Is There Hope For Lovely Creatures?

Exploring the inner worlds of women, Is There Hope For Lovely Creatures?, the inaugural exhibition at Tallinn Art Hall’s newly launched Lasnamäe Pavilion curated by Tamara Luuk, exposes fragility, bravery and strength within an ever changing and challenging society. 

Participating artists: Merike Estna, Alexei Gordin, Elin Kard, Edith Karlson, Alice Kask, Vassa Ponomarjova, Anu Põder, Maria Sidljarevitš, Anna Škodenko and Johanna Ulfsak. 

Is There Hope For Lovely Creatures? takes as its point of departure, the honest and deeply personal reflections of Estonian and Russian-speaking artists on trust and climate crises, wars and pandemics, and the imbalance in traditional family relationships and what the tensions caused by them have transformed into. Maintaining balance on such a fluctuating terrain, a woman’s perspective leaves a particularly strong impression.

“Being the first exhibition at Tallinn Art Hall’s Lasnamäe Pavilion, Is There Hope For Lovely Creatures? seeks to access the distinctiveness of the creative impulses of Russian-speaking artists in Estonia. Speaking about womanhood, man, insofar as he belongs to a woman’s world, is more present in their works than in those by their Estonian sisters. Therefore, it is not by coincidence that it is Alexei Gordin with his videos from 2012 and 2013 who documents the sometimes painful wanderings of a young Russian woman in the local memoryscapes, turning them it into a complete whole,” says Tamara Luuk, curator of the exhibition.

Lectern, which dates to 2007, has the greatest generalising power among the works at the exhibition. Anu Põder was sixty years old when she created this work, having experienced life’s difficulties much longer than the young female artists whose works are displayed beside hers. Põder’s compromises and sacrifices to life could not count for the recognition she received when she was gone, and what would it have changed anyway? Her daughter Alice’s miniature sketches before starting work on the large state portrait of Estonia’s first female president are placed face to face with Anu’s work, the non-existent speaker who is burned to ashes at the lectern. It seems like a warning about something that luckily never happened in real life to the real President. “Indeed: fragility is bravery, which a woman carries throughout her entire life and even beyond her death,” Luuk says, referring to the 2017 exhibition dedicated to Anu Põder, curated by Rebeka Põldsam.

Tallinn Art Hall’s Lasnamäe Pavilion designed by Salto Architects is located at 24 Jaan Koorti Street. It is a timber building that has been erected next to the Lindakivi Cultural Centre, while Tallinn Art Hall’s original 1932 listed building located in the capital’s Freedom Square undergoes major planned renovation works. Already, the Lasnamäe Pavilion has received international acclaim in the media for its sustainable and adaptable approach to its architecture and surrounding environment.

“For me, it is concerning that Tallinn’s urban planning increases fragmentation and separation. All the new fancy cultural buildings are being erected in the city centre; however, access to modern art and culture in general should be much more evenly distributed,” said Paul Aguraiuja, director of Tallinn Art Hall. “I hope that Tallinn Art Hall will help alleviate this significant problem somewhat. I believe that by moving the Art Hall to Lasnamäe, we will achieve a slightly more unified society. It seems like a remote area, but at the same time it is the most densely populated district in Estonia. We have already developed educational programmes, which we are committed to continuing at Lasnamäe. We have also removed the simplest visitor barrier – the exhibition ticket – so you can visit the Art Hall in Lasnamäe for free.”

Is There Hope For Lovely Creatures? will remain open to visitors until February 5, 2023. Tallinn Art Hall’s Lasnamäe Pavilion (24 Jaan Koorti Street) is open from Wednesday to Sunday from 12–7pm. Entrance is free.

Curator Tamara Luuk will lead guided tours at the exhibition on Saturday, November 26, at 2pm (in Estonian) and 4pm (in Russian). Weekly guided tours will take place Thursdays at 6pm, Saturdays at 1pm (in Estonian) and Wednesdays at 6 and Saturdays at 3pm (in Russian).

The Tallinn Art Hall Foundation is a contemporary art establishment that presents exhibitions in two gallery spaces in 2022–2024: at Tallinn Art Hall’s Lasnamäe Pavilion and Tallinn City Gallery. The exhibitions of Tallinn Art Hall are installed by Valge Kuup.

For international press inquiries and images please contact Alexia Menikou, am [​at​] alexiamenikou.com.
For further information please contact Madli Ehasalu, +372  5621 8422, madli [​at​] kunstihoone.ee.