“The Burrow Zone” by Evelyn Grzinich

On Friday, 16 May at 5:00 p.m., Evelyn Grzinich will open her solo exhibition “The Burrow Zone” in the monumental gallery of the Tartu Art House.

The exhibition is about soil. Soil, as the living and ever-changing layer of the earth's crust, has become a poetic space for the artist. It can only be physically experienced in a very limited way, but through the imagination we are given a much wider opportunity to immerse ourselves in this complex environment.

Grzinich's point of departure and source of inspiration is the soil environment, a place of life and decay, and a place for the emergence of the new. As an artist, she is still searching, pushing out roots and buds through a complex and resistant environment. In her work, she is in a constant relationship with what has been and what is. Just as plant roots interact with bacteria, fungi, invertebrate decomposers, molecules, minerals, rocks and other plant roots, she interacts with culture, people and their creation. By experiencing and ingesting them, she nourishes herself and grows on the top layer of the earth's crust.
“Through my artistic practice, I ‘dig’ into the soil with my senses and thoughts, layering meanings, interpretations and visual forms. I act like the soil-dwellers themselves: exploring, searching, breaking down and building anew. Through my imagination, this hidden and intangible world becomes alive and perceptible to me,” the artist explains.

The exhibition also features the guest artist John Grzinich, who has created a sound piece specially for the exhibition.
Evelyn Grzinich (b. 1974) is an artist and cultural organiser based in south-east Estonia. She studied painting at the Konrad Mägi Painting Studio and the Department of Painting at the University of Tartu. She has participated in exhibitions and residency programmes in Estonia and abroad. She is a member of the Association of Estonian Printmakers and the Estonian Artists’ Association, and the Director of the Board of the Estonian Creative Residencies Network (LOORE).

John Grzinich (b. 1970) has worked since the early 1990s as an artist and cultural coordinator with various practices combining sound, moving images, site-specificity and collaborative social structures. His work often explores the perception of sound and space to find resonances between people and places. In recent years his focus has been on combining sound and listening practices with various media to confront anthropocentric perceptions of the world through expanded forms of listening and participatory engagement.

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
The exhibition will be open until 15 June.

Additional information:
Maret Tamme
Producer of the Tartu Art House
produtsent@kunstimaja.ee
5800 3882

www.kunstimaja.ee
facebook.com/kunstimaja

The 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.