by Estonian Media Artists Union
Vaal gallery, Tallinn
24.11. - 12.12.2009
www.martu.org
Room installation, 97 miniature models,
self-hardening modeling clay, adhesive film
Karo Szmit 2009
There is a special feature in the
cityscape of the Estonian capital Tallinn: Stone sculptures in the
shape of pigeons are scattered all over the city serving as barriers.
I decided to create a map of Tallinn displaying the positions of the
pigeons.
I made
miniature models of a total of 97 pigeons and placed them within a
street map of Tallinn, which I applied on a reduced
scale on the floor of the entire gallery space. The originally
massive and immobile objects again stood in peoples´ way, but now
almost invisible and therefore exposed and vulnerable.
The work refers to the exhibition´s
topic - paranoid influences in our everyday perceptual structures.
Being able to overlook the single groups of pigeons in an alleged
relationship to one another one might think of a secret
communication, an ominous readiness. The paranoid aspect also
affected me as the artist, since most of the pigeon models were moved
or destroyed during the exhibition due to their poor visibility.
The original sculptures were made by
the Estonian sculptor Simson von Seakyll (also: Seaküla Simson) and
istalled in Tallinn successively since 2006.
