The contemporary art project “Kuko kuubis” is waiting for those interested to visit the projects in its program before the end of the summer and take the last chance to see the exhibitions in Taevaskoja, Tõravere, Räpina and Järvselja.
On August 24 and 25, you can meet Lummutaja Lonny / Lonny the Enchanter in Taevaskoja – artists Sigrid Viir (EST) and Līga Spunde (LV) have given the riverboat Lonny a new look, created an online game to create new folktales, and also planted legends on Taevaskoja’s hiking trails.
Until September 1, it is possible to visit Karel Koplimets’ site-specific installation “2074” at the Tartu University observatory in Tõravere. Completed in 1964, the observatory complex is a fascinating combination of top-level research in the middle of greenery and infrastructure that seems mysterious to the everyday eye – in addition to the main building, there are several telescope towers and other objects in the landscape. Koplimets’ dystopian installation looking to the future offers an opportunity to take a closer look at one of these towers.
Until September 7, in Järvselja’s educational and experimental forest, there is an opportunity to get acquainted with Uku Sepsivart’s “experimental sculptures” and the specially created Learning and Experimental Museum, which opens up different layers of Järvselja’s rich history to the visitor. Here, for example, the oldest forest reserve in Estonia is located – the so-called Järvselja primeval forest, which will celebrate the centenary of its protection in September 2024.
And although the “Kuko kuubis” project will officially end in September, the urban space installation “Kased kuubis / Birches in the cube” built by Ingrid Allik and her Estonian and Finnish colleagues will remain permanently in front of the Räpina paper factory. As a result of the intervention of artists, a rather insignificant strip of grass has become a high-quality public space that invites you to discover different elements in order to tell stories about the long history of papermaking in Räpina.
“Kuko kuubis” is part of the main program of the European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024. The Järvselja Õppe- ja Katsemetskond (artist Uku Sepsivart), the UT Tartu Observatory in Tõravere (artist Karel Koplimets), the river ship Lonny on the Ahja river dam in Taevaskoja (artists Sigrid Viir and Līga Spunde) and the Räpina Paper Factory (artist Ingrid Allik, together with colleagues from Estonia and Finland) participate in the project.
The project “Kuko kuubis” has grown out of the initiative “Kunstnikud kogudes (Kuko) / Artists in collections”, which has integrated contemporary art and heritage since 2018. The project, which started as part of the EV100 art program, has already created 15 dialogues between artists and small museums across Estonia. However, for the European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024, the format was expanded and the artists were directed to residencies and place-specific interventions in the hubs of social life outside the circle of museums that had been the focus of the project until now. The project leaders are Maarin Ektermann and Mary-Ann Talvistu; is supported by the Estonian Cultural Foundation.
Current information about the project can be found on the Facebook page “Kunstnikud kogudes”.