“Arctic Embassy” by Taavi Suisalu

On Friday, 5 September at 5:00 p.m., Taavi Suisalu will open his solo exhibition “Arctic Embassy” in the large gallery of the Tartu Art House.

The exhibition stems from fieldwork conducted around Svalbard and on Icelandic glaciers, engaging playfully with the methods of art and science, touching upon the challenges of climate change communication, and questioning the current role of the sublime. Within Suisalu’s embassy, the architect Helmi Marie Langsepp appears as a guest contributor with the material-based aftermath of her project Melting Models, created during a polar night.

Taavi Suisalu conjures miniature utopias that act on technical, metaphorical and poetic levels. He has previously recorded volcanoes and malfunctioning satellites, explored data-fictions, composed for lawnmowers, blended living and digital ecosystems, and inquired about the human self-image in the age of artificial intelligence.

“The Arctic has long served as a symbol of uncharted territory and inspired countless travel journals and adventurous stories. It has been portrayed as endless white, a blank canvas of sorts, the last frontier of freedom awaiting a hero’s discovery. Mapping an unknown is always intertwined with power dynamics and challenges the cultures and well-being of its indigenous inhabitants. While often represented as grandiose, the sublime resists being captured while possibly overshadowing more nuanced perspectives. Today, a realm primarily accessible to scientists and polar bear cruises, with ongoing climate warming, new corridors for transportation and opportunities for resource extraction are emerging. The Arctic, so romanticised, sublime and untouched, is also exceptionally fragile and vulnerable to climate change,” explains the artist.

Taavi Suisalu (b. 1982) is an artist who works in the sphere of media art. He has studied sociology and informatics in Tartu University, graduated from the Media and Advertisement Design Department of the Tartu Art College (BA, 2010) and studied new media at the Estonian Academy of Arts (MA, 2014). He has participated in various international art project and workshops in Germany, England, Iceland, Switzerland, Finland, Russia, Belgium and the Baltic states. In 2014 he was awarded the Young Artist Prize. He was in a residency at the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York (2022). He is one of the laureates of the Estonian state artist’s salary in 2023–2025.

Helmi Marie Langsepp (b. 1992) is an architect who enjoys working with space in extremes, learning about the relationships and opportunities between humans and natural forces at their limits. She is the founder of the Lee Ell experimental architecture studio, and a doctoral candidate and junior researcher at Tallinn University of Technology, where her research focuses on temporary infrastructure and nature-based solutions in the High Arctic climate.

The ambassadors thank the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture and Estonian Polar Club for their support, and The Arctic Circle and SÍM residencies for the opportunity to work in the Arctic and on glaciers.

Special thanks to Jan Kaus, Johannes Säre, Kristjan-Erik Suurväli, Saile Johanna Langsepp and the technical team of the Tartu Art House.

The exhibition will be open until 5 October.

Additional information:
Maret Tamme
Producer of the Tartu Art House
E-post: produtsent@kunstimaja.ee
Tel: +372 5800 3882

www.kunstimaja.ee
facebook.com/kunstimaja

Tartu Art House (Vanemuise 26) is open Wed-Mon 12.00–18.00. All exhibitions are free of charge.
The exhibition activities in the Tartu Art House are supported by the Tartu city government and the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.