Hello... i mean goodbye.
leaving this place with memories that i even can't manage to remember. All of them just bounded into knots with each other into some beautyfull mixed up thing.
the studio became a big part of me, so i will miss it like a good old friend.
and will come back to visit again.
things i've done.
- "portrESTs" video
- 10 pieces graphic portraits serie and artist talk at Ygalerii on recent works slideshow.
- doing some music with the local made band "Boooooring Soundcheck" at genialistid club.
- lecture in the school at art class with recent works slideshow.
- dolma :)
Yours, Vahram Muradyan.
www.vahrammuradyan.com
Near the conclusion of my residency here at MoKS, I was invited to give a lecture about my work at the Y Galerii in Tartu. One of the questions that was posited to me at the end my talk was for me to qualify the best experience of my life. It's a question that can't be easily answered, one that parallels the futility of pinpointing my favorite music. It changes every day. So when I think about that initial question on the eve of my departure from MoKS, the experience here is causing me to shudder. I can't say with any honesty that this was the best experience of my life. Such hyperbole is best left to the margins of high school yearbooks. But at the same time, this short month in this foreign land manifested itself as an existential crucible of art, introspection, and ideas.
I approached the time here at MoKS as the opportunity to work in an art laboratory of my own choosing, with my own measures of success, and with no schedule expect for the necessities of sleep. There was a lot which was accomplished -- two albums worth of material have been completed and soon to be delivered to their rightful publishing houses, numerous excursions into the post-Soviet landscape of agricultural and industrial ruins, a particularly gruelling bike ride out to Lake Peipsi, a huge inventory of field recordings and shortwave recordings to use as fodder for future projects, a performance in an observatory, and the aforementioned lecture in Tartu. This is more than I can typically say would amount to six months of activity in my current residence of San Francisco, simply due to all of the other commitments I have in my life. So to have this experience here at MoKS was something truly special; and I hope that I didn't take what was afforded me for granted.
That said, I have to offer my sincerest gratitude to John and Evelyn here at MoKS, to Patrick McGinley for lending me his ear, and for Toomas Thetloff for being Toomas with all of his wit, energy, and creativity.
For those of you who might be inclined to see all of the decent photos taken during my stay in Estonia, check the link below. Note, the accompanying travelogue was written as something of a diary with particular acquaintances in mind. If there's particular references that don't make any sense, accept my apology in advance. www.helenscarsdale.com/eraldus
Humbly,
Jim Haynes
www.helenscarsdale.com/haynes
Today is the last day of our month as artists in residence here at MoKS.
We picked wild mushrooms and blueberries in the forest. Mmmm. We drew pictures to find out that the fish van comes at 14:00 on Mondays and Thursdays. The fish was good but had lots of bones. Other culinary highlights were the rollmops and the kohuke.
Van
I discovered old magazines from the 1930s that had been left here from a collage workshop. The puppets I made from the pictures became the basis for a new work. Creepy black and white photos of children holding toys. I experimented with watercolour painting and made painted watercolour puppets.
I scoured toy shops and second hand shops and found strange plastic creatures. Growling biting dogs and demented dolls. The toy museum in Tartu is beautiful. I loved the wooden traditional Estonian toys and the doll house furniture carved by a man hidden in a potato bin for 10 years. When we read that, we initially thought he must have been very small, then we realised that in Estonia, potato bins are relatively big.
Camilla
I recorded lots of sounds from around the village. The quiet of the forest was unsettling but beautiful. The children playing in the lake. I picked up some lovely pieces of scrap metal that I incorporated into our live performance.
We spent most of our time working on a new performance work that premiered on the 25th of August at Genialistide Klubi in Tartu. In the doorway was a giant painted onion.
It's strange how a month can pass so quickly.
Over the last few days while we were out for an excursion for the Autopuut project, the demolition men came and started to physically remove the walls of the soviet past that have marked the northern half of the house where the MoKS studios are located. Once the dust cleared we could see the place start to open up.
This event marks the beginning of the renovation process for the house. Over the next 3 years we hope to see all the available space in the house be cleaned up and converted to usable space. The old ovens will be replaces with new ones, windows, doors, floors replaced and utilities will be installed.
The goal is to have 3 more studios available (and possibly a sauna in the basement) for guests to use. While this sounds ideal it will still take a great deal of time and energy. Until then we will try to keep the existing programs running and word on developing future plans to keep up with the expansion process.
Mooste tundub praegu küll nagu illustreeritud progressi käsiraamat. Vaikus, on minema pühitud ja selle asemel põrisevad traktorid, mörisevad muruniidukid, tõmbavad kaabet rollerid, tümpsub disko. Turistid ukerdavad tolmusel platsil, masinate ja eurosiltide vahel. Eile oli siinse suve suursündmus Diskosummer, mis kulmineerus MoKSi ees murumaadlusega. Kes võitis ei tea.
Some notes from MoKS artists-in-residence for June 2007.
A few lines translated in French :
(...)
sur la rive quelques
maisons ressemblent à
des maisons
des arbres ressemblent à des arbres
et les fenêtres au cœur du lac
depuis le plus profond terrier de l'hiver
des enfants nus marchent
(...)
--------------------
Links to entries on Yannick and Wan-Shuen's Taipei Artist Village Blog (Chinese Mandarin Traditional):
Presentation of Moks and Estonia
Presentation of Shejingren's residency at MoKS
When the sky never become black
Links to entries on Wan-Shuen's personal Blog (Chinese Mandarin Traditional) :
Voice-over text of my film Greetings from Mooste
English version
I walked quite some time in Mooste looking for a centre, a place where power is concentrated, is organized, whence emanates a certain intensity, a slight call to order... but it's a diffuse village that appears to flee in all directions, I don't even know if it is a village. Mooste is like a never quite formulated idea.
Mooste is a few old buildings inherited from the Soviet era, with yellowing net curtains at the windows that must have once looked like bridal veils, perhaps in the days when people were still able to believe in it... a lot of youths who ebb and flow in groups from one end of the village to the other, and cars which whip up a lot of dust —the car, clearly the Estonians' great concern.
In Mooste, there are also two grocer's stores, a sauna, a village hall where the women come to learn country and western dancing, a school, an abandoned old distillery, a lake, a few wooden houses, a pharmacy... and yet, in spite of everything, is the impression that things are changing; for example, the battalion of lampposts financed by Europe which light up who knows what but which light up so well that you can no longer see the stars at night in that spot.
So, in Mooste, I walked quite some time looking for something that would have enabled me to anchor my project in the place or to anchor myself in the project,
and I chose Viktor, the former coach driver from Karelia who stands fishing at the lake each day.
And then quite soon Viktor disappeared, I learned later that it had taken him a long time to get over the flu, which is here a coy way of talking about alcohol problems.
So I started walking again... and when you walk in Mooste you always end up losing yourself either in the forest or in the cast-off remains of collectivization, there where people come looking for
what they can salvage and let the rest rot, there where there’s always a scrawny animal lurking around, closely followed by a car full of frowning faces, there where people are becoming acquainted with private property and new economic laws with a disconcerting efficiency.
And while they dream of the next car they will buy, I dream of being able to continue to make my films, my films with their invisible economy, on the margins, without a centre.
Version française
J’ai pas mal marché à Mooste, à la recherche d'un centre, d'un lieu où se concentre, où s’organise le pouvoir, d’où se dégage une certaine intensité, un léger rappel à l’ordre… Mais c’est un village diffus qui semble fuir dans toutes les directions, je ne sais même pas si c’est un village. Mooste c’est comme une idée qui n’arriverait pas à se former totalement.
Mooste, ce sont quelques vieux immeubles hérités de l’époque soviétique avec aux fenêtres des voilages jaunis qui ont dû, un jour, ressembler à des voiles de mariée, peut-être à l’époque où les gens pouvaient encore y croire… beaucoup de jeunes qui se déplacent en bande comme les courants marins d’un bout à l’autre du village et des voitures qui soulèvent beaucoup de poussière — la voiture, la grande affaire semble-t-il des Estoniens.
A Mooste, il y a aussi deux épiceries, un sauna, une salle communale où les femmes viennent apprendre à danser la country music, une école, une ancienne distillerie à l’abandon, un lac, quelques maisons en bois, une pharmacie… Et puis, quand même, il y a cette impression que les choses changent ; par exemple, il y a cette armée de lampadaires financés par l’Europe qui éclairent on ne sait trop quoi mais qui éclairent tellement bien que la nuit on ne peut plus voir les étoiles à cet endroit-là.
Donc à Mooste, j’ai pas mal marché à la recherche de quelque chose qui m’aurait permis d’ancrer mon projet dans le lieu ou de m’ancrer moi dans le projet, et j’ai choisi Viktor, l’ancien chauffeur de car venu de Carélie qui se tient chaque jour au bord du lac pour pêcher. Et puis assez vite Viktor a disparu, j’ai su par la suite qu’il s’était remis difficilement d’une grippe, ce qui, ici, est une manière pudique de parler des problèmes d’alcool.
Alors j‘ai repris ma ballade… et quand on marche à Mooste on finit toujours par se perdre soit dans la forêt soit dans les rebuts de la collectivisation, là où des gens viennent chercher ce qu’ils peuvent récupérer et laissent pourrir le reste, là où il y a toujours un animal efflanqué qui traîne, suivi de peu par une voiture remplie de mines renfrognées, là où les gens font l’apprentissage de la propriété privée et des nouvelles lois de l’économie avec une efficacité désarmante.
Et pendant qu’eux rêvent de la prochaine voiture qu’ils s’achèteront, je rêve de continuer à faire mes films, mes films à l’économie invisible, en marge, sans centre.
Kummaline, aga polegi nagu sel aastal eriti Moostes olnud. Maja ja küla on kuidagi vaikne. Kõik on nagu ootamises. Peamine asi on ehk remondi ootamine. Et kuna see üks kord pikka hakkab. Väikest viisi juba väljast kõpitsetakse. Töömehed Aadu ja Peeter ja veel üks mees, parandasid ära keldris lagunenud võlvijala ning kivitrepi õues. Suur tänu neile!
Enne laupäeva vist Mooste ise ei jõuagi.
Väisasime Johniga konverentsi: International opportunities for the artists. Boston 27.-29.aprill 2007
Siinsiis raport:
Tänapäeva Kunstimaailm on pakitud üsna kivinenud võrgustikesse ja biennaalidesse. Selleks et olemasolevate võrgustike vahel uusi ühendusi luua kutsus Bostoni ühenaise organisatsioon, nimega Transcultural Exchange, Mary Shermani isikus koostöös Massachusets College of Arts´iga aprilli lõpus Boston MAsse erinevate kunstiprogrammide ja residentside esindajaid ning kuraatoreid üle maailma. Ühtekokku kogunes sellesse ülikoolidest tiinesse linna üle 50 erineva organisatsiooni esindaja Jaapanist Brasiiliani, Soomest- Austraaliani. Konverents oli demokraatlik, kaasates nii uusi kui vanu, alternatiivseid ja traditsioonilisi kunstiilma võimalusi ja tegijaid (n. Academie Schloss Solitude, BANFF Center (Kanada, tegev alates 1933 aastast), Fullbright´i ja Unesco programmid, CAMAC Prantsusmaalt, Platform Garanti Istanbulist, Taipei artists village, Instituto Sacatar Brasiiliast jne). Ühtekokku peaet taluvuse piiril kirjumirju kunstiprogrammide ja – võimaluste vikerkaar.
Tegemist oli USAs üsna senikuulmatu konverentsiga (osalejate ampluaa ja põhirõhk justnimelt USAst väljaspool toimuvale) ja nii oli huvi konverentsi vastu oodatult suur.
Kuulamishuvilised olid valdavalt USAst endast, osalejate iga varieerus, 25- 70 eluaastani.
Üheks konverentsi korraldamise motiiviks näis olevat konverentsi ühe kaaskorraldaja Massachusets College of Artsi idee saata tulevikus iga oma bakalaureuseastmes üliõpilane mõneks ajaks USAst väljapoole kogemusi omandama. Niiet neile oli konverents võimalus kaardistamiseks ja sidemete sõlmimiseks.
Konverents oli organiseeritud äärmiselt tihedalt, üheaegselt käis kuni 5 erinevat paneeldiskussiooni ja need kõik toimusid linna mööda laiali erinevate ülikoolide kampustes. Niiet end kuulama jagada oli üsna paras pähkel. Lisaks toimusid paneelide vahepeal veel tuurid MITis (Massachusets Institute of Technology), Massachusets College of Artsis ja kohalikus ICAs (Institute for Contemporary Arts), samaaegselt toimus ka kunstnike näost-näkku nõustamine ja nende portfooliote kritiseerimine konverentsil kõnelenute poolt. Lisaks kõigele toimus samal nädalavahetusel Bostonis veel teisigi konverentse (MITi korraldatav Creativity, ownership and collaboration in the digital age) ja festivale (Boston Cyberarts Festival) kuhu oleks tahtnud samuti pilku heita aga mida teha kui ka Bostoni ööpäevas on ikka vaid 24 tundi ☹.
Seega oli konverentsil füüsiline täiemahuline osalemine ilmavõimatu, niiet infot mujal toimunu kohta tuli lisaks hankida teiste osalejate ja kõnelejate käest õhtustel dineedel, Dineed tõid lisaks osalejaile kokku ka konverentsi patroonid, niiet ühel õhtul istusin lauas jaapani kuraatori, tai kunstniku, ekuadori-hiina päritolu Bostonis elava aktivistist kunstitudengi, prantsuse kuraatori, teist põlve ameeriklase aga Hiina päritolu hambaarsti ning India pankuri ja tema veetleva hindust tüdruksõbraga Londonist. Pankur ja hambaarst olid ühed ürituse paljduest patroonidest ja nende vahel kujunes pinev kõnelus, mis kogu laudkonna kaasas. India mees viskas hiinlase (praeguse ameeriklase) üle pidevalt varjatud hambaarstinalju. Mine tea kas asi oli selles, et üks oli olnud ürituse heldem sponsor kui teine või et üks oli ameerikas elanud kauem kui teine. Igatahes oli asi piisavalt naljakas ja internatsionaalselt absurdne, millele lisas vürtsi veel India mehe aktsent (vrd hindust Kwik-E-Marti kaupmees Apu Nahasapeemapetilon Simpsonites)
Konverentsi eesmärgiks näis olevat anda USA kunstnikele võimalikult suur ülevaade maailmas olevatest võimalustest., seda ideed kirjeldab juba konverentsi nimiga International opportunities for the artists (Rahvusvahelised võimalused kunstnikele). Kuigi paneelid olid jagatud teemagruppide kaupa näiteks nagu väikesed residentsid, interdistsiplinaarsed residentsid, teaduse, tehnoloogia ja kunsti sidumisele keskendunud residentsid, ülikoolide residentsid, noortele kunstnikele mõeldud residentsid, jne, jne. Tundus selline jagamine olevat üsnagi suvaline (MoKS paigutus interdistsiplinaarsete residentside paneeli aga oleks vabalt võinud olla ka väikeste residentside või siis koostööle suunatud residentside paneelis). Ühe konverentsil osalenud kunstniku sõnul valis tema paneele peamiselt selle järgi, mis maal üks või teine residents paiknes. Kunstnike resideerumise üheks oluliseks osaks on alati olnud eksootika, põnevus ja uued võimalused mida uus kultuuri ja looduskeskkond pakub.
Resideerumisvõimalustele lisaks tutvustati paneelidel kuidas üldse resideeruma kandideerida, kuidas portfooliot koostada. Oma võimalusi tutvustasid sellised programmid nagu DAAD, Fullbright, Siemens art program, Unesco, ArtsLink, Trust for mutual understanding, jne. Samuti räägiti ühel paneelil konkreetsete näidete varal sellest kuidas kunst seostub sotsiaalse ja majandusliku arenguga.
Igatahes maailm on võimalusi täis ja kui kellelgi on huvi või tahab muidu nõu küsida, kuhu resideeruma minna, kuidas minna ja kust rahasid hankida, siis olen lahkelt nõus kogutud infot jagama (eku_AT_moks.ee). Minu sõit sai võimalikuks tänu endiselt suuremeelsele KULKAle.
