The installation exhibition Seven Deadly Sins deals with positions of power and the tensions embedded in human relationships in the art world, with the Estonian art world serving as a model. In recent years I have criticised, in the media (in opinion pieces in various publications as well as on social media), the funding of the art world and the hierarchies and tacitly accepted power relations that have become entrenched in art now, 30 years after the restoration of independence.
Unfortunately, the artist as a creative individual has ended up at the bottom of this hierarchy: of all the resources distributed from public funds, only crumbs are left for them. Artists have to do their work either for free or for a symbolic fee, and as freelancers they are quite likely to have no health insurance.
Meanwhile, the people working in institutions, with an average Estonian salary and social guarantees, receive the overwhelming majority of the money allocated to art. Ironically, the programmes of these institutions are filled with the work of those very artists who are in an extremely vulnerable social position.
Seven Deadly Sins illustrates the situation I have personally found myself in after publicly drawing attention to the systemically contradictory and unjust state of affairs in the art world described above. Since these public statements, quite a number of people in high positions at leading art institutions no longer say hello to me. Among them are the director of the Tallinn Art Hall, its former curator, the Ministry of Culture’s art adviser, a former member of the Cultural Endowment committee… I have photographed these individuals from behind at public events (major exhibition openings, artist talks…). Each photo is accompanied by a short text describing the essence of the problem.
Seven cakes; photos and texts printed on edible wafer paper.
Exhibited: Pärnu Fotofest 2020; Solaris Gallery, Tallinn, 2020.
