Secret room. Tiina Sarapu

Tiina Sarapu: “I really liked the invitation of the museum. The proposed format and the possibilities for dealing with the topic fit in perfectly with my previous projects. I am interested in space, I am interested in the environment, I am interested in having free space. I feel pleasure to watch the light move around the room. I am fascinated by glass when I come to see what unexpected and at the same time, in fact, perfectly legitimate landscapes glass and light together create in a room.

When I asked about the storage, packaging, sending and displaying of objects in the museum, I saw a lot of connections with my previous work, because at first I tried to get rid of these invisible threads instead. So, at first I wasn’t looking for anything. If at all, maybe yourself. I wanted to know what I could find.

Exploring museum collections can be compared to surfing in your subconscious. Combing through a huge amount of visual material, I began to observe my feelings, thoughts, and repetitive patterns more closely. Over and over again, I found myself staying longer at work, which reflected something warm from my childhood, where there was peculiar and familiar. I also found something that brought out anxiety, heaviness or indifference.

I was very interested in how the items are systematized and physically stored or packaged. However, a more interesting and important factor is how the whole is formed. The excitement, complexity and responsibility of the collection became clear to me more than before. ”

The environment created by Tiina Sarapu in the museum gallery hides a workshop close to the ideal, but also a sensitively designed airy space in which favorite works from the museum collection, along with special objects from elsewhere, intertwine in a lively dialogue with the artist’s work. The gray, semi-open glasses in front of the showcases and boxes partially filter the view of the works, at the same time offering a new perspective and food for thought through the artist’s curves, engravings and the gray veiled state. This “room of secrets” has light, enough time and space that Tiina Sarapu wants to offer with her work.

Exhibition designer: Tiina Sarapu

Graphic designer: Meelis Mikker

Proofreading: Hille Saluäär

Translation: Refiner OÜ

Exhibition working group: Ketli Tiitsar, Kai Lobjakas, Helen Adamson, Kristi Paap, Anne Tiivel, Toomas Übner

The exhibition is supported by: Estonian Cultural Endowment

The artist thanks: Klaasissepa OÜ, ECCOM OÜ, the Department of Interior Architecture of EAA, Kalle Oja, Maret Sarapu and everyone whose work is included in the exhibition and the museum staff.