazement, all of the rooms dented publicity, from specialised blogs to big inter- are empty except for the last one, where they ind a national media outlets. sculpture covered with the same kind of relective material as their masks. he fable-like story polemicizes “We have started the research process for the theme of the tendency of the professional art world for con- the next issue,” said the editors of the magazine when stant navel-gazing. Repeated in real life at the New I inquired about the next issue. With just two issues Number! launch, it was a joke on everyone present, under its belt, the project is still taking baby steps, but with masked people from the local art community in- by generating fresh ideas and presenting them in un- advertently fulilling the prophecy. conventional ways, New Material and New Number! have proved to be a promising start in pushing the Aside from the overall concept, New Number! is an limits of art writing in Estonia. interesting piece of critique and analysis of the local art world, relecting on the rapid professionalization he full interview with the editorial team of New of art and culture management in Estonia. Inter- Number! is available on the Estonian Art website views with some of the key players in the Estonian art estonianart.ee scene reveal questions they are dealing with in order to build up a support network for developing artists’ 1 This approach to art publication is inspired by the careers in the international art world. legendary US multimedia magazine Aspen published by Phyllis Johnson between 1965–1971, with a total of eight issues. Aspen was a conceptual publication delivered in a box containing booklets, sound recordings, posters In our pragmatic world, only art that has visibility is and postcards. Each issue had a new designer and editor appreciated. Art management and communication – among them Andy Warhol, Dan Graham and George Maciunas. The digitalized content is available on UbuWeb at have become central parts of the contemporary art www.ubu.com/aspen.

13 New Number. Photo: Anu Vahtra

Andreas Trossek ed as the

Art Journals and porary art in Estonia. Magazines ater the Digital Turn. he KUNST.EE Andreas (b. Trossek 1980) is an art historian and critic; since 2009 he has work Example. Editor-in-Chief of KUNST.EE, a quarterly published magazine on contem

his story goes a long way back, some twenty ive the escalation of the DJ culture that really took of in years at least. I remember it was some time in the early Estonia during the 1990s, I sold that player, earning 1990s, when I was a preteen and taking my irst bold more than triple what I’d originally paid for it. I’ve steps at becoming a music lover and a record collector, never gone back to that big electronics store, mind when I went to the then biggest electronics store in you. hose dudes clearly didn’t know which way the Tallinn. I inquired whether I could buy a record play- wind was blowing. hey were all about the status quo, er and how much it would cost me. he store clerk i.e. they were lazy and they were supericial. And that began to laugh. I remember him laughing so much isn’t kosher, as any of the representatives of any sub or that he almost had tears in his eyes. He even called his nerd culture will tell you. colleagues from the back of the store to see this nerd- ish freak, this four-eyed chubby boy that I used to be Still, this story needs some background. he begin- when I was eleven or twelve years old, in order to spit ning of the nineties was all about cassette tapes in Es- out the simple and cruel truth: “He wants, ha-ha-hah, tonia. Music lovers recorded songs of the radio and to buy a record player! hey stopped producing those scribbled down information on songs and performers years ago; haven’t you heard? Ha-ha-hah!” onto cassette cases by hand. Also, pirate cassettes, mainly of Polish origin, were sold at semi-legal mar- I gave up, but the hunt was not over. A week later I kets (that have now become totally legal supermar- had purchased an old record player, via a newspaper kets) and even newsstands, alongside cigarettes and ad, at a rock-bottom price. Some years later, thanks to bus tickets. Oicial import CDs were sold at music

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15 2015 4 2013 3 17 stores, true, but kept under lock and key, as if they a professionally edited art magazine/journal from a were jewellery and, considering what these “luxury” newsstand or get a subscription in order to read it. products cost in Estonia back then, it’s no wonder. Why should you? he digital MP3 format, which turned the global music industry upside down at the end of the decade, still Similarly, there’s no point in buying a record either: belonged to the realms of science-iction back then, nowadays you could simply download the music. Yet simply because you could only dream about a perma- people do buy them, for whatever freakish reason, nent internet connection and a home computer in the and records haven’t got lost in the dustbin of history, early 1990s in Estonia. I tell you, I’m not an old man as many have predicted. It could be that it all comes yet, but it was a very diferent world and a very difer- down to the tangible presence of the body and the ent Estonia back then (so excuse me if I sound like I’m physical world and also the basic need “to historicize” sixty-four when I’m only thirty-six). ourselves. he clutter around us always reminds us of the life we’ve lived and the time we’ve spent here on he point is that no-one knows how the future is go- Earth. Keep the important stuf; chuck the rest. hat’s ing to unravel. Every time I hear someone predict the what they keep telling us. But we do love ourselves, future is “going to be completely digital”, I feel that don’t we? We don’t like the idea of a life gone wrong, these people—without question very smart people— especially if it’s ours. Eventually, everyone grows tired are more likely describing the present. he present is of a completely empty room: there’s a diference be- digital. I can concur with that. However, as someone tween a cosy apartment and a vampire’s coin, right? who remembers a time without smartphones and An- droid tablets, Windows, Gmail, Facebook, Wikipedia I’ve oten joked that printing and distributing an art or various iGadgets, I can honestly say that human life journal/magazine in the current digital age is a lot on planet Earth will not cease to exist if some global like selling records. In fact, we actively sell each new businesses decide, for whatever unexpected or freak- issue of KUNST.EE for a limited period, and even- ish reason, to turn to real-estate or banking instead of tually all the print iles become available on our web information technology. Once you’ve earned your irst archive for free downloading. So, yeah, it’s basically million, your next business adventure simply needs to free. You can easily Google us to make sure. You can be more proitable: that’s how capitalism works. he buy or pre-subscribe to “the vinyl version”, but you gamers inside the anthroposphere are simply too good can also wait for six months or so and get it for free. at the adaption game; we all know that in our guts. Your call. However, getting your hands on a fresh You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the copy right ater it’s published is way cooler: it smells wind blows: that’s the truth. he weatherman can like…”napalm in the morning, it smells like victory!” only predict, or state the status quo: the status quo of All the bibliophiles and melomaniacs will understand “the future”. Yet the truth is that we don’t know what my black humour here, no doubt. will really happen. Especially when it comes to those tiny little things—books, records, art etc.—that real- True, most of the record stores that ruled the world ly don’t seem to matter in the general adaption game in the 1970s and 1980s have gone bankrupt. Likewise, but that still mould us into who we really are. most print runs of art journals and magazines have faced catastrophic declines in recent years, and some As most of my readers have already guessed, I chose of them have closed down completely. Yet the biggest vinyl – or the story of “the rise and fall and rise again” brands are still out there, right? What does that tell of vinyl – to illustrate my point for a reason. As the us? he rise and fall of the Gutenberg galactic and the current Editor-in-Chief of the art quarterly KUNST. new digital age, blah-blah-blah...? Well, I think it says EE, which is all about contemporary art in Estonia that the basic rules of the game haven’t changed at all. in printed form, I believe that art journals and maga- I might be wrong but as far as I can see it’s still a very zines all around the world are currently experiencing big thing to an artist to be reviewed in a renowned art a somewhat analogous, and indeed painful transmis- journal/magazine. If it’s also online, as a sharable link, sion phase, where all seems to be lost to digital plat- all the better, but that’s just a bonus. No doubt, sub- forms. Indeed digital platforms: web pages, blogs and scribers and readers also trust the brand better if a con- Facebook walls are free for the reader, and for the sake siderable amount of money has been spent on printing of the argument, let’s ignore hidden advertisements each new issue. We’re all smart here, and can all do here, O.K? Whereas, you still have to “physically” buy the math. And yes, you can actually read KUNST.EE

18 from cover to cover (as a curated entity, if you like); each to be browsed and browsed again, when you please: issue contains editorials, essays, reviews and news; and similar to having a proper record collection, don’t you it’s also professionally edited (i.e. before it’s out there, think? If the art journal’s brand is strong enough in people get paid to read it and point out the mistakes). the digital age, the general readership can only grow. Professionally edited: does that ring any bells? I hope it does. here’s a diference between a published opinion Nowadays, by pre-ordering KUNST.EE, you can and a professional opinion, mind you, even in the dig- count on approximately an astonishing four hundred ital age. And, needless to add, there’s the context. No pages of art criticism and illustrations per year both Twitter “tweets” or blog entries can get the same job in Estonian and in English. hat’s quite a lot of “art done: I can tell you that. talk”, both high-brow and low-brow, at least in a small country like Estonia. Needless to say, this publishing I won’t fool you: you won’t get the ”full picture” on ideology goes a long way back: “Being reviewed in a Estonian art, but then again who does? You’ll get a daily Estonian newspaper is nice, but once you get general collectively analysed overview of what has reviewed in KUNST.EE, you get a ticket into Esto- been going on here delivered by critical minds keen nian art history”, as one famous Estonian artist once on establishing the truth, and nothing but the truth. told me. I am not sure whether this famous artist was And if you don’t care about the Estonian art world being serious (probably not), but as a trained art his- generally and you won’t acknowledge the presence of torian, I understand completely what was meant by KUNST.EE in the ield, well good luck with that be- that (I’ve done my time sitting in libraries, mind you). cause the predecessor of KUNST.EE was the alma- Needless to say, this places a burden on my shoulders, nac Kunst, established in the 1950s, and our current of which I am fully aware, because it’s the truth; nev- quarterly format simply continues this tradition by ertheless, it’s also “a dream of Napoleon” that I am not providing “the whole picture” as best we can. And as fully capable of accepting, no matter how much I get life experience shows, our art experts’ opinions still paid (insert smiley face). matter, at least in the long run. How to end this piece? Well, I still collect records. However, the bitter truth of it is you can’t really make And I still collect art magazines and journals and good money out of publishing art criticism in Esto- art books, and pile them on my bookcase. And this nia, but at least you can get by, and that’s the most bookcase is huge, it’s long and wide, and it’s a moving important thing. It’s not that people don’t care gen- company’s nightmare. Hey, I guess I’m still the chub- erally about contemporary art in Estonia; it’s just that by four-eyed nerd that I used to be in my preteens and there are so few of us. he numbers, it all comes down this is my way to compensate. Nothing’s changed, re- to the numbers. he average number of subscribers ally. And I know there are more people like me out that KUNST.EE gets nowadays is about two or three there, both in Estonia and elsewhere. Who like to hundred (plus the few subscribers abroad, mostly in- read art criticism, if it’s professionally edited, struc- terested nearby art institutions), plus what we man- tured, and formed in speciic sentences. Who feel that age to sell in local newsstands. However, in a country reading and subscribing to an art magazine/journal is of about one million plus, that’s not bad for a strictly a cool thing to do. Who adore the sight of a bookcase “targeted product”. illed with printed matter. Feels a bit privileged in the digital age, right? hat’s how it’s supposed to feel. his is also way more than in the nineties and the noughties, when the previous almanac Kunst made Art magazines and journals aren’t going anywhere its way to the quarterly format, clearly shown by the anytime soon. We’re simply too accustomed to “.ee” suix (i.e Estonia). Yes, our print run during the them. We want someone telling us how it is in the Soviet years was slightly bigger (approximately 2,000 art world, because someone has to. I think art critics copies then compared to 1,000 copies now). Yet, back are still an integral part of the system, and without then we didn’t have the freedom of the Internet: no- them the system we call the art world would simply one really knows how many people have actually read collapse. And if you disagree, well, see you at some the previous issues of the almanac and the quarterly art fair where rich people gather to talk about…any- (or did they just download them for the sake of one where the wind blows. article?). Plus, nothing compensates for the feeling of actually stacking all of them on your bookshelf, ready

19 his page 20 “Side Efects” in Grenoble, 2014. Photo: Laura Kuusk Laura Kuusk & Pascale Riou

Translations by Pille Ruus and Mari Volens Based on extracts from the book Side Effects

From, To, By, Grenoble Alpes University in Grenoble, France. For works as an Assistant Professor at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Laura Kuusk (b. 1982) is an artist. Since 2015 she lives in and Tallinn

Pascale Riou (b. 1984) is a PhD student in History of Contemporary Art at and With

Some impulses are stronger than we are. I don’t mean hese intuitions feed on assumptions that condi- the need to eat, sleep or—if danger looms—run, and tioned invitations to participants of both exhibitions so on, but something that is not directly associated and the working time shared beforehand. with survival yet which still seems very vital, such as slashing through seemingly impassable, pathless brush he Side Efects project started with an invitation armed with only the certainty that precisely this is the from the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia right way; intuition is essential in (an artist’s) work, (Eesti Kaasaegse Kunsti Muuseum, EKKM) to do- and oten—in the best case—it’s where it all begins. nate a work of art to their collection in exchange for As Gaston Bachelard has noted “an intuition cannot a symbolic value. Laura Kuusk was invited to curate be proven, it has to be experienced,” in Intuition of an exhibition. From there, the irst exhibition in 2013 the Instant.1 Here intuition tells us that the second- in EKKM in Tallinn, Estonia was built in collabo- ary efects of an artistic activity, the by-products, the ration between Pascale Riou, a French art historian externalities, can be crucial for a work process or the and Laura Kuusk, an Estonian artist. hey worked work of art itself. together in the Association pour l’Agencement des Activités (AAA, Grenoble). his collective of artists Another intuition concerns the fact that banality or and art historians is committed to the common ex- daily life are surely more than secondary but they plorations of artistic activity—an extra job, multiple are part of writing the game rules, sometimes forced, activities, make-do, choice, the accidental—and Side sometimes chosen. Yet another concerns the “adven- Efects was born out of a willingness to share them tive” (a French term for self-propagating), which, like with diferent participants within a personal and in- a weed growing, happens without having been de- formal network. signed, anticipated or intended. he purpose of yet another one is exchange, ricochet as a method of work he irst exhibition in EKKM in Tallinn was followed that gives prominence to the accidental and surprise. by a second in the former Museum-Library, Showcase

21 gallery and other venues in Grenoble, France in 2014. art historian Catherine Strasser claimed for her own In 2015 a book was published as the third part of our research.2 Indeed, it is important to show this side of project. he book is meant to be a hybrid between a art, which in many ways seems vital to talk about in catalogue, a research notebook and an essay; an ex- the current context. Such issues as work, economics hibition space in its own right, as well as a database and time are broad, universal themes that emerged bringing together around forty participants in the from these ways of doing things and the pieces of project. work shown, through positions of dilettantism, curi- osity and discretion, but also collaboration; they help What were the intentions of the project? Side Efects to map the ield of contemporary art. was made up of more or less accidental meetings and exchanges. Some of the artists and theorists who were At the beginning of the 21st century, economists are invited to cooperate also participated in the exhibi- rethinking capitalism and macro- and micro-eco- tions, while others were invited especially for the nomic exchanges by integrating the notions of cog- book. Various contributors—art historians, sociolo- nitive capitalism and positive externalities. For Yann gists, critics and artists—were given the opportunity Moulier Boutang in his Cognitive Capitalism: A New to express themselves through texts, interviews and Great Transformation, sharing knowledge and skills images. hus the book includes texts and exhibition through Internet networks and new communication outlooks, archives, photographs, plans and notes re- technologies helps cognitive capitalism to emerge.3 vealing what we wish to show of the activity. Marten he exchange of knowledge and information is faster Esko and Anaëlle Taluy return, for example, both in and more globalized than ever before; moreover, it is their own way, to the irst two parts of the project; free and data sharing is punctual and discreet. In his Céline Ahond shows some preparatory documents for book, the author focuses on an under-examined com- her performance held in Grenoble; Pierre Courtin’s ponent of this system: externalities. hitherto unpublished drawings that he made alongside his daily activities are shown; Grégory Jérome his term refers to the non-premeditated and speaks of artistic work and its economic aspects, etc. non-quantiied efects of an economic exchange. hese efects are either negative externalities or ben- As an artist and an art historian, the two initiators eicial for both parties, in which case they are called of the project both had their own methods of work- positive externalities. he author concludes with the ing, especially as regards the artists and the making concept of a pollen society, where nobody is an idle of art. For the artist, the aim was to share some ideas grasshopper or a hard-working ant, as in the fable by and ways of working alone or in cooperation with col- La Fontaine, but everyone is a bee who knows how leagues, and feel the points where we connected when to work and live together, share and act in a way that it came to work. It was also about trying out various afects the environment and does so consciously. exhibition sites and formats. For the historian, the Side Efects its comfortably into the context aim was to experiment with the sensitive and spatial of cognitive capitalism, is an example of development of hypotheses while working closely positive externalities, tries to facili- with visiting artists and theorists. We wanted to bring tate their emergence and exam- together, observe and show artists and ways of doing ines the relationships be- things, whether modest or demanding, radical or dis- tween a pollen society creet, where work ecology seemed relevant to us in and diferent ways the context of contemporary art. We wanted to give of doing things. artists an opportunity to work or not work, in shared or private living conditions, in a reduced space-time that could be extended. We wanted to do something 1 Gaston Bachelard. Intuition of the Instant (L’intuition de together, make-do and let others do. l’instant). Paris: Gonthier, Bibliothèque Médiations, 1966, p.8. Even though the project developed within a lim- 2 Catherine Strasser. On Artwork, Observation of Works of Art and Analysis of the Process that Leads Them (Du ited circle, there was no attempt to form a group or travail de l’art, Observation des oeuvres et analyse de a school. he commitment was personal, the “cor- processus qui les conduit). Paris: du Regard, 2006, p.10. pus [is] deliberately chosen based on the methods of 3 Yann Moulier-Boutang. Cognitive Capitalism: A New Great Transformation (Le capitalisme cognitif, la nouvelle grande work that we should value in today’s world”, as the transformation). Amsterdam: Multitudes/Idées, 2007.

22 his page “Side Efects” in Grenoble, 2014. Photo: Laura Kuusk 23 Liina Siib

Tallinn Book Woman Takes Little Takes Woman Space” at the 54th Venice Art Biennale. Estonian Academy of Arts. In 2011 she represented Estonia with “A Printers Liina Siib (1963) is a visual artist and Professor of Graphic Art at the

he building of Tallinn Book Printers (Tallinna Raamatutrüki- koda) was inished in 1985 and according to their website it was ‘the irst printing house to be built exclusively for printing and binding books’. When I think about them, then the irst thing that comes to mind is the people—the always friendly, helpful workers who care about cooperating with publishers and designers. Secondly, the building is always so pristine—not a hint of dust in sight. Also, they have kept their 1980s interior design which has value on its own.

Ater 1985 when they started their presses there have been several printing turns. In pre-press, printing and post-press. here’s less and less manual labour now. Men stand behind the printing machines, women are mostly in print binding and inishing. You can’t see the long table any more with ladies sitting or standing behind it doing chores that can’t be done with machines. he table is much shorter now and it is used for adding ribbon bookmarks and covers to books.

Maria Jäärats

Petriﬁed Art History at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Landscapes Maria Jäärats (b.1985) is a Doctoral student in and Stalinist Impressionism

he exhibition “Romantic and Progressive. Stalinist shores.”1 When I visited the exhibition, I also overheard Impressionism in Painting of the Baltic States in the some visitors sighing “how pretty!” at the paintings, in 1940s−1950s” at KUMU Art Museum was a rare sheer wonder. example of a local exhibition focusing fully on art during the Stalinist period. Turning to the margins of a period that has been subject to large generalisations and at times has been For a viewer expecting cookie-cutter socialist realist ignored is very commendable but does not come thematic paintings and pompous formal portraits without risks. In a review that included the “Stalin- of Soviet leaders and Stakhanovite heroes, the exhi- ist Impressionism” exhibition, Tanel Rander smartly bition might have seemed puzzling. Although heavy noted that “matter picked out of history’s trash can machinery, factories and red lags were clearly pres- /—/ can only return in a depoliticized and aestheti- ent, a considerable portion of the exhibited works cized form”.2 he return of ideologically complex art consisted of archetypical, seemingly timeless land- as purely aestheticized visual material is an apt de- scapes and genre paintings carried out in Impression- scription of the public reception of “Stalinist Impres- ist techniques and colour schemes. Furthermore, the sionism”. selection of works and the method of display did not directly imply categories of oicial vs. non-oicial art I would like to change perspectives by turning to or contradictions. the historical context and focusing on the genre of landscape painting, which makes up a big part of the herefore, one reviewer seemed genuinely amazed that artistic production of the Stalinist time in Estonia. “he exhibition is surprisingly cheerful /—/ all of those One might imagine that Stalinist Impressionism was [Stalinist themes] are nearly absent. What we see are a local Baltic or Estonian particularity, indicating a lowers blooming in vases, artists painting their loved distinct continuation of pre-war traditions. But the ones, and seemingly free ishermen on seemingly free acceptable stylistic and thematic “repertoire” during

32 Kristjan Teder “Eesti maastik” (Estonian Landscape), 1947 Richard Uutmaa “Puise Neemel” (Cape Puise), 1955 33 the 1940s-1950s in Soviet Russia was not that nar- What created growing turmoil and an increasingly row. Also, the common understanding that land- paranoid atmosphere was not the narrow or ixed na- scape painting was marginalised due to the oicially ture of socialist realism and its demands, but the am- imposed hierarchy of genres is too simplistic. In the biguity and lux inscribed into the system. According post-war years, Soviet Russian landscape painting was to Jaan Undusk, this ambiguity stemmed from the praised as a means of evoking patriotic sentiments dialectic contradiction evident even in the core for- and several artists whose works were driven by a kind mula “truthful, historically concrete representation of of rural nostalgia and impressionist colour scheme reality in its revolutionary development” and caused were accepted and received high honours, such as the socialist realism to function as a mechanism for the Stalin Prize (for example Arkady Plastov in 1946). reproduction of constant anxiety and fear in the cultural sphere.4 According to Boris Groys, the contra- Yet throughout the second half of the 1940s the dis- dictory theoretical notions of socialist realism should course on landscape painting in the local media, the be linked with dialectic materialism, which means debate over the “landscape issue”, turned extremely constantly thinking in terms of the unity of contra- vicious. he appropriateness of works of art and art- diction and paradox.5 ists was decided in reviews published in the press, and in public and closed discussions that accompanied the It is important to acknowledge the absence of a ra- exhibitions. Art criticism played a crucial role in argu- tional logic of suitability, especially in the irst part ing for or against the ideological and aesthetic appro- of the 1950s and during the purging “campaigns” (a priateness of works, but was also required to explain campaign against formalism and impressionism, and the theoretical notions and provide direct guidance a campaign against anti-patriotic bourgeois national- to artists. For nearly every strategy used to secure a ists in 1949). From time to time, questionable works safe position, a counterargument itting the same rep- somehow “slipped through” and it was possible to ertoire of Marxist critique could be easily found to prop up positions by using oicial jargon; in other undermine or discredit the artist, and thus the critic. cases, artists were condemned for no evident reason. An unsettling example is the exhibition of works by Evald Okas, Richard Sagrits and Richard Uutmaa in he debate over the “landscape issue” indicates region- 1947, and the accompanying discussions. While the al diferences: the fact that genres, themes and strate- artists were accused of depicting agricultural work gies accepted in Moscow or Leningrad were problem- methods incorrectly, the critics were blamed for sub- atic in the peripheral Baltics, where the awareness of jecting the artworks to unscientiic critiques and not the recent territorial occupation was acute. Landscape giving clear guidelines. hat same year, the Estonian paintings depicting idyllic rural scenery generated artist and professor at the State Applied Art School such an anxious response in contemporary criticism Boris Lukats, who was gaining inluence in the local because they accurately showed pre-war landscapes, art-political scene and was soon to become chairman covertly and probably unintentionally pointing to the of the Estonian Artists Union, wrote: “It is remark- frailty of the Soviet “presence” in the actual “land- able that landscape painting is the domain in which scape”. the question of Sovietness and non-Sovietness has been treated in the most questionable way up to this very day. /—/ Just recently, during a public discussion in Tartu, someone proclaimed that nowadays landscape is ‘forbidden’(!).”3 1 Oll, Sulev. Eesti lill Stalini vaasis. maaleht.ee, 04.02.2016 http://maaleht.delfi.ee/news/lehelood/koik/naitusemulje- Local artists implemented a variety of strategies to eesti-lill-stalini-vaasis?id=73561077 meet oicial demands, such as labelling works with 2 Rander, Tanel. Revisionistid ajaloo prügikasti ümber. Sirp, 18.03.2016 http://www.sirp.ee/s1-artiklid/c6-kunst/ ideologically suitable narrative titles, and adding par- revisionistid-ajaloo-prugikasti-umber/ ticular elements, such as pylons, machinery, lags and 3 Lukats, Boris. Nõukogude maastikumaalist. Sirp ja Vasar the colour red. Similarly, art criticism employed dis- 16.08.1947 cursive strategies mainly to ind links with the theo- 4 Undusk, Jaan. Sotsialistliku realismi lenduv reaalsus. Esteetika kui reaalpoliitika riist. – Vikerkaar 2013, no 6, pp retical notions of socialist realism, connecting it with 50-53. such local pre-war notions as “closeness to nature” or 5 Groys, Boris. The Communist Postscript. Verso, 2009, p “national (folk) spirit”. 36.

34 Kati Kivinen ki, Finland Overseas Shopping— A Tale of a Museum

Kati Kivinen (PhD) Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in Helsin Collection

When Jaanus Samma’s (b. 1982) exhibition NSFW—A value and the strength of the content of the work. Chairman’s Tale opened last April at the Museum of Despite Samma’s work drawing on the incredible Occupations in Tallinn, I had a lengthy discussion history of the relationship between the state and about his work with a local journalist who was covering homosexuality in Soviet Estonia, the true strength the exhibition for Estonian television. She was curious of the work is still as valid today, as it stresses the to know why a Finnish Museum of Contemporary Art brittle position of sexual and gender minorities in (Kiasma) had decided to purchase parts of Samma’s contemporary societies. large-scale installation, which had premiered at the Estonian Pavilion of the 56th Venice Art Biennale, Although the journalist seemed pleased with my re- and what were the main reasons for such a decision. ply, she seemed anxious to ask something more. She In replying to her question, I found myself stressing started her question by referring to an acquisition that the fact that despite the collection policy of my home was made some six years earlier, when Kiasma bought institution, the Museum of Contemporary Art Ki- Kristina Norman’s (b. 1979) large-scale project Ater asma, emphasising the geographical and cultural War (2009) directly ater its irst presentation at the closeness of Estonia to that of Finland, in the case of 53rd Venice Art Biennale. She wanted to know wheth- the pavilion of Estonia in Venice in 2015, as well as er it was a custom or a requirement of the museum’s the work of art created for the occasion by Samma, acquisition policy to regularly purchase the Estonian the primary reasons for acquiring the work for Ki- presentation at the Venice Biennale for the museum’s asma’s collections were related to the high artistic collection. Feeling tempted to laugh, I told her that, al-

35 Ene-Liis Semper “Nameless”, 2004. Photo: Finnish National Gallery/Petri Virtanen

Jaanus Samma “A Chairman’s Tale”, 2015. Photo: Reimo Võsa- Tangsoo

Kristina Norman “Ater-War”, 2009. Photo: Finnish National Gallery/Pirje Mykkänen

Tanja Muravskaja “hree Sisters”, 2015. Photo: Finnish National Gallery/ Pirje Mykkänen 36 Berit Talpsepp-Jaanisoo “Villu´s Portrait”, 2015. Photo: Finnish National Gallery/Pirje Mykkänen though that might seem to be the case, such a rule does of the museum’s curatorial team and two external ex- not exist in Kiasma’s acquisition policy (not even in perts. Currently there are two artist members selected the case of the Finnish pavilion in Venice), but rather by the Finnish Artists’ Unions. he board is led by the successive purchases were the result of prominent the Museum Director Leevi Haapala, who makes the and successful presentations which managed to con- inal decision on all acquisitions. vince the museum’s acquisition board members and director. Estonian Expanding Contemporary Art in Circles, or Sounding the Kiasma Neighborhood Besides Jaanus Samma’s and Kristina Norman’s recent works, Estonian contemporary art is represented hough the cases of the acquisitions of the recent in the collections of Kiasma by examples of 1970s, 80s works by both Jaanus Samma and Kristina Norman and 90s works by such artists as Siim-Tanel Annus (b. might be a product of serendipity, since the 1990s the 1960), Kai Kaljo (b. 1959), Leonhard Lapin (b. 1947), acquisition policy of the Museum of Contemporary Peeter M. Laurits (b. 1962), Raul Meel (b. 1941), Art in Finland has focused on the arts of the neigh- Peeter Mudist (b. 1942), Evald Okas (b. 1915), Jüri boring areas, namely contemporary art of the Nordic Okas (b. 1950) and Tea Tammelaan (b. 1964), and countries, the Baltics and Russia. his was written by more recent acquisitions by such artists as Marko into the acquisition policy of the museum early on, Raat (b. 1973), Jaan Toomik (b. 1961), Ene-Liis Sem- and it was referred to as “the expanding circles”. he per (b. 1969) and Berit Talpsepp-Jaanisoo (b. 1984). new institution, the Museum of Contemporary Art he last time an elaborate search of Estonian and Bal- was established in 1990 and the new museum build- tic contemporary art was made was in 2004, when ing Kiasma opened eight years later in 1998. It took the exhibition project Faster than History: Contem- on the task of contextualizing Finnish contemporary porary Perspectives on the Future of Art in the Baltic art in its geographical nexus fairly literally. In the 21st Countries, Finland and Russia was presented at Ki- century the acquisition policy has become more lex- asma. he project, which was curated by Jari-Pekka ible and better able to meet the needs and transitions Vanhala, was realized in close collaboration with the of the global and supranational art world. centres for contemporary art of the target countries (CCA, Tallinn; CAIC, Vilnius; LCCA, Riga; and he collections of the museum are complemented by FRAME, Helsinki), but it never toured through all of nearly 100 new art works every year and the interna- them. Invited Estonian artists in the Faster than His- tional part of the collection is around a fourth of the tory exhibition were Mari Laanemets & Killu Sukmit total number of nearly 8000 works. hough the back- (both b. 1975), Herkki-Eric Merila (b. 1964) & Arbo ground institution of the Finnish National Gallery, Tammiksaar (b. 1971), Ene-Liis Semper and Mart of which Kiasma is part, along with the Ateneum and Viljus (b. 1965). In 2006 Mark Raidpere (b. 1975) Sinebrychof Art Museums was reformed into a pub- took part in the ARS06—Sense of the Real exhibi- lic foundation in 2014. he yearly acquisition budget tion with his memorable video work 10 Men (2003). for the three museums still comes directly from the his past winter Tanja Muravskaja’s (b. 1978) latest Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture. Kiasma’s video installation hree Sisters (2015) was shown at share of this sum is annually around 440 000 euros, Kiasma in the Demonstrating Minds: Disagreements which clearly does not allow for many purchases of in- in Contemporary Art exhibition. In an interview ternational contemporary art. Most new acquisitions with the Estonian art magazine Kunst.ee last year, are examples of Finnish contemporary art, but each Kiasma’s new Director Leevi Haapala alluded to a year a few works by foreign artists are also added to coming exhibition project involving all of the Baltic the collections. Acquisitions of foreign art are oten countries. he project is currently in process and the made from the museum’s temporary exhibitions and due date is in 2018, so stay tuned! its own collection exhibitions or through commissions for new works of art. Decisions are made by the museum’s acquisition board, which includes members

38 Pau Waelder

A Place Called Editor of Media Art in art-es contemporary art magazine in Spain Pau Waelder (PhD) is an art critic, curator and researcher. He is the Home

WiFipedia of Tallinn (2015)* is a publication that col- streets of Tallinn, Guljajeva and Canet have created an lects, in the manner of a phone book, the names of alternative portrait of the city, one that is collectively 23,893 wireless networks located in the capital of Es- written by its inhabitants through an unintended use tonia. Using a tool they developed themselves, the art- of technology. WiFipedia builds on their previous ists Varvara Guljajeva (Tartu, 1984) and Mar Canet project Revealing Digital Landscape (2013), in which (Barcelona, 1981) scanned the networks by walking the artists collected the names and locations of Wi-Fi or biking across the city in order to capture, in their networks in Seoul (South Korea), producing a similar own words, “the digital landscape of the city and in- publication. However, what was then an exploration visible communication and creativity layer of its in- of a foreign city, motivated by the need to ind Wi-Fi habitants.” his creativity is expressed in the names spots while away from home, is here an observation of of the diferent Wi-Fi networks, which can be cus- their current place of residence and therefore adopts a tomized by their users, sometimes in order to identify diferent meaning. them more easily or simply to make a statement. Guljajeva and Canet met in Barcelona (Spain), then In the book, there are names that refer to popular moved to Linz (Austria) and have traveled around iction (such as “Skywalker” or “Umbrella_Corpo- the world by hopping from one artist-in-residence ration”), music (“Pretty_ly_for_WIFI”), brief state- programme to the next, in the Netherlands, the Unit- ments (“Rehab is for quitters” or “Cats are evil… and ed Kingdom, Belgium, Brazil, South Korea, Poland, cute”) and, of course, messages to uninvited users Spain and Austria. With such a nomadic lifestyle, it is (“NoWiiForYou” or “dontstealmyinternet”). hese not surprising that their artistic research has focused short but sometimes telling labels provide informa- on the ubiquity of data networks, the urban space tion about the owners of the networks and also about and the constantly shiting sense of place of the indi- the neighborhoods where they are located, particular- vidual. he exploration of life in the city is the main ly through the language they use or the presence of subject of artworks such as he Rhythm of the City Wi-Fi provided by shops, hotels or other businesses. (2011), a set of metronomes that move according to he artists stress that “just by looking at the networks the pace at which content is published on social net- one could say whether it is a business or residential works in diferent cities around the globe; Binoculars area, a highly populated neighbourhood and/or if to… Binoculars from… (2013), an installation pro- there are minority members living there.” By collect- duced in the context of the Connecting Cities proj- ing invisible but easily available information from the ect that lets users watch the streets of a remote city

39 through a visor that simultaneously projects the im- feelings is also applied in the molecular physics ex- age of their eye on a large screen in the city being ob- periment Data Drops (2015). Inducing positive emo- served; and Data Tower (2016), a project submitted to tions, is the goal of Smile (2016), one of the artists’ the Green Square Library and Plaza of Sydney’s public latest projects speciically conceived for Tallinn. art commission, consisting of a sculpture that displays his interactive piece consists of a large smiley face the current time and the movements of people in the icon that lights up when people smile in front of surrounding area. Data lows are used in most of their a device that detects the user’s facial expression. artworks but are distinctly present and visible in the It was installed in the street during the Tallinn projects that deal with Wi-Fi networks and those that Winter Festival in order to invite passers-by to use data collected from diferent sources to generate express happiness on the coldest days of the year. endless rhythmic compositions, as in Speed of Mar- Besides Smile and WiFipedia, other artworks kets (2014), a series of seven metronomes that react to explore the city life of Tallinn and its architec- the deals taking place in real time on the main stock ture, seeking ways of playfully communicating markets; as well as he Flux of Sea (2011) and Bal- with the citizens. Katusepoisid (2016), an up- tic Sea Radio (2012), two installations that produce a coming installation created for the NUKU sound score based on the marine traic in the bays of theater, will allow visitors to interact with the Palma and Gdansk, respectively. hese artworks gen- building’s façade, while Inside Out (2016) erate continuous processes that can be understood as intends to “open” the Pronski 12 building to visual or auditory renderings of the digital landscape citizens by reversing its structure in order to in a certain place. he locative aspect of the artworks make its inner forms visible. is particularly important, since most of them can be considered site-speciic or, in a sense, network-specif- As made evident by WiFipedia, through ic. While addressing lows of information, locations, the exploration of our own environment people and objects, these projects are also deeply root- in novel ways, we can understand it bet- ed in a sense of place or the concreteness of a solid, ter and learn to relate to it. For Guljajeva static object. his apparent contradiction is actually and Canet, establishing a home ater be- what deines our being-in-the-world (as Heidegger ing restless nomads has brought to their would put it), in the sense that while we participate work a renewed interest in the individ- in these lows we also need to keep a ixed reference ual and his/her uncertain location in a point, whether our current geographical location, the world in constant lux. An upcoming feeling of belonging to a speciic place or communi- project will address these issues from ty, or the identity we have built for ourselves in social the perspective of nationality, and networks. the lag as a visual symbol of a nation. Certainly, this work will lead Since they set up their studio in Tallinn, Varvara Gul- to questioning what, or where, this jajeva and Mar Canet have progressively introduced place is we call home. new subjects in their work that focus more speciically on the individual, further exploring direct interaction and self-representation, as well as delving more deeply into the self by addressing emotions. hese topics are connected to the main themes that drive their work, as can be seen in Binoculars, where a certain interaction between the person and the city is facil- itated. Neuroknitting (2013), a project that trans- forms brainwave activity into a knitted pattern, introduced their interest in creatively exploring the mind and emotions of the user. his can also be found in

Wishing Wall (2014), an interactive installation com- Varvara & Mar “WiFipedia”, 2015 missioned by the Google DevArt Project in which visitors can see their wishes transform into butterlies colored by their emotions. Inspired by Dr. Robert 1 WiFipedia was exhibited at the TL;DR a group exhibition at Tallinna Kunstihoone Gallery, curated by Stacey Koosel, in Plutchik’s wheel of emotions, this form of visualizing 2015. http://www.varvarag.info/wifipedia/

40 Varvara & Mar “Smile”, 2016

Varvara & Mar “Data Tower”, 2016 Varvara & Mar “Wishing Wall”, 2014

Varvara & Mar “Inside Out”, 2016

41 Triin Jerlei

Nostalgia in

Design worked at the Estonian Museum of Applied Arts and Design. Triin JerleiTriin PhD (b. 1986) is a design researcher and critic. Currently she is lecturing at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Previously she has

Since 2010, one of the most popular series on Estonian popularity of traditional references is easily explained television has been ENSV (Estonian Soviet Socialist by feelings of national identity and wishes to demon- Republic), a comedy set in the late 1980s. Featuring strate belonging, in recent years there have been new several famous local actors, the series is popular be- tendencies in nostalgia directed towards more recent cause of a mixture of dark humor and apt retrospec- history. tive criticism of Soviet society and politics. However, its popularity demonstrates another tendency in 21st Once again, recognizability and ubiquity are the key century Estonia: a nostalgia for Soviet heritage. Here, factors for choosing source materials. Oten, nostalgic Estonia is not alone. In Germany, there is a speciic references are hidden in the use of graphics: characters term for fascination with the heritage of the German from Estonian or Soviet pop culture or other easily Democratic Republic: Ostalgie. In highly popular identiiable elements. A particularly popular motif is Trabant tours to various museums, remnants of so- a red background with white dots. Originating from cialist material culture are cherished and marketed to pop art, this pattern became famous locally through home and foreign audiences. a design for a tin set for storing food items, manufac- tured in the Norma factory. Nowadays, its uses range A certain degree of nostalgia has oten been present from costume jewelry to examples of product design. in Estonian design. During the Soviet period, this Norma dots are the retro equivalent of national cos- nostalgia was oten directed towards the pre-Soviet tume patterns: easily applicable to any product and period, through references to either traditional rural immediately recognizable. culture, such as the popular souvenir dolls by Salvo, or to local architectural heritage, for example the iconic A common practice is incorporating found retro el- “Old homas” lamp. he appeal of symbols pertain- ements into new products. In recycling old materi- ing to traditional culture has not disappeared: quite als, a fascinating example is Urmas Lüüs’s distinctive the contrary. Colour combinations adopted from lo- brooch made of aluminium. Other designers incorpo- cal traditional costumes appear everywhere, from ten- rate entire found objects dating from the Soviet era nis shoes to public transport. In their recognizability, into new items. A particularly popular retro object for these patterns have acquired a function of national vi- upcycling is the book: old books are used in numerous sual identity similar to the plaid patterns of Scotland, new products, for example in notebooks by Tartuen- going beyond the aspects of nostalgia. While the sis Classic. Once again, they ofer an opportunity to

42 Scene from series ENSV, 2014. Photo: courtesy of ERR archives as “consciousas eforts to restore the lost of feeling col that these tendenciessuggests should rather seen be cle “We’re but nostalgic, we’re not crazy,” where he written has the aptlySerguei Oushakine titled arti oten applied the post-Soviet in too hastily context. plistic. escapist heories an as practice of nostalgia are one’s own history. However, too sim far is theory this harsh present positive and asserting towards feelings away was nostalgia of oneself detaching from the For 1997 example, in claimed Debbora that Battaglia of asign disappointment as nostalgia capitalism. in Scholars have occasionally interpreted post-Soviet ucts inspired by objects produced years ago. ever, its demonstrates popularity the appeal of prod methods. Sadly, business this venture ended; has how employed’82 production the original equipment and ously been altered to suit contemporary trends, Võru they were previ had designs launched. irst While Võru their town ater ’82 of production and the year of Soviet-erafacturing Estonian sports shoes, called product Mõtus designer restarted the Maarja manu Forods. example, the early in 2010s the Estonian appearances of objects, but include production meth some theIn references cases, are not centred only on way. able and to unwanted of use make an product asustain in show ideologically item charged an anew in context ------tions to the general desire to recontextualize the past. orchestrated from above, but rather stems from reac and voluntary phenomenon. a peaceful is sign It not is connotations, post-socialist product in nostalgia de ation. political Soviet certain Although carries design phenomena there of arisk is exagger may alluring, be the tendencyWhile to historical politicize certain to repositionfrom a general will the collective past. tiative not has come from above, but rather stems towards and contexts. new meanings Its inding ini Estonian context, however, directed is the nostalgia the public in the correctfor instilling morale. the In 1950s, the spirit as of austerity suitable politically is reference period the for British usually is nostalgia from political reality. Hatherley observes that the practicetematically organized for citizens distracting austerity. view, his In aconscious is nostalgia and sys present towards directed talgia the post-war UK, in Hatherleyof Nostalgia. on focuses the nos growing by the British writer Owen Hatherley, he Ministry monthsA few Verso ago, published book afascinating nor humiliating.” tions the with that past would neither be horrifying lective belonging and to connec re-establish cultural 43 ------Ott Kagovere ed philosophy

In Search of Meaning Universityat Tallinn and graphic design at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Ott Kagovere is a freelance graphic designer and design critic. Has studi

Contemporary graphic design moves in mysterious he group functioned as a platform for digesting vari- ways. he paradoxical holy trinity of graphic design ous ideas and clarifying the general aims of the whole consists of design, art and business. How they it to- project. he focus of the project became clear through gether is a mystery, but somehow they form the entity the realization that the perfect platform for discussion known as graphic design. Some designers lean towards was the most mundane situation. Interestingly, the hot business and some towards art, but one of the biggest debates took place not in speciality magazines, but in existential questions for a conscious designer is how to school among fellow students, in a studio among col- it these two notions together. What is the right bal- leagues, or in a bar with friends. Hence the aim of the ance between making money and expressing oneself? project was to initiate those daily discussions.

Such existential matters formed the starting point of Six of these discussions were recorded and published a design project initiated at the Estonian Academy of in the form of a newspaper, a temporary format em- Arts (EKA) Department of Graphic Design by two phasizing the perishable nature of a conversation. he students Maria Muuk and myself. he whole project size of the newspaper was deliberately large (A1), and was process oriented, a journey of two designers trying the paper was text-heavy and thus a bit uncomfortable to ind meaning in graphic design, but the general aim to read and handle. he idea was to make the reader of the project was simple enough: to establish a plat- browse through the discussions and jump in at ran- form where such ‘philosophical’ design problems could dom moments. Just like in a real discussion! Later be discussed. on the newspaper was exhibited as part of a reading corner, together with a selection of books, articles and he irst step in this process was starting a graphic de- magazines discussed in the newspaper. he number sign reading group at the Estonian Academy of Arts. of copies of the newspaper are limited, but one can

44 Identity for Baltic Circle 2015, which won GRMMXI the Best of the Year Award in Branding and 45 Visual Identity in Graia’s Vuoden Huiput competition Identity for Kunstverein Toronto by Laura Pappa

Cover design for the graphic design section 2002, no 3, by Kristjan Mändmaa. he article “Shit...” was also published in this number

he newspaper was set in a custom made font by Andree Paat, Maria Muuk and Aimur Takk

46 obtain it from the Department of Graphic Design at conversed with Elisabeth Klement and Laura Pappa, the Estonian Academy of Arts, or directly from the two Estonian graphic designers who have studied in authors. he following is a brief overview of the six various design schools in the Netherlands (Gerrit Ri- recorded discussions. etveld Academie, Sandberg Institute and Werkplaats Typograie) and who live and work in Amsterdam, he irst two of these discussions took place among and with GRMMXI, a Finnish design collective, fellow students. One of the main concerns of these who are design students with various national and ed- debates was trying to igure out the value of graph- ucational backgrounds. ic design education in Estonia. he ideology of the Graphic Design department leans strongly towards he outcomes of these debates were somewhat sur- art, seeing graphic design as an independent prac- prising. hey showed that most of our education- tice which borrows methods from contemporary art. al and professional concerns seemed to be of a local While this approach provides a necessary alternative nature. For instance, Klement and Pappa stated that to the general notion of business-oriented graphic de- in the Netherlands the division between art, culture sign, students educated in this manner oten feel when oriented design and commercial design is not trying to start their own practices that the two worlds that evident. And for GRMMXI, the doubts are somewhat incompatible. While these debates concerning educational matters were of a did not provide any inal solutions to the clash completely diferent nature. For them, their of business and art in graphic design, they did education was too technical, supericial and a reine the view of the problem(s) and thus bit out-dated and thus the approach of our de- opened the way for future discussions. partment seemed like a good alternative. While we, on the other hand, were con- One of the conversations, the third dis- cerned with the problematic aspects of cussion in the newspaper, was conduct- this particular approach. ed with two inluential igures in Estonian graphic design education: Kristjan Mändmaa his led to the sixth discussion, which and Ivar Sakk. In 2001–2008, Ivar Sakk was with Indrek Sirkel, the head of the published a graphic design section in the Graphic Design Department at the Esto- Estonian art magazine KUNST.EE. It nian Academy of Arts. Among other topics, is still the only publication close to a we briely touched upon the problem of taking a graphic design speciality magazine in stance as designers in the current neoliberal world: Estonia. In 2002 Kristjan Mändmaa for example, how being ecologically conscious published an article in it entitled “Shit, and supportive of “green” values has become a or something interesting in Estonian necessary, but relatively empty brand element graphic design”. his article caused a revolution for global companies. Should graphic design ad- in the Graphic Design Department and is re- dress these issues directly or veil them in cool and sponsible for the educational approach now slick covers? prevailing there. Taking all this into consideration, one has to keep in he main question of interest was the poor state of mind that publishing a newspaper was not the aim of discussions in speciality magazines. Why is this so at the project, but a means for generating discussions. the moment, when only 10 years ago magazines were Further initiatives of the project include starting a important contributors to design discussions? Why new graphic design reading group at the Arts Acad- are magazines and the design scene in general mod- emy and exhibiting the project in Helsinki, at the est in declaring their opinions nowadays? Why do we Myymälä Gallery, in October. hus the goal of the lack a radical voice? Again, no simple answers were project is not a particular event or a publication, but provided, but two hours of hot debate was valuable keeping the process of initiating discussions alive. and lacking in most design magazines today. he following discussions summed up all the previous questions and asked them on an international scale. For that reason two discussions were organized. We

47 48 Estonian National Museum. Photo: Takuji Shimmura Tüüne-Kristin Vaikla

The Story

candidate at the Estonian Academy of Arts. of Memory LINE interior architecture research journal and currently PhD and artistic dimensions of space.. She is editor in chief of SISU— Field Tüüne-Kristin Vaikla is an interior architect who explores the social social the explores who architect interior an is Vaikla Tüüne-Kristin

he Estonian National Museum is a site-speciic proj- Jean Nouvel, Fosters & Partners and Adjaye ect, which uses an existing military runway from the Associates. At this same time, the Estonian Soviet past. What makes this location meaningful is National Museum competition project was pub- its physical and mental landscape. It is an emotional lished. The brief for the competition suggest- project for the Estonian people, that has developed ed an architecture that would cross disciplines, during the last ten years. Starting with the archi- one that was able to intersect with the history, tectural competition in 2005, through the whole the ethnography and the sociology of the place. building process, up to the public opening ceremony It included the aspirations of a nation, the desire in September 2016 in Tartu. he museum building to create a “public” place, a landscape of memo- was designed by the DGT architects, which is a Par- ries, a place that would not only bring Estonian is-based international partnership founded in 2006 voices together but would be open to the con- and led by the architects Dan Dorell, Lina Ghotmeh tinuous making of identity. (LG) and Tsuyoshi Tane. Passionate about Architecture and aspiring to Spatial intelligence includes the ability to solve prob- challenge ourselves, working on such a moti- lems or create products that are valued in a particular vating competition was inevitable. We worked culture. It is deined as a human computational ca- through the nights, after office hours, during pacity that involves the ability or mental skill to solve vacation time. Researching, questioning and spatial problems of human navigation, visualization discovering Estonia’s history and the stories of objects from diferent angles and space, face or that the site of Raadi held within it. The aeri- scene recognition, and noticing ine details. al movies published on the competition site reflected on the dramatic history of the site, TÜÜNE-KRISTIN VAIKLA where there was a wide scar, an element that What were your emotions when you, three seemed to have caused the alienation of this young architects with different backgrounds, site from the city centre. We felt the responsi- started the architectural competition process? bility to question the site, its traces, and it became more and more obvious that this museum LINA GHOTMEH should play an urban and mental role. It could In 2005, we had met in London while work- not simply be an iconic object set in Raadi; it ing at important architectural offices—Ateliers had to have the potential to regenerate the sur-

rounding area, to transform the past into a new During the process, we also discovered that the vision of a constructive and productive future. ground-water level of the area was quite high; this made us raise the building a few meters so As for myself, born and raised in Beirut, I lived that it would not sink. To meet the airfield, we through the war and occupations in my child- had to augment the slope, starting at 14 m at hood. I know what it means to live with the the entrance side and dropping into the land- memories of painful times, the contradictions scape at a height of 3 m. that these traces leave on our landscape. I have also learned that it is through contradic- I think these developments reinforced the proj- tions that we can instil change, that new unique ect and the only thing that I think changed from spaces can emerge. There is an amazing poetic the initial concept was the fact that the roof of realm that can emerge while dealing with the the building was not walkable any more. Our ini- genius loci of a place. The idea of making this tial idea was to make it accessible, a place for new museum rise from the existing runway be- the public to stroll, but it was technically impos- came evident. The new building had to trans- sible. The building would have become structur- form the site and to do so it had to deal with the ally more complex and hence more expensive. large traces of military occupation, to appropri- So we had to abandon this idea... But we avoid- ate it into its own space. Through linking to this ed creating all kinds of handrails and technical platform-airfield, the building became urban, it elements on the roof, and the project became opened up the past to the future, and the na- even purer. What also developed during the tional boundary expanded into an infinite space, process was mainly the programme, the articu- that of the runway, a space in which the naked lation of the interior spaces, which was normal eye could not distinguish the limits. as we got to know the museum team, and had to integrate their demands. TK-V The Estonian National Museum building won the AFEX (French Architects abroad) Grand The Afex Award’s jury voted unanimously to Prix, which was awarded at the opening cere- give the award to the museum. They saw in it a mony of the Venice Biennale in May 2016. The project that could not be placed elsewhere, that award seems to be proof that the best deci- belonged to its place, that revealed the original sions have been made during the long process beauty of the land. It is a great honor to receive from the starting point of the project up to the this award. final realization. What is the main concept of your project and how has the building changed TK-V What about the dynamics between the archi- during the long preparation and building pro- tectural language of the building and the mu- cess? seum exhibition at the Tartu Raadi runway? Somehow I remember the feeling of some vari- LG The museum gained a whole public meaning, ance—as in visiting the Jewish Museum in Berlin creating different qualities of public spaces. It (by Daniel Libeskind) or the Museum of the His- intersected and reacted to the landscape, to tory of Polish Jews in Warsaw (by Lahdelma the existing site. I was keen on this dialogue and Mahlamäki)—between the strong language between the outside and the inside, keen on of the architecture of the building and the his- questioning the limits. So, in encountering the tory, which is retold through the exposition? lake, it became a bridge, filled with views of the lake. Reaching Roosi street, or the city side, it There is a tension between the building and welcomed its visitors through a large cano- the exhibition design. Both dialogue in different py space, inviting one to experience the inner ways, and at times this tension is positive. I like spaces as orchestrated by the slanted roof. the “parallel worlds” of exhibition parts, where the structures force us into narrow passages. The initial concept of the project remained un- 3+1 Architects designed the exhibition spaces changed: the emergence from the site traces, with lots of objects to exhibit, and voices to rep- the opening to the runway, the relationship resent and narrate: the synthesis of all those to the landscape, and the entrance canopy. was not easy. The building was also challenging

52 his page and previous spread Estonian National Museum. Photos: Takuji Shimmura 53

Estonian National Museum. Photos: Takuji Shimmura because it has two entrances, inviting visitors presence of the landscape and the future that to read the exhibitions from two directions. The the museum gesture symbolizes. I think the fact design had to accommodate that as well… After that we wouldn’t expect such a large museum ten years of work, of travels, and of visits to in Tartu or in this location indicates the whole Tartu, it is such an amazing feeling to see our strength of the project, as well as its poetics. project built! We ourselves have grown with this building, learned through it, and I am very TK-V And finally, something more personal: what in- thankful to all the people that believed in this spires and surprises you in art, in architecture vision. and in life?

TK-V How do you see the interaction between the LG I feel that last century drew us far from the es- building and visitors? Is there perhaps some sence of time, from relating to instinct, intuition, kind of contradiction between the location and irrationalities and traditions, and all these are the wider context? essential in balanced living. I am always inspired and touched by artworks that are able to trans- LG The museum could not have been placed in a port us into a strong emotional experience, different context or in a different location; it is especially when they call on us to get in touch tightly linked to the site, and to the city of Tar- with our humanity and its relationship with na- tu’s meanings and cultural role in Estonia. Its ture. Being inspired by nature and thinking that poetics and strength are drawn from this sit- architecture should tightly link us to earth has uation. The museum and its site constitute an the capacity to draw the outside inside and di- escape, a place where one can feel disconnect- alogue with its context to create special and ed from dense city life, and a place that invites sustainable experiences. I am also passionate visitors into another temporality. One trav- about history, about archeology as a way of els through history, through the present and connecting history and architecture. I consider through the future: the history of Estonia, the architecture to be an archeological process. Estonian National Museum. Shimmura Takuji Photo:

56 Francisco Martínez

Aesthetics of books and curated several exhibitions. several curated and books based in Estonia. He has edited different

Francisco Martínez (PhD) is an anthropologist Amalgamation

he trigger of this article is Ingrid Ruudi’s exhibition have been very diferent indeed; in a on the architectural projects unrealised in Estonia few years many things were decided because they were planned during the liminal period in an irreversible way. Otherwise, the 1986–1994. he sense of radical openness and incom- exhibition also illustrates how the ur- pletion in the late 80s and early 90s in Estonia was ban space shited from production to relected by Juri Okas’ letter explaining his (unbuilt) consumption, and from manufactur- project for the 1992 Universal Exposition of Seville, ing to services. in which he compared the Estonian society at the time to a building “at a stage when it is hard to deine he unbuilt projects were turned by whether it is being constructed or demolished”. he Ruudi into storytelling devices, since exhibition Unbuilt. Visions for a New Society 1986– the objects chosen for the exhibition 1994 (Museum of Estonian Architecture, 2015) invit- acquired an autobiographical patina, ed the visitor to think beyond dichotomies (of rupture with lingering stories around them. and continuity, urban growth and decline), exploring his suggests a particular under- how the materiality of built forms is directly tied to standing of traces and an aesthetic socio-economic conditions. Ruudi showed the limits concern with the relationship be- of the life-cycle analysis of materiality and reminded tween material change and social us that the urban fabric is also the outcome of socially change, and how it afects our expe- constituted relations (therefore contingent). Conse- rience in return.2 We discover, for quently, we can say that architecture not only shapes instance, a condensation of power social lives and provides means of organisation,1 but it relations and temporalities.3 he is also the product of the very social relations it shapes presence of a series of past dura- (subject not only to destruction and maintenance, but tions—recognisable in material to construction too!). elements and amalgamations— makes up the present multi-tem- Relections on unbuilt projects help us to acknowl- poral;4 further on, its study tells edge that any clear-cut separation of eras is rather about the negotiation of actual arbitrary as well as to think that it could have been orders through the manipulation otherwise. In post-socialist countries, the nineties of materials, their surfaces, and was the decade when the seeds of business and en- the addition of new elements to tertainment centres, banks and religious buildings, the assemblage, indexing the past enclosures and suburbanisation were planted. Yet, through preservation and living as Ruudi illustrates, there were also continuities and eforts. alternative attempts to transform the city, to make it both more idealistic and postmodern. Tallinn could Here I propose several exercises

57 examining how pastness is perceived in the present nect, alleviate and bridge, providing terrain for inclu- through unintended compositions (conglomerates, siveness and communication. he study of sutures, amalgamations, coral striations, intervals etc.). Materi- amalgamation and repair has to therefore be sensi- als are not entirely reducible to the contexts in which tive to the eventfulness and in-betweenness of social human activity sets them. hey have a mounting quali- transformations. hese phenomena remind us that ty, revealing transmission and reception, what survives change is rather contingent and multidirectional; it and what is forgotten, turning the cityscape into a sort always faces obduracy and alters our relation to the of stage. he study of amalgamations says something things and ideas of the past as it unfolds. Likewise, about what has been accumulating and piling up, pro- the accumulation of changeless elements and unin- ducing a new perceptual signiicance and an open-end- ished projects in the cityscape conditions any process ed assemblage. It reveals a decayed composition and of adaptation and testiies to failures. second or third uses of materials, which show successive stages of development, renewal and decadence. he For example, in examining material traces and gaps aesthetics of amalgamation portray processes of change in Tallinn we recognise a redundant melange of ele- and review the meaning of what is residual, of what is ments and processes that conirm that the Estonian let behind by attempts at modernisation: as a remain- capital is not simply a post-socialist city, but an urban der, but also as an aesthetic assemblage. In it, diferent archipelago produced by the cumulative efects of un- kinds of elements create a particular texture, an un- inished projects of modernisation. his is manifested foreseen composition and whole beyond the separated in a peculiar abundance of threshold experiences and parts that form it. In museums, however, objects are in a sense of jumping from one island to another when not commonly thrown together but systematically dis- traversing neighbourhoods in the city. he study of played and removed from their original time and space. amalgamations brings to light diverse temporalities, as well as a lack of contextual it and saturation, out- Short term adaptations and long term patterns be- lined in how materials were entropically brought and come apparent in the external aestheticised forms of held together.6 Social transformations produce con- material culture, creating a fragmented, as well as aes- glomerates, which eventually generate a particular thetically and historically diverse, urban landscape. apprehension and a certain type of aesthetic and spa- Gaps and interruptions can also be understood as ma- tial regime. In post-socialist cities, this is perceived as terial expressions of the past that remain in the city- a lack of contextual it, a symbolic saturation, and a scape. From previously existing practices and forms, need for (material and social) sutures. new ones are generated in a way similar to the process of rewriting: adding and deleting. his process can be My last example is from the project “Aesthetics of partly described as hybrid, since transformations are Repair in Contemporary Georgia”,7 in which the cu- mediated through local conigurations of legacy, in- rator Marika Agu and I proposed to relect on those stitution and power. But, in some cases, the degree of arrangements that constituted inality without being contradiction between the elements forming the city- inished in Tbilisi (in a constant oscillation between scape is high enough or the process of reception-trans- aspiration and the possible). Drawing on this assump- lation is parallel enough (instead of mixing) that we tion, we put the emphasis on the radical processes of have to talk about a Frankenstein formation rather construction and deconstruction in which Georgia than a hybrid one. has been immersed, expressed in a state of unstable equilibria and low-key engagements. his compelled Amalgamations recall what is absent, as a tension us to ethnographically explore micro-works of adap- between history, memory and decay. hey are dense tation and a sense of distributed creativity: the way and intense, bringing dissimilar elements into co- that people make use of what is around them in or- existence. hey indicate a lack of contextual it and der to cope with abrupt social changes. Existentially, symbolic saturation, which reveals social inequalities, and relying on material culture studies, our project radical ruptures and systemic failures. he historian called attention to the arts of combining and ixing Karl Schlögel5 has tried to explain the hybridity of up. We discovered in Georgia a paradoxical interplay processes of change by distinguishing between “hot” between innovation and tradition, which generates a and “cold” locations in urban spaces. Hot places are particular indigenous curation and vernacular solu- those in the making, while cold ones appear already tions. here, every person seems to be a master, ca- consolidated. Hot locations act as a suture; they con- pable of actively making a world of his own, and at

58 Aesthetics Amalgamation of in Tbilisi. Francisco Photo: Martínez

1 Victor Buchli. An Anthropology of Architecture. London: Bloomsbury, 2013.

2 Anca Pusca. “The Aesthetics of Change. Exploring Post- Communist Spaces”. Global Society 22, 3: 369-386, 2008.

3 Victor Buchli. “Astana: materiality and the city”. In C. Alexander, V. Buchli & C. Humphrey (eds.) Urban Life in Post-Soviet Asia. London: UCL Press, 2007. pp 40-69.

4 Laurent Olivier. ‘Duration, memory and the nature of the archaeological record’. In H. Karlsson (ed.) It’s About Time: The Concept of Time in Archaeology. Gothenburg: Bricoleur, 2001.

5 Karl Schlögel. Im Raume lesen wir die Zeit.München: Hanser, 2003.

6 Francisco Martínez. ‘Tallinn as a city of thresholds’. Journal of Baltic Studies, 2015 46 (2), 127−155. And A. Kurg and M. Laanemets. A User’s Guide to Tallinn. Tallinn: Estonian Academy of Arts, 2002.

7 F. Martínez and M. Agu, (eds.). Aesthetics of Repair in Contemporary Georgia. Tartu: Tartu Art Museum, 2016.

8 Jacques Rancière. Politics and Aesthetics. London:

Tõnis Vint “Naissaar 1995 (Woman-island), project“ Continuum, 2006.

59 Angela Wheeler he Pleasurable Aspects Georgia’s heritage sector in various capacities since 2010. of Breakdown preservation programme. She has worked in the Republic of Angela Wheeler holds an MSc from Columbia University’s historic

A review of Remont: Aesthetics of Repair in Contemporary Georgia, edited by Francisco Martínez and Marika Agu. Tartu Art Museum hosted the accompanying exhibition between 24 March and 29 May 2016.

“You’re better of getting a new bike,” the mechanic of “remont,” or repair, not only as a practice but also said, spinning the front wheel to produce an emphatic as a broader cultural and aesthetic phenomenon. his rattle. My bicycle, its front end slightly bent in a recent book, which accompanied an exhibition held at the accident, did look somewhat pathetic surrounded by Tartu Art Museum in Spring 2016, recruits scholars the shop’s sleek new models. Concealing his disdain from across a range of disciplines, as well as Georgian for both my rust-lecked bicycle and my attachment contemporary artists who employ ideas and imagery to it, the bike shop mechanic continued: “You could of repair in their work. he editor and exhibition or- try to ind a replacement part, but honestly it’s not ganizer, Francisco Martínez, situates remont at the worth ixing.” intersection of three factors: “the human desire to im- prove one’s situation, the sufering resulting from not Not worth ixing? he implication that a bicycle was being able to do so, and the oscillation between anx- as disposable as a bruised apple baled me. My ofense iety and the possibility of trying to bridge that gap.”1 was perhaps intensiied by the fact that I had recently returned from the Republic of Georgia, a country he exhibition sought to balance an analysis of re- where the thought of throwing away a perfectly ser- mont’s aesthetic possibilities with an awareness of viceable bicycle would have been absurd. In Georgia, the underlying social conditions that foster it. his everything is worth ixing. careful balance gets somewhat lost in the book as contributors misjudge the timing, cause and nature he contributors to Aesthetics of Repair in Contem- of remont. Signiicant political and economic factors porary Georgia seek to explore this country’s culture get overlooked by the authors in favor of celebrating

60 urban informality as an aesthetic construct. his lack of both historical and contemporary comparative context prevents Aesthetics of Repair from fully en- gaging with the broad concept of remont in the way it intends.

Aesthetics of Repair treats Georgia’s culture of remont primarily as a reaction to post-independence contact with Western capitalism, but this interpretation ne- glects a longer and more complicated legacy. he do- it-yourself remont culture prevalent in the “lawless ‘90s” was hardly new. he practice of “individual construction,” in fact, has a long tradition in Georgia; it was legally permitted in the postwar Georgian SSR up through the mid-1960s, and—to party leaders’ consternation—continued to lourish illegally well into the 1970s.2 Even formally trained Georgian ar- Describing them as a “slum,” an American press photo from 1966 chitects engaged in their own form of remont, com- shows several dilapidated houses in Tbilisi covered in homebuilt plaining that Moscow’s standardized housing plans extensions as a new hotel looms in the background. Photo: Associated Press ill-suited balmy Tbilisi and modifying original plans to include loggias and balconies.3 Such improvisation lies in the face of received notions about Soviet-era planning and suggests that remont is less a response to the particulars of capitalism than to the failings of any socio-economic system.

Remont as a practice has been widespread both his- with Casablanca’s impoverished bidonvilles (“tin-can torically and geographically, and so too has its fetishi- towns”) due to their informal ingenuity. he situation zation by outsiders. Western scholars have long seen divided the International Congress of Modern Archi- in improvisational urbanism—from DIY architec- tecture between those espousing rational, top-down ture to spontaneous marketplaces—a reservoir of lib- planning and those eager to explore more “organic” erating primitivism that can provide an alternative to ways of urban living.4 sterile, hyper-regulated Western cities. In 1953, a team of Western architects, for example, became enamored Outsiders’ celebration of urban improvisation eventually came in for repeated criticism amid concerns that it romanticized poverty in distant lands. Recall, for example, the Harvard Project on the City research led by Rem Koolhaas in Lagos, Nigeria between 1998– 2001. Just as Aesthetics of Repair frames remont as a response to the lawlessness of post-Soviet transition and delights in the emancipatory potential of individual actors, Koolhaas lauded the “unbelievable prolif- eration of individual agency” that occurs “when the state is absent.”5 he project was widely faulted for orientalizing Lagos as an aestheticized urban fantasy disconnected from its history and politics.6

Far from a unique phenomenon, the free-loating DIY sensibility the contributors perceive in Georgia hese building extensions in Old Tbilisi are an architectural record of local ingenuity and DIY aesthetics, but they also speak is just one of many examples of urban informality, to less romantic realities of poverty, overcrowding and dangerously from Dharavi to Detroit, repeatedly discovered and neglected infrastructure. Credit: Lumley & Koller Architects

61 rediscovered by “urban explorers.” Knowledge of other studies and comparative cases might have greatly enriched Aesthetics of Repair, enabling the contributors to sidestep longstanding critiques and more clearly identify what is distinctive in Georgian remont.

In the book’s introduction, the authors propose to escape Western orientalism, but then undermine their own initial critical impulse by recasting urban decay as creative emancipation, or simply as a consumable aesthetic. he contributors Rene Mäe and Juuli Nava deploy the concept of “post-tourism” to describe their A standardized Tbilisi apartment block is now home to endless non- standard variations. Photo: Corneliu Cazacu stint in Tbilisi, presenting themselves as latter-day lâneurs better equipped to appreciate remont than Georgians (who are busy getting by) and traditional tourists (who want only to see headline attractions). he capital is, for them, “a wonderland in which to experience the material dimensions of repair and the pleasurable aspects of breakdown in the process of urban mobility.”7 his depiction of Tbilisi as “a city whereby the everyday is not to be lived but rather per- formed,”8 reduces daily realities to a kind of theater for outsider consumption. hat the observer admires the performance makes the observation no less objec- tifying.

Despite such lapses, Aesthetics of Repair ills an important gap in recent scholarship by attempting to provide a cultural context for Georgia’s contemporary art scene, ultimately proposing that context as Geor- gia’s unique culture of remont. Mäe and Nava useful- 1 Kaljula, L. (2016). “Aesthetics of Repair in Contemporary ly deploy the distinction between static and dynamic Georgia: Tartu Art Museum, Estonia, March 24-May 29 repair to explain remont’s creative potential: whereas 2016.” ArtMargins. Accessed 20 August 2016. 2 Smith, M. (2008). “Individual Forms of Ownership in the state as mere inspiration, altering form or even func- Urban Housing Fund of the USSR, 1944-64,” The Slavonic tion in the process of repair to crat something new. and East European Review. 86 (2): 283–305. 3 Asabashvili, L. (2012). “Post War Housing in Georgia.” Urban Reactor. Accessed 15 August 2016.

4 Avermaete, T. (2005). Another Modern: the Post-War Architecture and Urbanism of Candilis-Josic-Woods. Rotterdam: Nai Publishers.

5 Koolhaas, R. (2002). “Fragments of a Lecture on Lagos,” in O. Enwezor et al., Under Siege: Four African Cities - Freetown, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Lagos: Documenta 11, Platform 4 (Ostifildern-Ruit: Hate Cantz).

6 Godlewski, J. (2010). “Alien and Distant: Rem Koolhaas on Film in Lagos, Nigeria.” Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review. 21(2): 7–19.

7 Mäe, R. and J. Nava (2016). “Exploring Tbilisi as a Post- Tourist,” in F. Martínez et. al., Aesthetics of Repair in Contemporary Georgia (Tartu: Tartu Art Museum).

8 Martínez, F. (2016). “Doing Nothing in Tbilisi,” in F. Martínez et. al., Aesthetics of Repair in Contemporary Georgia (Tartu: Tartu Art Museum).

62 Carl-Dag Lige ntly

The Baltic Exchange works as a Curator at the Museum of Estonian Architecture. Carl-Dag Lige (b.1982) is an architecture critic and historian. He curre he central piece the of pediment represents Goddess Britannia, a mythical female personiication the of British Isles. Anu Photo: Vahtra

65 Installation view. Photo: Anu Vahtra FACE-TO-FACE: he Story of the Baltic Exchange (exhibition) 6 May – 5 June 2016, Museum of Estonian Architecture (Tallinn) Exhibition concept: Maarja Kask, Ralf Lõoke (Salto Architects) & Neeme Külm Project team: Carl-Dag Lige, Triin Ojari, Indrek Sirkel, Anu Vahtra & Kadri Kütt Organiser: Museum of Estonian Architecture

FACE-TO-FACE: he Story of the Baltic Exchange (book) Editors: Triin Ojari, Carl-Dag Lige & Indrek Sirkel Contributors: Sam Jacob, Stuart Burch, Jake MacSiacais, Michael Corr, Heiti Hääl, Triin Ojari et. al. Graphic design: Indrek Sirkel Photography: Anu Vahtra Publishers: Museum of Estonian Architecture & Lugemik Book cover. Photo: AnuBook Photo: Vahtra cover.

he Museum of Estonian Architecture in Tallinn thought, and they dropped their insistence on resto- recently hosted a monumental kinetic installation by ration. One of London’s current landmark buildings, Maarja Kask and Ralf Lõoke of Salto Architects and also known as the Gherkin and designed by Foster + the artist Neeme Külm, telling the story of a building Partners, was opened at the site in 2004. that has lost its place. he installation “FACE-TO- FACE: he Story of the Baltic Exchange” explored he salvaged remnants of the Baltic Exchange changed the bizarre and unusual migration of a historical owners many times until the building became the building since it was deprived of its location in Lon- most sizeable object to be sold at SalvoWeb, the In- don following a terrorist attack by the Irish Republi- ternet platform of the largest architectural antiques can Army in 1992. and salvage fair in the UK. here was an unlikely in- tervention by Estonian businessmen, who bought the Ater the bomb attack, valuable fragments of the neo- fragments in 2007 with the hope of integrating them classical Baltic Exchange were stored with the inten- into a real estate development in Tallinn. he integra- tion of restoring the building to its historical form. tion failed ater several attempts and debates, leaving However, an assessment by English Heritage in 1996 the pieces stacked in shipping containers for nearly 10 determined that the damage to the Exchange build- years until the authors of the installation began a new ing was far more severe than had previously been chapter this spring.

66 “For diferent reasons, the remnants of the Baltic natural contexts, all of which have a direct inluence Exchange have stirred controversy and diferences on Salto’s working methods. Buildings with public of opinion in both the British and Estonian public. functions make up a signiicant part of the architec- Having addressed the issues of site speciicity be- tural work of Salto: the Viljandi State High School, fore, for example with their “Gas Pipe” exposition the Baltic Film and Media School, the Estonian at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the creators of Road Museum, the Pärnu Environmental Education the installation continue to ask challenging ques- Centre, the Sõmeru Community Centre, the Sports tions about the meaning, value and relocation of ar- Hall at the Estonian University of Life Sciences and chitectural objects,” explained Triin Ojari, Director others. During its 12 years Salto has gained interna- of the Museum of Estonian Architecture. tional attention and received awards for their installations; for example, the Estonian exposition “Gas “We were intrigued with the strange story of this Pipe” (with Ingrid Ruudi and Neeme Külm, 2008) historic building deprived of its context, an import- at the 11th Venice Architecture Biennale; the Straw ant part of its spatial identity. In addition to physical heatre (2011), a temporary, site-speciic building relocation, a number of visions and proposals have for the NO99 theatre built on the occasion of Tal- been produced regarding where and how to place linn acting as European Capital of Culture; and the the building. he more we learned about the chain project “Fast Track” (2012) for the Archstoyanie of events, the more interesting questions came up” festival in Russia. explained Ralf Lõoke of Salto Architects, one of the authors of the installation. How to integrate existing he artist Neeme Külm is one of the founders and buildings in a new setting, who should pass judgement board members of the Contemporary Art Muse- on the value of a piece of architecture, what value there um of Estonia. His works typically consist of large is in salvaging a building, how we develop emotional and time-consuming but visually minimalist in- ties with architectural symbols and what role such ties stallations. He has created monumental installa- play as a means of exerting inluence in society and pol- tions for group shows in Estonia and abroad. His itics were the questions the authors wanted to address solo exhibitions include “if” (Hobusepea Gallery, with their installation. Tallinn, 2004), “Fountain” (Draakon Gallery, Tallinn, 2006), “ideal.total” with Dénes Farkas In the exhibition at the Museum of Estonian Architec- (Tallinn City Gallery, 2007), “Tomorrow comes ture, fragments of the Baltic Exchange building made today” (Draakon Gallery, 2010), “3 Seas” with their irst appearance in Estonia. Visitors were able to Dénes Farkas (Labor Gallery, Budapest, 2011) stand face-to-face with the historic building’s pediment, and “Shimmer on the Surface” (Hobusepea which had been displaced by terrorists, businessmen, ar- Gallery, 2012). Külm has participated in several chitects and artists. At the exhibition, this fragment of group exhibitions and has also designed several the building was at the disposal of anyone who wished to exhibitions. subject it to their will: a simple red button allowed visitors to move the central piece of the pediment. he Museum of Estonian Architecture is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Housed he exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue exploring in the historic Rotermann Salt Storage, this na- the temperamental fate and context of the Exchange build- tional museum is the only memory institution ing in depth. he catalogue features photography by the in Estonia that collects, conserves and exhibits artist Anu Vahtra and design by the graphic designer In- architectural heritage. he Museum’s primary drek Sirkel. he catalogue was published by the Museum of focus is studying and popularising 20th-cen- Estonian Architecture in cooperation with the publishing tury and contemporary Estonian architecture. house Lugemik. he Museum aims to increase awareness of the historical and cultural signiicance of the built environment and to introduce the public to *** contemporary architectural thought. Established in 2004, Salto Architects (Maarja Kask and Ralf Lõoke) takes a particular interest in the intersections of architecture, landscape design and art. A contextual approach to architecture implies an awareness of social, cultural and

67 Baltic Exchange: granted. The company hints that unless it is allowed to realise Foster and Partners’ new design, it will Chronology* take its jobs and its investment back to mainland Europe.

1744 The Virginia and Maryland coffee house in Thread- 2001 Construction of the 30 St Mary Axe, a distinctive needle Street changes its name to Virginia and circular tower also known as The Gherkin, by Foster Baltick, reflecting the business of the merchants and and Partners begins. The last remnants of the Baltic ship-owners who regularly gather there. Exchange are demolished.

1900 The Baltic Mercantile and Shipping Exchange Limit- 2006 The majority of salvaged material from the Baltic ed is created. Exchange is sold via SalvoWEB, an online platform for salvaged building materials, to the Estonian 1903 The Baltic Exchange moves to a new purpose-built entrepreneurs Heiti Hääl and Eerik-Niiles Kross exchange in St Mary Axe. The lavishly decorated Ed- for £800,000 (then worth € 1,183,000), who had wardian building is designed by the architects Smith established a company called OÜ Baltic Exchange. and Wimble. 2007 Shipping containers full of salvaged building materi- 1955 Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill visits the Bal- als are shipped from the UK to the port of Paldiski in tic Exchange in order to lay the foundation stone for north-western Estonia. OÜ Baltic Exchange submits the extension of the building. a proposal to the Tallinn city government and the National Heritage Board to re-erect the Baltic Ex- 1956 HRH Queen Elizabeth II visits the Baltic Exchange change building as part of a new office block, to be and opens its extension. designed by Toomas Rank, near Vabaduse (Free- dom) Square, Tallinn. The Tallinn Board of Cultural 1972 The Baltic Exchange’s building gets a Grade II listing, Property and the National Heritage Board find the becoming a heritage site. location unsuitable and recommend erecting the structure in the harbour area. 1992 An IRA bomb destroys the Baltic Exchange. Three people die and many more are injured. During the 2008 OÜ Baltic Exchange and the Port of Tallinn sign next four years most of the remaining structure a protocol of intent outlining their cooperation in and finishing materials of the damaged building are erecting the Baltic Exchange building in the harbour catalogued, carefully dismantled and stored. area. The project is not realised.

1994 The Baltic celebrates its 250th anniversary; a deci- 2011 OÜ Baltic Exchange commissions Meelis Press sion is made to sell the site with the remnants of the Architects to draw up a plan to erect the Exchange exchange hall. building as part of a new business complex at 4 Ahtri Street, Tallinn. The site turns out to be too 1995 The city grants planning permission to GMW ar- small and the search for a new location begins. chitects, who design an office building around the remnants of the hall and main façade. The project is 2012 OÜ Baltic Exchange commissions Meelis Press not realised. Architects to draw up another plan to erect the Ex- change building as part of a new business, hotel and 1996 An assessment by English Heritage determines that residential complex at 3 Ahtri Street, Tallinn. The the damage to the Exchange building is far more project is also not realised. severe than had previously been thought, and they drop their insistence on restoration. After that deci- 2015 Salto Architects proposes to the Museum of sion, Sir Norman Foster’s office starts working on a Estonian Architecture and Heiti Hääl the idea of new high-rise, the Millennium Tower. organising an exhibition related to the historic Baltic Exchange building at the Museum of Estonian Archi- 1997 Swiss Re buys the site on condition that planning tecture. permission to knock down the Baltic Exchange is

68 he main building of the Baltic Exchange ater its completion in 1903

he Gherkin designed by architects Foster and Partners opened in 2004. Photo: Wikipedia Commons

View of the Exchange Hall before the 1992 bombing

Pediment of the Baltic Exchange at the Salvo Fair in Knebworth in 2006. Photo: Salvo News

Facade of the Baltic Exchange around 1990 First proposal for re-erecting the building in Tallinn. Schematic design by architect Toomas Rank, 2007

* For a detailed history and chronology of the Baltic Exchange, see the book FACE-TO-FACE: The Story of the Baltic Exchange, published by the Museum of Estonian Architecture and Lugemik (2016). The book can be ordered from the museum or from the Lugemik online store Dismantling the Baltic Exchange ater the 1992 bombing www.lugemik.ee/en.

69 Mälk’s artistic realm. The quality of Estonian-born photographer Vello the visuals, the photos of jewellery Muikma’s (1920–2008) story of New and the close-up images are spell- emigration to Canada, his finding a binding and haunting, the content place and an occupation in the new is intriguing and brimming with life society and his subsequent success- with full consideration of death and ful career as a commercial photog- Books afterlife. Testament is Mälk’s way rapher and university teacher. The of thanking all the people who she book is richly illustrated with photos met along this path, an expression of from his family albums and his pro- gratitude. fessional portfolio, giving a visual overview of his life and times. The Kadri Mälk. As curator Tamara Luuk aptly de- seductive imagery he shot for the Testament scribes Mälk’s work: Graceful and booming advertising industry of the subtle, yet wild and independent, is Sixties makes it evident how much what encapsulates the work of Kadri life in the West differed from that in Mälk, the founder of an internation- Soviet Estonia. ally-renowned Estonian school of jewellery. For Mälk, an item of jew- The book is a follow-up to the ellery is perfectly sufficient in itself, Estonian Museum of Art exhibition she does not strive to be outside its Photography from the Estonian intimacy, its value or its closeness. Diaspora, which Ellu Maar organized Everything which could be called a together with Eha Komissarov in tradition allows her to skilfully ma- 2010, and which was motivated by nipulate uncontrollable power, des- interest in the photographic legacy perate passions and the will to live of Estonian émigrés in Canada, Swe- Texts by Kadri Mälk, Tamara Luuk and with all its acceptances and refusals, den and elsewhere in the Estonian Tanel Veenre subjections and sovereignties. diaspora. Another interesting result Designed by Asko Künnap and Andres Rõhu of this project was Marko Raat’s Photos by Tiit Rammul 2015 documentary Fast Eddy’s Old Tallinna Raamatutrükikoda, 2016 News, about the life and slow death 328 pages, in English and Estonian Eye-Catcher. The of the freelance cinematographer Ed Life and Work of Vaar, which gruesomely dwelt on the Testament is a book by and about lingering moments before his death. Kadri Mälk, one of the most unique Vello Muikma and renowned Estonian jewellery Canada was one of the main des- artists, which features jewellery Ellu Maar tinations for those Estonians who from the last ten years and is decided to emigrate in the face of framed by her illustrated life story. Soviet occupation after the Sec- The latter is written in a non-or- ond World War. With the current thodox way, to reveal Mälk’s inner refugee crisis looming over Europe, motivation, the pains, trials and it’s worth the effort to think back on exaltations of an artist, that can Pilgupüüdja. Eye-Catcher. the past and what it meant to build Vello Muikma The Life and Work of help guide the reader – or rather the elu ja looming Vello Muikma a life in a new country. The story of viewer – through her life journey so Muikma, who was one of the cen- far. The book is text light and image Texts by Ellu Maar tral figures in the Toronto Estonian heavy, however the selected im- Designed by Liina Siib community, gives us a better under- ages have been used strategically Toronto: Estonian Studies Centre, 2016 standing of Estonian émigré culture and powerfully to bridge people and 256 pages, in Estonian and English and adds another piece to the visual landscapes, drawings and jewels, legacy of the post-war Estonians to demonstrate the complexity of Eye-Catcher. The Life and Work living in exile. what being a creative talent means of Vello Muikma, written by the and the otherworldly dimensions of art historian Ellu Maar, follows the

70 History of examined period (for example pho- 11.11.16–11.12.16 Paul Kuimet tography), supported the function- Estonian Art ing of art (for example: art history, restoration and heritage conserva- Draakon Gallery 6/II tion) or expanded the field of art in Pikk 18, Tallinn general with for example amateur Open: Mon–Fri 11am–6pm, Sat art and popular art. 11am–5pm eaa.ee/draakon

10.10.16–29.10.16 Hanna Piksarv 31.10.16–19.11.16 Maria Sidljarevitš 21.11.16–10.12.16 Rene Reinumäe Exhibi- 12.12.16–07.01.17 Karel Koplimets 09.01.17–28.01.17 Britta Benno 30.01.17–18.02.17 Danel Kahar Editor Krista Kodres 20.02.17–11.03.17 Kaja Kann Texts by Anu Allas, Sirje Helme, Jaak tions 13.03.17–01.04.17 7 Personal Kangilaski, Anu Kannike, Juta Kivimäe, Exhibitions: Alina Orav, Jenny Krista Kodres, Andres Kurg, Peeter Linnap, Grönholm, Liisa Kruusmägi, Liisi Kai Lobjakas, Karin Nugis, Virve Sarapik, Küla, Ragne Uutsalu, Heinrich Sepp, Gregor Taul, Mari Vallikivi A-Gallery Katarina Meister Designed by Andres Tali Hobusepea 2, Tallinn 03.04.17–22.04.17 Art Allmägi Tallinn: Estonian Academy of Arts, 2016 Open: Mon–Fri 10am–6pm, Sat 24.04.17–13.05.17 Maxim Mjödov 528 pages, in Estonian with English 11am–4pm summary agalerii.ee EKA Gallery History of Estonian Art 6/II is the 14.10.16–07.11.16 Anu Paal Vabaduse väljak 6/8, Tallinn second part of the sixth volume of 11.11.16–05.12.16 Caius Kull Open: Tue–Sat 12pm–6pm the History of Estonian Art series, 09.12.16–02.01.16 Kätrin Beljaev artun.ee/ekagalerii that consists of two parts. The first part is entitled ‘The development 6.10.16–29.10.16 Darja Popolitova, of art from the late 1960s to the Adamson-Eric Museum Merlin Meremaa, Hanna-Maria regaining of independence’ and it Lühike jalg 3, Tallinn Vanaküla, Soja Hallik examines the development of Esto- Open: May–Sept Tue–Sun 11am–6pm 3.11.16–26.11.16 Here we are! #fomo. nian art both at home and in exile. Oct–Apr Wed–Sun 11am–6pm Curated by Pille-Riin Jaik and Liina This is a direct continuation of the adamson-eric.ekm.ee Pääsuke developments described in the first 30.11.16–10.12.16 Hannah Harkes, part of the sixth volume, History of Permanent exhibition: Adamson- Kirill Tulin, Rachel Kinbar, Jonas Van Estonian Art 6/I. Following in the Eric (1902–1968) den Bossche same fashion as the first part, fields 19.08.16–01.17 Juhan Kuus he 15.12.16–17.01.17 Laivi Suurväli of art are delineated in the way they Measure of Humanity. 45 Years of 13.01.17–04.02.17 Norman Orro were by the Estonian art public in Documentary Photography in South 9.02.17–04.03.17 Egle Lillemäe and the course of the half century. Africa Triin Loosaar

The second half of the book ‘Other fields of art life from 1940 to 1991’, Contemporary Art Museum of Estonian Museum of Applied is dedicated to fields that were Estonia Art and Design mostly ignored or not considered Põhja 35, Tallinn Lai 17, Tallinn to be ‘real art’ during these de- Open: Apr–Dec, Tue–Sun 1pm–7pm Open: Wed–Sun 11am–6pm cades. These forgotten fields have ekkm.ee etdm.ee nevertheless managed to establish themselves as art by the end of the 22.09.16–30.10.16 Pseudo Permanent exhibition: Story of

71 Estonian Design Johanna Ulfsak 16.09.16–02.04.17 Soviet Midnight. 16.09.16–06.11.16 Vicious Circle 25.11.16–13.12.16 Merike Hallik Raul Rajangu 08.10.16–08.01.17 Classics. Ivi Laas 16.12.16–03.01.17 Anneli Oppar / 17.09.16–19.02.17 Between the 08.10.16–28.12.16 Roundabout Baltic Moonika Kase Archive and Architecture. Neeme Külm, Krista Mölder and Taavi Talve 21.10.16–11.02.17 Water Music and Hobusepea Gallery Kadriorg Art Museum Other Pictures of Sound. Vladimir Hobusepea 2, Tallinn Weizenbergi 37, Tallinn Tarasov Open: Wed–Mon 11am–6pm Open: May–Sept Tue, hu–Sun 18.11.16–27.08.17 Conductors of eaa.ee/hobusepea 10am–6pm, Wed 10am–8pm Colour. Music and Modernity in Oct–April Wed 10am–8pm, hu–Sun Estonian Art. 21.09.16–10.10.16 Erno Enkenberg, 10am–5pm 25.11.16–12.03.17 Paul Delvaux. Matti Vainio, Kari Vehosalo (FIN) kadriorumuuseum.ekm.ee A Waking Dreamer 12.10.16–31.10.16 Jass Kaselaan 02.11.16–21.11.16 Kristi Kongi Permanent Exhibition: Paintings 23.11.16–12.12.16 Paul Rodgers from the 16th–18th century. Dutch, Mikkel Museum 14.12.16–09.01.17 Karel Kopliments German, Italian and Russian masters. Weizenbergi 28, Tallinn 11.01.17–30.01.17 Taavi Suisalu Western European and Russian applied Open: May–Sept Tue, hu–Sun 01.02.17–20.02.17 Dada Sada Pada. art and sculpture from the 18th–20th 10am–6pm, Wed 10am–8pm Curator Margit Säde Lehni century. Oct–April hu–Sun 10am–5pm, Wed 22.02.17–13.03.17 Alissa Nirgi 03.09.16–08.01.17 With a Burin, 10am–8pm 15.03.17–03.04.17 Perro. Curator a Brush and a Pencil. Russian mikkelimuuseum.ekm.ee Javier Galan (ES) Graphic Art from the 19th−20th 05.04.17–24.04.17 Keiu Maasik Centuries in Estonian Museums Permanent exhibition: Collection of Johannes Mikkel: the Art of Western Europe, Russia, and China from 16th Haapsalu City Gallery Kumu Art Museum to 20th centuries Posti 3, Haapsalu Weizenbergi 34 / Valge 1 09.04.16–02.10.16 Patrons of Narva. Open: Wed–Sat 12pm–6pm Open: April–Sept Tue–Sun 10am– he Art Collection of the Lavretsovs galerii.kultuurimaja.ee 6pm, Wed 10am–8pm 22.10.16–03.17 Might and Pain. Oct–Mar Wed 10am–8pm, hu–Sun Works from Margus Punab’s October Jaan Toomik 10am–6pm Collection November Ulla Juske kumu.ekm.ee December Pille-Riin Jaik January Karl Christoph Rebane Permanent exhibition: 17.02.06– Museum of Estonian February Läänemaa Ühisgümnaasium 31.12.17 Treasury Classics of Estonian Architecture March Ede Raadik Art from the Beginning of the 18th Rotermann’s Salt Storage April he Estonian Academy of Arts Century until the End of the Second Ahtri 2, Tallinn Fashion department show World War Open: Wed–Fri 11am–6pm, Sat–Sun May Kristin Reiman 17.02.16–19.02.20 Conlicts and 10am–6pm Adaptations. Estonian Art of the arhitektuurimuuseum.ee Soviet Era (1940–1991) HOP Gallery 02.07.16–30.10.16 Poetry and Spleen. Permanent exhibition: Space in Hobusepea 2, Tallinn he Victorian Female Image and Motion. A Century of Estonian Open: hu–Tue 11am–6pm Fashion from Alexandre Vassiliev’s Architecture is the Museum of eaa.ee/hop Collection Estonian Architecture’s permanent 08.07.16–06.11.16 Marcel Lefrancq exhibition, which acquaints visitors 23.09.16–11.10.16 Estonian and Belgian Surrealist Photography with the development of professional Leatherwork Artists’ Union 09.09.16–30.10.16 Mare Balticum. Estonian spatial and architectural 14.10.16–01.11.16 Merle Kasonen / An artistic exploration of the culture. he exhibition encompasses Pilleriin Jürisoo underwater soundscape of the Baltic the most important segments of 04.11.16–22.11.16 Kärt Ojavee / Sea 20th century Estonian architectural

72 history, as well as the more intriguing 16.12.16–15.01.17 Raul Keller 29.09.16–04.12.16 Who Creates the phenomena of today. / Kaarel Kurismaa / Mari-Liis City? Rebane / Karl Saks. Timer. 10.11.16–19.02.17 Four Views on 17.06.16–25.09.16 Genesis. he Changing Tartu History of Architectural Design 08.12.16–05.03.17 Solo show of 15.09.16–02.10.16 Modern Finnish Tallinn City Gallery Anna-Stina Treumund Poster Harju 13, Tallinn 15.09.16–30.10.16 Peter Skubic. Open: Wed–Sun 12am–6pm Mirrors are Invisible kunstihoone.ee Vabaduse Gallery Vabaduse 6, Tallinn 23.09.16–16.10.16 Ininite Lives. Open: Mon–Fri 11am–6pm, Sat Niguliste Museum Curators Camille Laurelli (FR / EE) 11am–5pm Niguliste 3, Tallinn and Nicolas Audureau (FR/RU) eaa.ee/vabadusegallery Open: May–Sept Tue–Sun 10am–5pm 22.10.16–04.12.16 Random Rapid Oct–Apr Wed–Sun 10am–5pm Heartbeats. Curator Kęstutis Kuizinas 13.10.16–01.11.16 Jüri Arrak nigulistemuuseum.ekm.ee (LT) 03.11.16–22.11.16 Aarne Mesikäpp 09.12.16–08.01.17 Herkki-Erich 24.11.16–13.12.16 Pille Lehis, Pille Permanent exhibition: he Art Merila Ernesaks Museum of Estonia’s collection 15.12.16–03.01.17 Kersti Vaks of medieval and early modern 05.10.16–24.01.17 Liis Koger ecclesiastical art is exhibited at the Tartu Art House Niguliste Museum Vanemuise 26, Tartu 01.01.13–31.12.16 Interactive Rode Open: Wed–Mon 12pm–6pm Vaal Gallery altarpiece kunstimaja.ee Tartu mnt 80d, Tallinn 28.09.16–27.10.16 Kadri Mälk. Open Tue–Fri 12pm–6pm, Sat Testament. Big hall 12pm–4pm 20.10.16–13.11.16 Light Festival vaal.ee Exhibition. Curator Tanel Rander Tallinn Art Hall 17.11.16–11.12.16 Elmar Kits 1966. 11.10.16–15.10.16 Jüri Arrak Vabaduse väljak 8, Tallinn Curator Peeter Talvistu 20.10.16–05.11.16 1082 Open: Wed–Sun 12am–6pm 16.12.16–08.01.17 Annual exhibition 10.11.16–10.12.16 Lola Liivat kunstihoone.ee Small hall 20.10.16–13.11.16 Lea Liblik 27.08.16–09.10.16 Silence, Darkness. 17.11.16–11.12.16 Evi Tihemets Curator Anneli Porri 16.12.16–08.01.17 Annual exhibition 22.10.16–04.12.16 Random Rapid Monument Gallery Heartbeats. Curator Kęstutis Kuizinas 20.10.16–13.11.16 Maanus Mikkel (LT) 17.11.16–11.12.16 Margit Lõhmus 17.12.16–05.02.17 Kaido Ole. 16.12.16–08.01.17 Annual exhibition Nogank Hoparniis.

Tartu Art Museum Tallinn Art Hall Gallery Raekoja Square 18, Tartu Vabaduse väljak 6, Tallinn Open Wed, Fri–Sun 11am–7pm, hu Open: Wed–Sun 12am–6 pm 11am–9pm kunstihoone.ee tartmus.ee

19.08.16–09.10.16 Tanel Veenre. 05.03.16–30.10.16 he River Runs Dried, Dehydrated, Dessicated hrough Here… Chapters from the 22.10.16–04.12.16 Random Rapid Art History of Tartu Heartbeats. Curator Kęstutis Kuizinas 29.09.16–01.01.17 Encounter (LT) Estonian Design. An Introduction

73 Estonian Art 1/2016 (37) estonianart.ee

Published by Estonian Institute

Editorial board Eero Epner, Marten Esko, Karlo Funk, Elin Kard, Andres Kurg, Kadri Laas, Piret Lindpere, Rebeka Põldsam, Taaniel Raudsepp

Editor Stacey Koosel

Language editor Richard Adang

Graphic Design Sandra Kossorotova, Aadam Kaarma (AKSK)

Web Design Peeter Mikk

We thank Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Urmas Müür, Karlo Funk, Rebeka Põldsam, Eva Sepping, Martin Rünk, Kiwa, Margus Tamm and the Editors Club

Printed at Aktaprint

Front cover ;paranoia mascot, 2016

Back cover Triin Tamm “Writer’s Block”, 2016

ISSN: 1406-3549; ISSN online-version: 1406-5711 All issues of Estonian Art are available online: estinst.ee/eng/estonian-art-eng hose wishing to obtain a copy of Estonian Art, please send an international reply coupon to cover the postal expenses: Suur-Karja 14 10140 Tallinn, Estonia estinst.ee [email protected] phone: (+372) 631 4355 fax: (+372) 631 4356