Sellel aastal suunab Põhjamaade Ministrite Nõukogus arutelusid Norra pöörates enim tähelepanu heoluühiskonna väljakutsetele kõigis eluvaldkondades.

Siin saab lähemalt lugeda Norra eesistumisest norra keeles!

Rohkem teavet inglise keeles!

Now you can see Markus Kasemaa's art series "Figuurid 1", which has received a lot of international recognition, in the foyer of our office (Lai 29, second floor, Tallinn).

Through grotesque figures which have been intuitively captured mostly from a jungle of automatic drawings, the artist discusses issues of society in general as well as of the individual. "Each viewer can take these works as a sort of ink stain test through which to mirror one's current state of mind and outlook," says Kasemaa.

Instead of the usual galleries, the artist prefers public space and offices, taking art to where the viewers actually are and where they have time to focus on them. Especially in the event of office exhibitions it is important that the viewer can view the exhibition at a time that is convenient to them, and repeatedly, which supports the opening up of contemporary art. For instance, "Figuurid" has been exhibited in the office galleries of the Estonian Supreme Court, Skype, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications and Kroonpress.

Kasemaa values the substance of the art more than its technique or formalisation: "It is natural that a writer, musician or film-maker uses a computer and that books are printed in a printing shop, not copied by hand. Music spreads in the form of CDs and MP3s; films are copied and show in a number of cinemas at once etc. Likewise, the "original copies" of my works are mostly on computer hard disk and the output may be, depending on the project, A3 data-copy paper, a traditional canvass, a PVC piece that is a couple of dozen metres long, a slideshow on an LED screen or an exhibition in the virtual world."

In comparison with other forms of art, the artist also comments on issues of art and beauty. "My goal is not necessarily to create beauty or pleasant emotions. For some reason people believe that art equals beauty. However, quality literature, film, theatre and music are often quite strong, including being rude, violent, depressing and so on," explains Kasemaa. "If you consume and value visual arts, similar to other types of art, as a source of a temporary impulse and experience, for instance, as an exhibition or by taking them out of an arts collection for a while, not as a decorative object that hangs on the living room wall 24/7/365, quite a few barriers are bound to fall."

The exhibition is being held in cooperation with arts hire enterprise Kaleidoskoop OÜ.