Searching for poetical narratives
Q&A with Siim Preiman and Madli Ehasalu, the co-curators of 1st March Gallery, a new contemporary art project space in Tallinn
At the moment, the home of 1st March Gallery is a vacant boutique in Tallinn’s Old Town. The concept of transience actually forms the foundation of the gallery as such – a temporary project space that takes over former commercial spaces and turns them into points of cultural debate. 1st March Gallery is characterised by nomadism, process-based art, and tactical media practices.
Arterritory presents the following short conversation with Siim Preiman and Madli Ehasalu, who came up with the idea for 1st March Gallery and are its programming co-curators.
How did you come with the idea for 1st March Gallery? What makes this project unique, and what role does it play in the Estonian contemporary art scene ecosystem?
Siim Preiman: The idea for the gallery came to be when I was approached about a vacant boutique in the Old Town. I immediately went to Madli, who, like me, has experience organising temporary exhibitions in non-art spaces, and of course she was on board. I think what sets the space apart from others is its decidedly temporary nature (we’ve agreed to vacate the rooms by 1st March) and its programming, which includes artists who already have established themselves as strong authors with prior shows, but are not yet necessarily very well known.
Madli Ehasalu: I was actually looking for neglected stores in Tallinn’s downtown when the first wave of the crisis hit. So I already had a concept for an exhibition in a boutique set-up. When constructing the programme, we thoroughly thought about its velocity – so that it would form a whole. It was almost instinctual... the keywords we are working with came up in the midst of the travel ban and the recession, and the resultant lack of opportunities. I think for me it is all about fantasizing what could be different in the Estonian art field – activating the space with the presence of artists and searching for poetical narratives.
The Simulation of Bodies, the Management of Life 2021. Exhibition view. Photo: Roman-Sten Tõnissoo
The focus of 1st March Gallery is nomadism, process-based art, and tactical media practices. Tactical media theorist Geert Lovik once said that "discourse plus art equals spectacle." Why are tactical media practices important in the time we are living in now?
SP: Since art is constantly competing with various visual content that doesn’t demand as much attention or such a long attention span, it is important to find hybrid forms and to disguise art as something else.
ME: It’s all about adapting. During the lockdown, one of the key elements of the urban consumer landscape – seductive commercial window displays – became the only form of (window) shopping. It was a visual rather than economic consumption of goods. Presented at a temporarily empty boutique store in a prestigious metropolitan area, the exhibition adopts the aesthetics of corporate realism only to explore the possibilities of slipping out of consumer society. Our aim is to take over a space – not for profit, but for debate and making it a collective effort.
The Simulation of Bodies, the Management of Life 2021. Exhibition view. Photo: Roman-Sten Tõnissoo
The exhibitions at 1st March Gallery change every 12 days. Why did you decide on such a pace?
SP: That’s beside the point, but to provide some context, actually not so long ago, two-week shows were the norm here in Tallinn. Since our space also assumes the artists’ own participation, especially in residency formats, shorter exhibition spans seemed more sustainable. If we expect the artists themselves to be there and welcome visitors, but we can only afford to pay them a small fee for their work, it made sense to shorten the time for which we expect them to work. My own project, titled A brief anthology of mobile art platforms, which brought together five years of research and experience of running a mobile gallery, lasted only three days, during each of which I was there myself, going through the show and its content with each visitor. We are not making shows that are to be guarded, but shows that are to be inhabited.
ME: We see the initiative as a common platform that is able to provide a strong voice and decided to share the possibility with as many others as the limited time frame would allow.
How would you describe the audience for 1st March Gallery? What is it searching for in art?
SP: Our audience is the pedestrian, the window-shopper. Even though we also had to shut our doors temporarily during the lockdown in December-January, we still continued as a display. It felt very inspiring to have this street-level window that can’t be shut down.
ME: I’ll add that our visitors are interested in experimental representations and the playfulness that comes with the liberty of working with an artist-run space concept. Contemporary art has always been a two-way street where viewers and experts meet in the middle.
The Simulation of Bodies, the Management of Life 2021. Photo: Roman-Sten Tõnissoo
What do you think are the three most profound changes the pandemic has caused in the art world, and which ones will probably stay with us even after it's over?
SP: We’ve been made acutely aware of art’s dependency on exhibitions. Now, when exhibitions have been closed for shorter or longer times across the globe, and artists have lost valuable chances to stay in residence or participate in a show, we are finding alternative ways to continue art-making. Presenting them online or organising small local events where possible. I think that we shouldn’t think of these alternatives as in-between replacements for exhibitions, but as viable formats in themselves. That’s what excites me going forward.
ME: The realisation hit hard – making, showing and experiencing art should not be a privilege but a right. Governmental restrictions provided legislation that saw it fit to close exhibition halls, but shopping centres remained open. Funding and the transparency of support schemes came very clearly to the fore.
Title image author: Keiu Maasik, Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art magazine
