“Most of the exhibited works are closely associated with memories about places that are important to me and the materials and shapes that are linked to them. Since my background is tightly connected with the medium of sculpture, it is natural for me to approach material not only as a means to execute an idea, but as something that carries a certain memory and is capable of entering into a dialogue with us. I try to use the works at the exhibition to decode my memories using space and materials as transmitters of memory and as stimuli for memory impulses,” Luik explains.
According to the curator Mailis Timmi, the exhibition is not merely looking back but raises questions about the role that past experiences play in shaping the future. “Although memories are something that we usually understand in connection with the past, the works of Johannes Luik inquire about the role memories play in experiencing the present moment and the future. Memory images created years ago alongside connections and reflexes that have been shaped through time accompany us every day, assisting us in interpreting the surrounding reality and creating an image of our surroundings through a filter of the past. As in life, many of the connections presented at the exhibition are shared, but many are also deeply personal,” says Timmi.
Johannes Luik (b 1988) has studied sculpture and installation at the Estonian Academy of Arts. In 2017, Luik was awarded the grand prix at the Young Sculptor Award Exhibition and in 2020 he was the winner of the Adamson-Eric young artist scholarship. In the Tartu Art House, he previously had an exhibition in 2019 in the monumental gallery together with his father, the sculptor Jaan Luik.
The exhibition “I Remember What Was Yesterday Tomorrow” is accompanied by an audience programme including a tour by the artist and a conversation between the semiotician Timo Marand and Johannes Luik. More information about the events is available on the exhibition’s Facebook page.
The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Tartu City Government and Tartu Artists’ Union. Graphic design by Henri Kutsar.
