Exhibition: 25.11.2022 – 27.12.2022 in the balcony gallery of the Widget Factory (Kastani 42, Tartu).
The gallery is open Wed-Sun 12-18.
Participating artists: Laure Catugier, Kelli Gedvil, Alexei Gordin, Kennet Lekko, Marko Mäetamm, Kristen Rästas, Roman-Sten Tõnissoo, Ellen Vene
Curator: Anita Kodanik
“Exercises for Dreamkeeping” focuses on the axis between Estonia and Berlin, which has been increasingly felt in the art scene lately. The group exhibition is a reflection on the artists’ time in Germany during their residencies, and presents work by each artist, either created during their residency or otherwise inspired by their experience in Berlin.
The artists open up the anxieties of leaving and returning, the contradictions of dreams and realities, of experience and perishability, that are inherent in the work in the art field. Together, they examine the realities that artists face when moving from the domestic cultural scene to the wider arena.
In the constant state of arrival and departure, the artists carry with them their work along with spatial experiences, memories, aspirations and expectations. How can we remember the feeling that the pursuit of a dream once gave us? What to do when long-held aspirations and ambitions turn out to be quite different from what we expected? What will become of our fierce but fleeting desires in the future?
In addition to the seven Estonian artists, the exhibition also includes works by German artist Laure Catugier, who is in residence at TYPA this year (October – November). The residency and exhibition is organised by the Berlin roam project space in cooperation with TYPA Tartu and MTÜ Eesti-Saksa Kunstikoostöö.
Supported by: Estonian Cultural Endowment, Goethe Institute
Photos: Merilin Metsamaa
Residency
Artist Laure Catugier was chosen for the residency in Tartu, Estonia, organised by MTÜ Eesti-Saksa Kunstikoostöö, roam project space, Berlin (roam projects e.V.) and Printing and Paper Arts Centre TYPA, which kindly accomodates and provides for the residency.
Laure Catugier (1982, Toulouse, France) lives and works in Berlin. As a visual artist with an architectural background, Catugier’s work is connected to the architectural elements of Modernism and the subsequent movements that drew inspiration from it. She explores the diversity of global post-war architecture through residencies around the world. Her research focuses on the social aspect of modernist buildings and in particular on collective housing and its progressive norms, spaces, forms and uses.
Since 2015, she has obtained several residency grants in Germany, Austria, Japan, Russia, Iran, Czech republic, Egypt, Israël, Poland, Estonia, Bolivia and Taiwan. She is the winner of the International Celeste Prize, as well as scholarships from the Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt Berlin, the Pilecki Institute Warsaw and the Stiftung Kunstfonds Bonn. Her work has been exhibited internationally (selection) : Liebling Haus – White City center (Tel Aviv), Total Museum (Seoul), In Sonora Festival (Madrid), Artum Foundation (Warsaw), Laznia Contemporary Art Museum (Gdansk), Centraltrack Gallery (Dallas, US), Galerie Weisser Elefant, German-Japanese Cultural Center and Korean Cultural Center in Berlin; Stadtmuseum and Institut Français in Düsseldorf.
Residency is supported by Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Goethe Institute, Estonian Embassy in Berlin, German-Estonian Society Berlin e.V., TYPA, MTÜ Eesti-Saksa Kunstikoostöö, roam project space (roam projects e.V.)
