After Curatorial Dinner exhibition

The artistic project ‘After curatorial dinner’ was conceived by Petra Kapš during her one month x-op residency in MOKS. She researched the artistic production of a number of artists (Riho Kall, John Grzinich, Evelyn Müürsepp, Toomas Thetloff, Patrick McGinley, Erkki Luuk, Anna Hints) through dinner conducted as a social ritual. The exhibition contained works that were produced in connection to the process of her residency.

MUTOPIA 6

The 6th edition of MUTOPIA was held during the event and was led by Tero Nauha and John Grzinich. While the group was fairly small the effort was of the participants was highly focused and concentrated. Most of the workshop took place in the public spaces around Tomar and focused on two locations in particular, the monument outside the courthouse (in the middle of a parking lot) and the main gardens under the castle. Below is a short video compilation that randomly composites some of the sound, movement and text exercises.

Click here to view the embedded video.

playing the great flagpole on Heybeliada, photo by Enise Gökbayrak

New Maps of Time sound workshop/residency Istanbul Turkey

‘New Maps of Time’ is a project and workshop about mapping architectural and urban spaces using sound as a means to express actions within a space. read more…

Workshop carried out in the frame of my X-OP residency at Apartment Project, artist-run project space, from February 8 – March 8, 2010

Idil trying a simple sound horn, photo by Enise Gökbayrak

One of the deepest traces in my memory are connected with silence that I had the pleasure of listening to when smoking a cigarette outside, staring through the window, taking long walks around the small lake and through the forest, lying in bed early in the morning, when light was still shy and I was concentrated on the outside just to hush up my thoughts … or the silence I listened to when being with/sitting with people and listening to them or to myself … always listening what silence spoke to me. Unconsciously, silence and the mere fact of being by myself most of the time gave me inner beauty and clearness. While contemplating, I realised I almost selfishly protected my “by my self” being there … And again, I emphasise the importance of primary, basic activities like burning a fire, just sitting in front of the flames and enjoying purifying softness of the parching heat and sounds of redness … and there, somewhere in-between, disperse silence emanates, that helps you to really hear yourself. Maybe this is all what there is around the mystery of silence, yearning, exploring and researching of it?

When I told people I would be at Moks the whole November, I noticed a hesitation concerning the persisting greyness of the day. But that was exactly what I wanted – to experience November light in Mooste (and Tartu, Pärnu ….) and all the varieties of hazes and yes, there are thousands of different greys and blues (from purple to the white pearl to dense black).

About curatorial dinners …

The question how to perform a “curatorial research” on a personal level somewhere with very little things known, was challenging for me. But soon I found a satisfying possibility in phenomena of “dinners” – through intimacy of social ritual like eating together. And there I had seven different stories with different people and artists. Also, I have to say it was fun experimenting with local food supplies.

with Riho Kall
apple, orange, almond and raisin cake

with John Grzinich
tagliatelle with tomatoes, mozzarella and cheese, olives and red vine

with Evelyn Müürsepp
red peppers, zucchini, almonds, raisins with soya sauce and cardamom, rice and carrots with garlic and lemon, cake with cherry jam and chocolate from the market

with Toomas Thetloff
we changed roles, Toomas was the cook, we had liver, red beet and cottage cheese

with Patrick McGinley
mixed smoked and very (!!!) salty fish with cream sauce, rice, clementines with dark chocolate

with Erkki Luuk
smoked fish in cream sauce with garlic and butter potatoes with dill, mandarines with dark chocolate

with Anna Hints
I don’t have a photo of our meeting, we met at Werner cafe in Tartu, we had coffee and carrot cake

Here are some photos of my oscillation between fascination, artistic researches, writings, spontaneous acts, researching of words … (I still believe words can correspond with persons on intimate level, on political level – or with other words, words are not what we think they are – sometimes, when someone tells us something, they are just … nothing, empty, and maybe they are empty because of speaker’s emptiness – and here I don’t mean the emptiness in zen perspective).

An elderly lady in the beautiful allotments recieves one of our homemade ice-cream lollies.

Dear all…

A little late but life jumped back into the fast lane once we got back to Germany. Mooste seems a million miles away now. Which is sad.

Between the 15th of July and the 31st of August we spent a six week MOKS residency in Mooste, creating a body of work to address themes that emerged during the first week of our stay. Our work explored Estonian identity in the locality using a variety of participative and interactive techniques, a body of work that looks at the relationships between people, place and history.

Interventions included the creation of a moped procession through the village, sand mapping on the local beach, a photo-shoot in the baron’s clothes, hiding messages on homemade ice cream and infiltrating Google Maps.

Information and documentation relating to these events can be found on our website at http://treacleonline.wordpress.com/archive1/moks-residency/

We can’t describe how much we valued our time in Mooste. For the first few weeks at MOKS we managed to balance work and life for the first time in many years. The question is how to keep hold of this.

Hope all goes well and look forward to seeing you all again some time in the near future,
Kaspar & Susanne

PS. Exciting scenes in the basement! We look forward to seeing how everything develops over the next year.

Irena Biechonska and Jerzy Biechonsky

http://diary.kanakosasaki.com/

The third X-OP event of this year took place in Novigrad Croatia in the frame of the Mediascape festival. In the X-OP “tradition” the meeting of the 9 partners provided a base for intensive discussions relating to the cooperation between the diverse group of project partners. While much of this is far too complicated to elaborate on here, the fact remains that cooperation and transparency are essential, not only for basic functioning within the project but also to generate new content with sincerity and a level of quality we are capable of. In parallel, we were treated to a series of artistic and curatorial presentations in the warm atmosphere of the Istrian sun taking while refuge in the shade of the Musej Lapidarium. In a sense one could get an overview of activities regarding artistic policies and practices from the region of Croatia and Slovenia which seem to differ greatly from those we are used to at MoKS. In between there was a touch of art, not quite enough for our tastes but a taste nonetheless with a few musical performances of the electronic vein and a spontaneous intervention in the city by Evelyn and Susanne Kienbaum of Berlin. What was the message here?Even with all the resources and beautiful environment of the Novigrad event, the most precious resource still remains to be time, of which there never seems to be enough, time to meet, time to share, time to listen from which new ideas and relations grow. If there is one thing to respect and understand, its the need for giving time to the process of the X-OP project, other wise that time will be sacrificed for continued misunderstandings and frustrations among ourselves, especially the ones who gave so much time in the beginning to make such a thing happen at all.

The MoKS summer art symposium known as AVAMAA took place for the second time and again proved to be fertile ground for the exchange of ideas and experiences between all participants. Over 30 people took part in the workshops and projects hosted by the event. Thanks to the dedication of talented and creative workshop leaders like Derek Holzer, Elffriede, Taavi Taatsi, Bruno Humberto and myself, we seemed to exceeded any expectations the volunteers and participants may have had. The contributions of “infrastructure” also cannot be understated, particularly the evening meal coordination by Patrick McGinley and the breakfast by Mari. Other interventions like the breakfast film series by Taavi Tatsi of Worldfilm and spontaneous music and artist talk evenings showed even a high how density of activity can be accommodated within the flexible organizational structure of AVAMAA. Such a structure allows opportunities not always afforded in events of this scale, particularly in that the organizers themselves were able to take part  and even give workshops. We hope this kind of organizational research (in practice) will help to scale MoKS activities in the future as we expand. For us there is a fine balance between keeping an open flexible atmosphere and defining roles that keep clear of institutional hierarchies.

Early in the morning on August 24th, just after AVAMAA, some construction workers peered through the windows at the back of MoKS only to find some artists sleeping on the hay inside. Tere hommikust! The renovation of MoKS has begun. First the facade and re-grading of the exterior will be done, while it is warm I suspect. In parallel the basement will be worked on to secure the foundation. Then they’ll move on to the interior, heating system and other details. The amount of work is significant yet according to plan, everything should be ready by the end of 2010. Lets see… check here for updates.

This means some temporary changes will be made to the residency program, particularly for 2010. We are looking into some option to keep the residency open but probably scaled down and at another location. If you are planning to apply, please write and ask about the status of the program and be prepared for a flexible situation.

We want to thank everyone for making this years Honey for the Ears concert evening a big success. Well over 100 people came out to see the variety of groups performing that evening. That does not sound like much but it was possibly the most people to come to any MoKS event. Mooste is not such a central place and the performers came from Finland, Tallinn for the night. Pastacas even had to go to Tallinn the same night to give another concert!

Pastacas + Mari Kalkun (EE)
twowho (FI)
Jüppala Kääpiö (CH/JP)
Kirtana Rasa (EE)
Pekko Käppi (FI)
Kago (EE)

——————————————————
During the remaining 2 weeks and 3 days of my precious time at MoKs
I will be wandering around on the blog now and then.
yours truly,
Sandra Sitron

After visiting some of the nearby forests around Mooste it is clear that this will be a big year for blueberries. A small group of 4 people from the residency was able to collect more than 2 liters of berries in just over an hour. What does one do with all these berries? They’re just fine eaten fresh, but you can easily make pies, jams, smoothies and have extras to share with friends and family.

A small experiment is being done to see if we can sustain a garden at MoKS. We hope the garden can be functional for producing food for visiting artists especially during the time of AVAMAA the summer art symposium in late August. But besides being practical, a garden can be a place to continue to develop the discussion of local food production by setting the idea into practice. So far we have, potatoes, beans, rucola, strawberries, rhubarb and a number of herbs taking root. A garden is also a way to share the work around MoKS. With visitors coming and going each month, some forms of continuous collaboration can happen even between people who will never meet. This was part of the idea of Ana Carvalho when she started the garden in May. So this is partly a report for her to show how her project has developed. In this case visiting artists Tero Nauha and Karolina Kucia made some contributions including the start of a rock garden.

One of the main themes that was explored during the residency of Emma Lipp and Matt Marble was local food production. While searching for ingredients for their meals a number of sources for local food came out with a little research (besides what we try to share from our garden in the summer). The son of an entrepreneur in Mooste manages a factory and farm for pickling which includes cucumbers, potatoes and cabbages all grown on site. We went to visit the facility to see how the production was done. Much to our surprise, we found out it is possible to cure pickles in 24 hours! These are not the usual kind of sour pickles made with vinegar, but only from salt and spices. The result, fresh and delicious!

The delay of my report documents quite well how life again has a stranglehold over me with its daily routines and social life. I can’t reflect this without taking in account my time in Mooste where the only compelling structure of the day was to solve the heating problem. In my case it meant how to survive with only a gas oven and two small electronic heaters as the fire place did not work during my stay. It felt as if the bedroom door was the entrance to the arctic. As the electric system in the house was a little fragile sometimes, we had to find things out through try and error like “how many lights do I have to switch off while baking a cake” etc. This simplicity though was nice. It also included the Mooste-shopping-facilities (amazing how exited you can be about an espresso or fancy chocolate that somebody brings from Tartu). It is somehow very relieving not to have such a big variety of things and to realize that this actually is not a disadvantage at all. I found though that the Estonian transport system is something that is in desperate need of improvement. My plan to sit in a pub with some old Estonian guys and just watch a bit of the foreign daily life fell through because of the fact that Mooste is not frequented by any bus after 8 p.m. It would really be a good idea to have a moped or a little car for the residents. Otherwise you feel very dependant on the good will of others. I was really sad and still am to not have had a real chance to get to know Estonian people (also those not involved with art) and some evenings I just felt locked away and imprisoned. This makes time for an extra portion of self- analysis which can be a not so healthy thing if you are stuck in the middle of nowhere.

The second month of my stay I was totally alone as Andrea went back to Portugal and Evelyn and John were away in the U.S. During that time, Mari, who was hired as a temp for the house became a very helpful and thoughtful fellow. I was a little surprised by the fact that not very many things happened outside the walls of MoKS. We were not introduced to other artists (apart from when it was unavoidable) so that in the middle of my stay I had the thought that I could as well be in any other small village in the world. I felt that the residency itself was offered indeed but then not a lot of “extra” was provided or even of interest. Evelyn and Mari helped to find actors to put my videos into practise though. Also I should take account of Moostes insularity again. Without a car, you can never spend an evening anywhere anyway.

What was the point of the residency? I made some experiments on art that I would probably not have made in Hamburg. The experience of being katapulted in such a loneliness was interesting in some aspects. I guess that isolation might convert into something beautiful during summer. My urgent advice is to take a bus to Mustvee by the way. A very beautifull old village right at the Pelpsi-lakeside.

Estonia has the greatest shades of dark in the endless green of the forests. Is necessary to want to see beyond the uniformity of first impressions: nature, in a micro and in a micro scale, is what I found to be the most grandiose thing to see Here. Beyond the surface of appearances are hidden little treasures of shapes, colors – small miracles to the attentive eye and ear.

My idea to be developed as artist in residency at Moks required introspection. Its process of making required sometimes others with whom I could exercise reflection. On the bus, the day of my arrival, from Tallinn to Tartu, influenced by natural landscape around me and the work of Empedocles I was reading, I decided to create a persona which name is Kypris. A persona is not a character but the exploration of a combination of several “what if I was like so”, the exploration of the self in many of its possibilities. It was good to be Kypris during the time of the residency. One who is capable of an absolute inner tranquility. I learned a lot in this process of being another, which is myself. I learned by being in solitude, by talking with John, Evelyn and Jez and I also leaned form growing the garden.

- Ana Carvalho

Drawing a line, without needing it to be the start of something else, but to be itself.

watching.

I listen. I needed to know more about being.

When I was young my Mother bought me a portable cassette player. I played tapes in the garden. Once I pressed ‘record’ instead of ‘play’ and found that I had the sound of the garden on the tape. It was more interesting than the music I had taped over. Since then I have listened like this.

How many people truely appreciate and respect the opportunities that travel affords them ? How many go to locations other than thier usual place and yet try to carry on living in the same way ? How many keep thier ears tuned to the same sounds they hear every day ?

I am in Mooste, Estonia. The sounds are all different from anywhere else. I take photographs and they remind me of the visual differences. I make recordings and they remind me of this place.

I explore sounds through the location and the location through the sounds. I take photographs more in the way I make music – my emotions are at play not just my eye.

I explore my life too. Things that have been stressful. Things where I have not done well or have made mistakes. I work things through.

I eat.

always alive and glad to be so.

I create stories to send to my daughter and this is a wonderful experience. I talk to her as often as I can. I miss her and I miss my home, but they will be there to welcome me when I return.

I will go back with all of the experiences and explorations of this time in Estonia – so something has been added to life. To mine and therefore to those who I share it with.

I won’t write a thesis for my work. I am interested in people knowing something about me – thoughts are only a very small and somewhat clumsy part of who we are. We invent them. If I use the word ‘art’ to describe my creativity then I hope that my work speaks. The theory might well be there but I don’t feel it needs to be stated. I might miss reaching some people that way, but I am happy to reach the people who can respond on an intuitive and emotive level. If this comes first there is the freedom to think more about the work. If we arrive via the theory it is not possible to connect in the same way. – see ? I said thoughts are clumsy.

- Jez riley French, May 2009

http://JezrileyFrench.blogspot.com/

Today a book came by post – “Lisboaleipzig 1, o encontro inesperado do diverso”, Maria Gabriela Llansol.
(Free translation from Portuguese to English)
I organized my working table – the place where I am entirely happy; opened some manuscripts, and I realized that reading them took me, not has the books but has rivers floating in real life. (…) p.35
I remember of having imagined that, when it snows – what is different will became evenly covered with white snow. White for the trees, for the boxes that lie in the yard, for the walls to cover with stucco; then, it is needed to verify, that the volumes and colors where covered, and not to named them by the generic name of white. However, I will not have control over this phenomenon of the snow, and I will call them fulgor scenes (…). p.36
March 19 – Mooste
___________________________________________(sketchbook excerpts)
Today I went with Julia to a small walk in the morning. We went near the frozen lake. (I would like to try to do my circle there. My one hour walking circle as I tried before)
On our walk, we saw something really curious. It looks like cocoons coming out of the snow. The exterior was cover with straw and inside was just earth. I go back again, to take a better picture and perhaps to bring inside the house one of these cocoons.
(…) Continuing my research around the Light and Ground materials…until now I am very fascinated by the Sun (I keep going to Soho/ Nasa website to see the latest real time images. Still don’t know what to do with it).
I’m living and working in Moks house since some weeks…as not excepted I am working mostly inside (in the studio). It’s curious…to travel to here………………and realize that the place I am completely happy is my working table. March 21st – Mooste

Making fire
Instructions by Jonh Grzinich

1. open vent
2. fill oven with wood – try to use same size logs; – put wood face down
3. use paper to start fire – don’t worry it can take 2 or 3 times
4. after some time check to see if all logs are burning
5. when red coals form check with metal stick. Put burning logs on top.
6. At the end “rake” the coals. Make sure there is no flame. Never close the oven if there is flames.
7. When coals are ready close the door and vent.

(Fetch the wood logs at least one day before from the outside storage)
March 3th – house of Mooste

Making life
For trying a Spa “Värska Sanatorium”, at Varska. For local food taste “Kama” (Kama flour mixed with kefir and sugar), “Tatar”(cook like rice, eat with sour cream-Hapukoor in Estonian). Visit the zoological Museum (amazing dust covered stuffed animal) part of the Natural History Museum in Tartu. In need of tools, paint or other construction materials go to “ ” (good grief, i forgot it!); “Vanakau Bamaga” (Chinese shop) for small something, in Tartu. Be aware of the buses timetable (during week they end pretty early).

I am still upon the emotion of the definitive return travel to Portugal, and came to this so small room, to accumulate intensities. I never had I subtle passion, and had several by “physical phenomenon”, including the candlelight and the first snow leaf. (…)p.38
On my stay in the house of Moks in Mooste I found the right context for some of my project intention, which until now only existed as idea. The white charcoal dust over the wood stick is one of theme. Here I continued to research on the materials from the project from my previous residency in Nodar, Portugal. _____ I had time and I didn’t have time. I struggled with the contemplating landscape and soundscape. Not to expect and let things to arise. I am still continuing my research, i would say. The house routines slowly started to establish. I made a friend in my stay in Mooste and this is the most precious thing in the world that could have happen to me. Julia Wandel from Hamburg. It is expected to have a great time as artist in residency. My time was reasonable, with some exceptional days, good ones and bad ones. I would have preferred not to be so depending on Estonian speaking language to communicate. English can be not enough. I would have preferred to eat more meals with Evelyn and John. I would say that if one is searching for remoteness, Mooste in March is perfect. But we might not be up to our expectations to what a retreat means.
______________of Portuguese nature “is difficult do distinguish if the past is our future or if the future is our past”.
May, 2009 – Lisbon studio

“Self-portrait in motion”
Siim; Meeri; Liis; Andeus; Irja; Üno; Ene; Merike; Ülle; Küllike; Mari; John; Evelyn; Julia; Andrea.
March, 2009 – Mooste

- Andrea Brandao

photos by John Grzinich

Monday, January 26, 21.00
*Electropera Act 1: Parahouse_12
self-evolving participatory environment
by Egon March Institute and partner productions
Studio Martina Schumacher & Joulia Strauss in Ullsteinhaus

Monday-Thursday, 26th – 29th of January
X-OP- Conference Berlin
„True Art / Truely Merchandise“
at ConcentArt

Evelyn and John from MoKS are spending a few weeks in Dresden Germany in a residency at 7.Stock. This literally means 7th floor which is what it is. We occupy a studio on the 7th floor of an old DDR administrative building in the center of the city. The building is mostly empty with the exception of a number of artist studios on the 6th and 7th floor. While this is an almost ideal situation there are a number of ongoing problems, mostly of a political nature with different administrative departments of the city. These problems essentially keep the 7.Stock project from growing and going more official. Nonetheless this artist initiative has hosted many artists and events over the past few years in a sincere and well coordinated manner.

Our aim here is rather open, to work on continuing personal projects and to prepare for a performance in Berlin. There we will take part in the parahouse12 multimedia event organized by Marko Kosnik in cooperation with X-OP project.

My daily excursions into the disused sections of the decaying ex-collective farm did slow as the temperature dropped, and the snow came in. But I would not have switched the weather for a more mild and stable one. I saw many pictures of Mooste in the summer sun, and it almost looked like another place. The chance to see the weather change over the month, and its effect on the landscape and soundscape was wonderful. When I arrived at the beginning of November everything was wet and soggy. Even in the forest the snapping of twigs under foot did not make their usually brittle snaps and cracks. All was muted somehow. Then everything froze. Sounds became crunchy and crackly underfoot again. The last leaves falling on the frozen road where clearly audible from a distance. And then came the snow again placing a sonic mute on the landscape. And finally, as it came closer to my departure, the snow melted creating a constant dripping and running of water. The metal pipes leading from the guttering at MoKS make a particularly wonderful sound. And finally followed by the wet squelchy sounds of the ground returning to mud.

I could have stayed in Mooste and recorded it’s amazing spaces for months. I’m luck to find one such site at home every few month and suddenly I was surrounded by many of them within 10 minutes walk. However the various excursions that John took me on where equally incredible, and still slightly hard to take in even now. The frozen rubble of one of John’s favourite sites at Podra, a recording trip with Felicity Mangan, Maksims Shentelevs and Kaspars Kalnins to a large disused Soviet military base in north Latvia, sitting on the side of the road in the cold and dark listening to the singing of telegraph wires/poles swaying in the wind, and finally four of us by the side of a small lake (I think??), huddled inside a small metal box in the rain, setting the thing resonating. Felicity accidentally startling a flock of ducking, sending them flying directly over us.

The activities Evelyn and John have instigated, facilitated or encouraged at MoKS are extremely impressive. As is the thinking behind it. Rather than trying to “raise” everyday life to the level of Art, it seemed to me to be a matter of simply using art as a way of living and exploring life and your surrounds. And much much more………………………

Thank you very much to Evelyn, John, Siim and Felicty for making my stay at MoKS such at enjoyable and thought provoking one.

Tero Nauha wrote an excellent essay AVAMAA IN MOOSTE for SIRP cultural weekly.