From KUMUs website:
"Works by Finnish, Latvian and Estonian contemporary artists are represented in the project. Jaakko Niemelä is the curator and author of the concept for Speed of Darkness, an exhibition that closed in Finland in May and has now arrived in Estonia. This is supplemented by Other Stories, an exhibition that interprets the same subject, which was initiated by Eha Komissarov.
The selected art projects deal with the creation of the material base of darkness and search for a means to allow darkness to be transformed into material for an installation, by activating darkness," Eha Komissarov, one of the curators of the exhibition said. "Darkness becomes functional when we decipher it as separate phenomena, between which the artists create significant connections and points of contact, by using metaphysical opportunities and experiences from everyday life."
Whilst I think many of the works were good or even really good, I feel like the conceptual framework around "darkness" was a bit insufficient. I would really have liked to hear more of the curators thoughts and considerations - especially since a large part of the exhibit was installed in dark spaces which wasn't neccessary in all cases. How do we use the word "darkness", the idea of darkness, the idea of the void? We can understand this as many different things, and each suggest a different function. What is the function of the image of dark desolation, the creeping feeling of absence and presence at the same time, ghostlike as in Patrik Söderberg and(?) Visa Suonpää's piece "A view from the other side"? http://www.socialtoolbox.com/ I have noted a similar sentiment in other works, and I am drawn to it. And I dont think I am alone in this. Why?
The same sentiment comes back in Karel Koplimets "Suburbs of fear"
