Liina Pääsuke “Dinner Table (Sketch)” (2016) collage
“What does a woman want?” is a perennial question, and one without an answer. Since ‘woman’ is as extensive identity as ‘Estonian‘, it is impossible to propose a single set of wishes as, or for, women. But the pink haze of media-represented ‘women‘s wishes’ has been written into our bodies like any other cultural pattern, and thus it is often assumed that women do not know and are not even supposed to know what they want. Therefore, the exhibition “I Just Don`t Know What To Do With Myself” proposes some responses to what women want and don‘t want. A variety of perspectives are presented with mockery, joy, frustration and excitement.
Womanliness as a masquerade
In 1929, Joan Riviere wrote an essay “Womanliness as a masquerade” where she discussed society pressuring women to wear a happy faced beauty mask no matter what. A lot has changed since then: people are more aware than ever about so-called pretty girl syndromes, e.g. eating disorders and depression that hit masses of women and increasing amounts of men. We are still, however, expected to be continuously effective at school, at work and with family, pursuing our future ambitions with the finest looks physically possible. The belief that everybody smiths their own destiny and moulds their own luck (Estonian saying) means that even an awareness of social pressures and their causes has not brought emancipation nor triggered the global political will to decrease individual hardships. On the contrary, society sets its own standards of un-/happiness and the stronger the rules the easier it gets to become a lonely outcast.
It is important to underline that it is media that chiefly sets the expectations, limits and examples for women and society. Media describes women as pretty, self-conscious and diligent in such a way that these characteristics become defining expectations for women. Women‘s magazines suggest lifestyle enhancements that at times sound like morbid fairytales. Why is it that women‘s magazines hardly call women to fight against structural violence together in solidarity? Why are women‘s magazines not filled with encouraging, critically opinionated and vital emotional advice on how to deal with social issues? Why are women‘s magazines not filled with essays on the political situation from a woman’s point of view? Why not tell more stories about women‘s worldview outside household and family life? Where is the platform to speak about drives like fear and desire, about weird joys and fetishes?
Exhibition “I Just Don`t Know What To Do With Myself” takes off with these topics, but will never offer a comprehensive reply to the biased question of what women want!
Estonian title of the exhibition is loaned from punk band Ultramelanhool song “Äraoleseekesoledoleilus” (2004). The English title is loaned from Dusty Springfield`s song “I Just Don`t Know What To Do With Myself” (1964).
Artists: Alissa Šnaider & Kaja Kann, Mari-Liis Lill, Brit Pavelson, Edith Karlson, Liina Pääsuke, Eva Mustonen, Helena Keskküla, Elis Saareväli, Katja Adrikova, Triinu-Liis Rahe, Anna-Stina Treumund, Sander Tuvikene
Curator: Rebeka Põldsam
Assistant: Kaarin Kivirähk
Installation: Siim Soop
April 8 – May 7, 2016
Vaal Gallery, Tallinn
Cordial thanks to: Avision OÜ, Dzuna Selivjorstova, DSV Transport, Kanuti Gildi SAAL, Joanna Juhkam, Kaasaegse Kunsti Eesti Keskus, Kadi Estland, Krete Tarkmees, Lauri Lagle, Liisi Eelmaa, Maike Lond, Maria Arusoo, Mari-Liis Bunder, Marten Esko, Reimo Võsa-Tangsoo, Rene Reinumäe, Renzo van Steenberg, Ammi Keller, Siim Nurklik, SMK Iluinstituut, Tarmo Sepp, Tiina Määrmann, Urmas Roots, Valior, Veiko Märjamaa, Õllenaut, Ultramelanhool, Anna Mari Liivrand, Art Nõukas, Kalle Pilli, Eva-Erle Lilleaed, Priit Heinsalu, Aimar Jugaste, Bussitajad, Dusty Springfield
Exhibition is funded by Cultural Endowment of Estonia
