Raul Keller “Perfect Wordls”

Keller’s installation in Draakon gallery presents a travelling exhibition consisting of three related expositions toured in people’s homes during four months from October 2020 to January 2021. The exhibition set has been produced with the method of contact printing (as it is known in analogue photography) using the medium and large format negatives. These have been glued to magnet mountings and the results serve as fridge magnets. People participating in the travelling exhibition project could exhibit a selected compilation of pictures in their homes and listen to the soundtrack, specially composed for the exhibition, from the small portable speaker. The participants had also the opportunity to take one photo relating to the exhibition while using the disposable photo camera loaded with black and white film. Raul Keller is exhibiting all three exhibition sets in Draakon gallery, including the soundtrack and the photo series consisting pictures that were taken by the participants of the travelling exhibition.

The basis of the three photographic series is a set of glass negatives that should have been exhibited as contact prints on fridges in Draakon gallery in April 2020. The glass negatives probably date back to 1920-1930s, depicting reproductions of art, philosophy, theology and geometry photographed from books on a copy board. When the monumental events in spring 2020 postponed the current exhibition by one year, the artist decided to re-photograph his pieces. He worked with the found images during the past year while the photographic series Perfect Wordls was born.

Since 1990s, Raul Keller has been involved in various interdisciplinary art practices such as sound installation, performance, photography, DIY-culture, text, video and radiophonic art with the emphasis on improvisation, site-specific art and analogue processes. Keller has organized Raadiokunst concert performances with LokaalRaadio (with Katrin Essenson, Hello Upan) and performed as an Anglo-American artist Paul Cole presenting burlesque americana. Keller is also a member of free improvisation noise duo Post Horn (with Hello Upan); founding member and head of the Dynamic Union of Music and Art (Muusika ja Kunsti Dünaamiline Koondis MKDK); he participates in art group MIMproject and is a founder of radio art festival Radiaator (with Katrin Essenson). Keller has created commissioned works that have been performed in Great Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Iceland, India, Brazil, Russia and the Baltic states. Keller’s artworks belong to the collections of the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM), Art Museum of Estonia, Tartu Art Museum and several private collections. In 2014–2019, Raul Keller worked as a head and professor of the faculty of new media at the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia. The artist expresses his gratitude towards everyone who has participated in the travelling exhibition.

Exhibitions in Draakon gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Ministry of Culture and Liviko Ltd.