Laura Kuusk
From 5 to 1 collection of Tallinn and Tartu tram/bus tickets 8,5 x 78,5 cm ca. 2005 - 2011
Proposal for Happiness 1-2 Laura Kuusk and Camille Laurelli 1 channel HD videos loop 2011 view here
Loop since 2009 mobile art center 685 cm2 view the blog of Loop
Loop is a transportable art center that I created in a doll house found from the street. I am inviting artists to make exhibitions, giving them free hands. The space is transforming from exhibition to exhibition, leaving the marks of the previous shows on the house. The exhibitions are travelling internationally. So far, Loop has had shows in Tartu, Tallinn, Grenoble and Z端rich.
Pop-up cards since 2010 ink jet print on paper dimensions variable
Special Dedication exhibition views Annecy Higher Art School, Summer Lake Residency, 2011
exhibition view, from Special Dedication, 2011 1% for Annecy, 1 channel video, loop
The Knife 2008/2010 installation of two light boxes Ă 150 x 202 cm
The work started from playing around with images I shot while being in residency in Montrouge, France in the spring 2008. I analysed the images and tried to reshoot similar scenes, looking at the images in a way that the combinations and closer looking (a kind of blow up) started to create narratives. Trying out things leaded to some images with an obscure ambiance, something seemed to be missing, something was wrong. Accidentally, I had posed the camera in a way that the head of the model was cut off on some images. I started to like these images most. One couldn’t see where she was looking. Having dealed for quite some time in my previous works with the look of the model toward the viewer and the meanings it conveys, I was thrilled by the way the look was cut off. It is very disturbing, as if the main information is cut off from the image. There is just the disquiet pose, the hands, and a knife by the kitchen sink. Something was maybe going on, maybe not... I realized that there has to be two images in order to accent this disquietude- one could say that the most important part of the work is the gap between the images. The two images cut off from their context, the head (and the sight) cut off from the image, the knife, potentially used for cutting, the events of the story cut out. Something might be happening on the images, or in between the two scenes, and inside the head of the model, and the viewer, but we are not given any index for it- it is all cut out. The most important is going on off the frame. By the rules of dramatology of Constantin Stanislavski, everything serves for something on the scene - if the gun is on the scene, it has to be used fro shooting. Similarly, if the knife is there, is it used for cutting? The troubling slight differences between the two images drag the viewer into the game find 10 differences. An ordinary scene from everyday life, aggrandized on the light boxes leaves the viewer in suspense.
Mémoires Oubliées 2006 installation of photography à 16 x 16 cm
hommage to Mati Unt
The series of photos is shot in a sleeping district of Tallinn- Mustamäein november 2007. The photos are based on a novel «Autumn Ball» by estonian writer and theater director Mati Unt. In the novel, the lifes of different persons living in the same block of houses cross at certain points. The persons don’t know each other and their point of view on life is very different. There are three characters- Eero, Laura and August, who I felt close to me for different reasons. I chose those three to show the possible crossing points of people’s views, who live next to each other without ever meeting. The series of images took the shape of a crossword: the lines of rectangular images cross at some points- these are the views that could be shared by those persons. I was interested in the relations between the characters and the visualisation of their points of view. Eero’s subjective affections, glances-by; Laura’s mirrorings, reflections and projections; August’s distance and sharp, detailed,“objective”view. The shape of a crossword is an allusion of the Eero’s pieces of memory and the missing parts he wants to fill in. He feels that something essential is near by, but he can’t reach it because of the lost or missing memories- “mémoires oubliées”.
exhibition view of Mémoires Oubliées, Tallinn Art Hall, 2007
Almost Film I-IV 2010/2011 1 channel HD videos view here
The video series is about people who are making films. It is an archeology of a future or maybe not existing film. In ÂŤAlmost FilmÂť we see people talking about their films, we see the places where they plan to shoot and some accessories... The elements of their non existing film are there, but the film itself is a potential one, created again and again in the head of every spectator. We see the films without seeing them and without knowing if what we are looking at is a fiction, a portrait of a filmmaker or a documentary on a non-existing fiction....
the video is about a missing person kalev leiga whos’ profile is based on a statistically average man in estonia. he is missing and somebody is looking through the materials found in his apart- ment- his video diary and personal photo archive which is composed of archives of many people. the viewer is looking how somebody is loo- king at somebody who is looking back at us. ”objectives” was my master thesis (video together with a written paper) in Estonian Academy of Arts photography departement.
Objectives 2008 1 channel video 9’00’’ here
7 Beloved Christmas Songs 2006/2007
the video is about a person having christmas dinner with so-
1 channel video 6’36’’
logue juxta- posed with a mix of 7 popular christmas songs.
here
mebody. the soundtrack of the video is the person’s mono-
Credo 2006
In the video installation «Credo», there are three screens and
video installation, 3 channels 3’46’’ loop
left screen is saying «a», the one on the right screen is saying
idea and direction: Laura Kuusk actress: Riina Maidre montage: Priit Pääsuke, Luxfilm
invisible pu- blic’s laughters is periodically cutting the discours
three persons played by the same actress. the person on the
«o» and the one in the middle «aoa». a gong accompanied by
of each person. With this work I want to blur the boundaries between reality and fiction, communication and empty letters, viewer and performer, video and theater, personal and public.
exhibition view
The chairs of montrouge event with people who didn’t know each other and were invited to come and sit on the chairs. they could move the chairs according to their needs. the event lasted about 5 hours. people found activites around and with the chairs as a pretext to overcome the social discomfort.
The Chairs of Montrouge february 2008 installation all the chairs found on the streets of the town of montrouge
Laura Kuusk born in 1982 in Tartu lives and works in Grenoble and Tallinn
Formation 2009 - Annecy Higher Art School, post-diploma 2008 Estonian Academy of Arts, MA of photography 2005 Tartu University, BA of semiotics and culture theory Solo exhibitions 2011 Spéciale Dédicace, Annecy Higher Art School 2009 Common sense (with Wladislav Novak), Loop art space, Tartu, Tallinn, Grenoble 2009 Soon (with Anna-Stina Treumund), Tallinn City Gallery 2008 Objectives, guest atelier of Montrouge Group exhibitions and residencies 2011 Best & Practices, exhibitions in Sugar Cube gallery and Mejan gallery, Stockholm, project by Stéphane Sauzedde, Nicolas Thély and Amanda Newall exhibition of artists in residency of Montrouge, JCE side-project, Médiathèque of Montrouge Happiness, in 4+4 Days in Motion, 16th Performing Arts Festival, Prague, curated by Katerina Fojtikova Access & Paradox, Nofound/photofair, 66 rue de Turenne, Paris, curated by Yann Perol Summer Lake artist in residency, Annecy Video Art Projection, G11 galerie, Berlin, curated by Margarita Lipski Museum Files I: Collected Principles, Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia, Tallinn Family, Märtz project space, Tallinn, curated by Anna-Stina Treumund and Jaanus Samma 2010 Des Montagnes, 10m2, Sarajevo, curated by Pascale Riou and Stéphane Déplan Tout, OUI art center, Grenoble, curated by Stéphane Sauzedde artist in residency with Camille Laurelli in Veranda, Grenoble Photographic Art Fair, Zelluloos area, Tallinn, curated by Marge Monko 2009 Dimanche, online group exhibition of gifs, curated by C. Laurelli and S. Comte Filling the Emptiness, video and photo for dance spectacle by Maria Goltsman, KUMU art museum, Tallinn artist in residency in Marine de Manichino, Corsica, France When Ätituuds Become Norms, Pärnu Art Hall, curated by M. Laimre and N. Külm Leonardo da Vinci scolarship, resident in OUI art center, Grenoble, France
2008 artist in residency and exhibition Objectives in Montrouge, France Videokitchen in Zurich, Switzerland, curated by Riikka Tauriainen video experiment Encountering Eden with Liina Siib, Su Grierson and Kyra Glegg Hansa Harmonics, experimental film by Pavlov MediaLab, Netherlands I See YouYou look at me, Evald Okas Museum, Haapsalu, Estonia, curated by Marge Monko Insanity, Estonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Tallinn, curated by Denes Farkas Christmas Altar Competition, Tallinn, curated by Martin Rünk and Jaanus Samma TASE08, graduate show of Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonian Musem of Art KUMU, Tallinn 2007 Jeune Création Européenne, group exhibition in Montrouge, France Backwards Blues, Estonian contemporary art, Moscow Center of Contemporary Arts, Russia, curated by Johannes Saar Club of Marinists, young artists at Tallinn Triennale of Graphic Arts, Tallinn Recycling Center, curated by M. Rünk and J. Samma TASE07, Master show of Estonian Art Academy in Estonian Museum of Arts KUMU New Wave, Estonian art on the 21st century Tallinn Art Hall, curated by H. Soans and A.Härm Other experiences 2009 founder and curator of art space Loop 2009 assistant for Triin Tamm’s solo exhibition Retrospective in OUI art center, Grenoble since 2009 member of FOKU- Union of Estonian Photographic Artists 2009 co-founder of artist residency Résidence du Coup (with Camille Laurelli) 2008 co-founder of artist network Doings or Not with Margit Säde and others 2008 MIR festival, photographer, Athens 2010-2011 tutor for the students of the 1st year in Annecy Higher Art School since 2007 occasionally holding workshops in Estonian Academy of Arts 2006 assistant of Dove Allouche for his photographic art project «Stalker», Tallinn 2006 assistant of Marco Laimre for his personal exhibition in Hobusepea gallery, Tallinn 2004 Cannes film festival, member of group of Young Europeans at the festival