Curator’s Tour of the Exhibition “Spiegel im Spiegel”
Join us for a curator’s tour on exhibition “Spiegel im Spiegel”, with Kadi Polli, one of the curators of the exhibition.
The exhibition “Spiegel im Spiegel: Encounters Between Estonian and German Art from Lucas Cranach to Arvo Pärt and Gerhard Richter” is an ambitious cooperation project between the Art Museum of Estonia and the Dresden State Art Collections (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, SKD), taking the viewer on a journey through Estonian and German art and history. While reflecting the complexity of those relations and issues of colonial power and mentality, the exhibition also highlights the cultural intertwining of German, Baltic-German and Estonian art.
Twelve carefully selected dialogic themes throw light on Germans’ and Estonians’ self-understandings, while paintings, graphic works, objects, and video and sound installations mirror, and are mirrored in, each another. The central axis of the exhibition, i.e. the dialogue that constitutes its framework, is the encounter between the oeuvre of the Dresden artist Gerhard Richter and that of the composer Arvo Pärt.
The exhibition covers the centuries-long shared history of Estonia and Germany: from the 13th century Hanseatic period through the Baltic-German overlordship and Russian czarist rule to Soviet Estonia and the socialist German Democratic Republic in the second half of the 20th century. The critical interventions of contemporary artists – Kristina Norman, Jaanus Samma and Edith Karlson – have also played a significant role in exploring the complexity of mutual relationships, issues of colonial power and mentality, and the significant intertwinings among German, Baltic German and Estonian art.
This event is a part of the public programme of the exhibition “Spiegel im Spiegel: Encounters Between Estonian and German Art from Lucas Cranach to Arvo Pärt and Gerhard Richter”.
