DAGGY’S LAST SELFIE
Margieta Griestiņa’s personal exhibition
17 November – 10 December 2017
Small Gallery of Tartu Art House
Exhibition curator: Šelda Puķīte
The material for artist Margrieta Griestiņa’s (Dreiblate) personal exhibition Daggy’s Last Selfie was made during the shooting of director Normunds Griesiņš’ (TV Maskava) feature film Fly (2017). The film was shot in the environment of GTA V PlayStation game in an 11-day gamer camp setup, which also saw the creation of the exhibition’s main character Daggy – a blind, black middle-aged man with the identity of a rural gangster. Instead of submitting to the rules of the game, which involve the building of the gameworld and violence in killing the other characters of the game, Daggy decides to document his emotional experiences and feelings towards his friends as well as the virtual city and nature by making selfies. Often Daggy is killed before he manages to photograph himself, therefore he has no choice but to leave his friends and go on romantic rambles on his own. The exhibition will include Daggy’s photographs, which turn into meta-selfies upon materialisation outside the virtual world, while the installed audio equipment will create the soundscape of Daggy’s world.
Margrieta Griestiņa is a painter, stage designer, installation and performance artist. She graduated from the Department of Visual Communication at the Art Academy of Latvia and takes part in exhibitions since 2011. Griestiņa is interested in border situations where encounters between high culture and mass culture, between the marginalised world and the world of refined glamour take place, acquiring the form of non-art or kitsch in her works. Using the mix of these various cultures and aesthetics she creates her personal version and commentary on reality, which is told using the camouflages of mass culture and pop culture.
Project’s partners and supporters: Tartu Artists’ Union, City of Tartu, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia, Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture, GolfClayderman, OWGU, Valmiermuiža.
Photography: Valdis Jansons
Margrieta Griestiņa, Daggy’s Last Selfie, 2017
Margrieta Griestiņa, Daggy’s Last Selfie, 2017
Margrieta Griestiņa, Daggy’s Last Selfie, 2017
Margrieta Griestiņa, Daggy’s Last Selfie, 2017
Margrieta Griestiņa, Daggy’s Last Selfie, 2017
Margrieta Griestiņa, Daggy’s Last Selfie, 2017
Margrieta Griestiņa, Daggy’s Last Selfie, 2017
Margrieta Griestiņa, Daggy’s Last Selfie, 2017
Margrieta Griestiņa, Daggy’s Last Selfie, 2017, opening performance
Margrieta Griestiņa, Daggy’s Last Selfie, 2017, opening performance
Margrieta Griestiņa, Daggy’s Last Selfie, 2017, opening performance
Margrieta Griestiņa, Daggy’s Last Selfie, 2017, opening performance
Margrieta Griestiņa, Daggy’s Last Selfie, 2017, opening performance
PIMPIN’ YO MAMA CRIB
Mētra Saberova’s personal exhibition
17 November – 10 December 2017
Monumental gallery of the Tartu Art House
Exhibition curator: Šelda Puķīte
Riga- and London-based artist Mētra Saberova’s personal exhibition Pimpin’ Yo Mama Crib deals with the discussion about the cultural, political and social significance of woman’s body within the reality of the 21st century. The artist uses herself and her body as an instrument to play out scenarios of medical tourism – performatively orchestrated operations, reflecting on this personal and physical experience in a playful, amusing format. What at first appears to be comical, on deeper insight poses questions on woman’s identity and her right to make decisions about her own body.
As the artist explains: “The experience with the medical operations, namely, the completed sterilisation (tubal ligation) in Thailand, hymenoplasty (hymen reconstruction surgery) in Poland and initial consultations about IVF (in vitro fertilization) in Bulgaria, is combined with the triviality of everyday, approaching serious issues in a cheerful manner. The attention and discussion will be centred on subjects such as the normativity of motherhood, stigmatisation of childfree people, objectification of the woman’s body and the discriminatory linkage of virginity to Western and Eastern women as well the institutional nature of upholding the separation between art and activism.”
Mētra Saberova is an artist, feminist and supporter of LGBT + rights. Graduated from the Department of Painting at the Art Academy of Latvia and Central Saint Martin College in London. Participates in exhibitions since 2012. Saberova builds a performative narrative of medical operations in order to encourage discussion about the social, cultural and political construction of women.
During the opening of the exhibition, drawing inspiration from clichéd scenes from films, music and commercial videos where young babes wash soaped up cars, Saberova will organise the sexy pram washing performance. The performance will be made as a commentary on consumer culture, to which the constructs of mother-child relationships are also subordinated.
Project’s partners and supporters: Tartu Artists’ Union, City of Tartu, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia, Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture, Valmiermuiža.
Photography: Valdis Jansons
Mētra Saberova Pimpin’Yo Mama Crib 2017, exhibition view
Mētra Saberova Pimpin’Yo Mama Crib 2017, exhibition view
Mētra Saberova Pimpin’Yo Mama Crib 2017, exhibition view
Mētra Saberova Pimpin’Yo Mama Crib 2017, exhibition view
Mētra Saberova Pimpin’Yo Mama Crib 2017, exhibition view
Mētra Saberova It’s Purely Symbolic 2017
Mētra Saberova It’s Purely Symbolic 2017
Mētra Saberova Pimpin’Yo Mama Crib 2017, exhibition view
Mētra Saberova Pimpin’Yo Mama Crib 2017, video installation
Mētra Saberova Pimpin’Yo Mama Crib 2017, opening performance
Mētra Saberova Pimpin’Yo Mama Crib 2017, opening performance
Mētra Saberova Pimpin’Yo Mama Crib 2017, opening performance
Mētra Saberova Pimpin’Yo Mama Crib 2017, opening performance
Mētra Saberova Pimpin’Yo Mama Crib 2017, opening performance
Photography: Valdis Jansons
