MoKS would like to thank everyone who took part in the Kultuurijaam. In the past week there were over 15 events and artistic actions that took place around Tartu and Mooste. We hosted over 25 guests from abroad including 14 students from MAA art school in Helsinki. We will slowly be processing the documentation and putting some online soon. Remember if you need any help concerning art, Art Security is still ready to serve.
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.