Workshop series ‘Pet has me and I have a pet’ at Kadriorg Park, Tallinn

On September 4, the performative workshops „Pet has me and I have a pet” will take place in Tallinn, Kadriorg Park. Workshops will be conducted by performance artists Krõõt Juurak and Alex Bailey (Performances for Pets) in collaboration with pets. Alongside the workshops, Üle Prahi collective will be hosting a picnic of discarded food items. The art event is organized by curators Triin Metsla and Madli Ehasalu.

The workshop series “Pet has me and I have a pet” focuses on the role of fellow species in today’s society. “The event has been driven by the idea of how to relate to other species. The empathic dimension is important here, and we also want to invite the audience to think along with us – what is the role of a pet when it is not only related to a human as an owner, but is more broadly an equal and independent species in a larger ecosystem?” says Triin Metsla, art researcher and curator.

The workshops in Kadriorg Park will be conducted by performance artists Krõõt Juurak (Estonia) and Alex Bailey (UK) in collaboration with pets. There will be five workshops during the day, where the pets will teach the audience various skills. For example, how to stay true to your desire or how to be brave regardless of the situation. Performance artists Juurak and Bailey have previously gained international recognition by reversing the roles and performing to pets instead of humans (Performances for Pets ^[1]).

The day will also draw attention to the increasingly worrying global problem of food waste. To illustrate the theme, the Üle Prahi collective (Estonia; Brigit Arop, Magdalena Maasik, Joosep Kivimäe) that is engaged in food activism will set up a picnic alongside the workshops. The collective prepares nutritious meals from edible food rescued from trash bins and shares knowledge about dumpster diving to those interested. For the picnic, the collective has designed a collectible postcard-recipe, which has been printed in limited quantities and is made from recycled materials.

The day is a prelude to an environment-themed exhibition at the Kadriorg Art Museum in 2023, which will also focus on interspecies relationships and natural culture. The upcoming workshops and the exhibition will also be connected by a commitment to sustainable principles in terms of organization. “It is important for us to make the cultural industry, including curating, more sustainable. In these projects, we aim to minimise waste and energy consumption in every process, from transporting the works to assessing the digital footprint of the projects. Similarly, we will not produce new works, but re-create and reinterpret the artists’ previous work,” says curator and art worker Madli Ehasalu.

The workshop series “Pet has me and I have a pet” will take place in Kadriorg Park, in the lawn in front of the Kadriorg palace, starting at 14.00 and is free of charge. To ensure the well-being of pets, the workshops are organised in accordance with pet owners, last approximately 15-45 minutes, depending on the wishes of the pets, and seat a limited number of people. Registration for the workshops starts on August 22, more information on the Facebook event HERE ^[2]. Everyone is welcome to join the picnic. The event is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Kadriorg Art Museum and Kadriorg Park.