Concept of Play. Archives in Translation
Location: 4th floor, B-wing
The purpose of the series of exhibitions “Archives in Translation” is to highlight the events and phenomena that affected directly and indirectly Estonian art in the Soviet period from behind the iron curtain. The display focuses on the process of “translating” and transforming the ideas of Western art, imbibed through the curtain via limited channels, into local context.
The exhibition “Concept of Play” brings to spotlight the late 1960’s and early 1970’s – the time when the revolutionary ideas of the previous decades culminated among the Western students together with the freedom aspirations of the Eastern Block countries. But we know that political events gave a serious kickback to all the hopes and attitudes.
In addition to the brief wave of happenings, born in Estonian art at that time, certain parallel phenomena of local actions, possible paragons and more indirect analogues in East-European and Western art are also exposed. At that time Michael Kirby’s book “Happenings” (1965) was a must among the Estonian artists, young musicians presented new impulses and ideas at the “Warsaw Autumn” music festival, Polish and Czech magazines published stories about Allan Kaprow’s and other happenings and similar events were attempted to play through in local context. The results differed from Western spontaneous improvised art not only by social context, but also by subject matter.
In the 2nd half of the 1960’s a number of new phenomena were born in Estonian culture – in addition to happenings, pop art was hip, intensive discussions were held on existentialism and the hippy ideology gained ground. In this hotchpotch, lots of ideas, even the idea of the so-called “free game” lacked a single source, let alone a single meaning. A number of artists have later confessed not taking the happenings too seriously at that time. And yet – they felt a certain yearning towards them. A yearning to create an area of individual freedom, to let out the steam, to test the borders and/or process the information coming from the West. Regardless of all the differences between Western anti-object and anti-institutionalisation art and the happenings of Estonian artists, both were carried by a similar wish to redefine the role and opportunities of artists and creation.
In addition to the actions organized by artists, the ideas of “play” and “playing” were extensively explored also by Estonian theatre, particularly in the stage performances by the so-called Tartu theatre innovators in the late 1960’s and the early 1970’s. Yet there was a significant difference between the games played by the artists and the actors. For the former, playing meant sharper perception of the surroundings, causing a shift in daily routines or environments and playing with objects; for the latter, playing focused on man and his liberation from masks. However, both aimed at quite similar targets: greater authenticity, spontaneity, sensation of the reality and connection with the life around.
Curator: Anu Allas
Designer: Raul Kalvo
The project has been carried out within the framework of translate and with the support of the Culture 2000 programme of the European Union.
