Sandra Ernits and Tõnis Jürgens
Curator: Siim Preiman
A few years ago, the James Webb Space Telescope was launched into orbit, allowing scientists to see further in time and space than ever before. The unprecedentedly detailed images of distant galaxies have challenged our previous understanding of time as a linear flow from past to future. It is very possible that time is not an intrinsic part of the universe, but rather something that emerges from the interactions of particles and bodies – not uniform, nor necessarily unidirectional. The full implications for physics are not yet clear, nor is it known when these discoveries will make their way into school textbooks. If time is fluid, then the boundaries between science fiction, imagination, and everyday reality begin to dissolve as well.
Tõnis Jürgens has long explored themes of sleep and death, while Sandra Ernits’s work is deeply rooted in the everyday, the surreal, and nostalgia. The former appears, at first glance, more verbal, while the latter trusts the process and the flow state. Both rely on intuition and the silent knowledge essential to artistic creation. Together, they delve into that part of human experience that lies beyond rationality, beyond what can be measured and defined – the realm we call reality. How do dreams and fantasies shape our perception of the everyday? What remains of us when we are no longer here?
Sandra Ernits is an installation artist and sculptor. Her work explores economic, political, and cultural structures, as well as psychological phenomena and processes, science fiction, and utopias. In her creative process, she places great importance on the origin and composition of materials, often incorporating leftover and discarded elements, thereby highlighting the (creative) process itself as a means of conceptualisation.
Sandra Ernits studied installation and sculpture (BA) and contemporary art (MA) at the Estonian Academy of Arts. In 2024, she was awarded the Young Sculptor Prize.
Tõnis Jürgens is a Tallinn-based artist and writer who primarily works with film and installation. His video works blend essayistic narratives, poetic fragmentation, and the repurposing of archival materials, often expanding into scenographic spatial installations. He is particularly interested in the relationship between sleep and death as well as the challenge of measuring the undefined.