Is This the Museum We Wanted? The Narva Version by Rael Artel

IS THIS THE MUSEUM WE WANTED?

The Narva Version 23.01.â&#x20AC;&#x201C;17.05.2020 Narva Museum Art Gallery

Rael Artel Curator Director, Narva Museum Art Gallery

Is This the Museum We Wanted? The Narva Version is a discussion-oriented, participatory exhibition that allows everyone who cares about Narva’s art scene to experience a high-quality exhibition programme that includes both art heritage and contemporary art. The exhibition signals a new shift of emphasis for the Narva Museum Art Gallery, the goal being to spark broader discussion about what the function, role and target audience of a modern art institution should be in this border town. The point of departure is Narva and the Narva Museum Art Gallery itself. On one hand, it’s a very subjective exhibition, created with the eye of a non-local, reflecting the curator’s observations, experiences, and ideas. On the other hand, the exhibit combines the museum’s art collection and internationally relevant contemporary art, examining the options available for an art institution in a post- industrial, post-nationalist locale, away from the bright lights of bigger centres. The exhibition can be viewed in many ways – we can let ourselves be guided by the topic of the exhibition and ponder the dilemmas of art and life, or we can go from displayed artwork to artwork and embrace the thoughts and feelings that spontaneously arise. We can just walk through the exhibition, pause for a few seconds before a work of interest, actively use our critical faculties, express an opinion, and revisit the exhibition a second or third time. Everyone is welcome to find their own way of experiencing the exhibition and taking part in the art gallery’s activities.

The Narva Museum Art Gallery has quite many functions and outputs. The Art Gallery is a museum that exhibits the Narva Museum’s art collection, which is unfortunately no longer being expanded further through acquisitions. The Art Gallery is also a city gallery, the home gallery of the artist community of Narva. The paintings of local artists were sold at the Art Gallery just a few months ago when it acted like a commercial gallery. The Art Gallery is also an educational enrichment centre where kindergartners and nursery school children can spend an exciting few hours. On top of that, it also doubles as a concert venue. So, should we act like a museum, a cultural centre, a commercial gallery, a city gallery or an extracurricular centre? Or a combination of the above? Should we define our main areas of activity, functions and target groups more clearly or leave things as they are? Are we satisfied with the Art Gallery in this form? Can we conceive of the Art Gallery in a completely new way? If so, what kind? Should we call such an establishment an “art gallery”, or should it have a name that makes us sit up and take notice, conveying what is exciting about art?

WHAT IS THIS PLACE WEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;RE IN RIGHT NOW?

Alexei Gordin Boy Meets Girl 2019. Acrylic on canvas, 60 × 70 cm Private collection Curator, Interrupted 2018. Acrylic on canvas, 60 × 80 cm Private collection Every day it’s getting better and better 2019. Acrylic, spray on canvas, 92 × 72 cm Courtesy of the Artist Fire Walk With Me 2019. Acrylic on canvas, 90 × 110 cm Private collection I haven’t seen nothing 2019. Acrylic on canvas, 80 × 110 cm Private collection Lights 2018. Acrylic on canvas, 50 × 50 cm Private collection Place Under the Sun 2019. Acrylic on canvas, 70 × 90 cm Private collection Untitled (My art is not me, my art is you) 2019. Acrylic, spray on canvas, 70 × 85 cm Courtesy of the Artist Untitled (What Happens In Art Gallery) 2019. Acrylic on canvas, 70 × 70 cm Courtesy of the Artist Wastelands 2018. Acrylic on canvas, 60 × 70 cm Private collection Wind of Change 2019. Acrylic on canvas, 100 × 80 cm Courtesy of the Artist

The paintings of Alexei Gordin are set in a typical quiet art gallery with white walls, in a museum, or sometimes in close proximity to it. We see pleasant clean rooms, artworks on the walls – a familiar sight to any exhibition-goer. This conventional, calm reality of the art world is thrown for a loop by impossible or at least dramatic events that make the artist’s works exciting, expressive, intriguing. “Art that makes you feel uncomfortable resonates,” Gordin has said, alluding to the fact that there has to be something weird or incomprehensible in a work of art if it is to prompt strong feelings in the viewer. Gordin’s paintings are narrative at their core. Often his paintings contain text that leaves the impression that the work is a scene from a film or a fragment of a comic strip. Cinematic drama is also generated by thrills and twists. Scenes salted with the absurd and black humour undercut the idea that the professional art world is some elitist and glamorous preserve. Do we imagine that an art venue could play host to something filmic, surrealistic and irrational that dismantles the logical symbolic order and established hierarchies of art institutions? In the end – why not? Alexei Gordin (b. 1989) was trained as a painter but now smoothly negotiates different media and works in drawing, photography, video and performance. His artistic practice is centred on people’s stereotypical thought and behaviour patterns in today’s society and the absurd symbolic order of the art world. He lives and works in Tallinn. alexeigordin.weebly.com

Zombienation 2018. Acrylic on canvas, 100 × 70 cm Courtesy of the Artist 7

They say size doesn’t matter, but it’s nevertheless quite salient to ask how “big” should the art displayed in this relatively remote frontier town in Eastern Europe be? How big should the artist’s name be; how high the price of the work and its art history value? Or more precisely – how far away should our exhibitions be visible? Should we focus on artists with a Narva connection and whose works can be found in the Narva Museum’s collection, or sample Estonian artists’ work more broadly? How often should works and ideas by international artists be shown? What could be the right proportion of the Estonian, Russian and foreign artists’ works on display? Should we prefer the works of living or dead artists? What should our ambitions be on the Narva, Estonia, Eastern European and world art scenes? How big a bite fits into mouth? What is the biggest mouthful the Art Gallery can bite off and the audience digest? Should we bring big names in world art history to Narva or exhibit Estonian art classics? Are we capable of doing that? Will viewers even want to relate to a work that is at first glance seemingly unknown and incomprehensible?

HOW “BIG” SHOULD THE ART WE EXHIBIT BE?

Toril Johannessen Transcendental Physics 2020 Installatsioon (plaster, wood), 350 × 137 × 218 cm Courtesy of the Artist

On the floor of the exhibition hall of the Narva Museum Art Gallery lies a giant white object that has what initially appears to be an incomprehensible form and function. Transcendental Physics is the name of the sculpture that has conquered the space – it dictates the visitor’s trajectory of movement and piques curiosity about what the object might be. No, it isn’t geometric abstractionism but rather a site-specific work by Norwegian artist Toril Johannessen that is directly based on the art gallery’s architecture. The artist has measured all the doors, windows and stairs and calculated the biggest possible monolithic object that would fit into the exhibition hall. This institutioncritical gesture is the result of rigorous measurement, careful experimentation, negotiation of various possibilities and sober-minded computation. On one hand, Transcendental Physics makes the exhibition hall’s boundaries and archi tectural attributes visible to the viewer. But it also tosses up the question of what the intellectual and creative limits of this exhibition venue are. If this white object gives some idea of the physical measurements of a museum, what should the viewer be ready for in terms of the content? What is the intellectually and emotionally largest object that fits into this space? Toril Johannessen (b. 1978) is a Norwegian artist who has been exploring the connections between art and science for years. Her works are often research-oriented and come into being through combining the methods and language of art and science. She lives and works in Tromsø, Norway. toriljohannessen.no

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s often taken for granted that people in Narva have conservative taste in art and tend to be fond of older art. What is this claim based on, and is it even true? If it is, where does such taste in art come from? Is there something in the air and water in Narva that makes people understand classical art or do all newborns in Narva get a vaccine that immunizes them against more contemporary art forms? Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more likely the roots of Narviansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; taste in art stems from here, the Narva Museum Art Gallery. Displaying older art for decades and organizing educational programmes on such topics have made art from older time periods seem familiar, more understandable, safe. Might this stay this way or are Narva residents entitled and ready to branch out into contemporary culture? Do they need an opportunity to peek into the Estonian and European art world, encounter the unique intellectual universe and sensibilities of the artists living around us right now? Should the Art Gallery provide this for Narvians? Is visual literacy universal, inborn, or something that must be learned from an early age?

WHAT IS TASTE IN ART AND WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?

Ivan Ayvazovsky The Island of Capri 1891 Oil on canvas, 25 × 40,5 cm Narva Museum

Mihhail Uljanov View of Narva and Ivangorod 1897 Oil on canvas, 50 × 69,5 cm Narva Museum

Ivan Ayvazovsky Bosporus Strait at Night 1890 Oil on canvas, 65 × 98 cm Narva Museum

Unknown author The Portrait of Alexander Menschikov Ca 1700—1725 Oil on canvas, 114,5 × 88,5 cm Narva Muuseum

Wilhelm Kotarbiński Dream Ca 1850–1900 Oil on canvas, 56 × 122 cm Narva Museum

Unknown author The Portrait of a Young Lady Ca 1675–1725 Oil on canvas, 67,5 × 56 cm Narva Muuseum

Leo Lagorio View of Yalta 1893 Oil on canvas, 63 × 107 cm Narva Museum

Unknown author The Portrait of Young Peter I Ca 1700–1725 Oil on canvas, 112 × 87,5 cm Narva Muuseum

Aleksandr Makovsky Deceives 1897 Oil on canvas, 64 × 81,5 cm Narva Museum Filippo Marantonio Musicians Ca 1850–1900 Oil on canvas, 33 × 50,8 cm Narva Museum Nikolay Semyonov The Apparition of Boris and Gleb 1889 Oil on canvas, 153,5 × 123,5 cm Narva Museum Ivan Shishkin The Forest. Sketch Ca 1850–1900 Oil on canvas, 55 × 41 cm Narva Museum

Selection by Galina Smirnova

Whom do we produce exhibitions for in Narva? Who are the Narva inhabitants who regularly attend exhibitions? Why are there so few of these people? Is it a lack of interest, time or money? Lack of exciting exhibitions? Lack of an art education and fear of feeling stupid? Lack of the habit of going to exhibitions? Why not consume culture and visit exhibitions in Narva as well? (Does anyone know anyone who knows someone who visits every exhibition?) Who is the potential audience for Narva’s exhibition venues? What would get people to travel from Tallinn, Tartu, St. Petersburg, Helsinki or China? What about from regional towns Kohtla-Järve, Jõhvi or Sillamäe? How could interest in fine arts and visiting exhibitions be a respectable lifestyle choice comparable to that of going to the cinema, theatre or mushrooming? Why aren’t exhibitions seen as an opportunity to experience something different, see something unexpected, learn something exciting, become initiated into thought patterns that otherwise wouldn’t occur to a person? What could we do at exhibition institutions to get every Narvian to visit the art gallery at least three times a year? What could every individual do to wind up at exhibitions more frequently?

WHO IS MY AUDIENCE?*

* Question asked by Ann Mirjam Vaikla, director of Narva Art Residency

Mark Raidpere Five Guards 2006 Video, 40 min 8 s Courtesy of the Artist

In the video Five Guards, Mark Raidpere presents viewers with different life destinies of characters with a similar social status, creating portraits of five older women who work as museum guards in a Riga gallery. In the context of the art world, these are very different people – they spend long days at work surrounded by art and involuntarily serve as a dedicated audience for the exhibitions, as they have hours upon hours to be immersed in the art works. Their purpose is to keep the artworks secure while remaining invisible themselves. Only if visitors do something that potentially jeopardizes the artworks does the guard suddenly become visible. Paradoxically, the people entrusted to handle security for the financially and culturally priceless treasures tend to be minimum wage earners, older women who occupy the least favourable position on the Eastern European job market. The five guards talk about what they like looking at and their preferred ways of looking, their favourite works and contemporary art. It’s a warm and simple series of video portraits of employees on the front lines of art venues, giving a voice to people who are often for visitors the only visible museum staff. Mark Raidpere (b. 1975) is a fashion photog rapher, photo and video artist known for works that exude sensitivity and empathy. He is a masterful portraitist whose works study his subjects’ passions, fears and loneliness. He represented Estonia at the 51st Venice Biennale (2005). He lives and works in Tallinn.

What language should one speak in Narva? In one’s own native language, be it Russian or Estonian? Or should one try to interact in Estonian, this being the country’s official language? Or Russian, the language spoken by the majority? Or be flexible and forthcoming and switch to the language one’s interlocutor is fluent in? Or just stay true to oneself, culturally and linguistically? Whose interests and ethos are expressed when we decide to speak a given language? What feelings and thoughts arise in us when speaking and listening to a given language? Who hears us when we use a language? Who listens to us when we use a language? Who uses us when we use a language? What language should we use to talk about art? Could art and culture itself be our lingua franca to use? Is proficiency in a language something elitist, elementary or normal? How to find a common language in the spaces where different languages meets? Pogovorim po-anglijski?

WHO IS SPEAKING? IN WHAT LANGUAGE?

Katarina Zdjelar The Perfect Sound 2009 Video, 14 min 30 s Courtesy of the Artist

Katarina Zdjelar’s video The Perfect Sound talks about adaptation, assimilation and infiltration. It’s at once a poetic and political video where the soundtrack reminds us of some wordless work of sound poetry consisting solely of vocalizing; while the image takes us back to a private lesson where a speech therapist is teaching a student (maybe an immigrant from Eastern Europe, maybe your neighbour and co-worker) to speak without an accent. Teaching the invisible and becoming invisible, translating specific pronunciation techniques into rhythmic gestures. A classical language lesson – the speech therapist leads and the student repeats the phrase. In this way, the student learns to speak without a foreign accent, without any specific traits of pronunciation that would betray ethnicity or class; the student masters the flawless sound of the language. This personalized service isn’t for achieving a level of proficiency that would wow and stand out – on the contrary, it is to acquire a diction that is as neutral as possible and would conceal the speaker’s actual origin and not lead to any prejudices among potential employers or new acquaintances. The Perfect Sound teaches how to cope better and be more successful. Katarina Zdjelar (b. 1979) is a Rotterdambased artist who works with moving images and sound. Sounds, voices, speech, language and different means of expression are a central topic and object for study in the artist’s oeuvre. She has appeared at exhibitions all over the world, including representing Serbia at the 53rd Venice Biennale (2007). katarinazdjelar.net

What kinds of survival strategies are used in a post-industrial city if there is all of a sudden no work to be found, factories close, and no one seems to care, either? What to do – leave and go elsewhere to pursue happiness? Stick around and hope something will change? Do something oneself to change things? Start competing with rivals for the scant remaining resources or cooperate to scratch out some kind of living? Focus on making ends meet for yourself and your family or try to do something in cooperation with friends, neighbours and former co-workers? Grow vegetables and forage for mushrooms to feed one’s family or to sell to others, too? Or barter with those who have access to other kinds of resources? Start a business, a start-up? Go and vote? If so, whom to vote for? Join some political party and try to change something – or settle for what there is and not make life complicated? Stake one’s hopes on God? On the government? On the community? On oneself?

HOW TO SURVIVE IN A POST-Â INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENT?

Sandra Kosorotova To Be A One At All You Must Be A Many 2018 Installation (textile), ca 400 × 650 cm Courtesy of the Artist

Sandra Kosorotova’s installation of ten aprons tied together sends viewers a message: To Be a One at All You Must Be a Many. Indeed, we all need other species whom to eat, who offer shelter, who create our living environment. Our existence is supported by many other living organisms we are comprised of. This realization is essential in a world where the cleanliness of the environment and biodiversity is becoming a vital concern. It’s a critical issue in Ida-Viru County as well, where Narva is located: should combustion of oil shale be continued, which would contribute to global warming, or reorganize the entire energy sector and find ourselves facing increased unemployment and poverty? The other key element of the installation – aprons – refers to work and employment relations, as aprons are worn while performing dirty work. Solidarity and mutual support among workers is a phenomenon that is largely relegated to the days of factories and mining. The current economic model is based on constant competition against each other, which unfortunately weakens everyone. It is wiser to stick together and remember that a house united is stronger and will get by. If we are to exist at all, we must stick together. Sandra Kosorotova (b. 1984) is a graduate of the fashion design specialty at the Estonian Academy of Arts and in her art practice focuses on fashion, textiles and text. She takes an interest in the political potential of fashion, the human body as repository of experience, relationships that transcend species, power and possibilities. She lives and works in Tallinn. sandrakosorotova.com

While walking around in Narva, the question comes up readily – what is this country and cultural context? Is it Estonia or Russia? A typical small city in Eastern Europe? Some city-state with a cultural reality all to itself, something that could be called the Border City of Narva? Is it convenient or inconvenient for Narva’s inhabitants? Who is such a city-state useful for – for the Estonian or Russian Federation government? Is it dangerous? Does Estonia trust Narva? Does Narva trust Estonia? Should we even talk about trust this directly and openly? Do we definitely have to choose a side? Do Narvians consider themselves Estonians or Russians? Does this question have any point in a place that has been passed between foreign regimes many times over the last century? Besides post-industrial and post-socialist town, could it be considered post-national as well? What are the characteristic features of such a cultural environment? Is the identity of this place a relic of the past or a novel model for the future? How might Narva’s historical events enrich today’s Estonia, provide added value?

WHOM DOES NARVA BELONG TO?

John Phillip Mäkinen Children of Revolution 2007 Installation (textile, metal, wood) 165 × 53 cm Art Museum of Estonia

Evi Pärn Different Languages, One Nation 2008–2019 Installation (digital print, metal, light fixture), 38 × 55 × 5.5 cm Courtesy of the Artist

John Phillip Mäkinen’s installation Children of the Revolution is a paradoxical work – a jacket looking for trouble! The work was inspired by the Bronze Night riots of spring 2007. The media’s footage of the unrest from this night in central Tallinn sowed fear and disquiet but also made for quite a visual spectacle. Based on the conflicting media experience, the artist constructed a work that prompts conflicting feelings – an aviator jacket, one side in the Estonian flag’s colours, the other in Russian colours. It seems that the jacket forces one to take a position or even choose a side in regard to EstonianRussian relations. The work can also be seen as an accusation of disloyalty or treason. Yet no ultranationalist on either side would likely wear such a jacket under any circumstance. Who would wear such a jacket, if at all, and how? Or is the work an enigma with no easy answer?

This light box – emanating the image of a digitally drawn poster depicting two people entering a passionate kiss, tongues in the colours of the Estonian and Russian flag about to touch – has been circulating in Estonia for some time. It is Evi Pärn’s work Different Languages, One Nation that plays with the tongue/language motif. The tongue as a part of the body, used for speaking, French kissing, eating; and language as a means of communication we get from home and which largely defines our ethnic status. For the artist, the theme of language is personally significant – hailing from an ethnically Estonian family who spoke Russian at home, she has felt that she is not completely accepted due to her mother tongue. By using the motif of different languages meeting, which reduces state interests and ambitions to the interaction between individuals, she tries to create an atmosphere of understanding. The common ground between people is greater than their differences. The work, similar to an advertisement, can take on any form – poster, sticker, T-shirt or outdoor media. See it as an advertisement!

John Phillip Mäkinen (b. 1975) is a Helsinki-based artist who is interested in pop culture, films and black humour. He has produced animations and music videos, performed concerts, taken part in creating a gallery and appeared in many exhibitions. He lives and works in Helsinki. cargocollective.com/johnphillipmakinen

Evi Pärn (b. 1984) is a multimedia artist who deals with topics of nationalism and communication between different communities, integration and exclusion. Performance artist, illustrator, set designer and activist. She lives and works in Tallinn. eviparn.wix.com/parnevi

Narva, where many large factories have ceased operation, feels quite alone with its problems in Estonia. Yet the entire Western world is full of cities that are going through their post-industrial transition just as painfully. Asia has become the new manufacturing base and the economic system is geared at offering sophisticated services instead of cheap products. The service-based economy doesn’t require massive production base or thousands of workers. So, what will become of these buildings and people? Will it prove possible to find new functions for them or will huge investments, retraining and good ideas be required for the shift? And what if these prerequisites don’t come for decades? People can’t stop living in the meantime. What are Narva’s possibilities in the current cultural, social and economic reality? What are the unique values that can be parlayed into a positive brand? How to generate not only economic capital but also cultural, emotional and intellectual benefits? How to turn Narva’s shortcomings into advantages?

WHAT WILL THE FUTURE BRING?

Althea Thauberger Take Back Benčić 2014 Video, 58 min Courtesy of the Artist

Althea Trauberger’s video Take Back Benčić is set in and stars a behemoth factory of that name in Rijeka, Croatia, idle since the early 1990s. The artist brought around 70 child actors to the abandoned factory and the results of the work spanning several weeks is in front of the viewers. It is difficult to categorize this experimental film in a specific genre; it’s more like it flows across the screen, simultaneously a documentary about the factory’s history, improvisational theatre, children’s dance performance, a clinical survey of an architectural space and a spontaneous shared activity. After all, children also play and move around in space and discuss what will happen next. In their words and gestures, we can sense hope and fear; political and poetic, understanding of the community and how it functions. The children point unambiguously to the future, while the factory is from the past, where people’s life trajectory and professional challenges were shaped by a completely different set of principles. How will the future generation cope with the legacy of the past – the physical buildings and the baggage of beliefs and traditions? One thing is certain – the future belongs to them. Althea Thauberger (b. 1970) is a Canadian artist whose work is created in collaboration with different communities. Her projects are realized in the form of videos, performances, films and books. She has appeared at exhibitions, biennials, and art festivals around the world. She lives and works in Vancouver, Canada altheathauberger.com

This publication is a companion to Is This the Museum We Wanted? The Narva Version, which was held in the Narva Museum Art Gallery from 23 January to 17 May 2020. Exhibition curator: Rael Artel Participating artists: Alexei Gordin Toril Johannessen Sandra Kosorotova John Phillip Mäkinen Evi Pärn Mark Raidpere Althea Thauberger Katarina Zdjelar Artists from the Narva Museum collection selected by Galina Smirnova: Ivan Ayvazovsky Wilhelm Kotarbiński Leo Lagorio Aleksandr Makovsky Filippo Marantonio Nikolay Semyonov Ivan Shishkin Mihhail Uljanov Unknown artists Consultants: Maria Kapajeva Jaroslavna Nazarova Ann Mirjam Vaikla

Museum educators: Elena Howarth Dmitri Nedopjokin Thanks to: Art Museum of Estonia Private collectors Reigo Kuivjõgi Tanel Murre Dmitri Nedopjokin Liina Raus Annika Räim Denis Zimin Support provided by: Cultural Endowment of Estonia Catalogue Concept and texts: Rael Artel Graphic design: Jaan Evart Translator: Kristopher Rikken Copy editor: Martin Rünk

Graphic design: Jaan Evart Designer: Tõnu Narro Translators: Jaroslavna Nazarova (Estonian-Russian) Kristopher Rikken (Estonian-English) Copy editors: Dana Karjatse (Estonian text) Svetlana Andrejeva (Russian text) Martin Rünk (English text) 36