Main Exhibition: Jasmina Cibic “Tear Down and Rebuild”
Screening of Jasmina Cibic’s video Tear Down and Rebuild at the former Kopli folk house (Kopli 93), is part of the main exhibition of the contemporary art biennial Tallinn Photomonth Intensive Places at the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM). The exhibition is curated by The Creative Association of Curators TOK / Anna Bitkina, Maria Veits.
The venue can be visited during two periods:
4.09.–12.09.2021 ja 14.10.–17.10.2021, N-P kell 16.00–20.00.
LISTEN ALSO TO THE AUDIO GUIDE OF THE EXHIBITION (nr 14)
MORE INFORMATION IN THE BIENNIAL PUBLICATION (Estonian, English, Russian)
Down and Rebuild is the third chapter in the artist’s series Spielraum, which questions the potential of the instrumentalization of visual language, rhetoric and architecture in the construction of the State as a spectacle throughout recent history and investigates how art and architecture can serve as soft power strategies of every political order. Four female protagonists (a Nation Builder, a Pragmatist, a Conservationist and an Artist/Architect) discuss whether a building in question should be demolished. The viewer can only imagine the building through the conversation, which is fully based on quotes from speeches by politicians and famous political texts about the role of architecture in nation-building and ideologically-charged architectural sites and monuments. Shot in the former Palace of the Federation in Belgrade built in 1961 as an embodiment of new ideas in post-war Yugoslavia, in Tallinn the work is shown at the former Kopli folk house. Inaugurated in 1937 for cultural and educational purposes, in 1940 it was claimed by the Soviet army and became known as the Sailors’ Club. After the restoration of Estonian independence, the building was privatised and the activity of the centre gradually died out, until 2019, when the Salme Cultural Centre started to revive the house by turning it into a local community centre.
Single channel HD video, 15’28”, stereo sound
Jasmina Cibic (1979) works in film, sculpture, performance and installation to explore ‘soft power’ – how political rhetoric is deployed through art and architecture, particularly examining how cultural production is used by the state to communicate certain principles and aspirations. Jasmina represented Slovenia at the 55th Venice Biennial with her project “For Our Economy and Culture”. Her recent exhibitions include solo shows at: DHC/ART Fondation pour l’art contemporain Montreal, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art Gateshead, Museum Haus Esters Krefeld, Aarhus 2017, Esker Foundation Calgary, MSU Zagreb, MOCA Belgrade, MSUV Novi Sad, MGLC Ljubljana and Ludwig Museum Budapest along with group exhibitions at MOMA New York, MUMA Monash University, 57th October Salon Belgrade, CCS BARD, Guangdong Museum of Art
China, Pera Museum Istanbul, La Panacee Montpellier, City Gallery Wellington, MSUM Ljubljana and MNHA Luxembourg.
Information: Kulla Laas, +372 58050009