The Good, The Bad and The Impetuous

The Good, The Bad and The Impetuous
Martin Rünk looks back at the Polymer Culture Factory, which was active at 22 Madara Street in Tallinn from 2002 to 2014

The Polymer Culture Factory, known as one of the most long-lived independent cultural centres in Estonia, closed its doors in late January 2014 after 12 years of activity. Leaving aside the settling of matters with the owner of the property, the end was not particularly dramatic. Polymer had been in crisis for some time already, and many thought it was high time to draw it to a conclusion and move on. Incidentally, the publication of the Polymer catalogue compiled by myself and Ernest Truely, who led Polymer’s residency programme, happened to fall around the same time, adding a symbolic end to the whole project.

At the busiest time of moving out of Polymer, Art Container, an art group and one of the most important tenants of the Culture Factory, opened their self-titled exhibition at Pärnu City Gallery, where the members of Art Container showed work from recent years, focusing mainly on installations.

When I went to see the show the morning after the opening, the museum guard was complaining to a friend about how the people from Art Container had twice set off the fire alarm while working with a disc cutter in the process of putting up the exhibition, and demanded that the attic door be opened for the dove installation, dismissing the warning that then real pigeons might also fly into the exhibition hall. The guard was clearly disturbed by the chaos that so naturally comes with Art Container.

Although they have travelled the world with their installations and performances, in my experience Art Container remain inseparable from the chaotic and uncontrollable environment of Polymer. The City Gallery housed in Pärnu town hall, on the other hand, is an environment in stark contrast to Polymer with an aesthetic that could presumably be seen as characteristic of Art Container. It was therefore all the more exciting to see what happens when such art has been removed from its natural habitat and placed in rooms where in the process of setting up the exhibition not even a single screw could be screwed into the walls. The result was surprisingly good.

Large-scale interior installations are the absolute trademark of Art Container. These installations, built from found objects, are mostly quite labour-intensive and often also intended to create a performance space – like scenery for a theatrical production. Indeed, all the artists of Art Container have a very strong background in performance art, which to a larger or smaller extent is related to the legendary Non Grata art group.

And to be sure, the first thing upon entering the exhibition, after seeing the white doves by Mai Sööt, was the installation “The Doors” (2011–2012) by Tanel Saar, Kilian Ochs, Sylvain Breton and Janno Bergmann. Consisting of doors found in Polymer and dedicated to the cult band of the same name, the installation has previously been shown at the independent art fair “SUPERMARKET” in Stockholm as well as at Polymer. The rock ‘n’ roll continued with Erik Alalooga’s installation “Concert for Fermentation” (Kontsert fermentatsioonile, 2014), which was a wonderfully refined bubbling concert with bread fermenting in large tanks normally used for making home made wine. Alalooga, who for several years headed the recently closed department of performance art at the Estonian Academy of Arts, has for a long time now been interested in DIY musical instruments and given a number concerts on this theme in collaboration with, among others, Andrus Kallastu, as well as his own students. This time he had given up massive industrial qualities and instead sought sound in organic processes. In their randomness, the bubblings picked up by contact microphones made for meditative and absorbing listening.
Tanel Saar, Kilian Ochs, Sylvain Breton, Janno Bergmann The Doors, installation at Culture Factory Polymer 2011–2013 Courtesy of the artists photo by Tanel Saar

Tanel Saar, Kilian Ochs, Sylvain Breton, Janno Bergmann,
The Doors, installation at Culture Factory Polymer 2011–2013;
Courtesy of the artists, photograph by Tanel Saar

Functioning as a commemorative corner was the office of Art Container, brought over from Polymer, with a robust desk, statue of photographer Jaan Klõšeiko, key cabinet, bird cage and other objects. There was an on-screen video programme, part of which involved Tom Russotti and Ernest Truely’s report on the notorious “Global Container VIII”.

A nostalgic Christian dimension was added to the exhibition by the work by the German artist Kilian Ochs. Titled after the opening sentence of Goethe’s “Faust”, “Revealed, as once you were, to clouded vision” (2013) at first sight appeared to be a rather ordinary installation with projections of slides from grandmother’s photo album, but a more careful inspection brought the pictures to life, and upon leaving, one felt an uneasiness about the past. There were spirits, who inexplicably made themselves known with a little restless rustling and refused to consign themselves to the past. Another work was “Resurrection” (2013), where the artist had restored the circuit board of a broken cassette player as a sculptural, even architectural form. The cassette was playing a monotonous sound. Something that was, figuratively speaking, dead had found a new, elevated life. Sandra Jõgeva’s recordings of stand-up tragedies were the most documentary and directly performance-related pieces in an otherwise rather object-centred show.

No compassion!

Art Container came into being in spring 2007 and the first exhibition, “New Wave: 21st Century Estonian Art” (Uus laine. 21. sajandi Eesti kunst”) was held at the same time that the Bronze Night riots broke out. This was enough to create the mood – chaotic, devil-may-care with a touch of anger. One should not rake up the past, but Art Container was originally called NG Art Container and represented Non Grata in Tallinn. Back then, Non Grata were short-circuiting people’s brains with their image campaigns, whose goal was to develop a legend of a community of equals in their anonymity, where the insignificant become princes. This seemingly demagogical device inspired endless discussions on whether or not Non Grata were intentionally manipulating the art audience. Which, of course, was not important at all. What was important was why they were constructing this particular myth.

In 2009, they went their separate paths and what remained of Non Grata in Art Container was only the slogan “an alternative point of view”. With Art Container, it is interesting to observe how out of one phenomenon that is so forceful another has grown, and how the values of the first have lived on and transformed.

While Non Grata were largely nomadic, Art Container were predominantly sedentary, which has led to a change of focus with regard to medium. Although performance art is constantly present, Art Container’s main forte is definitely installations – environments created for performances. The most consistent bearer of the Non Grata mentality at Art Container seems to be Tanel Saar, who is primarily behind these installations and the only one not acting alone under his own name. He always brings in the others and sticks on the Art Container name. Old habits …

The aspiration towards a collective entity is a controversial phenomenon because in fact no collective actually exists but rather a modus operandi based on equality and a lack of hierarchy. Anonymity is the concealment of actual power relations and allows individual contributions to be effaced. That way people can be forgotten and erased from the scene. An idealistic belief in equality can only exist during some initial period of innocence, but ultimately power games will come in.

In contrast to NG, Art Container’s ideology is not as loud and declarative. There’s piles of attitude, however. They are very bad! Out of the Art Container trio, Erik Alalooga is slightly bad, Tanel Saar is fairly bad and Sandra Jõgeva is particularly bad. In the new Polymer catalogue, Ernest Truely warns visiting artists of a lack of compassion at Polymer: “No compassion!” True, this was something that was absent from the place; there was a struggle for survival, a hardening amidst the environment and human relations. The ones who went through this harsh process had learned something and experienced reality in hyperbole. Art Container had a powerful symbiosis with Polymer, where a crumbling environment, and one that was not particularly friendly towards the tenants, produced an attitude based on the same logic that makes Estonian people so angry and wrinkle-nosed. How can you be accommodating to others when the weather is constantly so depressingly grim?

What next?

One of the most symbolist works at the Art Container exhibition in Pärnu is the installation “Kingdom of Heaven” (Janno Bergmann, Tanel Saar, Kilian Ochs, 2013), where sagging crosses glued together from paper envelopes rise up as they are inflated at the triggering of a motion sensor. A year ago, at the “Sicht/Beton/Ung” festival in Dresden it certainly had a more open meaning, but this time it led one’s thoughts much more to current events.

The contract between the non-profit association Polymer Culture Factory and Baltic Real Estate Management has been terminated. Art Container has vacated the premises of the former rubber factory along with many other tenants. At the same time, many stayed on, with activity and decadence continuing in an even more uncontrollable way. What will come of Art Container is unknown even to those involved. In the meantime, until things settle, one may leaf through the catalogue, read Sandra Jõgeva’s blog chronicle and look at pictures on the side.

QUOTE CORNER:

“Perhaps it is actually good that Polymer was shut down. The Art Container people made great art ther

Hasil (Bahasa Indonesia) 1:

Yang baik, yang buruk dan kadangkalaMartin Rünk looks kembali pada pabrik budaya polimer, iaitu aktif di 22 Madara Street di Tallinn dari 2002-2014Polimer pabrik budaya, dikenal sebagai salah satu pusat budaya independen paling panjang di Estonia, menutup pintu pada akhir Januari 2014 setelah 12 tahun kegiatan. Mengesampingkan menyelesaikan masalah dengan pemilik properti, akhir itu tidak sangat dramatis. Polimer telah dalam krisis untuk beberapa waktu sudah, dan banyak berpikir sudah saatnya untuk menarik kesimpulan dan melanjutkan. Kebetulan, publikasi Katalog polimer yang disusun oleh diriku sendiri dan Ernest benar-benar, yang memimpin program residensi polimer 's, terjadi jatuh sekitar waktu yang sama, menambah akhir simbolis keseluruhan proyek.Pada waktu tersibuk pindah dari polimer, Art wadah, sebuah kelompok seni dan salah satu penyewa paling penting budaya pabrik, membuka pameran berjudul diri mereka di Pärnu City Gallery, dimana anggota kontainer seni menunjukkan pekerjaan dari beberapa tahun terakhir, berfokus terutama pada instalasi.Ketika saya pergi untuk melihat pertunjukan paginya setelah pembukaan, museum pengawal mengeluh kepada seorang teman tentang bagaimana orang-orang dari kontainer seni telah dua kali berangkat alarm kebakaran ketika bekerja dengan cutter disc dalam proses memasang pameran, dan menuntut bahwa pintu loteng dibuka untuk instalasi merpati, mengabaikan peringatan yang kemudian nyata merpati juga terbang ke ruang pameran. Penjaga jelas terganggu oleh kekacauan yang Jadi tentu saja datang dengan seni kontainer.Meskipun mereka telah berkeliling dunia dengan instalasi dan pertunjukan, dalam pengalaman saya kontainer seni tetap tidak bisa dipisahkan dari lingkungan polimer yang kacau dan tak terkendali. City Gallery bertempat di balai kota Pärnu, di sisi lain, adalah sebuah lingkungan dalam kontras dengan polimer dengan estetika yang agaknya dapat dilihat sebagai karakteristik Art wadah. Oleh karena itu semua lebih menarik untuk melihat apa yang terjadi ketika seni tersebut telah dihapus dari habitat aslinya dan ditempatkan di kamar yang mana dalam proses menyiapkan pameran tidak bahkan sebuah sekrup tunggal bisa kacau ke dinding. Hasilnya adalah mengejutkan baik.Skala besar instalasi interior adalah merek dagang mutlak kontainer seni. Instalasi ini, yang dibangun dari menemukan benda, sebagian besar cukup kerja-intensif dan sering juga dimaksudkan untuk menciptakan ruang kinerja-seperti pemandangan untuk produksi teater. Memang, para seniman kontainer seni memiliki latar belakang yang sangat kuat dalam seni pertunjukan, yang sebagian besar atau lebih kecil berhubungan dengan kelompok seni Non Grata legendaris.Dan yang pasti, hal pertama setelah memasuki pameran, setelah melihat Merpati Putih oleh Mai Sööt, instalasi "The Doors" (2011-2012) oleh Tanel Saar, Kilian Ochs, Sylvain Breton dan Janno Bergmann. Terdiri dari pintu ditemukan dalam polimer dan didedikasikan untuk band kultus nama yang sama, instalasi sebelumnya telah ditunjukkan di art independen adil "SUPERMARKET" di Stockholm serta di polimer. Rock 'n' roll dilanjutkan dengan pemasangan Erik Alalooga "Konser untuk fermentasi" (Kontsert fermentatsioonile, 2014), yang merupakan konser menggelegak sangat halus dengan fermentasi roti di besar tank, biasanya digunakan untuk membuat anggur buatan. Alalooga, yang selama beberapa tahun memimpin Departemen barusan ditutup performance art di Akademi Seni Estonia, memiliki untuk waktu yang lama sekarang telah tertarik di DIY alat musik dan diberi nomor konser pada tema ini bekerjasama dengan, antara lain, Andrus Kallastu, serta siswa sendiri. Kali ini ia telah menyerah kualitas industri besar dan bukan mencari suara dalam proses organik. Di keacakan mereka, bubblings dijemput oleh kontak mikrofon dibuat untuk meditasi dan menyerap mendengarkan.Tanel Saar Kilian Ochs, Sylvain Breton, Janno Bergmann The Doors, instalasi di budaya pabrik polimer 2011-2013 Courtesy of seniman foto oleh Tanel SaarTanel Saar Kilian Ochs, Sylvain Breton, Janno Bergmann,The Doors, installation at Culture Factory Polymer 2011–2013;Courtesy of the artists, photograph by Tanel SaarFunctioning as a commemorative corner was the office of Art Container, brought over from Polymer, with a robust desk, statue of photographer Jaan Klõšeiko, key cabinet, bird cage and other objects. There was an on-screen video programme, part of which involved Tom Russotti and Ernest Truely’s report on the notorious “Global Container VIII”.A nostalgic Christian dimension was added to the exhibition by the work by the German artist Kilian Ochs. Titled after the opening sentence of Goethe’s “Faust”, “Revealed, as once you were, to clouded vision” (2013) at first sight appeared to be a rather ordinary installation with projections of slides from grandmother’s photo album, but a more careful inspection brought the pictures to life, and upon leaving, one felt an uneasiness about the past. There were spirits, who inexplicably made themselves known with a little restless rustling and refused to consign themselves to the past. Another work was “Resurrection” (2013), where the artist had restored the circuit board of a broken cassette player as a sculptural, even architectural form. The cassette was playing a monotonous sound. Something that was, figuratively speaking, dead had found a new, elevated life. Sandra Jõgeva’s recordings of stand-up tragedies were the most documentary and directly performance-related pieces in an otherwise rather object-centred show.Ada belas kasih!Art wadah muncul menjadi ada pada musim semi 2007 dan pameran pertama, "New Wave: 21st Century Estonia Art" (Uus laine. 21. sajandi Eesti kunst") diadakan di saat yang sama bahwa perunggu malam kerusuhan pecah. Ini sudah cukup untuk menciptakan suasana hati-kacau, devil-may-care dengan sentuhan kemarahan. Salah satu harus tidak menyapu atas masa lalu, tetapi Art wadah awalnya disebut NG Art wadah dan mewakili Non Grata di Tallinn. Kembali kemudian, Non Grata yang short-circuiting otak orang-orang dengan kampanye gambar mereka, yang tujuannya adalah untuk mengembangkan sebuah legenda masyarakat setara dalam anonimitas mereka, mana signifikan menjadi Pangeran. Perangkat ini tampaknya demagogical terinspirasi diskusi tak berujung pada apakah atau tidak Non Grata yang sengaja memanipulasi penonton. Yang, tentu saja, itu tidak penting sama sekali. Yang penting adalah mengapa mereka sedang membangun mitos ini tertentu.Pada tahun 2009, mereka pergi jalan mereka terpisah dan apa yang tersisa dari Non Grata dalam wadah seni adalah hanya slogan "alternatif point of view". Dengan wadah seni, sangat menarik untuk mengamati bagaimana keluar dari salah satu fenomena yang begitu kuat lain telah berkembang, dan bagaimana nilai-nilai yang pertama telah tinggal di dan berubah.Sementara Non Grata sebagian besar nomaden, Art wadah yang didominasi menetap, yang telah menyebabkan perubahan fokus dalam media. Meskipun seni pertunjukan selalu hadir, Art wadah utama forte adalah pasti instalasi-lingkungan yang dibuat untuk pertunjukan. Pembawa paling konsisten Non Grata mentalitas di Art wadah tampaknya Tanel Saar, yang terutama di balik instalasi ini dan hanya satu tidak bertindak sendirian di bawah namanya sendiri. Ia selalu membawa pada yang lain dan tongkat pada nama Art wadah. Kebiasaan lama...Aspirasi menuju sebuah entitas kolektif adalah fenomena kontroversial karena kenyataannya kolektif tidak benar-benar ada tetapi agak modus operandi yang didasarkan pada kesetaraan dan kurangnya hirarki. Anonimitas adalah penyembunyian sebenarnya kekuatan hubungan dan memungkinkan individu kontribusi akan hilang. Itu cara orang dapat dilupakan dan dihapus dari adegan. Kepercayaan idealis kesetaraan hanya ada beberapa periode awal tak bersalah, tapi kekuatan permainan akan datang.Berbeda dengan NG, Art wadah ideologi ini tidak keras dan deklaratif. Ada tumpukan sikap, namun. Mereka sangat buruk! Dari trio kontainer seni, Erik Alalooga sedikit buruk, Tanel Saar cukup buruk dan Sandra Jõgeva sangat buruk. Dalam Katalog polimer baru, Ernest benar-benar memperingatkan mengunjungi seniman dari kurangnya kasih sayang di polimer: "Tidak ada kasih sayang!" Benar, ini adalah sesuatu yang tidak hadir dari tempat; Ada sebuah perjuangan untuk hidup, pengerasan di tengah-tengah lingkungan dan hubungan manusia. Orang-orang yang pergi melalui proses ini keras telah belajar sesuatu dan mengalami realitas di hiperbola. Kontainer seni telah simbiosis yang kuat dengan polimer, mana lingkungan yang runtuh, dan satu yang tidak sangat ramah terhadap para tenant diproduksi sikap berdasarkan logika yang sama yang membuat orang Estonia begitu marah dan berhidung kerut. Bagaimana Anda dapat menyesuaikan dengan orang lain ketika cuaca terus-menerus sehingga depresi muram?Apa selanjutnya?Salah satu karya paling simbolis di pameran seni wadah di Pärnu adalah instalasi "Kerajaan surga" (Janno Bergmann, Tanel Saar, Kilian Ochs, 2013), dimana kendur melintasi direkatkan bersama-sama dari kertas amplop bangkit sebagai mereka meningkat di memicu sensor gerak. Tahun lalu, "Sicht/Beton/Ung" Festival di Dresden itu jelas memiliki makna yang lebih terbuka, tetapi saat ini hal itu mengarah pada satu pikiran lebih banyak peristiwa.Kontrak antara asosiasi nirlaba polimer budaya pabrik dan Baltik Real estat manajemen telah dihentikan. Kontainer seni telah dikosongkan lokal pabrik karet bersama dengan banyak penyewa lain. Pada saat yang sama, banyak tinggal di, dengan kegiatan dan dekadensi terus dalam cara yang lebih terkendali. Apa yang akan datang kontainer seni tidak diketahui bahkan bagi mereka yang terlibat. Sementara itu, sampai menyelesaikan hal-hal, satu dapat daun melalui Katalog, membaca Sandra Jõgeva blog kronik dan Lihatlah gambar di samping.CORNER KUTIPAN:"Mungkin itu benar-benar baik bahwa polimer ditutup. Orang-orang kontainer seni membuat seni besar ada