Recent times are marked by the growing realisation that the human species, generally portrayed as earth’s superior beings, are failing to protect the livelihood of the planet and are even playing an active role in destroying it. Do we need to re-evaluate the intellectual capacities of humans or rather call it an unforeseen but uncontrollable failure in a system that was built with good intentions? Hannah Arendt wrote in The Human Condition in 1958 that we suffer from earth alienation because our relationship with earth is increasingly mediated through technology. She claims that the development of space and air travel led to a distant perspective since we no longer feel tied to the confines of the earth. Against this background the exhibition goes deeper into two different perspectives through which we can relate to the land, namely ‘owning’ and ‘belonging’, and shows projections of desire and responsibility in real life and in visual culture.
The exhibition will open the Tallinn Photomonth 2019 contemporary art biennial.
Heidi Ballet is a Belgian independent curator based in Berlin with a background in Chinese Studies and a research interest in oceanic territory. In 2018 she curated Beaufort 2018, a sculpture triennial along the Belgian coast. In 2017, Ballet curated together with Milena Hoegsberg the Lofoten Biennial (LIAF) in northern Norway titled I Taste The Future, a site-specific project with a thematic focus on new ecologies. In 2016, she curated the Satellite exhibition series Our Ocean, Your Horizon at Jeu de Paume Paris and CAPC Bordeaux. Between 2012 and 2015, Ballet worked as a researcher and assistant curator for the Taipei Biennale (2012) and for Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin (2013-2015). Before relocating to Berlin, she was gallery director at Jan Mot from 2008 until 2012. Her writing has appeared in Mousse Magazine, Randian and Art Papers.
Image: NASA image of the interior design of an O’Neill cylinder, a space settlement design from 1976.
Gallery name: Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM)
Address: Põhja pst. 35, Tallinn
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 12:00 - 19:00
Open: 07.09.2019 - 20.10.2019