A Screening-evening of WALLFLOWER by Pilvi Takala (Finland) in TAZ Tallinn
TAZ TALLINN (Rael Artel Gallery: Non-Profit Project Space)
Pärnu Road 27-13, Tallinn, Estonia
October 6, 2006
www.moskva80.com
The video work Wallflower is based on a simple performative event in a dance-evening, a version of the traditional Finnish summer pavilion dance. Mostly elderly couples enjoy themselves dancing to old-fashioned music while the artist, a younger woman, is sitting in a shiny dress alone the whole evening waiting for somebody to ask her to dance. But everybody is dancing only with their partners and never ask the stranger to dance, as it would be appropriate in the proper dance-events in Finland. So the girl is sitting, the hours are passing, the band finishes and everybody is about to leave. What a unpleasant situation! What a foolish situation! On the one hand, the piece evokes embarrassment and sweet-bitter discomfort as well as raising the question, what is the artist looking for from the territory that is clearly not hers? The territory she tries to "fish" is shared by a particular community with a clear set of rules shared among them. This in-between contradictory feeling seems to be shared among the dancers in the some kind of spa in Pärnu as well as among viewer in front of the screen. Wallflower is a smart interference, which points to the characteristics and value system of one generation as well as unwritten rules shared on national bases. The performative experiment comes to an end with the same result as several of Pilvi's works before: the social structure is functioning and protecting itself.
The artwork Wallflower was commissioned by Rael Artel Gallery: Non-Profit Project Space in summer 2006.
The show is supported by Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, Finnish Institute, Tallinn and Estonian Cultural Endowment.
A poster with a text by Rael Artel is available to download here (about 200 kilos):
Wallflower poster
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Forever Yours,
Rael Artel
+ 372 56 460 983
+ 372 56 229 213
moskva80@moskva80.com
www.moskva80.com
