18th Talinn Print Triennial ‘Warm. Checking Temperature in Three Acts’

WARM. CHECKING TEMPERATURE IN THREE ACTS is a multi-part exhibition that primarily gives thought to the radical political, cultural and social turns that affect Central and Eastern Europe, but it also inscribes these changes in a global perspective through the lens of universal absurdity. The project gives voice to contemporary artists based in or originating from the Central and Eastern European region who reflect boldly and critically on burning issues such as the rise of far-right politics, globally misplaced priorities, the collapse of democracies, the shrinking of freedom – in both life and art – and the general sense of conditioned fear and hostility prevailing today. 

The title reflects more precisely on the mechanisms through which positive notions shift in
our interpretation of the negative realm and become associated with different, contradictory contents depending on the new contexts or situations in which they are used. More concretely, how the originally positive signification of warm – an agreeable feeling, the sense of a fairly or comfortably high temperature, and a behaviour showing enthusiasm, affection or kindness – becomes a warning sign of political turmoil, social irritation, symptoms of climate change or global pandemic, and therefore a signal of both natural and social global instability. In meeting this shift of signification that echoes the misleading phenomenon of general disinformation experienced around the world, WARM aims first of all to be a contemporary reflection on the fundamentally absurd global condition and on the dissonances of the human condition. It also looks to reflect on the hardships faced by contemporary artists, and the conceptual as well as visual answers they seek to soothe the tension and anxiety arising from our critically contradictory times. Their challenge – and ours too – is to bear the absurd reality with dignity and responsibility, by avoiding easy solutions and comforting illusions, attacking comfortable certainties, confronting difficulties on a path of survival through resilience or transformation, finding a way to create new meanings and striving for the freedom of art and the liberation of self. 

Inviting artists from the regional contemporary art scene with existing works and new commissions, WARM comprises three intertwined cycles entitled THE NATION LOVES IT, PICKLE POLITICS and THE SCIENCE OF FREEDOM, which refer to artworks included in the exhibition – Jasmina Cibic: The Nation Loves It; Slavs and Tatars: Pickle Politics – or are quotations from artists – Joseph Beuys: ‘To make people free is the aim of art, therefore art for me is the science of freedom.’^[1] The imaginary, conceptual theatre play that embraces these three acts is conceived as dramatic and inten- sifying narration. It articulates around the spectacles of absurdi- ty with the intention of dissecting, appropriating and distorting them, but also to playfully pro- pose humour and derision as an intellectual antidote or strategy, an imagined alternative that builds on visionary defiance or poetic escapism.

ArtLeaks. ArtLeaks Gazette No. 1–6 2013–2022 Print Courtesy of ArtLeaks

Hubert Czerepok. Americans I am Afraid of, 2019

Jasmina Cibic. Spielraum – The Nation Loves It 2015 Single-channel HD video. Courtesy of the artist

Irena Lagator. Limited Responsibility Society Automatism 2012–, Columns made of bill rolls with textual intervention by the artist; LED lights. Courtesy of the artist

Dan Perjovschi. ReCollection 2000– Installation, drawings on exhibition invitation cards and posters Courtesy of the artist and Galeria Posibilă, Buchares

Société Réaliste. Limes New Roman 2009–2010 Enamelled steel plate. 24 pieces Courtesy of the artists; Galerie Jérôme Poggi, Paris; and acb Gallery, Budapest Private collection, Budapest

ArtLeaks. ArtLeaks banners 2011–2015 Acrylic on canvas. 4 pieces Courtesy of Rena Rädle and Vladan Jeremić

Volodymyr Kuznetsov. Seizure of the Cabinet of Ministers 2022 Wall painting and paper cut-out installation Courtesy of the artist

Driton Selmani. Tell me Where I am From? 2012 Embroidery on textile and 9 drawings on paper Courtesy of the artist/Marko Mäetamm. Suspicious bags 2018 Acrylic on paper Courtesy of the artist

Ferenc Gróf. Our Rogue State / Extended Latin Alphabet 2015–2021 Digital print Courtesy of the artist and acb Gallery, Budapest

Róna Kopeczky (1983) is a curator and art historian based in Budapest. She worked as a curator for international art in Ludwig Museum Budapest between 2006 and 2015, where she mostly focussed on the site- and situation-specific practices of young and mid-career artists from the Central Eastern European region. In February 2015, she joined acb Gallery in Budapest as artistic director. She participated in the organisation of the first OFF-Biennale Budapest from the beginning of 2015 and was a member of the curatorial team for its second edition held in autumn 2017. Róna Kopeczky is the co-founder of Easttopics, a platform and hub dedicated to the contemporary art of Central Eastern Europe that is based in Budapest. She holds a PhD in Art History from Paris-Sorbonne University.

Katja Novitskova. Pattern of Activation (On Mars) 2014 Installation, photo backdrop, stones, polyurethane, rubber, aluminium stand, digital print on aluminium cut-out display Courtesy of the artist and Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler Gallery, Berlin Collection Köser, Cologne

Katja Novitskova. Pattern of Activation (On Mars) 2014 Installation, photo backdrop, stones, polyurethane, rubber, aluminium stand, digital print on aluminium cut-out display Courtesy of the artist and Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler Gallery, Berlin Collection Köser, Cologne

Nada Prlja. Disaster Diary 2019– Installation, designed offset-printed newspaper pages, black offset paint, acrylic paint Courtesy of the artist

Igor Eškinja. Free the Mind Occupy the Space 2008 Installation, parcel tape and tape dispensers Courtesy of the artist

Igor Eškinja. Free the Mind Occupy the Space 2008 Installation, parcel tape and tape dispensers Courtesy of the artist

Bojan Stojčić. From Victory to Victory Part of the series No Trace Promises the Path 2013–2022 Wallpaper and photographs Courtesy of the artist

Olson Lamaj. Blue Hours 2021 Acrylic painting on cardboard. 7 pieces Courtesy of the artist

Olson Lamaj. Blue Hours 2021 Acrylic painting on cardboard. 7 pieces Courtesy of the artist

Bojan Stojčić. From Victory to Victory Part of the series No Trace Promises the Path 2013–2022 Wallpaper and photographs Courtesy of the artist

Bojan Stojčić. From Victory to Victory Part of the series No Trace Promises the Path 2013–2022 Wallpaper and photographs Courtesy of the artist

Bojan Stojčić. From Victory to Victory Part of the series No Trace Promises the Path 2013–2022 Wallpaper and photographs Courtesy of the artist

^{[1] Joseph Beuys interviewed by William Furlong and Michael Newman at the Victoria and Albert Museum (1983).}