An impetus for the tonality of this exhibition is Lauren Berlant’s book “Cruel Optimism” (2011), which is about living in a permanent crisis, where things that we expect and hope for, are in effect hindering us from achieving something that might actually make us happier. Another guiding thread is Werner Herzog’s film “Heart of Glass” (1976), which contains a scene, where the protagonist Hias– a seer in 18th century Bavarian village – predicts the future, listeners being two characters in a tavern, one of them is a goose and the other a young woman getting dressed, having just recently finished a striptease for the intoxicated patrons. Hias envisions the future and foresees the downfall of society, stating that “People settle down as if never wanting to leave this world”.
Sleepwalking might seem frightening for the bystander, but not for the sleepwalkers themselves. In a similar manner, portals constructed with paint might seem like somnambular apparitions, like diary entries from the artist’s inner world. The canvas itself is a mask, which opens a door to our personal demons, as well as to the artist’s subconscious. Fools are known by their laughter. Long live the jester!
Angela Maasalu (b 1990) lives and works in London. She has studied at the painting department of the University of Tartu (BA 2012), painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Estonian Academy of Arts (MA 2015) and furthered her education at UAL Central Saint Martins University in England (2013-2014). In 2017 and 2019, she was nominated for the AkzoNobel Art Prize. She has had personal exhibitions in Tallinn, London and Irákleios, Greece.
The curator of the exhibition is Maria Arusoo.
Graphic design: Johanna Ruukholm
Thanks to: Plado Art Services OÜ, Artproof, Aaioo OÜ (Tarmo Raidma), John Hinds Framing, Estonian Center of Contemporary Art (Kaarin Kivirähk, Sten Ojavee, Marika Agu, Keiu Krikmann), Anu Vahtra, Aleksander Tsapov and Marten Esko.
The exhibition is being supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and the opening by Moe Distillery and Selver .
