Taavi Piibemann. Used Literature: Flowers for Algernon. Daniel Keyes. 2010. Photograph. Courtesy of the artist
On Friday 10th of April the exhibition “City of Dreams. Text Art in Tartu 2002–2015” will be opened in Tartmus. It uses the most famous works to offer an introduction to the text based practices that have become one of the trademarks of Tartu. The exhibition will remain open until 31st of May.
The exhibition concentrates on text based art that has its roots mainly in literature and semiotics. The curator Kaisa Eiche has been asked by the museum to head the third section of the archive project “Tartu 88”.
The beginning of organized text art is marked by the first issue of the literary journal Vihik by Berk Vaher in 2002 that became the focal point of astute theoreticians like Erkki Luuk, Jaak Tomberg, Andreas W, etc. An even earlier and more bohemian line is represented by Martiini Teekann.
More active period of participation in art life began in 2006 when Erkki Luuk and Barthol Lo Mejor created the eksp@googlegroups.com public mailing list to circulate information. This marked the beginning of many creative collaborations. The exhibition also includes the graduates of the Photography Department of Tartu Art College that was led by Peeter Linnap. The sculptor Jevgeni Zolotko also offers his poetic commentary.
The exhibition is accompanied by a brochure in Estonian and in English that introduces the artists, their works and ideas (edited by Kaisa Eiche and Piret Karro, designed by Martin Rästa). The educational programme offers an opportunity to try out making comics or creating your own text based art. In addition, the gallery space next to the museum shop holds a reading corner that contains Vihik, “Mitte-Tartu”, “0rnitoloogi pealehakkamine” and publications by ;paranoia.
Artists: Anna Hints, Madis Katz, Kiwa, Erkki Luuk, Martiini, Barthol Lo Mejor, Taavi Piibemann, Tanel Rander, Martin Rästa, Toomas Thetloff, Jevgeni Zolotko
Curator: Kaisa Eiche
Exhibition team: Karl Feigenbaum, Margus Joonsalu, Hanna-Liis Kont, Jaanika Kuznetsova, Kaarel Narro, Julia Polujanenkova, Martin Rästa, Kristel Sibul, Peeter Talvistu