Sigrid Viir’s and Jimmy Limit’s exhibition “Import Export” talks about import and export in a general commercial sense, alluding to the transportation of art works and artists from one continent to another, customs procedures, and the mass migration of people and files. The title of the exhibition also refers to photography, the widespread use and distribution of photographs, and digital importing and exporting.
Estonian artist Sigrid Viir’s artistic practice often deals with photography, and installation as a sculptural form. At the show, Viir displays a three-part photo installation. Verging on fantasy, the work forms a visual narrative at the heart of which is a yearning for exoticism. The story, which carries a bit of absurdity, embodies relevant political issues, focusing on photography as a transformer of reality and on exoticism as a resource that is consistently reproduced and exploited.
Jimmy Limit, a photographer and author of playful installations, is a Canadian-born artist with Estonian roots. In his art practice, Limit is interested in the immaterial everyday consumption of images and its consequences. When taking photos, his aim is to free the objects from their original function and conjure up new absurd forms that lack a specific purpose.
The exhibition was organised in collaboration with Artproof, which allocates an annual scholarship to help realise technically complex large-scale art projects. In 2016 Artproof offered Temnikova & Kasela gallery an opportunity to select a project that will be supported and carried out as part of ”Artproof Grant Estonia 2016″. The scholarship is worth 5,000 euros and the funds cover the production of Sigrid Viir’s and Jimmy Limit’s new works for the exhibition “Import Export” at Temnikova & Kasela gallery. Artproof Estonian scholarship is organised in collaboration with Hahnemühle.
Thanks to: Artproof, Hahnemühle, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Ontario Arts Council, Kristiina and Juku, Villem, Toomas, Marje and Vello.
“Import Export” 11 March–30 April 2016
Temnikova & Kasela Gallery
Lastekodu 1, 10115 Tallinn
Wed–Sat, 15:00–19:00
www.temnikova.ee
Photography: Stanislav Stepaško