To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle.Timothy Snyder
A weekend in
Tallinn - so much to see in what is a marvelous, clean and organised city – and
the weather was great. Zipping around on mini-mopeds has to be the best fun
ever and a gloriously child-like way to see a city which has the most fabulous
cycle paths ever. Went out along the sea to see the monuments to people killed
by the Soviet Union - what to say - it is overbearing - physically changing you
in the space - it's really a space, an experience rather than a thing. So much
extraordinary food and interesting drinks, especially cakes - some partaken
whilst watching a dance and performance art battle - favourite section was
where a contestant walked away and didn't come back - awesome.The end of year
show at EKA was in a huge abandoned building so it felt like a real old-school
art college experience rather than the corporate controlled display available
in England. I love a student show – so much potential energy and there was also
some good work. There are several small commercial spaces in Tallinn which I
managed to check out - each containing professional, thoughtful work. The work
of Alexei Gordin "Walled Up" where he breaks into abandoned buildings
creates text pieces on the wall, photographs them and then works on them to
create the work was challenging but also laugh out loud.The excellent maritime
museum had interventions by art students and the museum itself is awesome - the
objects the graphics the digital and physical interactive activities - all
beautiful and thoughtful and interesting. KUMU the huge art gallery had a
solo show by Ragnar Kjartansson: A Boy and a Girl and a Bush and a Bird, which
was thoughtful and mesmerising but also a number of interventions into the
collection, which is truly challenging in terms of cataloguing the history of
Estonia through art. St. Nicholas Church has 7 meters of what was a 30m
'lifesize' painting of the dance of death - truly spectacular, as was a huge,
multi-layered alter-piece. Thought about the work I intend to make for the
faith room at SZC and the idea of faith and body and belief. A lecture on ai at
Tallinn art school was open to all so popped in to listen - it was a good intro
to some of the philosophical issues swirling around about ai - liked the
thought about the idea of territory and chaos within the context of the
internet, the role of art science and philosophy at the margins as outriders
bringing ideas into the mainstream.
