But I feel a little glum on those rare occasions I meet a sleepwalker; do they ever pursue the greatest perk of it all? Would they use the opportunity to turn into a chameleon and drop their tail, or a snake the instant it starts shedding its skin, and for once, let all, all that ever-constantly-always keeps happening, go? Years back, my sleepwalking friend woke up the whole hotel room in Barcelona. He was in a state of panic because the fan on the ceiling was coming to get us all. For a strange amount of time I believed him. It felt as if I had joined him from the side. Strangely natural, maybe due to the fact that I was still waking, not awake yet. As such, I lived through the fan coming down on us. I’m pretty sure we shouldn’t call them sleepwalkers but sleep-movers, sleep-do-ers. There is so much more than just walking going on! They relate to people, work around objects and experience fear or excitement. They walk, crawl, roll, most dangerously is that they might even jump. Another friend was once sitting up bravely, slightly worried, as she was apparently participating in a cycling-race through a never ending tunnel. My favorite story of my Barcelona companion however was that one early morning, as a boy, he walked downstairs and out of the door when his father stopped him. “It’s 5 o’clock in the morning, where do you think you are going?”. He stood still, and simply told his father the house was on fire, so he walked out. At that time, there was no dubious encounter, no attack by a fan or no other heart-beat racing, life-like quest. He calmly let go.
Laura De Jaeger, December 2022
‘One never sees the sun in a dream’ is the solo exhibition of artist Loora Kaubi. It presents a selection of older sculptural works and paintings, new materials and video work, transformed in two spatial installations. The exhibition opens on the 12th of January 2023 at 19:00 in the gallery of the historical sculpture building in Raja.
Kaubi brings together a body of work that deals with a continuous sensation of in-betweenness. At the core lies the practice of lingering: to last for a long time, or the delicate action of slowing down towards an end. When the artist pauses before the end, (and takes this final point out of the picture), her work stands still by tactics to escape the everyday, morbid habits and the impossible, yet intriguing attempt of an eternal sleep. She compares the body with a substance that will decompose as well as compose, actively dissolve, gather and shed the same things off again. How can one capture this feelable-something that suddenly falls on the shoulders and paralyses the whole body?
Loora Kaubi (1998) is an artist working in Tallinn. She holds a BA degree from the Estonian Academy of Arts Painting Department and did part of her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in the Sculpture Department. Kaubi’s practice revolves around the (female) body and the societal relations and power structures that are involved with it. Wandering between the real and the imaginary, she approaches life as a spectacle in her work and focuses on creating a scene through which to perform intense emotion. Kaubi has been awarded the weekly prize of the Estonian Association of Young Contemporary Artists and has participated in exhibitions and performances in Tallinn, Narva, Haapsalu, Valga, Vienna and Põlva.
Laura De Jaeger (1995) is a Belgian artist, writer and curator living in Tallinn. By gathering, casting, playing with measurement and rephrasing, her artistic practice deals with (temporarily) out of function objects and spaces. She is interested in their local history and quotidian use. De Jaeger obtained a Master of Contemporary Art from LUCA School of Arts and a Master in Cultural Studies.
Elle Viies (2000) is a fourth year dance student at the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy. She is interested in eerie ways of being and perceiving and bodies that are both functional and phenomenal.
This event is supported by Eesti Kultuurkapital, Sveta Baar and SYS print.
Special thanks go to Loora’s grandfather Riho, Ulvar Kaubi, Kirsti Kaubi, Anu Vahtra, Mattias Veller, Ats Kruusing, Elo Vahtrik, Sonja Sutt, Paula Oberndorfer, the Vent Space team and Johannes Luik.
Opening 12.01.2023 at 19:00
The exhibition opening contains a performance by a performance artist Elle Viies.
Open every day 15:00 – 20:00 until 26.01.2023
Location Uus Rada galerii Raja 11a Tallinn
Curator: Laura De Jaeger
Graphic Design: Taylor “Tex” Tehan
Photo documentation: Elo Vahtrik
