19 Jul 2012

Telling the Baltic

In a unique collaborative of art institutions, academia, museums and sea travelers around the Baltic Sea have gathered with the narrative as a starting point. 'Telling the Baltic' is structured into several parts, with a collection of stories as a start, workshops for artists and storytellers as the next part and finally an exhibition touring in Europe. An exhibition which will be constantly changing in shape and number of artists in different locations.

Stories from fishermen, lighthouse keepers, marine scientists, captains, ferry personnel, sailors, islanders and shipyard workers have been collected by artists, scientists, museum curators and journalists using different methods. There is a chorus of individual voices that have been heard, far from the solemnity of history books. Eventually, all the stories will be published on the internet.

The project was developed in working with artists in several workshops. The stories have served as a basis and inspiration for the artists who created new works for the exhibition. The exploration of the researcher's and the artist's working methods, as well as the exchange of stories and cultural identities have been the starting point of the cooperation.

A total of 27 artists from Poland, Sweden, Lithuania, Russia, Germany and Denmark participated in the process. The number of artists varies from place to place.

The exhibition displays everything from existential and poetic works about impermanence; works that accommodate drama and politics, to works with absurd humor and superstition. The exhibition includes Henric Lund Jörgensen's film based on the Swedish-Baltic extraditions picturing the refugee independent of time and Iwona Zajac's works linking shipyard workers in Gdansk with Blekinge embroidery tradition on stretched canvases in the museum's baroque garden. Irma Stanaitytė and Jurgita Remeikytė have used the story of how people used to catch crows for dinner on the Curonian Spit in their collective works. Łukasz Szałankiewicz interactive sound installation springs from the rock carvings in Blekinge, while Laura Stasiulytes sound installation collects the songs that some of the storytellers most loves, in a rhythmic hum.

Not long ago, during the Cold War, the Baltic Sea was a symbol of, and a border between, some of the countries that come together here today: Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Germany and Sweden. Today we have every opportunity to travel, work and learn about each other's cultures – it's time now.

Participating artists
Patrycja Orzechowska [PL], Iwona Zając [PL], Anna Steller [PL], Łukasz Szałankiewicz [PL], Anna Zaradny [PL], Johan Thurfjell [SE], Astrid Göransson [SE], Anna Brag [SE], Henrik Lund Jørgensen [DK], Anton Zabrodin [RU], Irma Stanaityte [LT], Jurgita Remeikyte [LT], Marek Zygmunt [PL], Paetrick Schmidt [DE], Katrin Roeber [DE], Laura Stasiulyte [LT], Dainius Dapkevicius [LT], Gintaras Makarevicius [LT], Oleg Blyablyas [RU], Katerina Cherevko [RU], Dmitry Demidov [RU], Konstantin Traschenkov [RU], Aleksandr Ljubin [RU], Vassily Kolesnic [RU], Evgeny Umansky [RU], Aleksey Tchebykin [RU], Danil Akimov [RU], Alexey Trotsak [RU]

Exhibition designer
Marek Zygmunt [PL]

Exhibition tour
9 June – 16 September 2012: Blekinge Museum, Karlskrona, Sweden
5 October – 2 December 2012: Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdańsk, Poland
14 December 2012 – 15 January 2013: Baltic Branch of the National Centre for Contemporary Arts & NGO ArtMission, Kaliningrad, Russia
Spring 2013: Kunsthalle Rostock, Rostock, Germany
June–August 2013: On board Stena Line ferries between Karlskrona/Gdynia