Body Space(d): Flo Kasearu and Renate Keerd
Between 27 and 30 November Tallinn Art Hall and Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava presented joint project “Body Space(d)”, which brought together three pairs of artists from the Estonian visual art and performance scenes. Each pair collaborated on a unique, one-night-only performance. Curator Evelyn Raudsepp invited three artist duos to create performative works: Edith Karlson and Sigrid Savi, Rene Köster and Mark Raidpere, and Flo Kasearu and Renate Keerd. On three consecutive nights the results of these collaborations were presented and then concluded on the fourth night with a diverse programme, featuring discussion, music, and the creation of shared space.
On 29th of Nov at 20 artist Flo Kasearu and theatre director Renate Keerd presented their collaboration. Both artists use refreshingly the absurd in their work, as well as relying on a symbiosis of media and puckish playfulness.
“To Brussels for the weekend. A two-night performance in New York. A flight to Pärnu for ten people. A charter flight to the coast of the Dead Sea for 300 people. A flight to the Paris climate summit for three people. A one-time-only performance for 70 people. A full package deal. A soup kitchen with disposable tableware. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. How much is it? Can I get it for free?”
Artists Flo Kasearu and Renate Keerd
Curator Evelyn Raudsepp
Technical team Villem Säre, Aleksander Meresaar, Hendrik Põlluste, Rommi Ruttas
Light design Rommi Ruttas
Musicians Kiril Tikhonov and Yarina Karaulshchikova
Exhibition team Siim Preiman, Sirli Oot, Kersti Sõõrumaa, Katrin Maimik, Kaisa Kattai
Graphic design Ott Kagovere, Indrek Sirkel
Photos (documentation) Kris Moor
Video (documentation): camera Alis Mäesalu, Piibe Kolka, Raido Pedak; editing Piibe Kolka; colour correction: Alis Mäesalu
Production Tallinn Art Hall and Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava (STL)
Supported by Estonian Cultural Endowment (Endowment of Dramatic Art, Endowment of Visual and Applied Arts), Estonian Ministry of Culture, Estonian Artists Association, AkzoNobel
A special thank you to Margus Terasmees
Flo Kasearu (1985) uses a variety of mediums, be it video, sculpture, performance, drawing, or photography. What unites her practice is not an aesthetic style but a tone: her work brings a humorous and absurdist point of view to even the most serious of subjects. Kasearu has been known to take her practice beyond the gallery space. One of her biggest projects is the “Flo Kasearu House Museum” in which since summer 2013 the artist has turned her own living space into a museum.
Renate Keerd’s (1978) productions have been characterised as life-affirming, playful and metaphysical, with a sensitive and witty approach to phenomena and processes in society, using an idiosyncratic artistic language. Her productions have been presented at numerous theatre and dance festivals in Europe, Scandinavia and Asia. In 2012, Keerd founded a physical theatre company Kompanii Nii. She has received notable awards in Estonia and Russia.
“Body Space(d)” is a collaboration between Tallinn Art Hall and Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava, where curator Evelyn Raudsepp, who is working at the intersection of performing and visual arts, continues the research into the symbolic spaces – the white cube and the black box. This time placing the body into the mix as well. With her performative curation she creates unique formats in which the audience is also welcomed to activate their perceptional horizon in order to meet unexpected artistic situations.
In Tallinn Art Hall the combination of the invited artists’ practices and the thematic framing allows experimentation to take place within the clinical white cube with theatrical means. It also enables the artists to look into connections between embodied performance and the richness of artistic expression in visual art.
