(Even) Artists want to be free. However, in the art work they are often the playthings of museums, curators, art historians and journalists. The position of artists and their art depends on the opinions of the initial interpreters and contextualizers, who often formulate interpretations about their art, which are accepted as the truth. How can artists be emancipated? By establishing their own museum. Having been freed from the superstructure of the art world, they can concentrate on wrestling with their themes and ideas. And if they lose themselves in the museum universe, they can only blame themselves. Just to be sure, maybe it is good to blame oneself. One can gain sympathy and acquire the aura of a martyr.
Ideology has many meanings. The most usual is that ideology is bad; it is a closed worldview or conviction, which unites a group of people and is never criticized. The ban on criticism is accompanied by unawareness: the actual structure, objective and those whose interests are being protected are hidden from the adherents of the ideology. Very few people are enslaved by threats of force, many are enslaved by the lack of food, but almost everyone is enslaved by ideas that they accept without really understanding what they are enthusiastically supporting.
However, ideologies need not be a form of group identity that is based on blind faith and preconceptions. Couldn’t one neutrally and simply say that ideology is the same as an organized system of ideas? It can be good or bad, logical or illogical, and it can conceal or reveal reality. One objective for artists is to get a grasp on the reasons for favoring the ideologies in power, to unearth the values and goals hidden between the lines – and to create alternatives if necessary by formulating their own ideologies. With teeth grinning, fear in one’s heart, tongue in cheek, with an ace up one’s sleeve, but still candidly. In their small ideological factories, artists are the laboratory and lab rats for their visionary research. Therefore, every work in this exhibition is an artist’s self-portrait. Hopefully, it is not narcissism, but pragmatism. In order to understand society, an individual must first understand his or her own role and place in it. Without understanding this, he or she will be the plaything of others until death and even thereafter. Berlin 31 May 2010 Eemil Karila The exhibition includes videos, installations, photos, collages and objects.
All the works date from 2009-2010.
Eemil Karila (born in Rovaniemi in 1978) is a Finnish artist who lives and works in Berlin. He studied at the Estonian Academy of Arts (1997-2002), in Venezuela at the Instituto de Artes Plasticas de Armando Reveron in Caracas (1999-2000) and at the Helsinki Art Academy (2006-2008). His recent solo shows took place at the Program Gallery in Berlin, at the Vartai gallery in Vilnius ( both in 2009) and at the Rovaniemi Art Museum (2008). In 2009 he participated at the Ban-Parents Art Biennial, which was a travelling show that was exhibited in Oslo, Tråmso, Rovaniemi, Murmansk, Moscow and Helsinki. In 2009. Karila participated at the exhibition “TDK” (curated by Neeme Külm) at the EKKM and in 2003 held a solo show at Tallinn City gallery Together with Kalle Lampela they form Contemporary Santa Claus Artist Association.
Thanks to the Cultural Endowment of Estonia
Additional information: Anders Härm (+372 50 84 570) or Neeme Külm (+372 56 636 623)