Jonas Mekas, Do it nr. 13, TV version, museum of progress, 1995
Friday, September 13th at 6 pm The Museum of Contemporary Art of Estonia (EKKM) (Põhja pst 35) opens & SO ON & SO FORTH exhibition. The starting point of the exhibition is Robert Filliou’s Principle of Equivalence (1968) — a pseudo-economic rule, which posited “well-done”, “badly done,” and “not done” artworks as fundamentally equal. It was an attempt to pull art out from under the weight of calculation and strategy, and to assert that an “error” can serve as something other than a sign of inadequacy. Filliou created several works following this protocol, in each of which he added a stamp with a tick indicating the state in which the artist chose to leave the work. By doing so the principle became a “conceptual tool” with infinite possibilities.
Following Filliou’s trajectory, & SO ON & SO FORTH is a continued exploration into the generative capacity of creative process — the original idea, its imperfections and the possibilities of, to borrow again from Filliou, the “not done”. Emphasizing the ongoing nature of an art practice, many of the works on display are in progress and open-ended, more verbs than nouns, and multiply and change over time. The exhibition AND SO ON AND SO FORTH itself has already taken place one year ago at the kim? Center for Contemporary Arts in Riga. The second act, opening on the Friday 13th, is one of the many countless versions, where…Fischli/Weiss ja Patrick Frey are making things move and explode.
Dora Garcia imagines impossible artworks.
Ivars Gravlejs is introducing Pat & Mat from a Czech stop motion animation TV series as contemporary artists.
David Horvitz encourages us to be better. And more generous.
Takahiro Iwasaki builds microscopic sculptures on toothbrushes and dust bunnies.
KroOt Juurak celebrates.
San Keller’s walks around at the opening week in Tallinn, Helsinki and Moscow. Leaving the gold tipped ebony stick Nothing is Perfect (that can be used for pointing out possible flaws and shortcomings of the other art works), this time untouched.
Camille Laurelli is re-editing all of MacGyver’s improvised “recipes” as one endless episode.
Ursula Nistrup is continuing to seek for a piece of music once heard on the radio.
Olof Olsson is trying to fail the art school examinations.
Pind is investigating our need for physical objects by excluding them.
Julien Prévieux is tirelessly writing non-motivational letters to job offers found from newspapers.
The Marianne and Fritz Keller Collection exhibits the early works of San Keller.
Jonas Mekas advises to move ones finger every day during 3-5 minutes up and down.
The Carousel Collection loops from one exhibition to the other.
Triin Tamm is collecting titles for unrealized art works and exhibitions that haven’t taken place yet.
Toomas Thetloff makes wind.
Combining the poetic, humorous and rational, the exhibition & SO ON & SO FORTH is an opposition to the over-professionalization of the arts and a manifestation of the inventive and the imaginative aspects of art making.
Curated by Margit Säde Lehni
Special thanks to Patrick Frey, San Keller, RP Digital Type Foundry, Tallinn Photomonth, Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Tallinn Art Hall, Dénes Farkas, Tõnis Saadoja, Mari Volens, Tui Hirv, Walter Piirmets, Mari Volens, Airi Triisberg, Silvia Sosaar, Urs, August ja Hille.
Tue-Su 1-7 pm Free entrance!
