BETWEEN A MOUNTAIN AND A VALLEY
23.10. - 16.11.2025 Draakoni Gallery, Tallinn
Trailer:
Monday, October 6, 2025
Friday, October 13, 2023
Still from the video "Damn Rake" (2023)
Still from the video "Fight Back/Leave It There" (2023)
Fragment from the installation "Damn Rake" (2023)
DAMN RAKE. VERDAMMTER RECHEN. KURADI REHA
Performing German language studies as a journey through psychic processes in relation to colonial history of the Baltics and the notion of (dys)functional hybridity.
Project in process.
First showing in the exhibition "Linguistic Xpedition", October 28, 2023 – March 31, 2024 at the project space of the URBAN NATION Museum, Berlin. Curated by Janine Arndt
Online showcase:
Friday, May 26, 2023
Saturday, February 19, 2022
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
https://lcca.lv/en/events/laikmetigas-makslas-izstade--kopiga-vesture-/
The Mouth of Daugava
Friedrich Ludwig von
Maydell (1795 – 1846) was a Baltic-German artist, based in the
region that is now known as Estonia. He produced series of graphic
works that depicted the history of Germans in the eastern shores of
the Baltic sea. Those works were published in albums, titled as
“Fifty Images from the History of Russia’s German Baltic
Provinces”. Here you are witnessing one of these albums, borrowed
from the collection of the Art Museum of Estonia. More precisely, you
are witnessing the work that the artist depicts as the starting event
of the history of the Baltic states – “First Landing of the
Bremen Merchants at the Mouth of the River Daugava. 1156” (1839).
Most of all, this work
speaks about the gaze of the artist as the subject of the modern era,
also as the member of the privileged class in the society based on
slavery. This gaze over the history is similar to the numerous images
that depict the landing of Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean
islands. Maydell portrays the encounter between the Bremen merchants
and the local natives as the act of trade. The image contains some
details that refer to the elements known from the history of European
colonialism. Please find these elements from the image and read the
explanations added by me.
a) Alcohol – the
establishment of the system of dependency and control, used by
colonial powers.
b) Furs – natural
resources and raw materials that are needed by colonizers in places
inhabited by natives.
c) Mirror – the
establishment of the system of representation and validation, also
the production of identity, history, knowledge and subjectivity.
d) Trade beads – the
establishment of the medium of exchange.
The area around the mouth
of Daugava should be preserved as public space and the site should be
celebrated as the historical landmark of colonial history in the
Baltics.
Saturday, September 15, 2018
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Brīvības galerija
("brivibas" in Latvian = "freedom" in English)
Art space and research project
From April to October 2018 it was located at
Vabaduse 14, Valga/Valka,
the border town between Estonia and Latvia.
("vabaduse" in Estonian = "brivibas" in Latvian)
exhibitions and events:
April - solo exhibition "Weird feeling" by Alexei Gordin
June - nameless exhibition by Juka Käärmann and Hülle Haab
July - open studio of Hanna Samoson
August - Tanel Rander's curator project "A Mole, Larger in Size Than Ever Seen Before"
The building at Vabaduse 14, Valga is where the family of Hella Wuolijoki and Salme Dutt used to live in the late 19th century.
Friday, November 4, 2016
PROMISED LIGHT
Gallery Noorus 13.10. - 29.10.2016
Tartu Art House 20.10. - 13.11.2016
Anna Salmane and Krišs Salmanis (Latvia), Bence György Pálinkás (Hungary), Berat Işık (Turkey), David Kellner (Austria), Diana Tamane (Estonia/Latvia), Jevgeni Zolotko (Estonia), Matija Plevnik (Slovenia), Rapolas Valiukevičius and Aukstasis Moxlas (Lithuania) and Terje Toomistu (Estonia)
media: http://echogonewrong.com/enlightenment-in-time-of-the-dead/
video guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkMNqAMfc98&t=150s
video guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkMNqAMfc98&t=150s
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
THIRD WAY
Solo exhibition by Tanel Rander
Tallinn City Gallery
12.08. - 11.11.16
(photos by Karel Koplimets/Tallinna Kunstihoone)
Exhibition info:
http://www.kunstihoone.ee/en/events/third-way/
Publication "The Power of Nostalgia"
http://www.kunstihoone.ee/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Tallinna_Kunstihoone_Tanel_Rander_ENG_web.pdf
Video "Guidelines"
https://vimeo.com/153151552
Media:
http://echogonewrong.com/the-guillotine-effect-an-interview-with-tanel-rander/
Sunday, February 1, 2015
HOW TO READ IN THE DARK?
22.01. - 15.03.2015 in Joensuu Art Museum, Finland
08.05. - 31.05.2015 in Tartu Art House, Estonia
20.06. - 26.07.2015 in Grimmuseum, Berlin, Germany
Merja
Briñón, John Court, Tom Engblom, Anssi Hanhela, Irina
Havaste-Ukkola, Markku Heikkilä, Helena Junttila, Ninni & Tuomas
Korkalo, Eero Kumpula, Kalle Lampela, Esa Meltaus, Sauli Miettunen,
Pirkko Mäkelä-Haapalinna, Outi Pieski, Mark Roberts & Minna
Rainio, Elina Sipilä, Kari Tuisku, Juhani Tuominen
curated by Tanel Rander
catalogue:
video guide from Tartu Art House:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk1sotj2EhA
video teaser:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOT8nM3qQ0o
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
THE FRONTLINE EAST
exhibition by Tanel Rander
13.01. - 30.01.2015 at LCCA, Riga, Latvia
Project materials:
http://eastfrontline.blogspot.com.ee
More info:
http://www.lcca.lv/en/news/solo-exhibition-the-frontline-east-by-estonian-artist-tanel-rander/
Media:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsrOQ8tbm4k
http://www.arterritory.com/lv/zinas/4349-maksla_ir_politikas_prieksmets_un_sekas/
Project materials:
http://eastfrontline.blogspot.com.ee
More info:
http://www.lcca.lv/en/news/solo-exhibition-the-frontline-east-by-estonian-artist-tanel-rander/
Media:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsrOQ8tbm4k
http://www.arterritory.com/lv/zinas/4349-maksla_ir_politikas_prieksmets_un_sekas/
Thursday, November 27, 2014
WAITING FOR THE GRAY SHIP
In Y Gallery (Jakobi 1, Tartu) 15.10. - 09.11.2014
Artists: Anna Hints, Jass Kaselaan, Karolina Kubik (Poland), Evi Pärn, Krišs Salmanis (Latvia), Eva Sepping, Toomas Thetloff, Maria Vous
Curated by Tanel Rander
More info: http://ygalerii.blogspot.com/2014/10/halli-laeva-oodates-15-okt-9-nov-2014.html
Video guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnzrSCEuTEc
COLONIAL WOUND
performance by Karolina Kubik and Tanel Rander
(photos by Creature Live Art festival)
COLONIAL WOUND, SOLIDARITY AND EASTERN EUROPE
discussion in 17.10.2014
UP Gallery, Berlin
COLONIAL WOUND
Documentation of
performance by Karolina Kubik and Tanel Rander, 31st of
May 2014 in Kaunas. 150 plates of mamaliga were symbolically served,
referring to 150 NATO soldiers sent to each Baltic state. Mamaliga is
a cheap East European peasant food, now mostly forgotten, but known
as polenta, through the global marketing of Italian cuisine. Beside
mamaliga, 150 stones were served. This serving was followed by
struggle with car, its Polish registration plate was covered with
military camouflage. The anonymous and militarized civil car was
pushed by Tanel Rander, while Karolina Kubik stopped it with a wooden
stick. Mamaliga, stones and sticks is what we have. We want to
discuss how to use them!
Colonial wound is what
unites Eastern Europe and the former 3rd world. Colonial
wound is what makes a difference between the East and the West. As
coloniality affects people, it affects places. The wound includes
human body and its location, and has different layers.
Layer 1: We come from
Eastern Europe that occurred after the collapse of the Berlin Wall as
a huge post-catastrophic space, facing underdevelopment, radical
reforms, wars, instability.
Layer 2: After 2004, when
most of the Eastern countries joined the EU, this reality was
forgotten. Eastern Europe became “the former East”, a white and
civilized area, acting like Western countries, using foreign labor,
participating in the Western war machine, behaving as superior power
in respect of this Eastern Europe that was left outside the EU.
Layer 3: Since 2014
Eastern Europe is back. Nobody uses the term “the former East”,
when talking about sending NATO troops to the Baltics, Poland and
Romania. War in Ukraine is called as “war in Europe”. The
fear of war and death is now a reality in Eastern Europe.
We
want to raise the following questions:
What
is the task of culture and arts, while the society is being
militarized, while politicians and the elite are turning people
against each other? No doubt that the imperial war machine is
expanding in the East and in the West. What is the task of us,
artists? What should happen in art galleries during such situation?
We
want to develop the culture of solidarity! Eastern Europe has been
spectralized – there are single countries, that don't notice each
other. It is a set of dependancy between the East and the West that
works through singularity. There is war in the place, where we live –
the post-Socialist politicians have failed. The imperialist politics
has failed. How strong is the culture? Are we producing illustrations
for imperialist politics and global coloniality?
Russian
artists – our countries,
your politicians and ours are turning people against each other. And
not only – our countries are being militarized, as if there are
preparations for huge war. What can we do about it? Where is the
cultural response that stands for humanity? Dadaism is not the way
out of it.
EAST/WEST/THIRD OPTION?
transnational guerilla art school seminar and film program
curated by Tanel Rander
managed by Fundacija Sonda
presentations by Andrej Kurnik, Ivan Jurica, Tanel Rander, Vesna Vuk Godina
21. - 23.03.2014 Udarnik Cinema, Maribor
extra presentation by Roland Bolz in GT 22
More info: http://tgas2014.wordpress.com
Monday, November 25, 2013
Monday, August 26, 2013
MAN OVERBOARD
performance by 10x10m on 21-st and 22-nd of August 2013, August DanceFestival, Tallinn
(photo by Kaur Ilves)
March 28th 2012 an anonymous Estonian immigrant was on his way home, from Helsinki to Tallinn. 10 minutes after the departure of the ferry he jumped overboard into freezing sea. The rescue boats and helicopters couldn't find him. He was thought to be dead. Three weeks later he appeared to be alive and returned back home. What happened to him during those three weeks? This is a mystery that needs to be solved, in order to re-articulate the borders between the East and the West and re-think the capitalist vocabulary imposing the meaning of human life. Keywords: an empty island, an empty summer house, potato chips, a miracle.
Authors: members of 10x10 meters - Epp Kubu, Eva Labotkin, Mai Sööt, Villem Jahu, Andrus Lauringson, Tanel Rander & Ieva Kauliņa (Riga)
Supporter: Cultural Endowment of Estonia
Co-producer: Kanuti Gildi SAAL
Residency: Gertrudes ielas teatris, Riga
Realised in the frames of FIT network collaboration Global City - Local City project funded by Culture Program of EU.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
