Nr. 44
EESTI ELU reedel, 5. novembril 2021 — Friday, November 5, 2021
On the Wall: Mery Crystal Ra, Relayer of Light Vincent Teetsov As an artist, she goes by the name Mery Crystal Ra, though you may also know her as Meeli Kõiva. Looking through her count less designs of luminous archi tectural glass, I asked if the last part of her name referred to the ancient Egyptian sun god. It would make sense, considering her artwork is inextricably linked to light. The inclusion of the word “Crystal” is a visual connection to the glass she uses. But beyond this, the name has primarily been a way to make it easier for non-Estonian speakers to pronounce her name when she exhibits her art around the world. Much acclaim surrounds her art. Mike Barlow, author of the book Smart Cities, Smart Future: Showcasing Tomorrow has described how, “Her fea tured works include moving lasers, quartz glass sculptures and objects formed from light... She has been recognized as a pioneer in the field of 3-dimen sional light-glass sculpture.” Over 50 creations of hers have shed light on many high-profile spaces in Europe and North America. In 2006, she staged a 15 metre-long river of reflective glass and blue and yellow LED lights right through the main building of the Euro pean Parliament in Brussels, Belgium. This artwork, titled Reactive River, was sound tracked by composer Margo Kõlar. Her exhibition Light for Peace led the 2016 closing ceremony of UNESCO’s Inter national Year of Light in
4 small ways to bring more of Estonia into your life Vincent Teetsov If you’re reading Eesti Elu, we can safely assume you’re interested in Estonia, if not avidly looking for ways to include more Estonian things into your day-to-day activity. Whether you live in Vancouver, Buenos Aires, or Sydney, Australia, I have four small ways in which you, dear Estophile, can add a bit of flair to the mundane and have more time immersed in the Estonian experience. Changing your GPS voice or language: Let’s start with more techni cal adaptations. If you use Google Maps to navigate on an Android phone, you can select your Google profile in the top right corner of the application, then “Settings” with the gear symbol. From here, go into “Navigation set tings” and then tap “Voice se lection” and change to “Eesti.” Depending on how new your phone is, you can either select
Mérida, Mexico. A chamber with a tall ceiling was bathed in cool blue light, with heavenly auras of brighter light shining below to the screen that was the centre of the interactive exhibi tion. As described by American arts organization CODAworx, “visitors enter the gallery and type their wishes onto a key board mounted onto a pedestal on the gallery floor. The wishes are sent to a wireless printer mounted on a higher floor of the gallery. The printed wishes flutter down over the visitors. They’re also projected onto a screen, which is part of the piece...” Her 2016 project Parasite Beach brought her art under ground. In this synthesis of live animation, glass panels, and vivid colours, she ushered away shadows in the heavy ambience of the Estonian Mining Museum in Kohtla-Nõmme, Ida-Viru County. She juxtaposed the idea of energetic light with the role of oil shale mining in producing energy for Estonia. In each of these pieces, and her accompanying speaking engagements, she emphasizes the power of creative coopera tion and dialogue. I find that there is also a hidden layer of life that she reveals, in the sense that light determines everything we see. This she reveals instantaneously – with the first impression of each artwork. These values have always been part of her. Early on, Mery Crystal Ra went to an art school; drawing and learning painting from the very best in Estonia. At this time, she com
the preferred language and voice of Google Maps in the app alone, or it might be re quired to change the systemwide language. Then applica tions, including for navigation, will adjust to that. Now, the guidance voice will say something like “kahekümne kilomeetri pärast, pöörake pare male” with an astute tone as you walk, cycle, or drive around. Otherwise, if you’re looking to change the language on a de vice like a Garmin watch, you may need to download it first. For instance, you would con nect one of these watches to your computer, open a program like Garmin Express, then install language files, and sync with the device. Not all devices offer the Estonian language, but you may be pleasantly sur prised. Add a new keyboard to your computer or phone: When using a computer with Mac OS, access to special letters is as simple as holding down a letter key and selecting the number associated with the desired letter. Holding down “O” can make it an “Õ”, adjus ted to changes between lower
Art from the 2012 Estonian Oil Shale Museum exhibition “Light of the Energy Fields”.
posed and sang folk music in a band, as a soloist, and in Tartu’s Vanemuine Theatre Opera Choir. By 1996, she was living in Manhattan and exhibiting internationally. Just five years before, she and musician Erkki-Sven Tüür were collaborating at the Tallinn Exhibition Centre, upon Estonia re-gaining independence. Her thoughtful and charismatic nature has continued to enable projects like these, especially with musicians, whom she be lieves there is a special under standing with. In this exhibi tion, the sharp lines of glass structures were paired with a flute composition. She says, “there’s a connection between musical and visual realities... the two worlds feel the same.” To make impressions with light, shadow, and physicality, Mery Crystal Ra emphasizes the use of her hands in making designs, rather than computers. Only later on does she convert that into new technology, which she says “could be more power ful than drawings or paintings.” In fact, when she was still an art student, she started to colla borate with physicists to ex
plore the possibilities of glass fibers, light conductive materials and the property of photoelasti city, in which applying pressure to transparent materials can split a ray of light into two. Mery Crystal Ra has applied this to thin quartz glass rods. At one point, these designs of hers were used at the Tallinn TV Tower. Describing how she gets to this final product, she says, “It is a long process. The first step is painting. Step two is making smaller models. Then I do a lot of tests in the studio. When I did a sculpture for Glaston Corporation [one of the world’s leading glass companies, based in Finland], the testing time was two and a half years long.” It’s worth the wait. Pieces like Flying Sheets of Paper, which was a 2015 CODAvideo Awards public choice winner, have a piercing glow. They shapeshift in dreamlike ways, such as an emulation of the curious directions of a piece of paper flying through the air. Renowned New York City gallery owner Rosemarie Montague-Tiesler, who featured Mery Crystal Ra’s art in SoHo
case or uppercase. On an iPhone, you can pro ceed in a similar manner: press and hold letters, and slide over to the one with the correct diacritical mark. On Windows – for instance, using Windows 10 – rather than depending on the “ALT” key and a certain number combina tion, as has been necessary on older computers, you can go to your “Language preference” settings on the bottom right corner of the screen. Here, where it might indicate “ENG”, you can download the whole Estonian keyboard. It’ll take a bit of fiddling around to find out where certain letters and punctuation are. Eventually, though, it’ll become second nature.
you scroll down you can add a new language. From there, you will need to log out of your computer account before all changes are applied.
Change your entire interface language: This is a little bit more in tense, but with this modifica tion, you’ll also pick up more technical vocabulary through hands-on use. If you’re using Windows, go to the “Start” symbol in the bottom left corner, then select “Settings”, “Time and Lan guage”, and “Language.” When
9
in the 1990s, states that she is “an art world Tesla”, while Finnish-American cinemato grapher and film director Eric Saarinen has said, “Mery Crystal Ra understands the human spirit and knows how to communicate in a very basic way, which resonates with all people on the planet. She uses light, sound, and color to in spire us all to be better people... and to stand tall. She is very creative and technical at the same time – using modern tech nologies to help her tell stories on an emotional level. Meeli is a highly experienced ‘Princess of Light’” She has also innovated with in long-standing traditions like stained glass, creating windows for the Estonian Supreme Court building and a new temple structure. Her art feels represen tative of a new era, of new philosophies, but are part of institutions that stand the test of time. Mery Crystal Ra gives architecture more emotion and spirituality, turning away from brutalism. But to bring her creations to the public, which are somewhere between con ceptual and architectural art, she communes with engineers, glass manufacturers, and other professionals outside the typical places where art is displayed. Lately, she moves between her residences and studios in New York City and Helsinki, where the top fabricators for her artwork are, but is regularly back in Estonia. In each of these places, her architectural productions of glass and light create the possibility of trans formation, to all viewers who are open to it. To see more of Mery Crystal Ra’s art, visit her website at merycrystalra.com.
Estonia ranked… (Continued from page 8)
government to process these data, for example, to combat Hang an Estonian calendar in crime more effectively. Al though the act has been adopted, your home: the justice chancellor has set up If you ever feel like you a working group to analyze stare at screens too much, then risks arising from the collection this is a good way to add some of personal data for one purpose thing Estonian to your home in and their use for another. The the form of words and images. group is tasked with clarifying Sure, it’s not as streamlined of the procedures for which bio an organizational system as metric data will be used and something digital, but a calen whether individual rights are dar can be a tool for marking sufficiently safeguarded during more casual plans and re such processing. minders. According to Hinsberg, inter You’ll be able to keep track net freedom is currently not of Estonian holidays throughout under threat in Estonia, but the year, and look at the names nevertheless, a keen eye must of months and days of the be kept on relevant develop week. Of course, it can be ments. “Each individual can do something exclusively ornamen their part to maintain the trust tal, too. You can get calendars worthiness of online content. printed (sometimes even with The more sensitive and compli photos of your choice) from cated is the topic, such as companies like Prindipood individual versus collective (https://prindipood.ee/et/kalen decisions in health care, the der) and Grano (https://epood. more important it is to use grano.ee/uStore/22/Category/ c aution when distributing 132/2022-Calendars). information,” said Hinsberg. It’s small things like these that will go a long way to keep ing in touch with heritage and ESTONIAN LIFE culture.
