A book about Baltic artists in emigration has been published
Who? Last Friday, guests from Estonia – Marilyn Talumas and Annika Tots – arrived at the Contemporary Art Center with a valuable cargo – the book “Your time is my time” designed by their colleague Kert Viiart. Having published a book about the workplaces and studies of Estonian artists, the two art curators spontaneously decided in 2019 to study Baltic artists who live abroad.
The editors of the book are Marilyn Talumas and Annika Tots
Photo: Latvian Radio
“We were interested in what home means to them, what are the aspects of belonging, how the nomadic lifestyle affects their artistic practices,” says Annika Tosta.
“We chose 18 artists, among them there are also two duos. From the 90s to the present, the Baltic countries have experienced many waves of emigration, many people, especially young people, have moved abroad or live between different countries.
The artistic environment in the Baltics is thriving, but at the same time there are not enough institutions and galleries here, and the art market is not big enough to survive only with the artist’s work,”
says Marilyn Taluma.
They began to “map” artists of Baltic origin abroad, and also focused on individual stories. The first section of the book tells about artistic talents who emigrated already in the 90s of the last century, when the three Baltic states had just regained their independence. In several cases, it was not even a conscious choice, fate was decided by the parents, taking them with them when they were still children. Such a trend is most prominent in the Lithuanian art circles – there are a number of artists who were born in this neighboring country, but grew up in America, New York.
The second part of the book is dedicated to those who stand with each foot in a different country, practice modern nomadism, as defined by the authors. The last part, on the other hand, tells about those who have recently returned to their homeland.
“We realized that one direction of research is artists who have returned to find a safer home after the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis and the war in Ukraine. This is a recent wave of migration, who are returning to their original homes,” notes Talumas.
The authors explain that without pretending to be the complete truth, the goal is more to mark the trends in the rapidly changing world.
“The original idea was to find a photographer who would document artists’ residences around the world, but it was a ‘Pre-corona’ idea. January 2020 [Latvijā dzimusī, bet Igaunijā dzīvojošā] photographer Diāna Tamane came to Vilnius to document Lina Lapelīte’s studio in Vilnius, but after two months we realized that no one travels anywhere anymore…” Talum.
Then the authors decided to ask the visual essays of the artists themselves for the illustrations, and are very satisfied with the result. They emphasize that the book is not so much a portrait of artists as a study of the topic of emigration. It also includes texts written by Sandra Skurvida, a Lithuanian art critic and curator who herself has lived in New York since the 90s, and a Latvian Inga Lāce, who studied in the international program of the world-famous New York Museum of Modern Art, MOMA (“The Museum of Modern Art”) processes in Central and Eastern Europe.
Lāce, whose previous research at the Latvian Center for Contemporary Art was related to artists who emigrated during the Second World War, has analyzed the experience of contemporary emigrants in Latvia, as she says herself – looking into the different faces of emigration: “I myself have lived both in Paris and Amsterdam, also between New York and Riga. If it is a free choice and not an exile, I completely understand that I need both places – what New York and Amsterdam give you, in terms of exchange and the vortex of new ideas, cannot be compared to what will ever happen in Latvia. But what is happening in Latvia is something else – it is also very important in reality.”
Artist Victor Timofeev from New York
Photo: Latvian Radio
Contemporary artist Viktors Timofejevs also spoke at the opening of the book “Your time is my time”. He has participated in the founding of the “No Moon” project space in Brooklyn, exhibited at the National Gallery in Prague, the 14th Baltic Triennial in Vilnius, the Ludwig Museum in Budapest, the “Bozar” Gallery in Brussels and the Latvian National Art Museum in Riga.
Timofeev says: “We have such a network. The Baltic network. They are all my friends – from Paris, from Berlin…” Art has brought him back: “Art projects, life, family, and simply such big questions about the future. Where would I like live, how do I want to live my life? I want to start a family, but it’s very difficult to do that in New York.”
He notes that it is very expensive to live in New York and Paris. It is also more expensive in Latvia than it used to be, but it is a bit slower – the rhythm helps creative work and also peace of mind. “That’s why I’m here this summer,” reveals Timofeev.
The artist will soon return to his homeland with an exhibition, but the book, where his story can be found, can be purchased at the ISSP gallery in Riga and at the Sports Palace garden kiosk.
2023-08-02 05:53:49
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