We are about to come up with a title, please bear with us
For four days from 8 February onwards, visitors to the Tallinn Art Hall have the opportunity to peek behind the scenes and see how exhibitions are built. The exhibition project “We are about to come up with a title, please bear with us” brings together the best artists and exhibition installers – often the same people – and allows them to freely install the exhibition of their dreams without the requirement of it having ever to be finished. Visitors will see the removal of temporary walls, the monotonous work of calibrating projectors, packing paintings and everything else that usually happens at the Tallinn Art Hall behind closed doors. Visitors will be able to witness the constantly changing space with the same exhibition ticket throughout the duration of the project.
Participants: Dénes Farkas, Jaana Jüris, Neeme Külm, Hanno Soans, Villem Säre, Kirill Tulin, Kadri Villand, Marina Vishmidt, Jevgeni Zolotko
The initiator of the project, artist Kirill Tulin, says the time between exhibitions is as meaningful for an exhibition space as the exhibitions: “The changing of exhibitions is like a binary code that separates two modes of work – the work that is shown in the exhibition and the work that is hidden in order to present the exhibition, one and zero, signal and noise. This is the code according to which an exhibition is born at the instant of its opening – born adult, yet forever-young, nicely dressed and looking good with a glass of sparkling wine. An instant beforehand: all the dust was being swept under the carpet, all ambiguities – noise – polished out.”
The difference is that while the first is displayed at exhibitions for all to see, the second remains hidden from the public. At Tallinn Art Hall, exhibitions are installed by the art production company Valge Kuup, whose team includes both freelance artists and professional installers.
Tallinn Art Hall curator, Siim Preiman, compares a high functioning exhibition institution to a well-oiled machine, where each function is the responsibility of a specific person. “Here we would like to create a positive shift in the machinery of Tallinn Art Hall. I think all public institutions that strive to reflect on current themes in society should allow themselves a moment of introspection. “We are about to come up with a title…” is like an open doors day that frees the installers and enjoyers of art – two sides that otherwise never meet – of their conventional roles and allows them to meet in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.”
The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication with the same title that will bring together interviews with participants and texts from art critics Hanno Soans and Maria Vishmidt. Every day new reportages from the site will be added to the publication.
On Saturday, 11 February at 14.00 there will be a guided tour with curators Siim Preiman and Tamara Luuk.
Thanks go to: Estonian Cultural Endowment, Ministry of Culture, Tallinn Department of Culture