Il
Padiglione dell’Estonia ospiterà il lavoro “NSFW: From the Abyss of History” di
Jaanus Samma con la curatela di Eugenio
Viola
English
JAANUS SAMMA
PICKED FOR ESTONIAN PAVILION AT 56th VENICE BIENNALE
Center forContemporary Arts, Estonia Estonian Ministry
of Culture
PRESS RELEASE
The project
“NSFW: From the Abyss of History” by Estonian artist Jaanus Samma and Italian
curator Eugenio Viola will represent Estonia at the 56th Venice Biennale. The
exhibition consists of an aesthetically and dramaturgically integrated
multimedia installation, which uses a personal story of a man from the
Soviet-era Estonia and provides a new perspective on events during Estonians’
recent past. “NSFW: From the Abyss of History” raises questions about power,
violence, persecution and an individual’s powerlessness in rigid political
regimes that curtail human rights.
The winning
project is a continuation of Jaanus Samma’s 2013 work “Chairman. The Opera,”
which won the Köler Prize Jury award and People’s Choice that year. Samma has
trained his lens on gay life in the Soviet era - when the community faced
criminal sanctions - and the social conditions that influenced its behaviour,
to remember and devote attention to problems yet to be solved. The central
character in the exhibition is a successful kolkhoz (Soviet collective farm)
chairman in the 1950s, who was sent to a prison camp for one and a half years
for an homosexual relationship. The exhibition is an oneiric installation with
theatrical elements, and relies on court transcripts and the fate of the
chairman who – having lost not just his position in society but his family and
job – became one of the legendary figures in the invisible gay community of
Soviet Estonia. The acronym NSFW stands for “Not Suitable / Safe For
Work”.
A total of 11
projects were entered to the competition for the 2015 Estonian Pavilion
exhibition at Venice Biennale. The jury members included the commissioner for
the Estonian Pavilion at Venice Biennale Maria Arusoo, Wales MOSTYN art centre
director Alfredo Cramerotti, board members of CCA, Estonia Rael Artel, Sirje
Helme, Andres Kurg and Kaido Ole, World Expo Milano 2015, Project Manager
Andres Kask and Adviser on Visual Arts, Estonian Ministry of Culture
Maria-Kristiina Soomre. Besides the high artistic calibre of the project, the
jury also praised “the exceptionally intelligent, relevant, discrete and
multi-faceted manner in which the theme is explored.”
Jaanus Samma
(1982) studied graphic art at the Estonian Academy of Arts and is currently a
PhD candidate in the Art and Design programme at EAA. He has taken part in many
group exhibitions and appeared in solo exhibitions in Estonia and international
venues since 2005. Samma's work can be viewed
at http://www.jaanussamma.eu/.
Eugenio Viola
(1975) is curator at large at Madre Museum in Naples. He has worked with, among
many others, such world-renowned artists as Marina Abramovi?, Teresa Margolles
and Tania Bruguera. He is well-versed in the Estonian art scene, having
co-curated (with Reet Varblane) Orlan’s 2008 exhibition at the Tallinn Art Hall
and (with Anders Härm) Mark Raidpere’s 2013 solo exhibition at the EKKM
(Contemporary Art Museum Estonia). Viola was also a member of the Köler Prize’s
international jury last year.
The Biennale di
Venezia, held since 1895, is the oldest and largest international art forum in
the world. Estonia has exhibited in Venice since 1997, making the 2015 pavilion
the tenth one. The 56th International Biennale di Venezia is taking place from
9 May to 22 November 2015.
Estonia was
represented at the 2013 Venice Biennale by Dénes Farkas’s exhibition “Dénes
Farkas. Evident in Advance” at Palazzo Malipiero. During the six months, the
Biennale was visited by 475,000 people, with 27,000 people visiting the
Estonian pavilion, including 4,000 art professionals at the press events. The
exhibition received, without exception, positive coverage in the major art
journals such as Art Agenda, Kunstforum, Modern Painters, Gallerist NY and
Arterritory, Estonian press and many art blogs. Following the appearance at the
Biennale, the artist has received many cooperation offers from international
galleries.
Estonia’s
participation at the Biennale di Venezia is organized by the Center for
Contemporary Arts, Estonia and funded by Estonian Ministry of Culture.
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