Kumu Museum's 'Thinking Pictures' Exhibition Recontextualizes Soviet-Era Conceptual Art Through Baltic Perspectives
Earlier this year, the Kumu Art Museum in Tallinn, Estonia, unveiled an exhibition titled 'Thinking Pictures: Conceptual Art from Moscow and the Baltics,' curated by Anu Allas, Liisa Kaljula, and Jane A. Sharp. This showcase focused on conceptual art from the 1970s and 1980s, highlighting works by artists such as Ilya Kabakov, Viktor Pivovarov, and Dmitri Prigov. Organized into three sections with twelve thematic groups, it explored topics like Soviet life, the interplay of text and image, and philosophical inquiries. In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in March 2022, the exhibition initially opened without visible artworks, with pieces being added later to provoke critical dialogue and challenge geographic hierarchies.
Key facts
- The exhibition 'Thinking Pictures: Conceptual Art from Moscow and the Baltics' was held at the Kumu Art Museum in Tallinn, Estonia.
- Curators were Anu Allas, Liisa Kaljula, and Jane A. Sharp.
- It focused on conceptual art from the 1970s and 1980s during the Soviet era.
- The exhibition opened in March 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- Artworks were initially hidden and gradually installed over weeks as a protest against the war.
- It featured twelve thematic groups across three sections, including works from Moscow, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
- A catalog was published in 2022 with essays by the curators and other scholars.
- The exhibition aimed to challenge the hegemony of 'Moscow Conceptualism' using Piotr Piotrowski's horizontal art history framework.
Entities
Artists
- Ilya Kabakov
- Viktor Pivovarov
- Vitaly Komar
- Alexander Melamid
- Erik Bulatov
- Andrei Monastyrski
- Leonhard Lapin
- Bruno Vasiļevskis
- Romanas Vilkauskas
- Mindaugas Navakas
- Kaze Zimblytė
- Gediminas Karalius
- Petras Mazuras
- Vladas Vildžiunas
- Raul Meel
- Dmitri Prigov
- Alexander Kosolapov
- Leonid Sokov
- Sirje Runge
- Silver Vahtre
- Miervaldis Polis
- Violeta Bubelytė
- Irina Nakhova
- Vadim Zakharov
- Ülo Sooster
- Kazimir Malevich
- Mark Rothko
- Vermeer
- Piotr Piotrowski
- Nora Sternfeld
- Marie Fraser
- Alice Jim Wai Ming
- Katarzyna Murawska-Muthesius
- Janis Taurens
- Skaidra Trilupaitytė
- Beata Hock
- Mária Janušová
- Paco Ulman
Institutions
- Kumu Art Museum
- Institute of Art History and Visual Culture of the Estonian Academy of Arts
- Zimmerli Art Museum
- Rutgers University
- Rutgers State University
- Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection
- Workshop for the Restoration of Unfelt Feelings (NSRD)
- The Emissionists (Pollucionisti)
- Collective Actions
- ARTMargins Online
- Frieze
- Artforum
- Hyperallergic
- Routledge
- Reaktion Books
- Ashgate
- RACAR: Revue d'art Canadienne/Canadian Art Review
- Mustekala
- Estonian Academy of Arts
Locations
- Tallinn
- Estonia
- Moscow
- Russia
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Ukraine
- New Jersey
- USA
- Lublin
- Poland
- New York
- London
- Vermont
- Vilnius
- Riga
- Zurich
- Switzerland
Sources
- ARTMargins —
- ARTMargins —