2022 Sofi Aršas EXAMINATION at Vabaduse Gallery

Sofi Aršas’ exhibition “Examination” opened at Vabaduse Gallery from 26.03 – 20.04. 2022.

Photos by Mati Hiis

2022 Kati Kerstna ACCESSORIES in Rapla

Kati Kerstna
ACCESSORIES
Rapla County Centre for Contemporary Art
Jan 29 – Feb 27, 2022
Tue – Sun 3pm – 6pm
Tallinna mnt. 3b, Rapla
The UN has declared 2022 the Year of Glass: https://www.iyog2022.org/
To celebrate this undertaking, the Rapla County Centre for Contemporary Art launches its annual programme by proudly presenting a brand new exhibition of glass installations. Kati Kerstna’s “Accessories” applies glass and illumination in order to – literally – shed light on environmental issues.
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We regard our surroundings as accessories; whenever something gets lost or broken, we just exclaim “Oh s#!t, not again…” then shrug and go shopping for the next umbrella, handbag, shawl, or pair of gloves. Yet, no shopping trip can replace a species that’s gone extinct, and it takes decades – or centuries – to grow another full-fledged, functioning habitat.
Here, I present three new installations, made specially for the exhibition:
“Down” is a metaphor for our situation within the modern world and the ongoing climate crisis – a situation each of us might not even fully comprehend.

“Values” I and II turn the spotlight on biodiversity; I’m hoping to draw attention to, but also to evoke pride and joy in, our local, endangered, yet still fairly well-preserved natural riches.

“Agreement. Once, in Paris” expresses the importance of reaching agreements, and the inevitability of keeping one’s promises.
The installation “Agreement. Once, in Paris” was awarded the IRMA Collaborative grant for 2021.
https://www.irmacollaborative.com/…/irma-collaborative…

Why glass? For me, glass – with its transparency and reflections, its play of light, can add a touch of magic to even difficult topics, impart them with a kind of visual poetry, thereby hopefully sparking curiosity and caring instead of apathy; bringing about goodwill and a wish to participate. In today’s context, I dare even say – glass could give us an incentive to move with the times.
Kati Kerstna
http://katikerstna.ee/
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Kati Kerstna represents the voice of environmentalism among Estonan glass artists – raising the question of whether it’s possible to be simultaneously an environmentalist and an artist working with an energy-intensive material such as glass. Solutions she’s come up with include using recycled glass, relying predominantly on cold techniques such as engraving and cutting, building wood-heated glass furnaces for which even the clay for the bricks is sourced locally, incorporation of non-permanent materials such as papier-mache, ashes and soot, as well as later repurposing her artworks as materials for new creations, but also for greenhouses and plant support – but also directly dedicating her works to topics such as pollution, deforestation, and global warming . She utilizes electronics and mechanical devices to create kinetic sculptures. Light always plays an essential part in her own installations, but also when she’s designing an exhibition with other participants.
She is known as an organiser and designer of numerous exhibitions home and abroad (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Germany, Russia) and also as a long-time organiser of the Haapsalu hot glass symposia.
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The Exhibition is supported by: Cultural Endowment of Estonia, IRMA Collaborative,
EKDesign, the Rapla County Centre for Contemporary Art.
Special thanks to: Toomas Kukk (magazine “Estonian Nature”), Inguna Audere ja Michael Rogers (IRMA Collaborative), Merle ja Erki Kannus (EKDesign), Kairi Orgusaar (the Rapla County Centre for Contemporary Art)

 

In the media:

Triinu Soikmets in Sirp

2021 Estonian Glass Artists at EGC Bornholm Biennale

This year, the Estonian representatives at the  European Glass Conteti were Merle Kannus, Kairi Orgusaar and Tiina Sarapu. Grand prix was won by Yorgos Papadopoulos (Cyprus), second prize by  Jeff Zimmer (Scotland). Exhibitions at Bornholm Art Msueum and Gronbechs Gard were open from Sept 11 to Nov 21, 2021.

Info: http://www.europeanglasscontext.com

2021 Merle Kannus THE HUMAN FACTOR in Rapla

Merle Kannus opened her personal exhibition “The Human Factor” at the Rapla County Centre for Contemporary Art in April 2021.

The exhibition was built on a contrast between togetherness and solitude, both forced and voluntary, and mainnly featured works from the last 5 years, in the series “Weed,” “Small Conflicts,” “Pre-Time,” “Until We Meet Again” and “Where All the Women are Strong, All the Men are Good-lokking, and All the Children Are Above Average.”

Tiina Sarapu ROOM OF SECRETS

Photo: Tiina Sarapu

30.01.–11.04.2021
The Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Staircase Gallery

The artist featured in the exhibition series “Room” this year is Tiina Sarapu. The series was launched in 2018 with the aim of giving contemporary artists and designers the opportunity to engage with the museum’s collections – material objects that have shaped our routine environment in one way or another. In the course of the project, artists have the opportunity to explore the museum’s collection and the peculiarities of museum work, and to formalise their creative impulses as an exhibition in the museum’s gallery, installed in one of the rooms of a 19th-century residential building.

Tiina Sarapu: “I was really happy with the museum’s invitation. The proposed format and possibilities for approaching the subject extended my previous projects a great deal. I am interested in space, in the environment, I am interested in there being free space. Watching light move around the room brings me pleasure. I become enraptured by glass when I happen to observe the unexpected and yet perfectly consistent landscapes glass and light can create inside a space.

I saw a lot of links with my previous work in questions regarding the storage, packaging, shipment and selection of items for museum displays, so I initially tried to drop these invisible threads and just started researching. So, at first I wasn’t looking for anything. Maybe just myself. I wanted to know what I could find.

Exploring museum collections can be compared to surfing in your own subconscious. Combing through a huge amount of visual material, I began to observe my feelings and thoughts more closely, discovering the patterns they form. Again and again, I found myself pausing at works encompassing a nostalgic warmth, a kind of nearness and familiarity. I also found works that aroused anxiety or gloom, as well as indifference or boredom.

I was very interested in how the artefacts were catalogued and physically stored or packaged. But what is even more interesting and consequential is how the collection is formed. The excitement, complexity and responsibility of collecting became clearer to me more than ever before.”

The environment created by Tiina Sarapu in the museum gallery harbours a nearly perfect workroom with a view, but also a delicately designed airy space where her favourite artefacts from the museum collection are combined with selected objects from elsewhere, forming a lively dialogue with the artist’s original work. Half open grey glass vitrines and boxes filter some of the works, while the curves, engravings and grey veiled quality offer new perspectives and food for thought. This “room of secrets” is light and contains plenty of time and space, which Tiina Sarapu wants to offer with her work.

SLOW LIGHT in Rapla County Centre for Contemporary Art

foto: Tiina Kõrtsin

foto: Tiina Kõrtsin

An exhibition of glass & light objects with spatial sound and moving lighting design

Light travels slowly on the Disc and is slightly heavy, with a tendency to pile up against high mountain ranges. Research wizards have speculated that there is another, much speedier type of light which allows the slower light to
be seen, but since this moves too fast to see they have been unable to find a use for it.
When light encounters a strong magical field it loses all sense of urgency. It slows right down. And on the
Discworld the magic was embarrassingly strong, which meant that the soft yellow light of dawn flowed over the sleeping landscape like the caress of a gentle lover or, as some would have it, like golden syrup.
Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it.
/Terry Pratchett/

The Rapla County Centre for Contemporary Art finalises its 10th anniversary programme with an international exhibition of glass & light objects titled Slow Light. A “living” display where luminous objects move in the dark space, casting shadows, reflections and surreal images. Others stay still, with only a pulsating inner luminescence revealing their hidden facets. Light and sound connect the pieces into a unified, abstract spectacle, where every work plays a role.
The exhibition offers an exciting gamut of ideas and techniques. Participating artists – celebrated internationally and locally – each have developed a unique vision and handwriting.
The year 2020, with its unexpected developments, has made us contemplate our environment and humanity from new angles. The works, most of which were created specially for the occasion, display both humour and wistfulness, but also deeper perceptions and reflections.

Participants:
Sofi Aršas, Piret Ellamaa, Merle Kannus, Erki Kannus, Kati Kerstna, Kai Kiudsoo-Värv , Eve Koha, Kai Koppel, Marilin Kristjuhan, Kairi Orgusaar, Aleksandra Pavlenkova, Rait Prääts, Birgit Pählapuu, Kateriin Rikken, Maret Sarapu, Eili Soon , Aivar Tõnso, Kristiina Uslar (Estonia), Torsten Rötzsch, Simone Fezer (Germany), Marta Gibiete (Latvia).

Curator: Kairi Orgusaar.
Exhibition, lighting and graphic design: Kati Kerstna.
Sound composition: Aivar Tõnso.

Opening Nov. 20.at18.00
The Rapla County Centre for Contemporary Art, Tallinna mnt. 3b, Rapla.
Open Nov. 21– Dec. 13, Tue-Sun 15.00 – 18.00.
Closed on Mondays.

Sponsored by:
Cultural Endowment of Estonia, CEE Rapla County expert group, Rapla Parish, Rapla County Municipalities’ Development Foundation.

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