Artists for Performa 17’s Pavilion Without Walls: Estonia have been announced

Estonian Pavilion Without Walls presents artists Flo Kasearu, Anu Vahtra, and Kris Lemsalu with a Performa Commission during Performa 17, the New York city wide biennial for contemporary performance taking place from November 1st through 19th. Curators/producers Esa Nickle and Maaike Gouwenberg along with the director of the biennial RoseLee Goldberg, have chosen the artists from a pool of 9 finalists.

 

Anu Vahtra’s project is based on the legacy of the legendary artist Gordon Matta-Clark and the Anarchitecture Group. Kris Lemsalu collaborates with musician and artist Kyp Malone, who has been featured in bands such as TV On The Radio, Iran, Rain Machine, and Ice Balloons. Lemsalu presents a performance where her sculptural costumes merge with video and live music. Flo Kasearu presents a site-specific performance in the Estonian House New York, which deals with the historical and future stories of a secret club. In addition, a talk between Anu Allas, Ksenia Nouril and Maria Arusoo and a film screening at The Performa 17 Hub, will introduce the history and current state of performance within Estonian contemporary art.

 

Curator and theater producer Evelyn Raudsepp will work with the Performa team as a Curatorial Fellow from the preparatory stage of Estonian Pavilion Without Walls through the end of the biennial.

 

Performa was founded by art historian and curator RoseLee Goldberg in 2004. It is New York’s first biennial focusing only on performance, and is also the largest non-commercial contemporary art event in the United States. Over the past decade Performa has presented nearly 600 performances, worked with more than 700 artists, and shown its productions in nearly 20 countries around the world. Performa 17, New York City Biennial, will be open at venues across the city from November 1st to 19th, 2017.

 

Performa started the country-based Pavilion Without Walls program in 2013 and Norway, Poland, and Australia have participated so far. During three weeks, nearly 25,000 people are expected to attend the various events of the program, and 5 million people will visit Performa’s website over the same period. The program for the biennial will be released in September.

 

Commissioner: Performa 17

Estonian organizer: ECADC

 

Pavilion Without Walls: Estonia at the Performa Biennial is supported by the Estonian Ministry of Culture, Outset Estonia, and the Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center (ECADC).

 

Press contact:

Anastassia Dratsova

anastassia@ecadc.ee

 

Photographed (from left): Flo Kasearu, Anu Vahtra, Kris Lemsalu. Photo: Kristina Õllek