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Press release: EKKM continues its tour, second stop: Rapla
EKKM ON WHEELS
travelling exhibition “KOHATU”
Opening: THURSDAY, January 15 at 18:00
Exhibition is open: January 16 – February 15
Rapla County Centre for Contemporary Art
Tartu mnt 3B (Espak building, 3rd floor)
Tue–Sun 15.00 – 18.00
artists: Kristiina Hansen, Flo Kasearu, Eve Kask, Paul Kuimet, Marco Laimre, Tanel Rander, Tõnis Saadoja, Silja Saarepuu & Villu Plink, John Smith
curators: Marten Esko & Anders Härm
education programme: Anu Lüsi (Kumu Education Centre)
graphic design: Mikk Heinsoo
tehnical team: Neeme Külm, Johannes Säre, Kadri Villand, Villem Säre
The Estonian Contemporary Art Museum continues its travelling exhibition “Kohatu”, which will tour Estonia until at least spring 2015. The second stop is Rapla.
“Kohatu” is the first travelling exhibition in EKKM’s history, a deliberate “deterritorialisation project”, an attempt by the museum to become placeless. It is an experiment in which the institution transforms itself during the winter period into a trajectory marked by specific points, drawing an imaginary curved line across Estonia.
The exhibition’s title work, Paul Kuimet’s Placeless, is a rather unusual photograph that encapsulates many of the motifs from which both the exhibition and the project as a whole depart. The central theme revolves around the notions of place (and the perception of place) and placelessness. The exhibition brings together works by artists who engage with this issue in their practice. They reflect on and interpret place, placelessness, and even the loss of place, both spatially and psychologically. At each location where EKKM “stops” as part of its self-induced placelessness, we also aim to generate something locally or reflect the place back to itself in some way. Additional keywords associated with the exhibition – issues we wish to examine critically together with visitors – include: marginality and periphery, provincialism and conservatism, openness to the new and closure towards the outside world.
In collaboration with the Kumu Education Centre, we have also prepared an educational programme “KOHATUnne” for primary school levels I–III. Additionally, each exhibition venue will host a lecture programme for secondary school students and adult audiences interested in culture, with topics varying according to the specific location. More information about the exhibition and the works on display can be found in the accompanying booklet and on EKKM’s website: www.ekkm.ee
The first stop of the travelling exhibition was at Kuressaare Art Studio Gallery (October 30 – December 5); the next will be at Valga Cultural Centre Gallery (March 6 – April 5, 2015).
NB! INVITE “KOHATU” AND EKKM TO YOUR LOCATION!
We invite other small towns and boroughs to host EKKM. The earliest possible time for visits would be October 2015. EKKM will cover most of the costs associated with the exhibition. For further information, please contact: info@ekkm.ee
supported by: Estonian Cultural Endowment, Kumu Education Centre, Nihilist.fm
much appreciated: Art Museum of Estonia, Tartu Art Museum
special thanks: Indrek Sirkel, Maarin Ektermann, all donors, and the institutions and people hosting us locally
CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM OF ESTONIA (EKKM) is an institution that has positioned itself within a gap in Estonian cultural policy. It serves as a platform for self-institutionalisation by a younger generation of artists, curators, and art students – a tool intended to exist somewhere between official, established art institutions and alternative artist-run DIY galleries. It is a (counter)public, unusual, and unconventional vision of a museum whose aim is to produce, exhibit, collect, and promote both international and local contemporary art, while also challenging the conventional working methods of art institutions.
EKKM operates in a building that was squatted in late 2006 and has since been legalised – formerly an office building of Tallinn District Heating next to the Kultuurikatel, which had stood empty for years. Since 2007, EKKM has organised exhibitions and built an art collection. Since 2010, it has held regular exhibitions there from late April to mid-October, alongside year-round events, seminars, and performances. Since 2013, EKKM has also hosted a bookstore, “Lugemik” and a creative enterprise focused on art and exhibition production “Valge Kuup”. On weekends, the museum transforms into a popular club hosting parties and concerts.
“Kohatu” launched in autumn 2014, is EKKM’s first travelling exhibition project, aimed at taking both the museum and contemporary art out of the capital during the winter. More information about EKKM, its exhibitions, and events can be found on its website www.ekkm.ee and on its Facebook page.