2010. aasta 8. detsembrist käesoleva aasta 16. maini on Vene muuseumis avatud näitus “Vene ajaloo kangelased ja kaabakad”. Peterburi kirjasaatja Gregor Taul käis näitusel ja nägi, kuidas kunsti abil kaabakatest kangelasi tehakse.
Kord sattunud Vassili Jossifi poeg ebamugavasse olukorda ning proovinud sellest perenime abil puhtaks pesta. Üritusest teada saanud isa oli maruvihane: “Ei, sa ei ole Stalin! Sina ei ole Stalin ja mina ei ole Stalin. Stalin on Nõukogude võim. Stalin on Stalin, kes on ajalehtedes ja portreedel, ta ei ole sina ega isegi mitte mina!” Kujundlik lugu lubab tõdeda, et tihti on nii, et ajaloo markantseimate suurmeeste ja –naiste lõustad kujunevad oma ajastut esindavateks nägudeks. Nendelt arhetüüpsetelt näolappidelt kaovad (s.t kaotatakse) inimisiksuse iseloomunüansid ning ainukordsetest lohkudest ja kortsudest saavad kartulivaod, millel rügavad miljonid tuvastamatud näovarjud. Tõstatub hüpotees, et kui muidu hindame portreemaali puhul portreteerija oskust tabada persooni kordumatut omapära, kas siis “Staliniks” saanud inimeste portreede puhul peaksime hindama portreteerija oskust kaotada portreteeritav ning asendada see rahva, võimu või usuga, mida portreteeritav ainuisikuliselt tähistab? Juhul kui portreteerija käsitöö õnnestub, kas võib siis tema propagandateost kunstiteoseks nimetada?
Stalini molu lugu on sarnane Jumala palge juhtumile. Pole teada, et mõni maalikunstnik oleks Jumalaga kohtunud, kuid nende portreteeritav on ikka ühtsoodu paljasjalgne habemik. Arvo Valtoni romaanis “Kirjad kasetohul” satub tuhande aasta tagune ugandi poiss Maano (maakeelne Michelangelo?) maalima Novgorodi Antoniuse kloostri kirikukuplile Jumalat, kes loob esimest inimest Aadamat. Jumala ja ugandi orjapoisi kohtumine kulmineerub järgnevalt:
“Töö kestis pikki päevi. Kui Maano alt tehtut vaatas, nägi ta, et kõik on just nii, nagu meister Onufri oli ette näinud. Välja arvatud kummagi kuju näopilt, mille maalimise Maano oli teadlikult viimaseks jätnud.
Vahepeal oli haigus vana munga maha murdnud, nõnda et ta üldse enam kohal ei viibinud. Teiste kaudu oli Maanole edasi öeldud, et ta võib töö iseseisvalt lõpetada, küll Onufri pärast üle vaatab ja kui vaja, siis võib midagi ka ringi teha.
See oli suur usaldus. Esimest korda kavatses Maano oma õpetaja usaldust kurjasti tarvitada. Ei, mitte kurjasti, vaid oma kavatsuse kohaselt.
Loodavale Aadamale maalis Maano isa Onufri näo, kuid ilma habemeta, sest kui üks inimene alles luuakse, siis vaevalt tal habe ees on. Kui meistri joonistusel oli loodava inimese pea kummargil ning ta nägu polnud selgesti näha, siis Maano pildil oli nägu üles Jumala poole pööratud ja ilmes oli tänulikkust loomise eest. Nägu oli pildil hästi nähtav ning noormees ei kartnud, et tema lahendus halvem on ja et meister sunnib seda ringi tegema.
Teine lugu oli Jumalaga. Kogu keha ning ka pea asend olid just sellised, nagu isa Onufri pildil ette nähtud, kuid vihase loojanäo asemel oli midagi muud.
Oli ju meister ise kord seletanud, et kunstnikule saadetakse nägemus ning seetõttu võib Jumala või tema poja nägu olla erinevatel kunstnikel pisut erinev, kuigi aegade jooksul on välja kujunenud üsna ühtne kuju ja ilme. Kuna praegu oli lõplikuks tegijaks Maano, siis võis ta ju oma nägemuse välja pakkuda. Vähemalt nii annaks asja seletada.
Maano oli otsustanud nende Jumalale maalida maajumala näo. See oligi tema kaua kavandatud kättemaks, mis mitmete juhuslikult leitud mõtete kaudu lõpuks just niisuguse kuju võttis. Las vahivad novgorodlased, kes on põletanud ta küla, röövinud külaelanike varanduse ja tapnud hulga mehi, Maano isa sealhulgas, nüüd harduses kiriku kupli poole ning näevad seal mitte oma, vaid hoopis üleoleva ilmega maajumalat, kes on valmis siinseid inimesi nende pahategude eest karistama.
See oli asi, mida Maano sai teha kättemaksuks enda orjastamise eest.
Milline siis oli maajumala nägu? Maano maalis talle jõulise kandilise lõua ning tugevad põsesarnad, sügaval asetsevad sinised silmad ning nisukollase juuksepahmaka. Maajumal sai lõpuks Maano kadunud isa nägu.
Jah, nimelt isa, tubli künnimehe ja pere kaitsja sarnane oli see kirikukuplile maalitud maajumala nägu. Vaevalt mõni teine kunstnik enne Maanot on nii palju kordi kujutatud kristliku pealiku nägu just sellisena maalinud.
Näis, mis isa Onufri selle kohta ütleb. Kas laseb ringi teha?
Maalides oli Maano mõelnud ka meistri pooleldi nöökamiseks lausutud sõnadele, et kui ta ei maali nende Jumalale meelepärast pilti, siis too ei hoia kätt all ning Maano võib tellingutelt alla prantsatada.
Seda ei juhtunud. Järelikult oli ka kristlaste Jumal nõus, et ta endale siin kirikus just sellise näo oli saanud.
“
Arvo Valton “Kirjad kasetohul” 172 – 175 (Tartu: Ilmamaa, 2010)
Valtoni rahvuslikult magusa udujutu tõin välja selleks, et luua lugejale aimdus, kui üheplaaniliselt nauditavalt (?) võis näitus vene vaatajatele mõjuda. Näitus ei proovigi esitada küsimusi ajalookirjutamise (täpsemalt küll ajaloomaalimise) kohta, vaid toob ilma suurema valehäbita vaatajateni LOO vene ajaloo kangelastest ja kaabakatest. Näituse nimi viitab kogu vene ajaloole, kuid ekspositsioon käsitleb peamiselt vaid XX sajandit ning pea poole kuraatori valikust moodustab pildimassiiv Leninitest ja Stalinitest. Näituse mahukas kataloog katab küll kogu vene ajalugu, kuid see ei vähenda vägisi pealetükkivat kahtlust, et näitus korraldati selleks, et kinnitada nii sotsrealismi kui nõukogude kangelaste koht maailma kultuuriloos.
Noh, koolis ju õpetati, et ega Speeri arhitektuur või Okase laemaal ikka päris õige kunst ole. Esteetilisel pilgul on raske sellest paratamatust eetilisest müürist üle kiigata. Sellele samale eetilisele selgroole toetudes lisaksin veel seda, et eriliselt ebameeldivaks muudab näituse viis, kuidas maalikunsti kuninglike traditsioonide valguses eksponeeritakse ka kaabakaid kangelastena. Nii et kokkuvõttes tüütu näitus, mille korraldajad peaksid KUMU erinevatest nõukogude kunsti näitustest õppust võtma.
*
Lõpetuseks peaksin lugejatelt siiski vabandust paluma, et lugu nõnda ühepoolselt tauniv sai. Näitust on loomulikult võimalik lugeda veel tuhandel erineval moel ning nii mõnigi lugu võiks neist olla naljakas, mitmetahuline või sügavalt rahvusülene. Võtke või Olga Della-Vos-Kardovskaja 1909. aasta Nikolai Gumiljovi portree. Portreel kujutatud parimas eas luuletaja abiellub mõne kuu möödudes võrratu noore poetessi Anna Ahmatovaga, nad sõidavad mesinädalatele Pariisi, sõidavad Pariisi, kus pruut sõbruneb Modiglianiga..
laupäev, aprill 30, 2011
Kangelastest kaabakad
kolmapäev, aprill 27, 2011
Kunstikriitikast Venemaal
Seoses Artishoki läheneva 5. sünnipäevaga otsustasin teha väikese ülevaate kunstikriitika hetkeseisust Venemaal. Arvestades siinset rahvaarvu, kultuuriruumi geograafilist ulatust, kirjalisi traditsioone, vene emigrantidest kunstnikkonda laias maailmas jne, tuleb öelda, et vene kunstikriitikast kirjutamine kujutab enesest pigem kümne kohaliku kunstiteadlase elutööd kui ühe võõramaalasest magistrandi kahenädalalist naiivset pilguheitu. Seega palun heal lugejal arvestada kirjutaja teadmiste lünklikkusega.
Minu uurimismeetod oli kaunis lihtne: 4. aprillil lappasin läbi kõik päeva- ja nädalalehed, mis tol päeval ühes Nevski prospekti kioskis müügil olid. Kui lehes juhtus kunstikriitikat olema, lugesin artikli läbi ning tegin sellest subjektiivsed järeldused antud väljaande kunstikriitilise olukorra suhtes. Järgneval nädalal töötasin sama taktikaga läbi kõik kunstiajakirjad, mis mulle armsas raamatukogus kättesaadavad olid.
Lisaks kohtusin artikli tarbeks kirjandusuurija ja Smolnõi Vabade Kunstide Instituudi õppejõu Stanislav Savitskiga (http://gallery.vavilon.ru/people/s/savitsky-s/), kes aitas mul elementaarsusi sügavamalt mõista.
Kirjutab Peterburi korrespondent Gregor Taul.
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Alustuseks terminoloogiast. Venemaal on kunstikriitika kohta käibel kaks mõistet: traditsiooniline художественная критика ja Läänest laenatud арт–критика . Kui esimest kasutatakse n-ö kanoonilisest kunstist kirjutamise puhul, siis viimane termin viitab spetsiifiliselt kaasaegsest kunstist (kaasaegselt) kirjutamisele. Selline keeleline käitumine tekitab emsapilgul kahtlustuse, et kas vene kultuur ei vannu mitte liiga kergesti alla igasugustele anglitsismidele, kuid mõelgem siinkohal kas või xix sajandi vene kirjandusele ja selle keelele, veendumaks, et vene kultuuri eriomane võime imeda enesesse (ja kodustada) võõraid elemente, võib anda suurepäraseid tulemusi. Igal juhul on see tavaline asi, et kui ajakiri tutvustab tagaküljel oma autoreid, siis mõned neist esitlevad end kui art-kriitikuid, teised on aga hudošestvennõi kriitikud.
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Vesteldes Stanislav Savitskiga, rõhutas viimane, et hetkel on Venemaal raske rääkida eraldiseisvast kriitiku positsioonist. Enamik kaasaegsest kunstist kirjutavatest inimestest on samal ajal ka kuraatorid, galeristid, õppejõud, kunstnikud vms. Küllap on see asjade seis kogu Lääne kultuuris, et inimesed paigal ei püsi ning kombivad erineval moel oma professionaalsuse piire. Seda tasuks silmas pidada ka enne eesti kunstikriitika hetkeseisu hukkamõistmist.
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Savitski mainis põgusalt ka vene kunstikriitika (ja kunstiajaloo kirjutamise) jagunemist kolmeks kaunis lahusseisvaks põlvkonnaks, mis paratamatult teineteisest eriti aru ei saa ega lugu pea. Rahvusliku peavoolu moodustavad seejuures suurte kunstimuuseumide vanema põlvkonna kunstiajaloolased, kes "vihkavad kaasaegset kunsti".
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Ülevaade 4. aprilli ajalehtedest (suvalises järjekorras):
"Россисийская Газета" (http://www.rg.ru/) 31. 03 - 06. 04 - ülevenemaaline ühiskondlik-poliitiline nädalaleht, mida annab välja valitsus. Ilmub 1990. aastast, tiraaž 180 000, lugejateks on kodulehe väitel "rahumeelsed konservatiivsete vaadetega täiskasvanud". Ajalehte trükitakse 46 linnas ning neil on ka ingliskeelne võrguleht Russia Beyond the Headlines (http://rbth.ru/). 31. märtsi numbris oli 16-st leheküljest üks pühendatud kultuurile, millest 9/10 rääkis teatrist, ülejäänu kõneles ameerika filmist. Kunstikriitika puudus.
Литературная Газета (http://www.lgz.ru/) 30.03 - 05.04 - on Venemaa Sirp, mis nimetab end uhkelt Delvigi ja Puškini samanimelise ajalehe järeltulijaks (ajakiri ilmus 1830 - 1831 ja 1840 - 1849; 1929. aastal otsustasid Nõukogude kirjanikud jätkata traditsiooni ning sellest ajast ilmub ajaleht tänaseni). Käesoleva numbri 12-lt A2 formaadis lehelt leiame ühe ca 5000-tähemärgise artikli nostalgilisest Federico Fellinit kujutavast fotonäitusest Moskvas. Ajalehe eelviimaselt leheküljelt leiame ka intervjuu vana kooli režissööri Stanislav Govoruhhiniga, kes 75. juubeli puhul oma maalide näituse avas.
Võib arvata, et Sirbi panus eesti kunstikriitikasse on helgem kui Literaturnaja Gazeta panus vene kunstikriitikasse.
Санкт–Петербургский Курьер (http://kurier-media.ru/) 31.03 - 06. 04 - Peterburi nädalaleht, kus pole kirjas sõnagi kunstist. Võrguväljaandes on eraldi kultuurisektsioon, kus ilmus kuu aega tagasi artikkel (õigemini pressiteksti ümbersõnastus) Ermitaaži näitusest Prado kunstimuuseumi kogudest.
Вечерний Петербург (http://www.vppress.ru/) 01.04 - Peterburi päevaleht, mis ilmub 1917. aastast. 32-st leheküljest poolteist on pühendatud kultuurile, millest ühel on ca 2000-tähemärgine artikkel Maria Gisichi galerii (http://www.gisich.com/) uuest näitusest, kirjutajaks Tatjana Kirillina. Arvustatavaks näituseks on Dmitri Gretski ja Jevgenia Katsi "Magda&Lena". Väikeste vahenditega võimekas kunstikriitika.
Новости Петербурга (http://novostispb.ru/) 30.03 - 05.04 - Peterburi konservatiivne nädalaleht, kus pole sõnakestki kunstist, küll aga terve lehekülg teatrist.
Известия (http://www.izvestia.ru/) 1.04 - 03.04 - 1917. aastast ilmuv üleriigiline populaarne päevaleht. Sarnaselt teistele päevalehtedele koosneb nendegi kultuurikülg teatriarvustustest, kuigi sekka on sattunud ka ca 3000-tähemärgiline artikkel ühest Moskva maalinäitusest. Siinkohal võiks üldistada, et juhul kui üleriigilised päevalehed midagi kunstist kirjutavad, siis on see enamasti ikka Moskvaga seotud.
Коммерсант (http://www.kommersant.ru/daily/) 02.04 - üleriigiline majandusele põhenduv päevaleht, mida antakse välja Peterburis. Kõige veidram ajaleht, mida ma kunagi käes olen hoidnud - käesoleva numbri 52-st A2 formaadis leheküljest oli 49 täidetud loeteluga pankrotistunud firmadest. Kunstikriitikast seal loomulikult juttu ei olnud.
St Peterburg Times (http://www.sptimesrussia.com/) 30.03 - ingliskeelne Peterburi nädalaleht, millel soovitan silma peal hoida. Avaldavad adekvaatset poliitilist teavet olukorra kohta Venemaal ning kirjutavad tihti ka väga hästi kunstist Peterburis ja mujal Venemaal. Ajakirja toimetaja Sergei Tšernovi blogist (http://sergey-chernov.livejournal.com/) leiab teinekord ka Tallinna näituste reportaaže.
Kokkuvõttes võiks öelda, et kunstikriitika on ajaleheveergudelt eemale kandunud (kui see seal kunagi üldse oli).
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Kunsti- ja kultuuriajakirjad (suvalises järjekorras):
Искусство и образование - kvartalis korra ilmuv ajakiri, mis avaldab kunstipedagoogika-alaseid artikleid. Ajakirjas ei avaldata küll kunstikriitikat, kuid see-eest on see oluline täiendus venekeelselsele kunstiteaduslikule teoreetilisele kirjandusele. Ajakiri jaotub kuueks erinevaks peatükiks ning iga peatüki alt leiab kaks-kolm asjakohast teaduslikku artiklit. Käsitletakse nii kunstiteooriat, uusi tehnoloogiaid, kunsti- ja muusikaõpetamise metodoloogiaid, koreograafiat jne. Tiraaž 1000.
Юный Художник - kord kuus ilmuv kunstiajakiri, mis tutvustab kooliealisele lugejaskonnale nii kunstiajalugu kui ka kaasaegseid kunstnikke. Viimases numbris näiteks täiesti arvestatav artikkel Fluxuse olulisusest Ida-Euroopas kunstis. Eelmises numbris tutvustav artikkel kunstibiennaalidest. Igal juhul arukas viis kunstipubliku ja muidu intelligentsete inimeste kasvatamiseks.
Vikerkaare-suguseid igakuiseid ühikondlik-kultuurilisi (kirjandus)ajakirju ilmub Venemaal kümmekond. Olulisemad neist on ehk Звезда, Знамя, Иностранная Литература, Москва, Нева, Наш Современник, Октябрь , kuid vaid viimane neist avaldab järjepidevalt kunstikriitikat (ja väga head teist!). Eraldi tooksin kirjutajana välja Klara Sajeva. Oktoobri tiraaž on 2500.
Культура и время on neli korda aastas ilmuv ühiskondlik-kultuuriline ajakiri, mille rõhuasetus lasub traditsioonilisel kunstil. Viimane number pühendus Roerichi paktile (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roerich_Pact), kuid pea 40 lehekülge pühendati ka Sandro Botticellile. 13 leheküljel kirjutatakse Vene Ajaloomuuseumis avatud india kunsti näitusest. Tiraaž 1200.
Наше Наследие on kolm korda aastas ilmuv muinsuspärandist kõnelev ajakiri. 150 leheküljel räägitakse ikoonidest, peredvižnikutest, samovaridest ning jagatakse kasulikku infot kollektsionääridele. Tiraaž 5000.
Третьяковская галерея (http://tretyakovgallerymagazine.com/) on Tretjakovi galerii aastas neljal korral ilmuv paralleelselt vene- ja ingliskeelne ajakiri, mis kajastab kunstimuuseumis aset leidvaid näituseid. Näitused on enamasti kanoonilised ning seetõttu on ka ajakirja sisu pigem kunstiajalooline. Tiraaz 3000.
Диалог Искусств (http://www.di.mmoma.ru/) on Moskva Kaasaegse Kunsti Muuseumi 6 korda aastas ilmuv väljaanne, mis ilmub samuti paralleelselt vene- ja ingliskeeles. Tiraaž 5000.
Русское Искусство (http://www.rusiskusstvo.ru/) - kvartalis korra ilmuv rahvuslikule kunstiajaloole pühenduv ajakiri. Iga number on pühendatud erinevale teemale, nii näiteks keskendus 2011. aasta esimene number vene mõisakultuuri pärandile, 2010. aasta 3- number aga Andrei Rubljovile. Suurepärane klaasikaline kunstiajaloo kirjutamine ning külluslik pildivalik. Tiraaž 5000.
Искусство (http://iskusstvo-info.ru/) - samuti kvartalis korra ilmuv ajakiri, millel samuti teemanumbrid. Viimase numbri teema oli näiteks abstraktsionism ja geomeetria. Jääb mulje, et ajakirja peamine eesmärk on vene kunstiajaloo naitamine Lääne kunstiajaloo peavooluga. Kui jutt käib abstraktsionismist, tõlgitakse ära Clement Greenbergi artikkel maalijärgsest abstraktsionismist, Frank Stella ja Donald Juddi dialoog, Hans-Ulrich Obristi intervjuu Pierre Soulage'iga ning tutvustatakse takka veel Cy Twomblyt. Täheparaadile järgnevad artiklid vene klassikutest ja tänapäevastest abstraktsionistidest, kes valimatult suure abstraktsionismiloo olulisteks osalisteks kirjutatakse.
Собрание шедевров on on neli korda aastas ilmuv vene kunstialaloole pühendunud kunstiajakiri, mida iseloomustab kirjutajate rafineeritud akadeemilisus. Lugejatele tuvustatakse uue külje alt vene kunsti- ja arhitektuuriajaloopärle ning kajastatakse ka seda, millega on vene kunstnikud saanud hakkama väljaspool Venemaad. Tiraaž 2000.
Kokkuvõttes võiks öelda, et andekatel vene kunstikirjutajatel ei tohiks esineda probleeme avaldamispinna leidmisega. Iseasi, kas kümmekond kunstiajakirja (mille tiraažid ulatuvad kõige enam 10 000-ni) pole mitte liiga vähe 140-miljonilise rahvaarvu jaoks..
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Olgu trükistega, kuidas on, aga kõige suurem osa kunstikriitikas (või vähemalt kunstist kirjutamisest) leiab tänapäeval aset ikka Internetis. Lugeja kurvastuseks ei ole ma siinse blogosfääri kaardistamisele seni aega pühendanud ega oska seetõttu välja tuua olulisemaid kirjutajaid. Aga üks lehekülg, millel kindlasti tasub peatuda, on Artishoki-laadne OpenSpace (http://www.openspace.ru/), mille kunsti-sektsiooni alt leiate rohkelt artikleid ja intervjuusid.
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Kui uut teada saan, annan teada.
laupäev, aprill 23, 2011
MoKS 10 years!
Evelyn Müürsepp and John Grzinich, February 2011, opening of wholly renovated MoKS!MoKS - Center for Art and Social Practice has made it to its 10th year of existence, so Artishok is glad to send its congratulations (find more at moks.ee)! Maarin Murky made interview with Evelyn Müürsepp and John Grzinich, which you can read below. Estonian translated version of this interview appeared in cultural weekly Sirp and can be read here:
http://www.sirp.ee/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12342:lokaalne-ja-globaalne-moks-&catid=6:kunst&Itemid=10&issue=3342
Maarin Murky: To start with - what have been key moments in MoKS 10 years of activities for you personally?
Evelyn Müürsepp: of course starting off MoKS, after I went to be an AIR in Loviisa, Finland. Jouni Jäppinen was great help to me when I wanted to do something similar here afterwards and in the first year of MoKS he advised me quite a lot. At this time I didn't even know what an NGO was and how to organize things etc.
MM: Did you consult with someone from Estonia on how to initiate something like that?
EM: In the beginning we visited Kütiorg and Peeter Laurits together with Maia Möller. But this was more like mapping, we didn't have such tight communication with Laurits as with Jouni.
John Grzinich: For Jouni it was maybe easier also to understand the experience of someone who is visiting Estonia from abroad. This kind of import and export is actually one thing that we try to push here – Evelyn left Loviisa with an idea and people come to MoKS and leave with same idea of creating something on their own.
MM: Do you know how many things over the years that have grown out from visitors experiences at MoKS, something new that has got its inspiration from here?
EM: MoKS AIR 2004 Antonio della Marina got more involved with Topolo (Italy) making attempt to initiate residency program there as well, couple of Tampere artists initiated Hirvitalo after their stay at MoKS in 2004. I would really like to think that MoKS has influenced these artists to initiate and become involved with mentioned projects.
JG: After „Pushing the Medium“, Paolo Raposo went back to Portugal and that helped get the whole Nodar thing started. Mamoru Tsukada is now responsible for the Tokyo City residency in Berlin... So there are actually plenty of things.
EM: Going back to my personal key moments in MoKS history, another important one for me was when Macedonian artists OPA came for the residency in 2003. They were first guest artists here for longer time (3 months) and helped start this direction of social engagement. John joining the MoKS was very critical point, because my cooperation with Maia Möller was fading away at this time and John came in at the right moment with fresh ideas and contacts. Electing the new board was other key moment - feeling more confident as an organization, having new members etc. It was step away from very personal connections that characterized MoKS as an organization at the beginning, so getting a new board was almost like moving from a youthful phase into a more mature phase.
JG: These people of new board came because of MoKS itself, not because of personal friendships. Its not positive or negative difference between old and new board, but as organization it showed now some more maturity.
MM: John, what have been your personal key moments in MoKS history?
JG: There was moment in Postsohvkoz 4 where it became clear that we were capable of functioning as team, to produce the event. The third Postsohvkoz was also good, but then I had the feeling that some friends just came to hang out and not produce work, but with fourth we were able to move it to next level. But otherwise there are actually lots of small things, like coming to MÄRZ and seeing you [Maarin] doing your own project there... Its really visiting people, visiting projects that have grown out of MoKS. Going to „Pushing the Medium“ symposium to Italy and Portugal, seeing how people are taking the ideas and experiences from MoKS seriously and developing them further to another way.
MM: what kind of chance MoKS has wanted to create?
JG: it definitely affects people, you can see it from the artists who visit. It has at least shifted awareness of someones personal impact and responsibility. Again, it doesn't have to be major thing.
EM: The fact of founding of MoKS is itself proposal for change. Proposal for creatives to undertake an attempt to create its structure in society and experience what kind of influence can this structure have on society.
MM: Who has been MoKS audience, who are coming? – is it local people, international artists, Estonian art world etc?
EM: We create our own audience. It's participatory practice, not a showcase. Everyone can participate freely.
JG: That's a really difficult question. Besides the obvious – people who are visiting or participating in workshops etc – the audience is always people you don't see or know personally, an invisible potential of interested participants. The moment they get involved, they are not an audience anymore. You have to look at specific cases also. The „Food Club“ is good example because the audience is anyone who shares a common interest about food and cooking. But the long term audience of the „Food Club“ are the people of Mooste, because eventually a kitchen or cafe could grow out of this and the wider public would benefit. Or for „Helikoosolek“ - the audience is anyone who has an interest in sound and wants to share ideas. For the Artist Residency it seems that the audience is people who are working in very international waters. You can see this from people who apply – they are born in one country, they studied in another and now they live in third. We don't target much of any specific audience. Its similar to fishing, we just put information out there and we what happens. We always catch something.
MM: For me it seemed that the beginning idea was to deal more with local community, Mooste people. But at some point it changed and it became more about artists who visited the place, creating as you Evelyn said – we are our own audience-type of things. For me it correlated also to shifts of concepts between Postsohvkoz and AVAMAA - first was more about dealing with Mooste as a site and other is mainly doing just workshops and collaborations between artists, without direct involvement to Mooste.
EM: I have never seen MoKS audience as people in the village. MoKS is like bridge between local and global. Yes, it is in a village, but both sides have always been important, the local community and the outside visitors.
JG: Its the same with concept of Topolo; its called Topolo Station, it`s in the middle of nowhere, a much more remote village than Mooste. But idea was always that people come through, so they started a station where the travelers stop and do something. Its good model, because for a station it doesn't matter are these local or international people, but just those who pass through, some stay londer than others. If you look at the overall picture of MoKS, the audience constantly changes, so even if it was more local at some point, we had more connection with some local kids or with some people, lot of the people with whom we worked over the years, are not here anymore. So its not so fixed.
MM: John, you have also mentioned that what has been mostly produced in MoKS, is immaterial (art). Usually its quite common tactics for site-specific art practices still to deal with more permanent object kinds of art, creating public art through sculptures etc. In Mooste only Marisa Jahn's wall mural has survived all the years, other things have disappeared quiet shorty after being made.
JG: It has been partly conscious choice, because we decided not to be discipline based - like certain residencies are for sculpture, ceramics, textiles etc. Because we never had lots of space and special facilities, we were always operating on highest level of efficiency. There haven't been many objects produced permanently for Mooste because we simply didn't have space to produce them. But whole idea of artistic production has become anyway more and more immaterial.
EM: I think some kind of sculpture park is very widely spread idea and it was probably also expected from us too. We decided that we don't want that, mostly because we wanted to show what else could also be considered as art.
JG: We saw that there was real need for more immaterial things like social or sensory experiences. You can always go with materiality, like commissioning works or specific objects but when we started we found that people wanted social connections more than anything, so this gave us the way to go. Lots of art has been produced in isolation, totally outside of public sphere, in specific closed social groups, in the art world for example. That's fine, but it usually shows more the relationship between the artist and the object he or she creates, not their connection to a wider public. Since the 80s was very much market-oriented period, the 90s as response to that was more about processes and mediated experiences.
MM: One issue with the art practices that are concentrating on immaterial production, creating more processes, participation etc, still tend to produce hierarchies between artists who behave like anthropologists on a fieldwork trip and local people. Have you have sensed that in MoKS and how do you deal with it?
JG: We were aware of that from the beginning. This is where the anthropological interest came in (Maailmafilm Festival in Tartu) when we started to see how anthropologists work and we realized that we were very much confronting the same issues. Someone who comes temporarily, knows more etc. Its even more sensitive for us, because we don't leave, MoKS stays here and will get even more permanent. That's why we never require that artists to do something permanent in the village. Its more like really carefully deciding if the person is right for it and how much do you want to invest into this type of work and these type of connections. In the beginning we had these experiences that people got excited and promised something and then artists failed to do something. Sometimes its Estonians, sometimes its visiting artists who are not committed, but in the end actually its MoKS who has to take the responsibility for whatever happens.
EM: We are the interface to the village and to Estonia in general. When artists start here with their projects and start making contacts, they come to talk to us to discuss what would work and what not.
JG: Its also important - the understanding that this is all a process. Like immediately, if someone only stays for a month, we can already rule out any kind of deep collaboration with community, because we know from past experiences how much involvement it actually takes, how much time and energy etc. The other thing is that maybe there is a certain myth about this socially engaged practices. The examples which are used are quite large scale projects, big productions that take years of involvement etc. But actually social interaction mostly happens on the smallest human level of human communication. For example just the fact that local shop has adapted MoKS artists by buying in more fresh fruit – this kind of things. This isn't just a big thing that you could look at it and say that this is direct response to MoKS being here, but this is respnse in the local community. In that sense we are affecting local economy system as well. This is not something you engineer, plan or even decide. These are just side effects actually. So its not always about concrete visible objects, but about working out and building up complex relations. This is what communities are about, it isn't just a place where life is.
MM: MoKS is an artist run space – how have you personally dealt with both roles – managing MoKS and continuing your personal artistic practices?
JG: I think in a way we don't take more major or minor roles in this process than anyone else, its important to keep the level somewhat equal. At the same time we can't deny the fact that Evelyn, Siiri and I are taking up a huge responsibility. The main challenges are how to balance all the duties. With Postsohvkoz events for example we just crashed afterward and it took weeks to gather our energy again after each event. That era ended and we took a break in 2007 to do nothing during summer, and think about other possibilities of to structure the event, to distribute responsibilities. That peaked in the second AVAMAA in 2009 when there was practically no team, because everything was organized beforehand, then once it started, it just ran. I could give a workshop (Mutopia), and Evelyn could participate in a workshop. The only real responsibility was making food for everyone and Patrick McGinley was dealing with that, by having participants cooking themselves. So now we would like to keep all things under one roof, which correlates with that that one important thing have been sensitivity to want to keep the system open.
EM: Our aim is to try to not expand on the institutional and bureaucratic level. In that case we wouldn't be anymore artist run space.
MM: but where do you draw the line – when is there too much institutionalization?
EM: I think there is a point where responsibilities shift out to the hand of institution. Everyone who is involved looks at the institution as the only responsible structure. For me the ideal balance would be that each party or person takes responsibility, big or small. But its the same as with entering to relationship – you take responsibility for all your actions. Being here as an artist in residence, you are not just getting studio, all the services, assistants etc, you are also giving something back to organisation through your activities.
MM: You have both been mentioning that MoKS will constantly keep developing as an open organization. What exactly do you mean by this, how will you achive this? There are certain words that tend to repeat in those kind of initiatives as self-descriptions and I would like peek behind them a bit more.
EM: Its like taking time every morning to ask yourself what are you doing here. The organization is a collective effort of people gathering together to discuss these things.
JG: We've been discussing development plans and organizational strategies since 2004. The aim is not simply to grow in a linear way, you can always grow with more of everything. The intention was that whatever you do it still has to be relevant to something or somebody. Whatever someone puts in they must feel what they get back from this also. In larger institutions you can sometimes give input, but you rarely have the feeling that your work is part of overall development of institution. Maybe its just as simple as a quantity– involvement of more than 10 people might need more of an institutional structure. Its not a value- judgment, I just think size is sort of the key issue. Whoever is involved with MoKS, has to understand how the responsibilities should be distributed. We don't take responsibility away from an artist who visits. We think they should in fact take more responsibility, to take care of themselves, the house etc. Because otherwise what happens is that you need to expand and hire cleaning people or cook to take care of things for example. This is what starts to deconstruct the relations inside an organization. Of course Siiri Kolka is very new but somehow we have to be aware that she shouldn't only feel like she is obligated to certain duties, but she also helps creates what MoKS is. Its for us to let go even of our own idea because she can make something for herself here in MoKS.
MM: How easy it to explain MoKS way of functioning to artists who come for a residency or others with whom you cooperate? When you are selecting people from the pool of applications you can predict something about the person, but not all of course, how a person would fit here.
JG: (with the machine-like voice) It has always run perfectly.
EM: It really depends on the person. Some people need more reminding and some people get things really naturally. And you really have to be here and to be ready to explain the same things several times etc.
MM: Why it has always happened so that MoKS has had more connections abroad – in terms of artists visiting but also in terms of cooperation with other organizations? Have the steady cooperation with ERM and Y-Gallery, which are first of this kind from the Estonian scene, happened quite recently?
JG: I think Estonian artists would like to go abroad, as there is desire to see the world. Its like this in every country, where grass is always greener on the other side and things are always better somewhere else, more exotic. Lots of people are attracted to Estonia for the same reason. Estonian artists who have been visiting and organizations we have had contacts with – has been as fruitful as any other collaboration from abroad. In the end, when you get pass this first 5 minutes awkward introduction and distortions when you actually start working together there isn't much of a difference.
EM: As an artist I prefer also go somewhere abroad. I have my studio here, but I'd like to get away from my everyday problems etc. No one can catch me and I can really focus on what I want to do.
JG: The thing is when you are at MoKS, its not quite an Estonian space. When artists in Tallinn think of Mooste, they see it as an Estonian village. But I can guarantee you that five minutes after they arrive and meet somebody form Singapore, Australia or Latvia that image of where they are will disappear. You can easily find more of an international space at MoKS than you might at certain central cultural spaces. But its very difficult to communicate to those who have not visited.
MM: With whom you compare MoKS with – both from Estonia and abroad? What kind of organizations inspire you and have been role models in how to develop MoKS?
EM: my role models are mostly places I have been as an artist. Of course Loviisa in Finland; then Stanica in Žilina, Slovakia – really grass root organization changing this small town. Then residency in Akureyri, Iceland; Headlands Center for the Arts in California, US and bunch of smaller visits to different places too. But you can have role model, but place itself actually predicts everything. Its all about translating other experiences into your own context.
JG: I wanted to develop PostsohvkoZ more, because what I saw in Topolo (Italy). They were a very good model, because I always got something from it, I walked away with even more then I put in. I had been there three times before coming to Estonia and I saw that when you can come back to the same place you'll have different experience each time. That was indeed a direct model. Also my experiences in Slovenia with hEXPO, working with Marko Kosnik – where I became aware of deeper issues of post-socialist situations. Estonia and Slovenia are quite different, but at least some directions of what to look for or what to be aware of are quite similar.
MM: But with what initiatives from Estonia you feel companionship or stronger connection?
EM: At first we went to Kütiorg and its was other inspiration for me. MoKS is still growing and looking for its self, but not so much linearly, but through diversification of activities.
JG: Thinking bigger is a more linear progression, scale- and size wise. When we realized that we had the possibility to renovate the building and have more space we had to think what to do with it, maybe more educational projects, hosting more workshops and things like that.
MM: so the near future bring for MoKS...? And what kind of Moks do you dream of, lets say when we are making 20 year-interview?
JG: Pretty much the same but totally different.
EM: ten years is long time, but now I have for the first time experience in running an organization for ten years, so I know what this ten years actually mean. How long can it take for things to develop and what complexities to appear. In my dreams Moks in ten years is still autonomous self-organized unit, who is opened for co-operation with different initiatives (locals, similar creative grass root organizations in Estonia and abroad, creative people, schools etc). Moks is place in time and space where culture bubbles and blossoms in different forms – outcome is dependent in every inch raw material its made of. More concretely I see Moks as open academy, dynamic learning space, where people can change experiences. Its a constantly ongoing workshop, where different generations dare to communicate and open themselves.
esmaspäev, aprill 18, 2011
Tartu linna visuaalse üldilme parandamine
1.1.Välisreklaami kujundusprintsiibid kehtestatakse eesmärgiga tagada Tartu linna visuaalse üldilme parandamine, arvestades sealjuures linna piirkondade erisusi ja vajadusi.
Tartu välireklaami kujundusprintsiibid: http://info.raad.tartu.ee/webaktid.nsf/web/viited/TLVM2003123000019
Tartu vanalinna muinsuskaitseala ja kaitsevööndi kaart: http://www.tartu.ee/?lang_id=1&menu_id=0&page_id=952
laupäev, aprill 16, 2011
Martiini räägib Ivanovite jõulupuu dekoreerimisest
Martiini räägib Tartu Üliõpilasteatri lavastatud Aleksndr Vvedenski "Ivanovite jõulupuu" lavakujundusest.
Intervjuu Martiiniga oli audiona esmakordselt eetris viimases Kunstimisteeriumis 14.04.2011.
teisipäev, aprill 12, 2011
Interviews about creativity by Veronika Valk, vol 2
Reggie Watts and greennessAnd one more time - Artishok is very glad to present contribution by architect and designer Veronika Valk, who shared her archive and gave out to publish 130 pages about her stay in China in 2008 and 40 pages about her stay in New York in 2010. China-collection you will find here:
http://artishok.blogspot.com/2011/04/interviews-about-creativity-by-veronika.html
Interviews in New York are made during Veronika Valk`s residency in PointB, Williamsburg, during the autumn 2010. People interviewed contain range of creatives who all reveal to Valk their personal approach to the thing called „creativity“.
Interviews:
- Axel Straschnoy - an artist who makes robot art for robots
- Brian McGrath - Associate Professor and Chair, Urban Design, School of Constructed Environments, Parsons The New School for Design
- Bruce Sterling - author, journalist, editor, and critic
- Caroline Brown - designer
- Ed Kimball – architect
- Eva Franch Gilabert – director of Storefront for Art and Architecture (nonprofit gallery committed to the advancement of innovative positions in architecture, art and design)
- Ji Lee - street artist, creative director at Google Creative Lab; initiator of a range of personal projects, among which the ‘Abstractor’, which turns public video walls into abstract kinetic artworks, and the widely publicized Bubble Project (thebubbleproject.com).
- José Luis de Vicente - data visualizer, researcher and writer working around the edges of New Media Arts, Digital creativity, and innovation in Design and Culture.
- Mark Parrish - architect & PointB worklodge initiator
- Phil Morgan - owner of bustling Boerum Hill café Building on Bond
- Reggie Watts – comedian/musician, filmmaker
- Tanya Selvaratnam - producer and performer
Unfold and you can read extracted interview with Reggie Watts and download your whole interview-package here:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12294508/ZZYY_USA_interviews.pdf
Interview with Reggie Watts
In his office at 555 West 18th Street, New York
@12 noon on October 8th, 2010
VV: Great hair!
RW: Same thing with you!
VV: I’ve got a feeling that you have a great eye for cinematic, a heightened sense of the cinematic, and as my questions that I’d love you to answer, revolve around creativity enhancing public space, then first of all -- what is your definition of creativity?
RW: The openness of the mind and the desire to define without having absolute control. And to
express that. Because creativity is about sharing, even just inside oneself there’s an aspect of
sharing. A factor receiving information and allowing having space for that, but not wanting to
control it. Dancing with it, giving it shape in the form of expression. Thus, it becomes a shared
expression, rather than “this is me, generating an idea, and now I’m giving it to you”. It’s a
collaboration with chaos.
VV: You said that with your eyes closed. 80% of the data that we receive from surrounding environment is via visual perception, with the help of eyesight. The rest of the information comes from other senses -- tasting, smelling etc. It’s remarkable that you gave the definition of creativity with your eyes closed...
RW: It helps!
VV: But then, when designing public space, urban scenery -- what should be considered to design it in a way that it enhances creativity?
RW: It has to have an emotional quality to it, which is obviously subjective. Independent of the
upbringing experiences, a place can give you information, just like a painting or a poem. It’s a
key to a reality. Shapes, geometry and places are keys into states of mind.
VV: New York is obviously your preferable environment. Do you have other cities or places where you’ve felt that your creative drive flourishes?
RW: To think of how the environment gives me a sense of creativity, of being inspired, then
Melbourne, Australia. I’m a big fan of architecture. I’ve never studied it in technical terms and
Melbourne has a lot of amazing, brand new, very state of the art architecture. So much! And
it’s all jammed into the city squares. All these various design! It’s almost as if billionaires got
together and decided to have an art collection of buildings (with Aussie accent): “I have this
building!”, “But I’ve commissioned this architect to do this!”, “Oh yeah! Well, how about this
one -- there’s an entire 4 story smart facade here encompassing the entire plaza! What do you
think about that?”, “How about a Dutch tram system?”, “Sure, let’s put it in!”... It’s very much
like a SimCity in a way -- like building a simulated city. Because it’s so new, so much, so
quickly, then it’s a very disorienting space. You walk down the street and you get elements of
European, very straight French or British, colonial kind of architecture next to brand new
modern German or Dutch or Japanese or American designed buildings all clustered together.
It’s similar to how New York is, but New York is so much older. So, Melbourne is like a new
version of New York. Also, there’s a mall complex in Melbourne (Melbourne Central) that has
an old tower which has a clock on it, and the developers left the tower and built the building
around it. There’s this old building in the middle of this mall -- the way this is planned and
designed is unconventional and inspiring. Unconventional architecture inspires unconventional
thinking.
VV: What’s the starting point for you when you work on a film idea and look for a location?
RW: It’s something like this, that when you walk down an alley, you stop at a certain place as
you feel there’s something about it. You look around and you just love the way the graffiti
looks, dumpsters are turned over and these wires are hanging out. Or, a country house with a
huge porch on it on a hill, with a giant tree next to it -- it’s very iconic, but it has an emotional
connection that then calls out for something wanted to be made, a film to be filmed. I think in
filmic ways often, when I have my headphones, listening to a soundtrack, going: “Oh! It’s this
kind of a film.” Or, “Oh! That lady over there ends up running into this really strange man
whose says this weird phrase which reminds her of something that she’d forgotten about and
she goes to pursue it.” Environment has a lot to do with how I envision film.
VV: How about sound? If you’d go blindfold in the city, would you actually be able to navigate?
RW: I don’t know about that!?!! Well, I might be able... though sound to me is the secret
ingredient that people tend to underestimate. If you’re walking through the environment and
there’re speakers that are hidden, that give these weird subtle dripping effects, like water
going down the wall, then that changes so much about the feeling that you get when walking
in that space. It opens the idea of what the space is. Awakens the mind. Since the mind knows
there’re many more possibilities to reality at any given moment. But we choose to kind of
focus -- we have to focus to accomplish things. Many of us just keep on day-to-day focusing,
only once in a while allowing a random thought. These are people who work really hard to
make money. They get off and, how do they alleviate their mind -- well, they go and watch TV
or they go to the local bar and have a drink with their friend, talk about work. I’m not making
a judgement call over that, but for me -- I have the luxury of having free time, or freeish time.
Because of that, I try to take advantage of every situation I’m in -- to really notice where I am
and take that into account, imagine it in different ways. Sound has a lot to do with it -- I love
messing with sound in an environment. It’s something new, I envision it in my mind a lot and
do it in my performances, but there’s more to be done with that. Even watching The Social
Network movie now, Trent Reznor’s soundtrack is just so good! So clean, but emotional.
Without that soundtrack, that movie just wouldn’t be as exciting. The minute the music kicks
in, and this really old beautiful 80’s Speak & Spell calculator sounds mixed with modern
production start to work together, and you see how the editing is working well, the lighting is
muted and golden -- all of those elements together create such an incredible environment. You
feel that you’re IN THE WORLD. And that’s a hard thing to achieve on a 2 dimensional screen,
with a few speakers around your head. The actual environments that you move through, the
architecture, landscapes, cityscapes have the opportunity to do that, but sound isn’t as
incorporated in those fields as it should be. Lots of times it’s of course expensive -- if you
create a wall of cement structure with strange ivy on it then it communicates in a way that we
understand what it is, but the augmentation of sound is like: “Well, is it waterproof?”, “How do
we get to it if it goes out?”, “Who’s taking care of the electronics?” It’s probably one of the
reasons why sound is not incorporated, together with the increase of the cost of installation,
yet sound should be more incorporated in environmental design.
VV: What if it’s not always about electronics, but also about the acoustic surfaces? Designing the scale of the streetscape, with knowledge about how much traffic will be going through it, or the amount of plants to absorb the sound, then in fact one can design the soundscape of a street in an analogue way, rather than digital?
RW: That’s true. I’m always thinking about electronics, but think of the band Soundgarden,
Chris Cornell, also Audioslave -- it’s one of my favorite rock bands, I lived in Seattle and that’s
where they’re from. Their name comes from a place that’s next to the NOAA Centre, which is
close to Sand Point and is basically a piece of public land that has been made into a sound
sculpture. It’s a bunch of towers with tubes that have slits like holes cut into the tubes, plus
they have kind of a windmill guidance thus that it turns in the direction of the wind. It’s a
series of perhaps 8 towers and they’re all tuned into various frequencies. So when the wind
blows, it goes “woooooowweeeeeeewaaaa”, and it’s amazing! When you listen to
Soundgarden’s music, then all the ambient effects and guitar feedback are mimicking the
sounds of that Sound Garden. As an analogue acoustic sound sculpture, it’s mind blowing!
There’s a bizarre sound sculpture here in New York, uptown -- there’s a stop with an
instrument, where you wave your hand in front of, it’s equipped with such an interface that it
starts to make strange sound and weird light-up thing. No one really notices it, because it’s up
high, thus you’d need to be tall to do it. It’s quite rudimentary, in fact, but it’s quite cool, you’ll
probably find tons of information on it online. (34th Street-Herald Square, Christopher Janney,
Reach New York, An Urban Musical Instrument, 1996, http://www.mta.info/mta/aft/
permanentart/permart.html agency=nyct&line=W&artist=2&station=7).
VV: New York is like internet -- once you go searching for something you discover so many other things along the way thus that you can just keep on searching and searching: “Oh! What’s around this corner?”, “What’s happening over there?”
RW: Mhmh, really lose yourself. Vimeo was started up by Jakob Lodwick, who was my
roommate for 2.5yrs -- we used to do videos together called Lost in the Options. If you’re
trying to find something, often you run into all these other things, and you end up not
necessarily wasting time, but spend hours with, for example editing programs, and still not get
the answer. With sound, anything is possible -- infinite options. That’s why there’s a problem
with actually creating something, since it stifles the creativity in a way, because there’re too
many options. Thus you get lost, immobilized. Not all the time, but it is something that does
happen.
VV: Yet, if you’ve got a really clear idea in your mind of what you want to produce, and then go searching for the right components, then in my mind it’s quite OK to spend a few hours investigating the best way possible to do it?
RW: Yeah, to get it more detailed. That’s always a great feeling. But when you can’t find
something right away then it gets frustrating. Especially when you go down all these paths and
you still don’t find it, then it’s very weird: “The internet has everything! Why can’t I find what I
need?”.
VV: Where’s your life search taking you in near future?
RW: I travel quite a lot for work, from Italy to UK to West Coast to Hungary in coming months
-- when you have your favorites among airports, that’s when you know you travel too much.
The US is so isolated, yet I when I grew up in Montana, my best friend was from Estonian
origin. I’d love to know more about your part of the world, and I love snow.
------
"Amazing and unlike anything you have ever seen. Unless you have seen a comedic stream of conscious operatic beat-boxing marvel. Then it's like that." - Eugene Mirman
Hilarious, brilliant, unpredictable – comedian/musician Reggie Watts is a staple of the
international performance scene. Reggie’s improvised musical sets are created on-the-spot
using only his formidable voice and a looping machine. No two songs are ever the same. An
avowed "disinformationist," Reggie loves to disorientate his audiences in the most entertaining
way. You may not know what Reggie is going to do, but that’s okay – he doesn’t either.
As a solo performer, Reggie has played sold-out runs at Fusebox, SXSW, Bonnaroo, Soho
Theatre (London), Brian Eno’s Luminous Festival at the Sydney Opera House, Montreal Comedy Festival, PopTech!, Vancouver Comedy Festival, Bumbershoot, Sydney Festival, Outside Lands Festival and cities throughout the world including Amsterdam, Paris, Cologne, Madrid, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Melbourne, Cape Town and Rekjavik, among others. In New York, Reggie regularly performs at The Box, UCB, Comix, the Bellhouse, Slipper Room, Caroline’s, Union Hall and Moonwork. Reggie also received the ECNY Award (2009) and Andy Kaufmann Award (2006) for his brand of innovative stand-up performance.
On screen, Reggie has appeared on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, HBO’s The Yes Men Save
The World, Comedy Central’s Michael and Michael Have Issues, Iceland TV, UK’s "Funny Or
Die," PBS’ revamped Electric Company and the music video "What About Blowjobs?" for
College Humor. Currently, Reggie is filming short comedic interstitials for Comedy Central’s late
night block.
As a musician, Reggie recently recorded the EP Pot Cookies through Normative Records, sang
on Regina Spektor’s "Dance Anthem of the 80s" and contributed two tracks to DFA Records’
Spaghetti Circus. Also the frontman for Seattle rock outfit Maktub, Reggie and his band
recently released their fifth album, Five.
Reggie also creates absurd comedic theatricals for modern performance spaces in collaboration
with playwright Tommy Smith. Their stage shows Transition, Disinformation, Radio Play, Dutch
A/V and Occurrence have played around the country at The Public Theater, On The Boards
(Seattle), The Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s Time Based Art Festival, Seattle Rep,
MCA (Chicago), The Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh), Ars Nova and others; they’ve also won
numerous awards including the 2008 & 2009 MAP Fund and 2008 Creative Capital award.
"Sharp, wry and elusive ... Reggie moves seamlessly from skits to songs to off-kilter stand-up,
while talking in a subway train full of accents." – New York Times
"There's no one out there like Reggie Watts. Reggie covers everything from ancient history and
racism to pop-culture, in a heady mix of improvised music, comedy and social insight. This guy
has to be seen to be believed. Truly awesome!" –Time Out London
"Watts, with his cloud of black hair and surprisingly beautiful voice, is loads of fun to watch." –
Variety
"Reggie Watts is a most unusual talent: a huge vocal range, a natural musicality, and a
sidesplitting wit. Is he a comedian? A singer? A performance artist? I've seen him a few times
since then and I still can't decide. Whatever, he ain't like nobody else." – Brian Eno
esmaspäev, aprill 11, 2011
Interviews about creativity by Veronika Valk, vol 1
Ai WeiweiArtishok is very glad to present contribution by architect and designer Veronika Valk, who shared her archive and gave out to publish 130 pages about her stay in China in 2008 and 40 pages about her stay in New York in 2010.
Veronika Valk who was in China in 2008 as part of the „Creating Spaces“ project, has summed up her experiences and observations into extensive overview, which contains interviews with artists-designers she met and also development of her personal art projects („Bejing Tricycle“, “Scrubber” and „Creativity Stamp“).
Interviews include artists Gao Yu, Ai Weiwei, Liang Shuo, Zhang Tian, Guo Gai, Li TianYuan, Cha Er and for example also cyclist Markus Wagner. Valk begins her interviews always with question how he/she defines creativity to herself/himself – word that is so over-exploited, but yet everybody have their own approach. Interviews evolve around (urban) environment, enhancing creativity trough planning, art and design and give interesting insight into different artistic practices and personal views.
About the project, that framed Valk`s staying in China:
Art bridge between EU and China
The Creating Spaces project is based on a series of artist exchanges between the city of Beijing and the cities of Helsinki, Tallinn and Stockholm. The artists chosen to take part in the project spent significant periods of time working and living abroad, each exchange period being approximately three months in duration. The length of the exchanges gave the artists a genuine opportunity to acquaint themselves with the local culture and the local ways of making and experiencing art.
Participated artists: Christine Ödlund, Cui Xiaosheng, Guan Yunjia, Hans Andersson, Jaanus Samma, Jonna Pohjalainen, Minto Fang, Pan Fei, Pan Yigun, Petri Kaverma, Veronika Valk and Wei Erqiang.
Unfold and you can read extracted interview with Ai Weiwei (and we all hope for his quick release!!!) and download your copy here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12294508/ZZYY_CHINA_2008.pdf
NB! Bonus: interview with artist Li Hui, download here:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12294508/Li%20Hui.rar
Interview with Ai Weiwei
Written by Veronika Valk
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
17.12.2008, 10.15am in his studio
258 Fake, experimental artists’ East Village
VV: What is your definition of creativity?
AW: That’s a word I never have really figured out. I suppose you make something which never happened or existed before. Something with original meaning. It is a way of discovering, providing new conditions.
VV: How would you describe providing these new conditions as an architect and as an artist?
AW: It is a different level, a different way to look at things. Architecture is more practical, it is applied art. But art can have less restraint and more freedom.
VV: Thus, does the artistic freedom accelerate your creativity better, than let’s say the constraints in the architectural world?
AW: Not necessarily. I think that constraints are very important in terms of creation. In art, I really enjoy dealing with the problems and the constraints.
VV: How do you think the rules regulating Beijing public space are affecting the residents of Beijing?
AW: Restraints are always there. They always exist in different cultures, socio-political surroundings. So it’s a specific case every time.
VV: What happened in the case of the ’Bird’s Nest’, for example? It had largely to do with the political will, and your artistic freedom as an architect and artist.
AW: Architecture is just one element, which works on the urban scale, in the pure sense of the architecture, as an object or element which people can use. As an Olympic Stadium, it works in a very different kind of circumstance, carries different meanings, which may meet the ideology of the architects, or then not. In this case, it didn’t really meet my understandings, so that’s why I had my comments on it.
VV: It was a different kind of a creative process, when you started to work in this village, designing this studio space from a scratch?
AW: Here, everything started from the necessary, from where you have a need. Then you start to think of ways to achieve it. It’s not that one day you want to be creative: it’s only because of the need. I needed a studio, I needed a place to
VV: When you’re making art now, what is the source of the need?
AW: You have a life, where you have a given amount of time, so you’re passing time. You need to relate your work to certain kind of knowledge. Art is one kind of knowledge that I have, and that’s my profession. Having some weird ideas that I want to make happen.
VV: Feedback to your ideas, how important is that to you?
AW: I don’t trust feedbacks too much. You really have to focus on your own, and enjoy your own judgments. Because the feedbacks are often misleading.
VV: How about art education then, where the creative learning process is based on feedback? What if you had your own art school, what would it be like?
AW: Feedback in art education may be important, but I have not benefited from this kind of training. I cannot imagine something that hasn’t happened yet, but I think most of the time students should be learning from doing. I think that this is most reliable. Creative learning should be more focused on what is actually happening, rather than on the theoretical.
VV: You’ve travelled quite a lot, of the places you’ve been to: where do you find your own creativity to flourish?
AW: I think everywhere is the same. Just somewhere you feel familiar with things and it is easy for you to produce. Thus, I don’t see much difference. However, in certain areas it’s hard to move: too expensive, or not much happening, so...
VV: This setup here in Beijing backs up your creativity?
AW: Yes, it’s OK.
VV: Can you describe the elements which make up this comfortable creative environment for you? Is it the people you work with? Daily routine? Daylight?
AW: We have quite a group of people working here, from 10 to 30 or 40 people, depending on different projects.
VV: How do you choose your staff?
AW: I don’t choose them, they choose me.
Ai Weiwei is one of the most influencial bloggers in Beijing, famous among art students for his uncompromizing and courageous statements: www.aiweiwei.com
Born in Beijing, his father was Chinese poet Ai Qing, who was denounced during the Cultural Revolution and sent off to a labor camp in Xinjiang with his wife, Gao Ying. Ai Weiwei also spent five years there. Ai Weiwei is married to artist Lu Qing. In 1978, Ai enrolled in the Beijing Film Academy and attended school with Chinese directors Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou. In 1978, he was one of the founders of the early avant garde art group the "Stars". The group subsequently disbanded in 1983. From 1981 to 1993, he lived in the United States, mostly in New York, doing performance art and creating conceptual art by altering readymade objects. While in New York, he studied at Parsons School of Design. In 1993, Ai returned to China because his father took ill. Back in Beijing, he helped establish the experimental artists' East Village and published a series of three books about this new generation of artists: Black Cover Book (1994), White Cover Book (1995), and Gray Cover Book (1997).
In 2000 he co-curated the exhibition "Fuck Off" with curator Feng Boyi in Shanghai, China.
In 2006 he designed a private residence in the Hudson Valley region of New York for collectors Christopher Tsai and André Stockamp; the house is designed around their significant contemporary Chinese art collection. Ai was the artistic consultant for design, collaborating with the Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron, for the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008 Summer Olympics, also known as the "Bird's Nest." Although ignored by the Chinese media, he has voiced his anti-Olympics views. He has distanced himself from the project, saying, "I've already forgotten about it. I turn down all the demands to have photographs with it," saying it is part of a "pretend smile" of bad taste. In August 2007 he also accused those choreographing the Olympic opening ceremony, including Steven Spielberg and Zhang Yimou, of failing to live up to their responsibility as artists. Ai said "It's disgusting. I don't like anyone who shamelessly abuses their profession, who makes no moral judgment." While being asked why he participated in the designing of the Bird's nest, Ai replied "I did it because I love design".
Exhibitions
His artwork has been exhibited extensively in Australia, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea and the United States. Hiswork was included in the 48th Venice Biennale 1999, Italy; the First Guangzhou Triennial 2002, China; "Zones of Contact: 2006 Biennale of Sydney"; and Documenta 12.
HGDF kutsub
Head sõbrad, graafilised disainerid!
Eesti Kujundusgraafikute Liidul on hea meel edastada kutse osalemaks Haapsalu Graafilise Disaini Festivalil 2011. Festivali avatakse Haapsalu Kultuurikeskuses ja Haapsalu Linnagaleriis 28. mail 2011 ja festivali raames eksponeeritakse kahte konkurss-näitust.
Osale rahvusvahelisel graafilise disaini konkurss-näitusel "Isikupära/Individuality 2011"
Näitus toimub Haapsalu Linnagaleriis 28. mai - 03. juuli 2011. Näituse teema on “POP & ROCK”. Näitusel eks-poneeritakse kuni 60 teost mõõdus 1 x 2 meetrit (vertikaalne). Konkursil osalemiseks saada oma tööst/töödest fail (JPG, 300dpi, 500 x 1000 pix) hiljemalt 10. maiks 2011 aadressil: marko@siirup.eu. Valitud tööde autoreid teavitatakse edasistest sammudest hiljemalt 16. mail. Osalemine ja tööde teostamine on tasuta.
Osale parimate kodumaiste plakatite konkurss-näitusel "Värske Eesti plakat 2011"
Näitus toimub Haapsalu Kultuurikeskuses 28. mai - 03. juuli 2011. Näitusele valitakse 100 aastatel 2009 kuni 2011 valminud parimat plakatit. Valitud plakatid teostatakse digiprindis A1 mõõdus PVC plaadile. Konkursil osalemiseks saada oma plakatitest fail (JPG, 300dpi, pikem külg 1000 pix) hiljemalt 05. mail 2011 aadressil: marko@siirup.eu. Valitud teoste autoreid teavitatakse edasistest sammudest 12. mail 2011.
Näitusele valitud tööd osalevad konkursil “10 parimat Eesti plakatit 2011” ja HGDF 2011 külalisnäitustel Pärnu Linnagaleriis ning Rotermanni Soolalaos Tallinnas.
Levitage seda teadet!
Lugupidamisega,
Marko Kekishev
HGDF 2011 kuraator
pühapäev, aprill 10, 2011
NONGRATA uhkusega esitleb;
NONGRATA PROUDLY PRESENTS:
BEAUTY OF THE CAR ACCIDENT part 8: Zeppelin Road in Mountains
Based on true story
Non Grata - Anonymous Boh, Devil Girl & Moggelitoo in Sequences Performance Festival Iceland in Reykjavik ja Seydisfjördur 01.04.11-10.04.11.
Last thing I hear is the snapping of veronica’s garter on her leg, which is a song by Cornelis Vreeswijk, before I fall asleep
And next I wake up and flares show up in front of the car. I cannot do anything to change the situation….
The flares are lit up in every direction, and then the car flies over them….
Like pick up sticks, I guess…
The car goes down into the ditch and whereas your life usually flashes before your eyes before you die…
It did not in my eyes…
The car overturns and we are thrown around I don’t know how many times the car rolled over; it crosses over to the other side of the road way…
The car windshield shatters and it is so beautiful, the millions of small crystal prisms flying around in the dark night raining down on the pavement
In the dark night… My eyes are big and follow the broken glass like chandeliers falling on the black asphalt …
The car continues to slide down the road on it’s rooftop and the car roof is crushed and then the oil and gas begin to leak and flow around…
The road is against my head and it seems as though my hair is being stripped away, the road enters my brain through the meat and my cranium before the
Car finally comes to a sudden halt….
All is dark now and the engine is laying there completely broken into 2 parts
I am hanging upside down still strapped in by my seat belt and I wake up screaming
The people in the back seat wake up having slept through the whole event; surprised they clamber out the side windows….
Confused one runs into the bushes and crouches over in complete darkness………..
Fearing that cars might crash into the car I try to pull on of my passengers out of the window but the window is broken and I am afraid it might
Cut his leg ………
All seems to be conveniently arranged quickly, almost routinely………
Top warning triangle, the car stops
Alert the police and call the ambulance. The phone is lost it also being drunk………….
I can see the ambulance coming and suddenly I go into shock I begin laughing then suddenly begin hysterically crying…
From laughing into crying from tears to laughing uncontrollably….
The crying lasts for a couple of minutes…
I can walk but they tell me to get into the wheelchair….
They place me in the stretcher and I lay there like being in a cage with my hands wrapped straight up in the air…
The police come to me and run a breath test for alcohol, they stick it in my mouth and tell me to blow…
Blow he says…..
I blow into it and it appears that I have less than the minimum blood alcohol limit..
Ofcourse I usually just smoke the hash and have had only a little bit of wine…
I can see how frustrated the cop is and he leans over to me and says: I REALLY HOPE THAT YOU NOT GONE BE OK !!!!
As I lay there I get the feeling that everyone thinks that I am a bad person….
I feel alone, nobody wants anything to do with me or cares about me, and I don’t either, they can take my license away as far as I’m concerned….
Sequences Art Festival
The performance in visual art
The festival 2011 focuses solely on the performance in visual art and will be hosting over 20 Icelandic and international projects. Alongside the performance schedule a three days lecture series will be held in the Icelandic Art Academy discussing the medium. The festival will take place between the 1st and 10th of April in various exhibition spaces around Reykjavík. The festival is in collaboration with The Living Art Museum, Kling and Bang gallery, Icelandic Art Academy, The Reykjavík Art Museum, The House of Ideas, The Nordic House, Hotel Saga and Skaftfell in Seyðisfjörður, center for art in east Iceland.
This will be the fifth time Sequences will be held and the festival will continue its main objective: to focus on performances and time-based art in Iceland and internationally and researching the boundaries of the genre.
http://sequences.is
laupäev, aprill 09, 2011
Tartu möliseb kangutab oma arhiiviust vol 2
Tartu möliseb arhiivkapist pudenes seekord Pille Vassari performance Hommage Taavi Piibemanni ja Toomas Thetloffi Schrödingeri kastile, mis leidis aset Tartu Kunstimaja eest 05.09.2010.
kolmapäev, aprill 06, 2011
Tartu möliseb kangutab oma arhiiviust
Tartu möliseb kangutas pisut oma arhiiviust ja välja pudenes Artishoki biennaali ajal salvestatud videolõik Kaisa Eiche performancist "Loves Me. Loves me not".
Kaisa Eiche installatsioon-performance'it käsitleva Tartu möliseb saate täisversioon on leitav siit
