Estonian Art 2/2017 This on the Issue of Estonian Art Focuses on Screen- Based Art
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t r A n a i n o t s E /2017 2 Estonian Art 2/2017 This On the issue of Estonian Art focuses on screen- based art. Screen In September “The Archaeology of the Screen: The Estonian Example”, curated by Eha Komissarov, will open at BOZAR, the Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels. The exhibition explores the relationship between art and new media and includes works by Paul Kuimet, Taavi Suisalu, Marge Monko, Sigrid Viir, Ivar Veermäe, Tõnis Vint, Yuri Sobolev and Katja Novitskova. The exhibition at BOZAR coincides with the move of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union to Estonia, Estonia’s celebration of its centennial in 2018 (EV100), and the opening of a new wing of BOZAR focused on media art – BOZAR Lab. We delve into the medium of the screen in contemporary art with texts by Raivo Kelomees, Andres Lõo, Ragne Nukk, Nithikul Nimkulrat and Eha Komissarov. There are visual essays by Marge Monko and Taavi Suisalu. This issue also includes articles on design, books and architecture, with a special nod to Belgian/Estonian architectural collaborations with articles by Eve Arpo, Triin Männik and Gregor Taul. Estonian Art celebrates its 20th anniversary (1997–2017) with a special publication that launches at Kumu and international locations later this year. The 20th anniversary publication will include portraits of Estonian artists by Mark Raidpere, with a preview included in this issue. ART DESIGN Eha Komissarov 3 Eha Komissarov 67 Stefan Žarić The Archaeology of the Screen: (Re)designing the Nation: The The Estonian Example Compass of Estonian Design 11 Keiu Krikmann 75 Nithikul Nimkulrat Digital Image Ecologies Crafting Digital Textiles and curator at Kumu Art Museum. 14 Susanna Paasonen Heartfelt, Singular, Generic, Eha Komissarov (b.1947) is an art historian Googled ARCHITECTURE The Archaeology 17 Marge Monko 80 Eve Arpo Untitled Collages #1 –6 Tallinn Architecture Biennale 27 Jaak Tomberg 83 Triin Männik of the Screen: The Impact of Productive Frustration TAB, The Test Site for Physical Digitality 31 Eha Komissarov 87 Gregor Taul Yuri Sobolev (1928–2002) The Estonian A Laboratory for Symbols. Reflections on Today’s Europe 35 Elnara Taidre The Belt of Lielvarde, Multimedia Atlas Example 39 Elizabeth McTernan BOOKS Taavi Suisalu: Love at Last Sight 91 Madli Ehasalu At the newly-opened BozarLab events: in July 2017, Estonia took over the European 43 Taavi Suisalu Artist’s Spaces Council presidency; in 2018, the Republic of Estonia in Brussels, visitors will be will celebrate its 100th anniversary; and the exhi- Pixel Geographies 96 Andres Lõo welcome from the 14th of bition space Bozar will be opening a new wing, the BozarLab, in September 2017, dedicated specifically 52 Andreas Trossek Phantom Platform September to the 12th of to media art. Ivar Veermäe: 6 Questions 100 Mark Raidpere November (2017) to get to When preparing an exhibition project to deal with a 57 Anneli Porri 20 Years of Estonian Art know a selection of artists who national event, it is difficult to talk about the cura- The Screen, Archive and Waiting tor’s approach in the form of an individual effort. Our Room in Recent Estonian have stood out in the Estonian team – the curator Eha Komissarov, the coordinator Photography Triin Tulgiste and the art production company Valge media art scene, plus some of Kuup, together with their assistants in Brussels – has 61 Ragne Nukk EXHIBITIONS the first promoters of visual primarily worked constructively. Our approach has been clearly determined by the options available to us, Memopol-3 – The Magnifying Glass and we are aware that we will not be presenting the of Contemporary Privacy 108 culture from the 1980s. history of Estonian art nor the crème de la crème of our national media art in Brussels. We have made a 65 Raivo Kelomees The exhibition “The Archaeology of the Screen: The selection of digital media artists in Estonia and will History of the Screen in Estonian Estonian Example” is a project analysing the relations take a short look at the past, which is significantly less Art of art and new media in connection with three major than a century in respect to media art. 4 5 The opportunities offered by the BozarLab favour the various parts of the body work together as a whole, artists whose creative processes can be brought to which is exemplified by the strange phenomenon of viewers via the tangible flat surface of a screen. We de- the phantom limb. In the context of contemporary cided in favour of the screen, the virtual image, which art, this phenomenon can be used as a metaphor for seemingly resembles the traditional situation of the projecting ideas into the future. Thus, I have come up artist/artwork/representation on the surface of the with the concept of a ‘phantom platform’. A phantom screen. While the screen acts as a support structure, platform is a positively charged metaspace into which the overview of Estonian media art is shaped by art- one can project one’s immediate future. The phantom ists of various orientations, whose artistic views cover platform is a possibility. The phantom platform is a a wide variety of phenomena, from terrorism to ex- reaction against the inescapability of having to choose periments with hypertext. between two known polarities: it offers a new, third option. The phantom platform is a paradigm shift – if We had to overcome a lack of space and other ob- you wish.”2 structions which are a permanent part of any situa- tion where media art is presented. Media art is cer- The backgrounds of the Estonian media artists rep- tainly the most artificial and demanding branch of resented at the Bozar contain many similarities; they culture due to its connection to complicated technol- have arrived at their chosen field from photography, ogy which can act in unexpected ways, and to artists graphic design and media art, the latter of which was whose paths always take them close to the borders or introduced as a subject at the Estonian Academy of who create new histories, while being closely relat- Arts in the 1990s. Media artists belong to the gener- ed to the absurd, to ideas that are predetermined to ation that grew up in a media-enriched environment, fail, or to impossible starting points. Taavi Suisalu’s which is dominated by the digital camera and smart “Landscapes and Portraits” (2016) communicates phone, and where life experience is dominated by with broken satellites. The created sound installation the continuous supplementation of culture through requires a screen to service an out-of-control satellite media technologies that stress the visual aspect. The and display visual messages received from space. This abundance of Estonian media artists with photo- work of art, projecting the modernist past onto the graphic backgrounds is, among many other factors, post-modernist present, while elegantly alluding to tied to the great demand for such skills. According to the possibility that new technologies and digital art Lev Manovich, computer software does not produce perspectives do not lack a locus classicus, has been images on its own, so the paradox of visual culture summarised by the philosopher Eik Hermann as can be seen in the transfer of the creation of images follows: “Working satellites are tools for the powers to the computer, while outside of the computer the that be, primarily meant for military applications, importance of photographic and cinematic imagery serving as parts of the overall surveillance network. continues to grow.3 Their decommissioning makes us look at them in a completely opposite way. Similarly to abandoned in- It is not difficult to characterise the art on display: dustrial buildings, after having lost their function, in appearance it refers to camera work, from the as- they evoke sympathy and nostalgia instead. It is as if, pect of material it is digital, and its logic is based on being released from the power structures, they are au- software. During the formation years, these artists tomatically also freed from their past. In this respect, were affected by the utopias of the globalisation pro- former satellites can be considered the most modern cess, now in danger of being forgotten; they all view ruins, which seem particularly exotic due to their in- themselves as members of the international digital art accessibility.”1 scene. The main theme in media art is globalisation, and their approaches have been dictated by globalisa- Virtuality is the most ambiguous concept in the field tion. The screen serves as a metaphor of the global era. of networking. Artists use it to create new worlds, with opportunities to come up with completely new A great example of the perspective of the globalised words and concepts. Andres Lõo has voiced the con- world is the career of the Tallinn-born Katja No- cept of a media art platform that mixes together the vitskova: her joint studies at the semiotics department coordinates of space-time via poetic images of a phan- of the University of Tartu, and in digital media and tom platform: “Neuroscientists claim that humans graphic design in Lübeck and Amsterdam can be seen have two bodies. A physical body and a phantom as a springboard to the post-Internet art communi- body. A phantom body is our understanding of how ty. Katja, who in 2009 helped define the discourse Paul Kuimet “2060”, Paul Photo: Kuimet 2014. 6 7 of post-Internet art, describes herself as follows: “My weird and parodic, I’m interested in what effects they work process, in general, consists of the visual scan- have. These actions – displaced replications – are both ning of the world and understanding the images thus distanced and real”6.