Mushimaru Fujieda the master of Butoh Dancing representing The Psychical Poets (JPN) !
American Dirty Printmakers feat Peeter Allik and Anonymous Boh
On 28th of September we opened an exhibition in Yigeng Art Museum located in Songzhuang Town of Tongzhou (in the eastern suburbs of Beijing), which is the most famous and biggest artist community in Beijing. More than 5,000 artists live there. Being a biggest artist community in Beijing, also makes it one of the biggest artist communities in world!
Originally representing the avant-garde, the area now accommodates artists who paint in varying styles, ranging from the avant-garde to the academic. Painters, sculptors, photographers, writers, conceptual/new media artists and dreamers live side-by-side.
Participating artists: Anonymous Boh, Taje Tross, Leonhard Lapin, Tõnis Laanemaa, Raul Meel, Toomas Kuusing, Peeter Allik, Tyler Krasowski, Curtis Jones, Ryan O’Malley, Charles Hancock, John Hancock, Kate Fire, Katy Seals, Joseph Velasques, Greg Nanney, Xenia Fedorcenko, Mila Balti.
Exhibition opening included undercover Chinese secret police who studied each art piece at least 3 minutes which made them unarguably the best audience!
Later they followed us to an after party to make sure that we would not perform in any other way than singing or dancing! They also followed us for an hour to verify that we are not staying in Songzhuang area. For past days the heat is totally on! We are basically house arrested for at least 48 hours to not attract any attention.
Anonymous Boh & Taje Tross
Tõnis Laanemaa, Raul Meel, Peeter Allik
Taje Tross, Tõnis Laanemaa, Raul Meel, Peeter Allik
Peeter Allik, Leonhard Lapin,
Leonhard Lapin, Anonymous Boh, Taje Tross
Taje Tross, Tõnis Laanemaa, Raul Meel, Peeter Allik
Leonhard Lapin, Anonymous Boh, Taje Tross, Tyler Krasowski
Anonymous Boh in the middle of Chinese artists
Research on performance
On the left: our local friend Chris. Thanks for making the communications possible!
C G S P was especially interested by the works of Anonymous Boh
after party
Exhibition “BIG HAM (大 火 腿)” opening in Songzhuan Art Village in Beijing, China on 24th of September! Exhibition is in the program of Songzhuan Art Festival.
Exhibition opening performance artists: Anonymous Boh, Devil Girl, Padlock (NON GRATA / EST) and Qian Geng, Li Yancai, Ye Limeng from China.
Artists featuring in the exhibition: Peeter Allik, Taje Tross, Raul Meel, Leonhard Lapin, Tyler Krasowski, John Hancock, Tõnis Laanemaa, Anonymous Boh.
Curator: Wang Xixi
Peeter Allik, Raul Meel, Leonhard Lapin, Tyler Krasowski, Anonymous Boh, Tõnis Laanemaa, John Hancock
John Hancock
Exhibition featuring: Anonymous Boh, Taje Tross, Leonhard Lapin, John Hancock, Tõnis Laanemaa, Ryan O’Malley, Curtis Jones, Tyler Joseph Krasowski, Joseph Velasques, Raul Meel & Troubleshooter Prints (printmaking.ee)
Exhibition opening performance planning
I floor – Leonhard Lapin, Tõnis Laanemaa, Peete Allik, Raul Meel, Wang XiXi, Mila Balti, Non Grata
I floor – Leonhard Lapin, Tõnis Laanemaa, Peete Allik, Raul Meel, Wang XiXi, Mila Balti, Non Grata
II floor – Anonymous Boh, Taje Tross, Tyler Krasowski,
Hannes Paldrok & Hot Dog
Taje Tross
Anonymous Boh
Mila Balti
Raul Meel
„In graafika“ kunstnikud peegeldavad oma riigi probleeme, kuid tegelikult räägivad ühest ja samast.
Näitused Pärnu Linnagaleriis, Endla teatris, kaubamajas Port Artur 2, Pärnu keskraamatukogus, Katlamajas ja Tartu ülikooli Pärnu kolledžis kuni 12. IX. Korraldaja Academia Gustaviana Selts, kunstnikud Maurice Abelman, Kenneth Laing Herdy, Lemon Ye, Wang Xixi, Troubleshooter Prints, Peeter Allik, Toomas Kuusing, Anonymous Boh, Taje Tross, Grafodroom, Raul Meel, Leonhard Lapin, Tõnis Laanemaa, Lukas Kolmogorcevas, Dalia Dūdaitė, Merilyn Anvelt, Emeric Weber, Liisa Kruusmägi, Mati Karmin, Elo Liiv, Mari-Liis Tammi, Hannes Starkopf, Mare Mikoff, Vergo Vernik, Ants Viitmaa, Ahti Seppet, Aime Kuulbusch, Marc Brunier Mestas, Li Chang, Ieva Nagliņa, Māra Uzuliņa.
*Maurice Abelman woodblock cutting workshop
„In graafika“ festival korraldati sel aastal kaheksateistkümnendat korda. Suurele festivalile omaselt hõivati enamik linna galeriidest ning ekspositsioonipindadeks kohandati ka muu funktsiooniga ruumid, sealhulgas vaid suvekuudel avatud kultuuriklubi Katlamaja, sanatooriumi Tervis endine küttehoone, mille industriaalne olemus sobib ideaalselt mitmepäevaste graafikatöötubade asupaigaks.
*Madis Põldsaar Adobe Illustrator Drawing workshop
Nii nagu ikka, ei tähenda „In graafika“ festival vaid suurt massi näitusi valmisproduktidena. Festivali orgaaniliseks osaks on loominguline protsess ja kunstnike kohalolu. Näituste avamisele eelnes mitu päeva tööd Katlamajas, peamiselt Ameerika graafiku Maurice Abelmani puulõike töötubade näol, kus EKA tudengite ja teiste huviliste osavõtul valmisid suuremõõtmelised ühistööd, mida näidatakse Endla Teatrigaleriis. Veel sai osaleda Peeter Alliku ja Toomas Kuusingu linoollõike töötoas, tutvuda Madis Põldsaare käe all Adobe Illustratori programmi ja portreejoonistamisega või Hannes Paldroki ja Ott Piibemani juhendamisel siiditrükiga.
*Ott Piibeman & Hannes Paldrok / Troubleshooter Prints screen printing workshop
Aastaid vaid talvise festivalina peetud „In graafika“ suvine formaat õigustab end igati: programm on sisutihedam ning festival on tunginud linnaruumi ja tekitanud dialooge teiste ürituste ja festivalidega (performance’i-programm „Diverse Universe’i“ festivalil „Augustiunetus“, Katlamaja „ArtFest“ ja „Kuldrula“). Meenub „Augustiunetuse“ ühe korraldaja muhelev kommentaar festivalide võimaliku sünergia kohta: „Metsikus rahvamassis olid kõrvuti oma nägu veristav performance’i-kunstnik ja verepiiskade eest peituvad ontlikud muffinimüüjad. Aga kõik oli lõpuks kontrolli all.“
*Toomas Kuusing & Peeter Allik live printmaking
*Maja Andersson (SWE)
Just seesama piltlik idee kultuuride, vaadete ja väärtuste kooseksisteerimisest kumab tugevalt läbi kõigil „In graafika“ näitustel. Väljapanekud egiidi all „Langev taevas“ on poliitilised ja ühiskonnakriitilised ning toovad vaatajani maailma eri paigust kunstnike mõtted süsteemi ning valitseva võimu eetika kohta. Möödunud aasta teemale „Mugavustsoon“ on selle aasta festivali fookus igati loogiline jätk.
*Kenneth Laing Herdy (CAN) performance feat Xiaozhou Zhu (CHI) and Tota (JPN)
Kaubamaja Port Artur 2 tühjas boksis avatud indiaani juurtega Kanada kunstniku Kenneth Laing Herdy näitus käsitleb tabu, võimu, religiooni ja kultuurilise mitmekesisuse konflikte tänapäeva Kanadas, ühes arenenumas demokraatlikus lääneriigis. Herdy on kaevanud välja totalitaarsele riigile iseloomulikud tunnused ning rõhub Kanadas paar aastat tagasi vastu võetud seadusele, mille kohaselt kriitiline tegevus riigi suhtes on kuritegu. Väidetavalt kannab selle paragrahvi eest karistust viis kodanikku. Samasuguse paragrahvi tõttu saab Herdy sõnul tema näitust eksponeerida vaid Eestis ja veel mõnes riigis, kus riigivastane kriitika ei klassifitseeru seaduse järgi kuriteoks. Kunstnik väitis oma avakõnes, et Kanada holokaustist kõneleva näituse eest läheks ta oma kodumaal kinni. Siin on ta aga saanud välja panna oma aastatepikkuse salaja tehtud uurimuse, mis koosneb Kanada vähemusrahvuste esindajate fotodest, siiani kestvate genotsiidiaktide dokumentatsioonist, pealtnägijate-osalejate-kõrvalseisjate tunnistustest, mis toovad välja luukered Kanada valitsuse kapisügavustest. Herdy väidab, et tänase päevani kiusavad ja tapavad nii kirik kui ka valitsev võim vähemusrahvaid ja iidsete põliselanike järeltulijaid.
*Kenneth Laing Herdy (CAN) exhibition opening discussion at Port Artur 2
Hiina kunstnik Lemon Ye esineb võimukriitilise väljapanekuga endises linnavalitsuse hoones, Pärnu Linnagaleriis raekoja ruumides. Paberil akrüülmaalid meenutavad Hiina ajaloo poliitilisi sündmusi ning Mao Zedongi aegseid propagandaplakateid, mis olid möödunud sajandi keskpaigas Hiina kujutavale kunstnikule ainus eneseväljenduviis. Oma plakatmaalidel kujutab ta parteitegelasi või ajalooliselt murrangulisi hetki, viidates kunstniku rollile ideoloogia kujundajana totalitaarse riigivõimu käsutuses. Sealjuures on maalid hägustatud ja osutavad viimaste aastakümnete muutustele ja vabadusele, millest siiski kumab läbi minevikutaak.
*Lemon Ye opening his exhibition at Pärnu Raekoda
Seda, et Hiina kunst on surmtõsiselt poliitiline, tõestab ka Pärnu kunstnike maja suures saalis noore hiina naiskunstniku Wang Xixi väljapanek. Xixi ei ole kriitiline ainuüksi oma riigivõimu suhtes, teda huvitavad pigem globaalsed protsessid ja nende mõju inimkonnale.
Oma loomingus kõrvutab ta ajaloolisi ja nüüdisväärtusi Hiina ühiskonnas. Nii on ta puudutanud totalitaarse võimu all pikalt keelatud religiooni temaatikat ning põiminud selle praegusaegse inimese „valejumalatega“. Hiina palvemajadega installatsioonile on ta kontrastiks lisanud tušijoonistused ilu teemal. Traditsioonilises tuši- ja pintslitehnikas teostel on portreteeritud jänkukõrvade, platvormkingade ja käeraudadega naisi meelates poosides. Tehiskeskkonda ja sellega seotud problem
*Wang Xixi
aatikat märgivad teosed „Minu unelmate linn“ („The City In My Dream“) ja „Ideaalriik“ („Ideal Country“), kus budistlikud sümbolid segunevad pilvelõhkujate, virtuaalse maailma ja lõputute põldudega.
Pärnu Linnagalerii kunstnike maja (endise raekoja) ruumides on Hiina kunstnike väljapanek kõrvutatud kodumaiste tegijate loominguga ning kaasatud peale graafiliste disainerite ja graafikute ka kohalikke kujureid. Lemon Ye „propagandaplakatitele“ sekundeerivad Anonymous Bohi oravatopistega skulptuurid ja Peeter Alliku mitmeid kordi eri paigus eksponeeritud graafiline leht „Brainwashing Machine“ ehk „Ajuloputusmasin“. Endisesse linnapea kabinetti Lemon Ye parteipildikeste kõrvale asetatuna mõjuvad need kui kohaspetsiifilised viited kohalikule propagandamasinale, tõestades, et kunst on võimeline kontekstist olenevalt oma sisu kameeleonina muutma. Ka Mati Karmin mõjub Wang Xixi väljapaneku kõrvalruumis ühtäkki maailma kõige poliitilisema kunstnikuna, kelle meremiinid jutustavad Eesti pinnal toimunud maailmasõjakoledustest. Hiina kunstnike loominguga tekitavad need igal juhul efektse dialoogi.
Pärnu keskraamatukogu ruumides on väljas Tõnis Laanemaa ja Leonhard Lapini 1970. ja 1980. aastate loominguvalik. Neid vaadates on selge, et maailm ei ole mõnekümne aastaga kuigi palju muutunud. Külma sõja aegse kunsti metafoorid on ilmsed ka tänases kunstis, sest praegusi rahvusvahelisi suhteid võib julgelt võrrelda toonase situatsiooniga.
Tartu ülikooli Pärnu kolledži fuajees esineb Toomas Kuusing tavapäraselt argiste stseenidega. Kuusing on ilmselt kunstnik, kes on kõike muud kui poliitiline ning tuntud oma humoorikate maaelu kajastavate motiivide poolest. Sel korral leiab aga temagi väljapaneku hulgast paar teravamat kommentaari viimase aja kuumimatele teemadele: pagulaste probleemile ja juba selle varju jäämas kooseluseadusele. Raske öelda, millise positsiooni on võtnud kunstnik homoabielude suhtes teosega „Koos“, kus üks kukk teisel seljas hüppab, või pagulaste vastuvõtmise suhtes teosega „Neegri portree“. Igal juhul tõestab see, et globaalsed probleemid on jõudnud Kuusingu loomingu kaudu ka pisikese Eesti kõige kaugematesse küladesse. Poliitiline kunst on Pärnus „In graafika“ näol oma missiooni täitmas ning festival avatud diskussioonideks.
*Magnus Logi Kristinsson performance
*Toomas Kuusing giving interview to local newspaper Pärnu Postimees
By Marian Kivila
Pictures by Hannes Paldrok
Published in Sirp
Raido Keskküla @ Pärnu Postimees
Pärnu linnavalitsuse tänasel istungil kinnitati selle aasta kultuuri aastapreemiate saajateks Andrus Joonas ja Al Paldrok.
2014. aasta loomingupreemia 1500 eurot otsustati anda maalikunstnik Andrus Joonasele silmapaistva isikunäituse ja väga aktiivse loomingulise tegevuse eest sel aastal.
Aasta korraldajapreemia 1500 eurot otsustas komisjon anda ühehäälselt Al Paldrokile kolme rahvusvahelise kultuurifestivali, Diverse Universe tegevuskunstifestivali, IN Graafika ja Pärnu fideofestivali kõrgetasemelise korraldamise eest.
Statuudi kohaselt antakse kultuuri loomingupreemia autorile või interpreedile (autorite või interpreetide kollektiivile), kelle looming on oluliselt rikastanud nii Pärnu linna kui kogu riigi kultuurielu ja korraldajapreemia kultuurikorraldajale (isikule, kultuurikollektiivile, seltsile, ühendusele), kelle korraldatud sündmus on oluliselt rikastanud Pärnu linna kultuurikeskkonda ja tõstnud Pärnu mainet kultuurilinnana.
Komisjonile laekus kaheksa ettepanekut, neli loomingupreemia ja neli korraldajapreemia väljaandmiseks.
Preemiad antakse üle 5. detsembril Ammende Villas linnapea vastuvõtul Pärnu kultuuritegelastele.
Published in KUNST.EE 2014/3 Marian Kivila analyses Anonymous Boh’s (or Al Paldrok’s) solo exhibition “10 COMMANDMENTS”.
Performance art, its documentation, and the subsequent reception, use and definitions of this documentation has fascinated many art critics and historians. Performances, as ephemeral works of art, are meant to vanish from the very beginning as soon as they are conceived by the artist. The desire to preserve something impermanent often raises questions like what is the goal of documenting it, is it really necessary and whether the documentation should be considered purely as a means for documenting living art or as works of art in their own right.
As we know from art history, there are many performance artists who avoid documenting their work and also forbid their audience from doing so in any way. Their art is something rare, only meant for a small number of random viewers, and afterwards it only lives on as a fading memory in the minds of those who happened to have seen it. It seems to make sense (in a morbidly romantic way) that this is how an ephemeral work of art is born and how it dies.
Amelia Jones, a performance art theorist, has suggested that the documentation (e.g. photographs) acts as a supplement to the performance. She sees the relationship between performance and photographic documentation as co-dependent and symbiotic. Photography needs events to exist and events need photography to prove they once existed. Photography is like a key to a lost time.
There is a whole array of artists who fanatically document their performances and, from various angles, try to analyse the co-dependent relationship that Jones has described. Anonymous Boh is the kind of artist whose creative processes involving one single work of art might never be finished. He tries to find new ways to recontextualise the documentation of completed performances – sometimes as supplements, other times as independent pieces replenished with new meanings. Boh’s earlier shows have displayed photographic documentation in the way they were taken, or created settings that present reproductions of performances.
The exhibition “10 COMMANDMENTS” is based on performances by Non Grata, held in various parts of the world, and the documentation that has taken on new meanings. The scenes from past performances are placed in a new context and are reconceptualised as the time, space and audience change. That is, according to what the artist wants to say to the world.
The first commandment in the series suggests that the instructions of the former professor of Academia Non Grata are probably directed at artists to help them think independently, believe in themselves, find their talent and manage their life. If applied to a larger segment of society, the commandment “Don’t ever get employed!” would be catastrophic and would most likely lead to the destruction of that society. The commandment “Don’t consume, DIY!” refers to the potential for restructuring society according to anarchist principles – based on a natural economy, the currently prevalent wage labour would no longer be necessary.
The somewhat utopian commandments, that definitely also have a certain amount of truth in them, are a critique of artists that do not know how to use their talent. An artist working in a bar or slaving away in an ad agency has chosen the easy way out, they also believe that it is impossible to make a living as an artist. So, making this belief into a daily affirmation, they also destroy their chances of having a successful career in art.
We probably all know artists who are so busy with their day jobs that they no longer have the time to challenge the discourses of the art world, to start revolutions and keep their talent shining bright. For them, art seems to have become a mere hobby. Then again, I also know artists who successfully sell their works and because of that have acquired the rather negative label of “commercial artist”. So, Boh points to the paradox of being an artist and the need to be constantly searching for the right balance in every tiny move and thought. Boh also refers to the fact that manifests are rarely written anymore and people often conform, which he, as quite a successful and productive artist, clearly does not approve of.
As the next step we could of course muse on what an artist should be like and which expectations they should fulfil in order to be called an artist. For Boh, an artist is someone superhuman: a prophet (the commandment “If you know the truth, share it with everyone!”), an ascetic (the commandment “Escape your comfort zone!”), a philosopher (the commandment “Doubt everything!”), an extraverted and active socialiser (the commandment “Stay connected”) and an enthusiast (the commandment “Don’t complain, bring the change!), all in one person.
Boh wants the artist to be a rebel, and the artwork a loud message. Nevertheless, it seems that the best part of the exhibition is not the dominating imperatives, but the fascinating way he has presented the documentation of the performances.
I would also add a commandment for artists: “Don’t make art that screams in your face, take an enigmatic approach!” Our senses are ruined due to the over consumption of conceptual art and so we probably enjoy art more if it offers more than one possibility of interpretation and there is something to think about. There are shows that stay with you for days before you reach a cathartic understanding. Yet it is true that there have not been many exhibitions like this lately and I can agree with Boh’s criticism.
I was actually amazed by the softer side of Boh, his figurative critique. The maquette-installation “Evolution” (2014) that had lined up tin soldiers, dinosaurs and human figures according to size, finely and accurately captured the idea of escaping the comfort zone and conforming to the ideals of the welfare society.
Marian Kivila is a freelance art critic and the marketing manager at the Pärnu Museum.
Estonian artists are into some weird shit
Published in aweh.tv By Dann Gaymer on 3/9/12
As a key lynch pin of the NON GRATA performance group, Estonian artist Anonymous Boh has been creating and reimagining for the past two decades. With performance, art tours and lectures, across Asia, Europe and the Americas, NON GRATA has breathed a fresh life in performance art, and into the wider discourse of what art should be and what it should do. As a teacher of the Academia Non Grata program Anonymous Boh helped propagate a different approach to freeing the minds of young artists, in sharp contrast to the rigid and formulaic teaching methods of so many European schools. Today this mission continues albeit on a wider scale, when NON GRATA arrive in a foreign city, breezing in like a pirate nation and calling on a network of sleeping participants to come out and create something for the sake of creation, not to give answers but to pose questions.
While Anonymous Boh’s artist CV reads like an adventure novel, he has done an excellent job of doing exactly what his name suggests and removing himself from the work, along with the rest of NON GRATA. While he has performed at Seoul’s KEAF festival before this year’s performance will be worth witnessing, nay, participating in, because there is no way of telling what it will entail. Structured chaos will reign.
AWEH sat down with the man with barely a name to find out about the art environment of Estonia as of recent, where he feels NO GRATA’s mission is at, and what challenges the art world still needs to address.
AWEH: Who are you and what do you do?
Anonymous: I am Anonymous Boh from NON GRATA group. NON GRATA is an international performance group from Estonia with floating membership. In NON GRATA there has been more than 500 members during last fifteen years from all over the world. The main characteristics is anonymity in group work, ignorance of the local art world, and mass media. The group has performed in Asia, Europe, South and North America with street actions, chaotic space and context specific performances, and long lasting ghetto marathons.
AWEH: How did you become interested in art and begin to follow it as a profession?
Anonymous: I have been in art all my life since I was six and just step by step it is now full time profession.
AWEH: How is the art scene in Estonia?
Anonymous: The art scene is quite active if we compare that only 1 million people live in Estonia — it is the smallest nation in the mainland in world with their own state, written language, and national TV.
AWEH: Is it possible for artists to support themselves through non-commercial ventures?
Anonymous: Theoretically of course, everything is possible, practically I am not so sure.
AWEH: What inspired NON GRATA at its inception as a school?
Anonymous: Academia Non Grata was founded after the Soviet Union collapsed. The fact that we witnessed the collapse of a whole Soviet system gave a unique angle of approach that was unprecedented in the West. At first [early 1990s] there were many cultural figures in the Estonian Parliament. Had they kept the cultural level and the other things together, had they taken the responsibility that used to belong to the church and during the Soviet times to the state, so that there were not just the laws of the jungle, but various structures, then there might have formed a common understanding of what it really is we’re doing. A country from which Tony Blair could have learnt a lesson about the third route, not a country with a Prime Minister being a Thatcher disciple.
In the middle of ‘90s results of this direction was clear — Estonia was typical early capitalistic society, where everything was calculated by money only. The mental discussion about what a person could do during the period between birth and death and how the state could support him was ended. What it was worth being born for? With what kind of people one wants to spend one’s life? Self-censorship of the people, including the intellectuals, has reached unbelievable dimensions. Everything that is, is good. It is considered frantically shameful to think about what could be: maybe it makes me a loser? Maybe a dreamer?
The body of artists (intellectuals) has ceased to act according to their true nature and ideals, the prevalent trends are accepted as inevitable and frenzied attempts are made to adjust to them. The art circle as a whole is no longer interested in dealing with the essential, most of the energy in the pedagogical institutions of art is wasted on formal feeding of the structure and on making formal moves. It is surprising how quickly Estonian ‘intellectuals’ were settled as a part in the machinery in the name of a little oiling.
Same problems were then in art education. The managements of the leading institutions of art education admitted that their hands are tied, because rooting of ‘unsolicited’ standards is the only way to be integrated into the greater system and avoid the terrifying status of “being left out”, as they say. I would like to know who has proclaimed this practice of absolute pragmatics to be a cognitive inevitability that is faithfully followed by the various fields of institutions of higher education and their specialists.
AWEH: What kind of methods did you employ to ensure that a student of NON GRATA wasn’t “just a good designer of bottle labels.”
Anonymous: An artist has to attempt to improve the world. The aim of the Academia Non Grata was and still is to create a mental atmosphere where people felt free to ask themselves and others: what is it that I really think, what is it that I really want? Many of our teaching methods that seem strange to the bystander, serve the very purpose of teaching a person to really step into the game. At the same time, it is still an art school. The language we use is figurative. So I cannot be blamed for not doing anything if I don’t like it. I am doing it, but with my own tools. It is not enough if an artist is just a good designer of bottle labels. Similarly it is not enough if a person is a good and successful critic, scientist or who ever. What we propagate is actually very simple — that a person should be able to sincerely look into the face of someone else and to smile without any pretence, arrogance or bootlicking. I do not think it comes naturally but rather that it needs to be learnt, like any other thing.
AWEH:Since the Academia NON GRATA educational program in Pärnu ended how has your involvement continued with NON GRATA?
Anonymous: It really did not end, we just switched to another form. After six or seven years of being a primary school of the free arts, it has ceased to be this kind of educational institution — the state-controlled higher educational system has taken over the ANG interdisciplinary courses of the arts. Accordingly, the mission of the ANG is therefore completed. Its main purpose has never been a typical art school, but it has always tried to be a place of alternative solutions, which would be developed and put into practice. The educational system of the EU as a whole has changed into an establishment so controlled, that it takes all the power, time, and resources of the students, making them deal with formalities, that have nothing to do with creative work. All the burocratic rituals take so much time, that not much energy would be left for the main purpuses. This kind of choice is made in full awareness, very well knowing that it would restrain the aftergrowth, but there are minuses that are much worse. The main object of the ANG has never been worrying about the aftergrowth; it has simply been an additional bonus in our work as healers of the society.
The ANG has switched into another system, which may be called postgraduate atelier-system, as well as the programs of lectures, “Academia on the Wheels”. The latter is meant to use institutional parasite-piracy,using the other existing material-technical bases in order to disseminate our ideas and to put them into practice.
Like from the beginning I am still active on a frameless territory where an art object has ceased to exist as a physical piece. The space has many dimensions upon which the activity has been built. Curating the performance group NON GRATA actually means creating a certain kind of school which can be characterized by features as structured chaos, performances in arbitrary environments and interiors. By obtaining its reputation as an alternative we swooped onto the global art landscape — performances, art tours organized in tens of cities across Europe, Asia, and America.
AWEH:You’ve told us about how NON GRATA’s mission was to create a break away from the mainstream in Estonia, and make art and performance substantial and meaningful again. On both a local and global level how successful has this mission been? Do you feel there is more work to be done?
Anonymous: The artists have become either the ones who satisfy society’s certain aesthetic needs, small scale entrepreneurs producing pretty things, or society’s fools officially labelled as the opponent.The global performance art is sinking in its own blood, every now and then. And NG is then asked to come and rescue it. It is as if a nomadic tribe of artists steps by and the reality is being altered. Like the story of NG written by Finns where they talk about the liberators from the incest and the orphic hole…
There is a wild creative power wave all over the world and our underground network connects it together. The universe is an experimental space and art is a creational process in a perpetual move.
AWEH:The fact that you perform anonymously seems profound when so much of art today seems tied with “getting yourself out there”. Art school graduates can seem more concerned with their public image as opposed to their creative output, but do you think this is just a fool’s errand, that will ultimately conclude in being overlooked in art history?
Anonymous: What is fame nowadays? The media is not interested in the essence of things but rather in a special format. It is very easy to produce an item that looks like art nowadays. It was a great event when Vermeer made a picture, thousands of people came to see it. Today a couple of million pictures are being produced every second in our computers and TV sets. The picture itself interests no one. People barely know the works of famous contemporary artists. It is actually possible to become famous without making any pictures, by just declaring that one makes pictures.
Apart from Andy Warhol in the art world, there are no commonly recognized megastars who would be known to any Tom, Dick and Harry. In the present condition that, by the creation of the Internet, the information society has brought about, the art world, as an institution, has not been able to address its issues nor establish its own paradigms.
I consider it an ill-service to the youth if you simply make them promote themselves and run around in circles, when a few decades have passed the person is still completely empty. The art world takes what interests it at the moment, and then throws it aside again, taking a new interesting thing. What does the person do then if one has based it all on the art world? There are many who cry: “Look what they’re doing to me, I’m no longer popular…”
If you evolve as a human being you can do anything at any time. You can become a braze welder for that matter, because you’re in charge of the process.
AWEH: You recently did a performance of Force Majeure in Chicago, where we heard a car suffered a fair amount of abuse. What is the outline for your performance during KEAF?
Anonymous: We do not know yet, only that the theme of KEAF this year is “Wheel“. Our performances are mostly context and location specific. We make no plans prior to our arrival to the place and we do not provide generally pre-required work descriptions. Everything is being decided on the spot, where we are going to perform or the performance space is being chosen due to the inspiration drawn from the actual place. Local cultural background, history, stereotypes, nature, people, politics, personal experiences are all being involved and blended together. They’ll form a mini model of a concrete society and, with its different levels, it starts to serve as a background for a concrete idea or it’ll behave as a piece of art work in itself.
AWEH:What are your overall expectations of this trip to Korea?
Anonymous: Creative environment, great people, talented artists, deep dicussions and something you never can expect.
AWEH:Any final words of love or hate to share?
Anonymous: I love Korea!
