BIENNALE OF YOUNG ARTISTS
Biennale of Young Artists, Tallinn 2007: Consequences and Proposals. International group exhibition, curators Rael Artel, Anneli Porri. Rüütelkonna building, Tallinn.
Participating artists from Estonia: Merike Estna, Barthol Lo Mejor, Marge Monko, Tanja Muravskaja, Kristina Norman, Sigrid Viir.
PRESS RELEASE 12.09.2007
Biennale of Young Artists, Tallinn 2007
Consequences and Proposals
28.9 – 11.11.2007
Rüütelkonna building, Kiriku plats 1,
Tallinn, Estonia
Curators: Rael Artel, Anneli Porri
Participating artists: Akvile Anglickaite (Vilnius), Coolturistes (Vilnius), Nanna Debois Buhl (Copenhagen/New York), Evelina Deicmane (Riga/Berlin) and Theo Mercier (Paris/Berlin), Gintaras Didziapetris (Vilnius), Nathalie Djurberg (Berlin), Merike Estna (Tallinn/London), Elin Hansdottir (Reykjavík/Berlin), Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen (Helsinki), Emma Kihl (Stockholm), Karl Larsson (Stockholm), Juozas Laivys (Vilnius), Johanna Lecklin (Helsinki), Rudolfas Levulis (Vilnius), Barthol Lo Mejor (Tartu), Andreas Mangione and Hanna Dagerskog (Stockholm), Marge Monko (Tallinn), John Phillip Mäkinen (Helsinki), Tanja Muravskaja (Tallinn), Kristina Norman (Tallinn), Stas Polnarev (Moscow), Karol Radziszewski (Warsaw), Alexander Raevski (Chisinau), R.E.P. – Ksenia Gnilitskaya, Nikita Kadan, Janna Kadyrova, Lesia Khomenko, Vladimir Kuznetsov, Lada Nakonechnaya (Kyev), Hans Rosenström (Helsinki), Pilvi Takala (Amsterdam/Helsinki), Sigrid Viir (Tallinn), Julia Wolff (Berlin).
http://www.biennaleofyoungartists.org
Consequences and Proposals, the Biennale of Young Artists, Tallinn 2007, deals with the results of decisions made in the past and envisages possible future directions. The artists are involved as an active creative force whose role is to analyse and imagine, while standing between the fragments of dispersed histories–personal and collective, past and future.
Consequences and Proposals consists of two separate shows in one space. The first, curated by Anneli Porri, investigates silent moments in the recent history of the Baltic Sea region, addressing, often hushed up, relatively underground and invisible processes in a transforming society. This part of the exhibition questions the current state of society in the light of subjective memory. The second part of the show, curated by Rael Artel, proposes different approaches to imagining the immediate future, while hesitating between optimistic and pessimistic scenarios. Originating from the idea that all art making is political, a variety of perspectives are envisioned through a more or less political prism.
The exhibition is an open structure filled with various positions, points of view, propositions and opinions, rather than a clearly defined and closed show dealing with a defined set of themes. There are no easy take-away solutions here – the viewer is invited to think along with us.
The show takes place in the Rüüelkonna building – an architectural piece from the 19th century, which has served as the House of the Knighthood, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia, the National Library of Estonia, and the exhibition hall of the Art Museum of Estonia. The venue is located in the historic precinct of Tallinn's Old Town.
The Biennale of Young Artists, Tallinn 2007 has been commissioned and produced by the Center for Contemporary Arts, Estonia.
Background information:
The independent NGO, Biennale of Young Artists, has initiated a pioneer international project entitled Public Preparation, which, in parallel with the exhibition, will form a platform for knowledge production in support of the process of organising the biennale. Public Preparation has been realised by Rael Artel and Airi Triisberg, and as a project will exist as part of the exhibition via the Public Preparation Social Club (PPSC), a space for comment, contextualizing and problematizing the key concepts and issues of the biennale. PPSC consists of a small archive for documenting events, as well as series of talks by artists, discussions, filmscreenings and think tanks that link in one way or another with Consequences and Proposals.
More about the curators:
Rael Artel (b. 1980) is an independent curator and art critic based in Pärnu, Estonia. She graduated from the Institute of Art History in the Estonian Academy of Arts in 2003. She participated in a Curatorial Training Programme at De Appel, Amsterdam (2004/2005), and since 2000, she has contributed to a number of magazines in Estonia and elsewhere and curated shows in Estonia as well as in Lisbon, New York, Amsterdam and Warsaw. Since 2004, she has run and moderated her project space entitled Rael Artel Gallery: Non-Profit Project Space (Pärnu, Tartu).
Anneli Porri (b. 1980) is an art critic, lecturer and curator based in Tallinn, Estonia. She graduated from the Institute of Art History in the Estonian Academy of Arts in 2003. Currently, she participates in the workgroups of the Nordic Baltic Curatorial Platform, organized by FRAME – Finnish Fund for Art Exchange (Helsinki). She has curated satellite projects for the 13th Tallinn Print Triennial (2004), the 4th Tallinn Applied Art Triennial (2006), and special projects for young Estonian artists in Narva and Võru. Since 2004, she has worked as a lecturer at the Old Town Educational College, Tallinn and at the Estonian Academy of Arts.
The Biennale of Young Artists, Tallinn 2007 and Center for Contemporary Arts, Estonia wish to thank the following for their support:
Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle / Contemporary Art Information Center – Lithuanian Art Museum / The Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius / Cultural Endowment of Estonia / Estonian Academy of Arts / FRAME – Finnish Fund for Art Exchange / IASPIS – International Artists Studio Program in Sweden / Kesseum Foundation / kunst.ee – Estonian quarterly of art and visual culture / Armin Kõomägi / The Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art / Lithuanian Institute / Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Estonia / Indrek Prants / Pärnu City Government / Sekcja – arts magazine / Tatari 53 Hotel.
