DOings&kNOTs
Curator Margit Säde-Lehni
Margit Säde invites 20 artists and groupings around Europe and two artist-run spaces from Estonia to Tallinn Art Hall to investigate what lies between refusal and doing, the script and the live moment, interpretation and judgement — imagined ideas and actual situations.
The point of departure for the exhibition “DOings & kNOTs” is the do it project initiated by Hans Ulrich Obrist in 1993 – “longest-running and most far-reaching exhibition to ever take place”. The open exhibition model collects written instructions by artists, each of which could be interpreted anew every time they are enacted. The do it was on display at the Tallinn Art Hall already in 1997.
The do it project, which is being hosted today by Independent Curators International (ICI) in New York, has undergone a fundamental change in terms of its institutionalisation and organisation. Hence “DOings & kNOTs”, which was initially planned to be about instructions in art, became more about the impossibility of following instructions, rules or a given formula. In one way or other, many of the works shown in “DOings & kNOTs” are still taking an instruction as a starting point, either by actively employing one, by inviting visitors to participate or simply by activating an inner image through a line of text like. Rafael Rozendaal’s haiku murals. One room gathers a selection of 20 instructions from do it. In contrast to the more productive instructions found in do it, the ones on show here focus on deceleration and contemplation.
Artists: do it (HUO & ICI), LOOP, Konstanet, Anna Škodenko, Liina Pääsuke, Rafaël Rozendaal, Esther Mathis, Nicole Bachmann, Roland Roos, Jürg Lehni & Alex Rich, George Steinmann, Dora García, Cesare Pietroiusti, Tellervo Kalleinen & Oliver KochtaKalleinen, Aaloe-Ader-Flo-Soosalu, Alex Cecchetti, Quim Pujol, Olof Olsson, Cia Rinne, Hanne Lippard, Audrey Cottin.
The exhibition is initaiated by Margit Säde, exhibition design by Triin Tamm. Repro: Rafael Rozendaal, Haiku in Upstream Gallery, New York. Mural, 200 x 300 cm, 2015
Supporters: Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Nordic Culture Point, Pro Helvetia, Mondriaan Fund, Zurich University of the Arts, Winterthur city, Danish Arts Council, Embassy of Spain in Estonia, ICI.
Accompanying programme:
26.11 at 12 am Coffee and tour with Margit Säde (entrance with exhibition ticket)
27.11 / 04.12 / 11.12 / 08.01 at 10.30 am Yoga with Inga Põldma (entrance with exhibition ticket)
27.11 at 6 pm Konstanet talk and launch of the publication “On the Run” (entrance free)
27.11 at 7-9 pm Olof Olsson’s “Driving the Blues Away” (entrance free)
28.11 at 3-5 pm Maarja Merivoo-Parro & Taavi Tulev’s sound-interpretation “White Rug’s Music” for Nichole Bachmann’s piece “If, _and” / Hanne Lippard’s performance “Reading” (entrance free)
30.11 at 6 pm The Complaint’s Choir’s first meeting (entrance free with registration)
03.12 at 3 pm LOOP invites: Eléonore Pano-Zavaroni & Laura Kuuse on an excursion “Vabaduse Väljak 6”
05.12 / 19.12 at 12am- 5pm Camille Laurelli’s workshop “Observation & Practice” inspired by Cesare Pietroiusti’s “Non Functional Thoughts” (entrance free with registration)
12.12 at 6 pm Konstanet presents: opening of Michele Gabriele’s exhibition and artist talk (entrance free)
10.12 at 7 pm The public concert of The Complaint’s Choir (entrance free)
07.01 at 6-8 pm Cia Rinne reads her poetry / Maret Nukke’s lecture “New Rafael’s new haiku in a Japanese context”
08.01 at 6 pm Konstanet presents: opening of Maximilian Schmoetzer and artist talk
09.01 at 7 pm Quim Pujol’s performance “Collective Trance”
10.01 at 3 – 6pm Lecture programme: George Steinmann, Anu Liivak “Revival of Space”, Flo Kasearu “Artificial Queue”, Esther Mathis “Salt”