Active Crossover, soundscouting | photo: John Grzinich
contents MoKS info / 3 / Conclusion / 3 / AIR / 4 / Curated and Group residencies / 5 / Crossing Contexts / 6-7/ Active Crossover / 8-11 / What is real? / 12-13 / Between the Islands / 14-15 / Instrument Inventors Initiative / 16-19 / Black Holes / 20-21 / Exchange residencies / 22-23 / Fresh AIR / 24 / Alumni return and rental residencies / 25 / Open Studio / 26-27 / Gallery / 28-29/ Artists to Schools / 30-31 / Events / 32/ Budget / 33/ Timeline / 34 / Credits / 35 /
Lake at Kellam채e bog | photo: John Grzinich
Conclusion To make brief summaries of another busy year of programming is always difficult without generalizing or giving a fuller picture of what happened. However for 2015 we feel it is most important to reflect on our decision to open the residency process to the artists who apply in the interest to collaborate and share the residency experience. The curating, programming and organization of residencies is often seen as an administrative task to be handled by the residency hosts themselves, drawing a distinct line between the organizers and their guests. Purposely blurring this line has led us into new territories concerning the ideas, tasks and responsibilities of running MoKS and being hosts, redefining our relationship the artists we host. Hosting groups, or in most cases, a revolving door of pairings and clusters of artists offered an array of situations even more varied and complex than with hosting individuals. Making time and space for artists to create and work collaboratively in and open-ended manner has always been a priority at MoKS symposia and attempting to foster this within the residency program seemed like a natural step as we felt there is a growing demand (and need) among artists to be able to share the residency experience with colleagues and collaborators. With that said we want to thank those who made the effort to come together in 2015 to help, share and work at MoKS and we hope for more of the same in 2016.
MoKS info MoKS, artistic and creative practices Mooste m천isa valitsejamaja Mooste 64616, P천lva maakond Estonia moks@moks.ee www.moks.ee www.facebook.com/MOKSperiphery
Active Crossover, Jim Haynes searching resonances of rusty old water tower | photo: John Grzinich
in 2015 our main focus was in: Artist-in-residence programme (48 artists for longer and shorter stays, from 21 countries) | Gallery (4 exhibitions / approx 600 visitors | Educational activities: Artists to Schools visits (16 visits, approx 250 participants, involving 15 artists), workshops (3) | Event series: MoKS meetings (8), CineMoKS screenings (7), concerts (4)
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Artist in Residence In 2015 MoKS altogether hosted 48 artists from various disciplines. Four artists made long-term visits (1-2 months), with 36 artists for shorter-term residencies (2 weeks to 1 month). All 4 available studios were for artistic use. Artists came from the following countries: USA (6), Netherlands (5), Estonia (4), Latvia (4), UK (4), Denmark (3), Lithuania (3), Finland (3), Germany (2), Austria (2), Australia (2) SouthKorea (1), Chile (1), Scotland (1), Armenia (1), Ukraine (1), Japan (1), Spain (1), Belgium (1), Taiwan (1), Sweden (1). 5 programmes were open for artists to apply: Group and Curated residencies | Exchange residencies with DAR (Lithuania) and FKSE (Hungary) | Fresh AIR residency | Open Studio | Alumni return and studio rentals MoKS 2015 AIRs were: Camilla Graff Junior, Luisa Greenfield and family, Michael Kjaer, Myna Trustram, Eduardo Abrantes, Sebastian - . Arlene Tucker, Kaspars Dietrich, Daina Dieva Pupkevičiute, Lielgalvis, Argo Vals, Simon Whetham, Park Jin Young, Richard Eigner, Yiorgis Sakellariou, Tuulikki Bartosik, Jim Haynes, Fernando Godoy, Eamon Sprod, James Wyness, Dawn Scarfe, Taavi Suisalu, Rostislav Rekuta, Vahram Muradyan, Tero Nauha and Karolina Kucia, Piotr Armianovski, Masayo Kajimura, Maiko Date, Mykolas Natalevičius, Tadas Dailyda, Doug Reed, Matteo Marangoni, Mariska de Groot, Dewi de Vree, Patrizia Ruthensteiner, Lars Kynde, Wen Chin Fu, Yolanda Uriz, Aurélie Lierman, Mischa Daams, Adam Denton, Luke Twyman, Marianna Liik, - Johansons, Anna Jaaniste, Seth Linda Leimane, Voldemars Nehil, Kelly Rauer. MoKS front door | photo: Tanel Rander
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Curated and Group residencies MoKS Curated and Group residencies were initiated at the end of 2014 to realize the potential of residencies for collectives and collaborating artists and to meet the need of expanding curatorial practices involving residencies. A number of these residencies were able to bring a focused and determined group of people under one roof, to use the residency as a period for open but shared explorations (Active Crossover), exhibition preparation (Totaldobze Black Holes) or development of performances (Masayo Kajimura and Maiko Date), testing prototypes for workshops (Tero Nauha and Karolina Kucia), discussion and symposium preparations (Crossing Contexts) or taking a chance for an established group to meet, work and cross-pollinate (Instrument inventors Initiative). With the organisation and facilitation of the residency in the hands of visiting artists and curators, MoKS role was to welcome the groups, provide and introduce them to the available contacts in Estonia (both local and national) and local community, finding resources and stipends for artist projects, organise events in conjunction with residency (MoKS meetings, Artists to schools visits, public performances and presentations). Besides free studio and accommodation, stipends from 350â‚Ź to 1400â‚Ź were provided for visiting artists and organisers depending on the duration and scale of their residency.
Even shoes are mossy here | photo: John Grzinich
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CROSSING CONTEXTS, A LAB FOR ARTISTIC RESEARCH Curated by Camilla Graff Junior and Luisa Greenfield Participants -. Myna Trustram, Michael Kjaer, Daina Dieva Pupkevičiute, Eduardo Abrantes, Sebastian Dietrich, Luisa Greenfield family: Ming Tsao, Kathleen Escalada, Elsa Greenfield Tsao
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During my residency at MoKS I worked on my current performance and artistic research project "Is love a concept (by which we measure our pain)?". My activities consisted of developing and presenting a series of one to one performances, daily working sessions with invited guests and collaborators and together with Luisa Greenfield preparing our symposium in Artistic Research for the Nordic Summer University held at Kanuti Gildi Saal in Tallinn from March 26th -28th. The series of one to one performances was developed for - and in dialogue with - members of the MoKS community. Together with invited artists, curators and researchers, I prepared a performance-panel that was presented at Genialistide Klubi in Tartu on March 21st and at Kanuti Gildi Saal in Tallinn on March 28th in the frame of the symposium in Artistic Research.
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The environment of MoKS in general offered excellent working facilities for conceiving this project with equally a local and international character. It gave me, both as a curator and artist, the opportunity to open up my writing process to the participation of the guests that Luisa and I had invited. [Camilla Graff Junior]
NSU Symposium in Artistic Research, Kanuti Gildi Saal | photo: John Grzinich
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Camilla Graff Junior was my touchstone collaborator and we met daily to plan our upcoming winter symposium in artistic research for Nordic Summer University.
We went to Tartu to meet with Kalevi Kull, one of the most generous and open scholars we have ever met, to discuss semiotic ecologies and the wonders and contradictions of Estonia and our silent walks with him.
At MoKS Sebastian and I screened the third instalment of our mash-up experiment, Biological Wisdom and Social Transformation, this time on the theme of fungi. With Myna Trustram and Eduardo Abrantes, we also discussed our plans as editors of the Nordic Summer University 20132015 artistic research study cycle anthology. Partly based on our collective experience at MoKS, we developed the theme for the anthology, Being There: Exploring the local through artistic research.
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I arrived at MoKS with my husband, mother and three year old daughter. Together with collaborator friends who joined at intervals along the way, Evelyn, John and their daughter, we cooked and ate meals together, sweat in the sauna, had discussions that ran late into the night, experienced the astounding northern lights together, took long walks, ate yogurt, cheeses and pickled foods from the local farm. In short, we had a truly amazing time.
In Mooste Sebastian Dieterich and I created a daily ritual of walking, not talking and getting lost. Each day we would step outside of MoKS, determine a direction to start out in and let our silent intuition and the landscape guide us from there. What transpired were entirely unpredictable encounters with the local landscape and the remarkable discovery of an ability to communicate everything without words. We never had a problem getting lost and learned right away to trust in the uncanny intuition that lead two haphazard explorers to find the way back every time.
It would be reductive to say that my time at MoKS was a merely a productive time. Concrete work happened but the experience was much more than that. MoKS, Mooste and Estonia was a transformative experience. [Luisa Greenfield]
7 Silent dinner | photo: John Grzinich
0APR1 >> M31 AY ACTIVE CROSSOVER by Simon Whetham and John Grzinich Participants: Tuulikki Bartosik, Arlene Tucker, Park Jin Young, Richard Eigner, Yiorgis Sakellariou, Jim Haynes, Fernando Godoy, Eamon Sprod, James Wyness, Dawn Scarfe, Rostislav Rekuta, Taavi Suisalu. 8 Performance setup, Active Crossover at Tartu Artist House | photo: John Grzinich
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The main strength of the Active Crossover project was definitely the combination of the different energies and approaches each artist brought and shared. Although one or two of the artists knew each other personally, most did not. A further strength was having the support and involvement of the directors of MoKS, Evelyn and John Grzinich. The project simply could not have happened without them. To have established such a renowned and successful residency in Mooste, situated in rural SouthEast Estonia is to their credit and they have created a working environment that is both relaxed and inspiring. From the project's inception I have always enjoyed the company of like-minded individuals and groups, where we can share ideas and experiences, from theories and approaches, through to recording activities,
performances and workshops. I am always willing to learn from experience (my own and others') and possible errors of judgement (in any form), and also from participating in something I would not normally consider. For this development of the project, my aim was for participating artists to join me in Mooste and for us to share experiences such as these - the familiar and the unfamiliar. I feel I faced two major challenges. The first was the organisation and management of the artists and activities. This encompasses many aspects of project management but the specific challenges I faced were as follows: Knowing what my role actually entailed - Was I to be the aforementioned project manager, or more one of the participants? I followed the latter rather than the former, but I am now unsure if that was the correct choice. However, although having more than one organiser eased so much pressure in many ways, this also left me feeling that many decisions or plans could not be made without consultation. The group could not be spontaneous to a certain degree, which I would have preferred. Knowing when to push to engage the group in collective activities and when to leave participants to organise themselves - This is always a difficult situation as personally I do not like having a project organised around me and having to follow set guidelines. On the other hand, the most common question each day was 'What is the plan for today?'. Having a proposed 'end product' - While the artists who joined Active Crossover: Mooste were content with engaging in the group activities, discussions and with the peaceful Estonian countryside, it became clear that some of the participants wished there to be a final resolution to the project. Even now, I feel it would have been impossible to propose a fixed final outcome, not knowing how many of the artists functioned, both individually and in a group context. I knew the general nature of their works, but only had insight into the working methods of one or two of them. The project allowed me to work alongside all of the participants, getting to know how they worked and more importantly why. Only now would I be able to propose a fixed outcome for a future project development, but even this would need to be open and flexible to accommodate each artists' approach and vision.
9 Lake listeners Fernando Godoy & co | photo: John Grzinich
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The second challenge was one of being immersed in the project over 2 months, with very few breaks or downtime. Because of the participants availability and other engagements, each chose a time period to join the project that suited them best. However, this meant that over the 9 weeks of the project, there was only a period of 3 days where John, Evelyn and I were able to have some time away from the project. I know that none of us could have foreseen how exhausting this would be, and we have to thank the artists who joined us later in the project for bringing their energy and enthusiasm, which kept us going. [Simon Whetham]
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0AP8R MoKS Meeti ngs S
10 Simon Whetham, Fernando Godoy, Arlene Tucker in search of sound | photo: John Grzinich
MoKS Meetings: Trans30 missions of Sound, Tartu APR Artists House
>>9 8MAY
Workshop with Tallinn University MA Students in Audio-Visual Ethnography
Artists to Schools: Dawn 12 Scarfe at P천lva High MAY School
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Concert: Chatterbox, Tuulikki Bartosik, Hannah MAY James + AC guests
11 photo: John Grzinich
WHAT IS REAL? by Tero Nauha and Karolina Kucia Participants: Svetlana Bogomolova, Vahram Muradyan, Marta Bogomolova Muradyan, Tuulikki, Mattias, Leo and Theo Bartosik, Maarja, Madis and Melissa Masing, Anselm Nauha-Kucia, John, Evelyn and Kayt Grzinich
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In July 2015 we have run two workshops with Karolina Kucia and I at MoKS. They took place on July 15-16 and July 28-30, 2015. The total amount of participants, including the organizers were fifteen people, adults and children. The topic of the workshop was "What is real?" Both workshops followed a structure created by us, in collaboration with Evelyn Grzinich and John Grzinich, which was directed for including both adults and their children around this question.
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The workshops were intense and required a flexibility and demanded strong involvement from us and the MoKS residency organizers. That is to say, the total of the residency was focused on providing this workshop for the participants, which were artists, their spouses and children. This model had not been tried out in any place else beforehand, and therefore the organization was rather demanding.
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[Tero Nauha]
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12 What is real? | photo: John Grzinich
The world is often created through response, speculation, playing, experimenting, reaction and reflection. The method of the workshop was based on notion that all thinking is equal, that is to say, all understanding of what is real, are considered equally valid, may it be a baby, toddler, teenager, adult or senior. When we think of what is real, we tend to create hierarchies of knowledge. Some points of views or thoughts are supposedly correlating more with the real than others some thoughts are more 'realistic' than others. Then, in our proposal, we considered everything equally as real, or that everything is equally 'as-if-real'. We proposed not to create art, but instead propose stations as 'frames' or 'framework'. To observe often ordinary or mundane event in a frame or through certain point of view like through different lenses. Also, we did not propose to focus only on the knowing or knowledge of children or teenagers, but to regard the relationships we have. Thus, these frames do not require anything excessive, but everyone may do them within their own limits or interest. The workshop followed a twelve-hour schedule. There were four stations allocated for the day, in certain times. Out of these stations, two of them were directed for the whole group, and other ones were for smaller group. The food preparations and cooking were done in a group. Each day ended with a short assessment, where every participant shared his or her experiences of the day. In the workshop we used a system called meta-model, a 'system of a system', which functions as dynamic tools in creating materials both for artistic production and how one perceives the subjectivity in relation with the group, milieu, social norms or political bodies. We had great occasion to try the structure for group organisation based on this model based on Fernard Deligny's and Felix Guattari's research and trial in Clinique de La Borde. That model was originally meant for therapeutic organisation for schizophrenics, however we were following the analysis of capitalist structure as schizoid by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari's, which was useful in working with our group or family structures, as well. One of our small successes was ability to understand the function of analytic structures used by Guattari, the metamodelization, which gives us a courage to use this method in future projects.
We feel that collaboration and organization of the workshop with MoKS was flexible, productive and functioned well. We were given enough space, attention and interest to develop our idea. The actual workshops were intense, and required participation from all members of the group. However, the intention of the workshop was focused on research around this topic, instead of creating for instance some emancipatory result for the participants. We were able to work both physically, emotionally and theoretically around the topic, and were able to produce real results, also. Therefore, we r e g a r d the workshop successfully co-created with the MoKS organization. [Tero Nauha]
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The subject of the workshop
13 What is real? | photo: Tero Nauha
BETWEEN THE ISLANDS by Masayo Kajimura and Maiko Date Participants: EETER (Anna Hints, Marja-Liisa Plats, Ann Reimann)
4 2 04 >> AUG AUG
14 Masayo Kajimura, Anna Hints, Maiko Date, Ann Reimann, Marja-Liisa Plats | photo: Masayo Kajimura
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"between islands" is a video dance performance project, that we started in 2012. Since then the project has grown, and so far we have presented the performance 8 times in 7 different locations in 4 countries together with diverse collaborators. This year, we were lucky to have had the opportunity to further develop the project in two residency programs: a one month residency in June at the KĂźnstlerhaus Lukas in Ahrenshoop/Germany, and another residency in August at MoKS in Mooste/ Estonia. During our stay at MoKS, we were able to collect and create further material for "between islands". Maiko worked on the choreography and development of the scenes, while Masayo recorded video material mainly in nature (forest, lake, and other landscapes), and created paper cut figures for the shadow theater elements of the performance. A crucial element of our residency was the collaboration with the Estonian vocal electronic music band EETER (Anna Hints, Marja-Liisa Plats, Ann Reimann). Their music was included into our performance, and together we recorded video and sound in different spots in and around Mooste, which also became part of "between islands". The intense working process during the residencies resulted in the recreation of most scenes of "between islands". When we presented the performance on September 4th, 2015 at miss hecker in Berlin, we were able to show the audience an intensified and transformed piece, which carried very much the experiences and moods that we breathed in during our residency stays. We can only stress the importance of the residency at MoKS, which allowed us to work in an unique environment (not only the splendid studio, but also the natural landscape such as the forest), where we had the luxury of concentrating on the creative process, could go back to the essential, and lived in a slow but clarified rhythm which is different from our usual urban environment. The creation time together with EETER was a great source of inspiration, and we enjoyed our common time so much, that we would like to continue our collaboration , and hopefully will do a live performance together in the future.
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"between islands" is an ongoing project, which will be further developed, and the residency at MoKS gave us a lot of resources to do so. We are very grateful for this input. [Masayo Kajimura]
15 photo: John Grzinich
INSTRUMENT INVENTORS INITIATIVE Participats: Patrizia Ruthensteiner, Dewi de Vree, Mariska de Groot, Matteo Marangoni, Mischa Daams, Lars Kynde, Adam Denton, Luke Twyman, Yolanda Uriz, Aurelie Lieman, Wen Chin Fu
Sonografs by Mariska de Groot | photo: Evelyn Grzinich
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In the context of a group residency organised by the Instrument Inventors Initiative "iii" we stayed with 11 artists in MoKS for the full Month of October 2015. Among our group were 8 members of iii and 3 guest artists. During the residency we worked on new projects, presented performance programs in different venues in the Baltic region and hold workshops in several schools around Mooste. Our collective started 3 years ago with former students of the ArtScience Interfaculty in The Hague (NL). To strengthen the bounds of our collective, we organise every year a group residency, in which we work for a longer period on a common location. This year we were very happy that MoKS could give us this opportunity and offered us their space for a full month. Being together in MoKS gave us the chance to exchange information and ideas, give each other feedback during the development of new works, make plans for the future, and to get to know 3 potential new members of the initiative. Also to make known our collective and make new connections in the Baltic region by presenting our performance programs, it was great to have MoKS as a base from which to operate. For all of us individually as well the time in MoKS was a perfect place to withdraw from our daily preoccupation at home and to be able to fully focus on our projects. Besides working and doing research, simply enjoying silence in this remote and quiet place gave us the chance to let our senses become sensitive again, to relax and reflect on our work. Patrizia Ruthensteiner and Dewi de Vree worked during their stay on new antenna-based costumes for sound performance and installation. For this, they fully emerged themselves in the Estonian nature and history and used found local materials for the making of site specific new pieces, documenting the project on specifically selected spots. Mariska de Groot developed new versions of her work 'Sonografs', that consist of pendulums made from wood straight from the estonian woods, a mechanical system that translates the movement of the pendulums into a line drawing and a sensor system that then converts the drawing into sound. She also hold a workshop with children in which a simple version of a Sonograf could be made.
Dewi de Vree | photo: Evelyn Grzinich
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Matteo Marangoni was mainly working on the yearly substantive and financial plan of iii for 2016 and gave a workshop to the collective on the business side of being an artist, as well as a workshop with students of the Räpina Gardening School with his self made echo-location instruments. Yolanda Uriz continued her research into the use of smell in a performative setting and developed new instruments which link smell and sound. Dieter and Jonathan worked on prototypes of new wireless sound synthesis modules for a new collaborative work. Mischa Daams researched the influence of very selective light exposure on our eyes and did experiments with portable analogue optical devices. Wen Chin Fu continued her research into the acoustical properties of sugar in different chemical states and developed a collection of percussion instruments called 'TANG' made out of sugar for her project 'Sounding Sugar'. AurÊlie Lieman worked on her research into the threshold between meaning and music of speech and developed a performance and workshop based on this theme. Finally Lars Kynde researched and made experiments with new methods of musical notation, which resulted into a printed book with various attempts of harmony- and instrument-specific scores.
10 Dewi de Vree | photo: Evelyn Grzinich
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At the end of the residency all newly developed works were presented in a performance event in Moks. A gathering around a campfire with Wenchin's sugar experiments started off the evening and was followed by a tour alongside all individual and collaborative works which were presented in various unique spaces in and around the building. This collective presentation was very useful in a way that we could support each other during setting up, playing and documentation and of course to be able to experience each others freshly made works. Other presentations in venues in the Baltic region in this period have given us a lot of new contacts. iii has invited several Baltic artists to join its public program in home base The Hague and made plans for future shows of iii on different venues. More exchanges to come, we are looking forward!
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Antennae by Patrizia Rutherstein and Dewi de Vree | photo: Tanel Rander
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BLACK HOLES by TOTALTOBZE by Kaspars Lielgalvis Participants: Voldemars Johansons, Taavi Suisalu, Linda Leimane, Marianna Liik
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The participating artists and composers worked together for three weeks on creating ideas for their new art works. After each week a public presentation of the workshop was organized, where participants shared their experiences. The first presentation took place in the Tartu Artists Union on December 2nd. The second presentation took place at the project space MIMstuudio in Tallinn on December 10th. The third and final presentation took place in a gallery| cafe Austra in Riga on December 16th. After each presentation the audience had a chance to ask questions about the ideas and process of the workshop. In events which took place in Estonia Kaspars Lielgalvis explained the background of the project - with its 5 year history of activities held at Totaldobže in Riga.
2NO3V 13 >> DEC
During the workshop the exhibition planned in the Sorting Factory of Flax Seeds, in July 2016, in Mooste, was founded. There is a plan to invite a chamber orchestra "Sinfonietta Riga" to perform compositions composed during the residency at the opening.
The title of the exhibition will be "Omega 3". This fatty acid is extremely important for our health today, because it restores a balance in foods, produced
Factory for sorting Flaxseed, Mooste | photo: Kaspars Lielgalvis
using new industrial technologies. The exhibition will be celebrating the factory and the people, who still run it despite the difficulties they are facing because of new regulations and constant market changes.
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The workshop participants carefully explored the Sorting Factory of Flax Seeds, in Mooste interviewing the workers of the factory about its history, production and their personal life and searching on internet about the qualities of the flax seeds. Many hours were been spent in the factory recording sounds, documenting the process of sorting, planning the placement of art works, orchestra musicians and audience for the opening concert. There were inner presentations where the participants shared among themselves their previous artistic practices. And numerous discussions were held about the existing and possible connections between the factory and the outer world using different scales and levels.
All participants will continue to develop their ideas and make art works for the exhibition. Totaldobže Art Centre and MoKS will work closely together, to collaborate on production of the exhibition.
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Factory for sorting Flaxseed, Mooste | photo: Kaspars Lielgalvis
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In 2015 we continued residency exchange with Budapest based FKSE (Fiatal Képzomuvészek Stúdioja or The Studio of Young Artists' Association). Though we did not host any Hungarian artists in 2015. Instead we sent for 2 months to Budapest Estonian Artist Mari Volens and selected Hungarian artist Klara Petra Szabo for residency at MoKS in February-March 2016. The Estonian artist selected by FKSE for a residency in Budapest in 2016 is Tanel Rander. A new exchange took place with the Composers Union of Lithuania. 2 Lithuanian composers: Mykolas Natalevicius, Tadas Dailyda and 2 Estonian sound artists: John Grzinich, Taavi Suisalu, worked the first 2 weeks in August in Druskininkai Artist-in-residence (DAR) and later same group gathered again at MoKS for 2 weeks in November. Besides free studio and accommodation for all artists Lithuanian artists were provided with the stipend 350€ each for a 2 week residency at MoKS.
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DAR- MoKS exchange part 2 at MoKS, 1.-14.11.2015
Let's start from the beginning then. We arrived by car from Vilnius which turned out to be not so far away and a pretty ordinary trip as well if not for Latvian roads (this is the first negative experience but the residency hadn't begun at that point so it doesn't count). After we had finally arrived at Mooste we had a wonderful welcoming (including pre-heated sauna). The first impression for me was that this place has nothing to do with bureaucrats or people "just doing their job" which is a must for any art related institution (I promise not to use this word again in this text) in my humble opinion.
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Regarding the building itself I have to say that it's very spacious and practically laid out. Maybe even too spacious for composers who don't need much space to "exhibit their work". For me personally three basic things are needed to work on music: good feng shui with proper kitchen, computer and some music instrument. Fortunately, we had good access to a piano which needs a bit of tuning but is perfectly workable otherwise. Computer was successfully extended with two Behringer monitors which were just waiting to be used on the second floor. In terms of feng shui only little tweaking of bed positioning and knife sharpening down at the kitchen was necessary. After all, it is a very well equipped artist residency indeed. We even got ourselves a small PA system to use in the concert which tops this list.
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Some few days after arriving we got to see the Põlva church and it's pipe organ which we would be working on for the upcoming weeks to prepare for a concert. [Tadas Dailyda]
Tadas Dailyda & Mykolas Natalevicius playing at the organ in Põlva church | photo: John Grzinich
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It's important to mention that the time in MoKS was really disturbance free. So I guess the rural setting of MoKS was kind of a productivity booster for me. And then all the public activities happening in and around MoKS during residency were optional but also not too many. I'm glad I participated in most of them though. Kudos to our hostess Evelyn for flawless organization of the concert with cool poster and everything. Come the day of the concert I still was unready to play Keith Jarrett's Hymn of Remembrance but that's again my fault for overcomplicating things. On the other hand, this was my first experience transcribing an organ piece from a highly reverberant recording. That's why the score wasn't finished until the day before the concert if I remember correctly. Composing my own piece was a lot of fun and that's how it should be but doesn't happen that often. This proves that in general MoKS experience was uplifting.
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To sum up, MoKS was a very good opportunity to work on our continuous organ-themed projects with Mykolas with some really interesting results. Thanks for a coincidentally good balance of freedom, opportunities and limitations! [Tadas Dailyda]
The second part of the project took place in Mooste where we were working mostly individually but having great conversations and exchanges of ideas. I was mostly working on an upcoming sound-performance of Postinstrumentum, building new instruments and also giving couple of lecture-workshops in nearby schools. The research done in this exchange-project has already found its way to my later work, either by using sound material collected in Druskininkai or instruments built during the stay at MoKS. [Taavi Suisalu]
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As the follow up residency to my experience at DAR in Druskininkai, it was good to meet again with Mykolas and Tadas and see how they work in an unfamiliar territory. The connection for them to the organ in the church in Polva was essential and gave a focus to their residency. As for me I was able to take some time to get to know them better. Otherwise it was somewhat difficult to be productive as MoKS is my base and it is not always easy to escape the daily routine of running the organization. [John Grzinich]
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[Mykolas Natalevicius]
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In August 2015 I spent 2 weeks in Druskininkai, a small town in southern Lithuania, not far from the borders of Belarus and Poland. During those weeks I was mostly hunting and gathering sounds, exploring the place sonically and historically. The intention of the residency was to trigger a collaboration and/or exchange ideas between two Lithuanian composers and two Estonian-based artists whose practice involves working with sound. Our stay in Lithuania concluded with a collaborative sound broadcast, a remote participation to a symposium of arts happening simultaneously in Nida, Lithuania.
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Põlva, not so far from Mooste, has very nice church with the small pipe organ, which is in very good condition. As we are big pipe organ fans, that was a great source of inspiration and we took the challenge to make a full concert consisting of huge variety of pipe organ music. The organ by itself was with only one manual and pedal and a very tough keyboard (we worked really hard to push those keys in faster places). But it had a very nice disposition with a big variety of colors and characteristics of a baroque organ.
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os p m I s: arja g n i t eelva, Ma M S õ MorKgan, P O hurch C
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Tadas Dailyda and Mykolas Natalevicius giving workshop at Põlva Primary School | photo: Evelyn Grzinich
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f armiraesh a novskir i 0J U 2 2 L >> 0 AUG
This residency was organised in collaboration with the Nordic Fresh Air Project run by HIAP - Helsinki International Artist Programme, Perpetuum Mobile & Cooperative Buongiorno. FRESH AIR is geared towards artists, writers, journalists and scholars who are targets of politically motivated threats and persecution. The primary idea of the residency is to provide for artists at risk a safe place to live and work for a certain period of time. In JulyAugust 2015 we hosted Ukranian artist-activist and actor Piotr Armianovski who was recommended to us by contemporary art organisation Izolyatsija. Besides free studio and accommodation artist was provided with a honorarium 1320€ for a 7 week residency and travel costs covered up to 230€.
Piotr Armianovski talking and showing at Y Gallery, Tartu | photo: John Grzinich
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When I got information about a residency at MoKS I thought: "Great, I could take distance and in silence overview my ideas and experience for last dashing year". However it was not easy to leave my country when the conflict is still going on. So I decided to have less time in Estonia. Before arriving I set few goals for myself - to finish some old ideas. I was not fully succeeded with it, e.g. because scenes shot in Donetsk in 2014 are still too painful to watch. However I came up with few new ideas. Artist talks in MoKS, Võru and Tartu were quite useful for me. However, I am still in a production period for these new ideas, so I can't report any titles. But I could boast by the finishing translation the book by Russel Roberts "The choice. A novel about free trade and protectionism", and finish editing the movie "Culture of Russian Swearwords". It was interesting to meet local people and the artists that were at MoKS at the same time. I enjoyed the Mooste lake, forests and blueberries. Also it was very nice to sightsee in Tartu, Tallinn and Helsinki. [Piotr Armianovski]
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Piotr
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ocati ings: on,Võ Art a ru, Jü s ri 39
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alumni return rental residencies Before the Journey, Ross Cochrane & co | photo: John Grzinich
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Open Studio residencies are for artists and researchers from all over the world. 4 residencies were offered from 2 weeks to 1 month for musician Argo Vals, graphic designer Vahram Muradyan, researcher of traditional log buildings Doug Reed, sound and video artists Seth Nehil and Kelly Rauer. Resident artists were provided with free studio and accommodation. MoKS offered for its former AIRs possibility for return visits. Following artists returned for a brief residency: Jaana Kokko, Michael Holly, Alan Burns, Ross Cochrane. All artist visits were in connection with their exhibitions at Y- Gallery in Tartu. Besides funded residencies we also provided 2 short term rental residencies.
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Working in Flaxseed factory, Seth Nehil and Kelly Rauer | stills from their video
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“
My stay at MoKS was especially beneficial to my efforts to research and write about Estonia's log building culture and traditions. Having a base camp to work from and a quiet place in which to write I visited many historic houses and other buildings and was able to write almost 50,000 words while there for one month. It was a concentrated effort not diluted by the chores of a farm where I live and the normal family interruptions of everyday life. While in Estonia I was able to go see the buildings I was writing about and in so many ways during my stay at MoKS the time there was helpful beyond words. I cannot thank you enough for assisting me with translations and unending questions. My MoKS experience was good in that it helped me concentrate on the project for a 30 day period.
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I see the need now for MoKS to continue as it has in providing a place where those who are attempting to research or better their skills in various forms of art. [Doug Reed]
Doug Reed | photo: Doug Reed
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Altogether there was 4 exhibitions. 3 exhibitions by illustrators from the area: drawings by Jaan Rõõmus, illustrations by Marja-Liisa Plats, graphic works by Vahram Muradyan and the longer-term exhibition Dreams Revised, curated by Evelyn Grzinich, a retro-perspective show that featured works from MoKS archive. The gallery is located both on the second floor and in the cellar of MoKS and is open to the public several days per week and by appointment. The Gallery received approximately 700 visitors and was supported by Estonian Ministry of Culture support programme for galleries. Dreams Revised used examples to illustrate how visions held by different people in Mooste, a village in Southeast Estonia with 500 people, were realized. These visions were facilitated and documented by MoKS over nearly a 15 year period, where we have been active as artists and organisers. This duration has given us a possibility to witness visions dreamt, visions spoken, spoken again and eventually realized, whether practical or utopian in nature or somewhere in between.
gallery
The approach exhibited in Dreams Revised suggested not only the possibilities found in artistic work, but how citizens in general can reflect on, create and shape the world they live in, either through practical challenges, constructive collaboration or stepping into the unknown to find that the answers to even the most exotic vision can be found in your own backyard. The exhibition featured works by SUSANNE KUDIELKA, KASPAR WIMBERLEY, PINK PUNK, PUHAS RÕÕM, RATAPLAN & PLAN_B, DIRK LANGE, IZABELLA OLDAK, JOHN GRZINICH, JAAN TOOTSEN .. .. and EVELYN MUURSEPP-GRZINICH
Dreams Revised | photo: Evelyn Grzinich
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01 13 MAR >> MAY
Gallery: Jaan R천천mus, Exhibition nr 13
Jaan R천천mus | photo: John Grzinich
>>30 Gallery: 07MAY Marja-Liisa Plats, illustrations
01 17 04 10 Gallery: Vahram Muradyan, Gallery: Dreams Revised. >> SEP s >> illustration JUN JUL SEP Retro-perspective
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Altogether 15 artists paid a visit to nearby schools and gave total 16 2-hour workshops in the frame of Art and Music classes, English conversation or outside the school curricula. The following schools partnered: Põlva Primary School, Põlva High School, Räpina Gardening School, Ahja Primary School, Vastse-Kuuste Primary School, Mooste Folk Music School, Võnnu High School. Artistic workshops took place also at the Ahja Youth Center. The programme was supported by funding from Estonan Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Education of Estonia and Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
s l o o h c s o t s artist 09
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iorgis Simon WhethaatmRaänpdinaY Haynes at Võnnu Jim u o Sakellari chool High School R AP S g in n A P R Garde
Exploring old radios, workshop by Jim Haynes | photo: John Grzinich
Sveta Bogomole ova, Vastse-Kuust l Dawn Scarfe Primary Schoo AY M ol ho Sc h ig H lva Põ at AY M
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Taking school for a blind walk, workshop by Simon Whetham and Yorgis Sakellariou | photo: John Grzinich
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MoKS meetings, is a series of events, introducing MoKS AIRs to audiences outside of Mooste. The event is lead by an invited moderator, usually someone local, whose activity or field of research links with invited artist. MoKS meetings center point is a moderated talk, but also includes performances and screenings. Meetings took place in various locations around Tartu (Y- Gallery, Tartu Artists House), Võru (in the frame of Kilometer of Sculpture Festival), Tallinn (MiM studio), Riga (Austra) and Põlva (Põlva Church). In 2015 altogether 8 meetings took place. Meetings were funded by Estonian Ministry of Culture and Cultural Endowment of Estonia. Other regular events included Cine MoKS public movie nights, that are organised in conjunctions with Kodanikukino and is regular gathering for people from and around Mooste. The Cine MoKS programme was coordinated by Aiki Hainsoo and Kati Taal. Altogether 10 movie nights were held in 2015. We also had the pleasure to host 3 cozy concert and performance evenings at MoKS that drew significant audience numbers considering our location. Acoustic concerts by Tuulikki Bartosik and Hannah James; Mari Kalkun and Ramo Teder (as Upaupa ubinakõnõ) and large scale performance evening by the 'instrument inventors initiative'.
Upa-Upa Ubinakõnõ concert | photo: John Grzinich
EVE
NTS
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Estonian Cultural Endowment
10750
Estonian Ministry of Culture
19000
Kulturkontakt Nord
8767
Estonian Ministry of Education and Science
800
HIAP RY
1555
Self-earned income
3850
TOTAL
44722
Expenses
€
Gallery
2930
Artists to Schools
2640
MoKS Meetings
2020
Residency (artist stipends, transport, premises) Communication of programmes (web, yearbook, etc)
19415
Administration (salaries)
11085
Reserve
5822
TOTAL
44722
Sugar drums by Wen Chin Fu | photo: Evelyn Grzinich
15000€
810
5000€
et
€
10000€
dg
bu
Income
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May
April
March 2.-26.03 AIR: Crossing Contexts / Curated-group / 6-7/ 13.03-1.05 Gallery: Jaan Rõõmus, Exhibition nr 13 / 23-24/
1.-30.04 AIR: Active Crossover / Curated-group / 7-9/ 13.03-1.05 Gallery: Jaan Rõõmus, Exhibition nr 13 / 23-24/ 8.04 MoKS Meetings: ACTIVE CROSSOVER, Tartu, Y-Gallery / 7-9/ 9.04 Artists to Schools: Simon Whetham and Yiorgis Sakellariou at Räpina Gardening School / 25-26/ 12.04 Artists to Schools: Jim Haynes at Võnnu High School / 25-26/ 30.04 MoKS Meetings: ACTIVE CROSSOVER, Tartu, Artist House / 7-9/
timeline
1.-31.05 AIR Active Crossover / Curated-group / 9/ 7.-30.05 Gallery: Marja-Liisa Plats, illustrations / 9/ 8-9.05 Workshop with Tallinn University MA Students in AudioVisual Ethnography / 9/ 12.05 Artists to Schools: Dawn Scarfe at Põlva High School / 9/ 21.05 Artists to Schools: Sveta Bogomolova, Vastse-Kuuste Primary School / 9/ 28.05 Concert: Chatterbox, Tuulikki Bartosik, Hannah James + MoKS AIRs as guests / 9/
June AIR: Vahram Muradyan / 21/ Artists to Schools: Vahram Muradyan, Räpina Gardening School / 25-26/ 4.06-1.09 Gallery: Vahram Muradyan, illustrations / 23-24/
1.-14.06 11.06
July
August 2.07-20.08 2.-24.08 12.08 17.07-10.09 4.06-1.09
AIR: Piotr Armianovski / Fresh AIR / 20/ AIR: Between the Islands / Curated-group / 12/ Event: Those Who Journey (in) the forest / 27/ Gallery: Dreams Revised. Retroperspective / 23-24/ Gallery: Vahram Muradyan, illustrations / 23-24/
1.-31.07 2.07-20.08 4.06-1.09 17.07-10.09 18.07
AIR: What is Real? / Curated-group / 10-11/ AIR: Piotr Armianovski / Fresh AIR / 20/ Gallery: Vahram Muradyan, illustrations / 23-24/ Gallery: Dreams Revised. Retroperspective / 23-24/ MoKS Meetings: Art as provocation,Võru, Jüri 39 / 27/
December
November
October
September 2.-30.09 AIR: Doug Reed / 21/ 17.07-10.09 Gallery: Dreams Revised. Retroperspective / 23-24/ 13.09 Artist talks: Marianne Liik & Reinis Nalivaiko / 27/ 17.-27.09 AIR: Seth Nehil, Kelly Rauer / 21/ 2.09 Artists to Schools: Evelyn Grzinich, Mooste Primary School / 25-26/
1.-30.10 10.10 12.10 13.10 20.-21.10 24.10
AIR: iii / Curated-group / 13-15/ MoKS Meetings: No Patent Pending #13, Tartu, Aparaaditehas / 27/ Artists to Schools: Mariska de Groot, Mooste Folk Music School / 25-26/ Artists to Schools: Matte Maragnoni, Räpina Gardening School / 25-26/ Artists to Schools: Lars Kynde, Yolanda Uriz, Ahja Youth Center / 25-26/ Event: No Patent Pending #15, iii / 13-15/
AIR: DAR-MoKS exchange / 18-19/ AIR: Anna Jaaniste / 4/ Concert: Upa-Upa Ubinakõnõ / 27/ Artists to Schools: John Grzinich and Taavi Suisalu at Ahja Primary School / 25-26/ 10.11 Artists to Schools: Mykolas Natalevičius and Tadas Dailyda, Põlva Primary School / 25-26/ 11.11 Artists to Schools: John Grzinich and Taavi Suisalu at Vastse-Kuuste Primary School / 25-26/ 14.11 MoKS Meetings: Impossible Organ, Põlva, Maarja Church / 27/ 23.11-13.12 AIR: Black Holes / Curated-group / 16-17/ 1.-14 2.-12 4.11 9.11
23.11-13.12 2.12 10.12 16.12
AIR: Black Holes / Curated-group / 16-17/ MoKS Meetings: Black Holes, Tartu Artist House / 27/ MoKS Meetings: Black Holes, Tallinn, MiM Studio / 27/ MoKS Meetings: Black Holes, Riga, Austra / 27/
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credits In 2015 MoKS was supported by
Organiser .. Mooste K端lalisStuudio MTU Producers Evelyn Grzinich and John Grzinich Design and Layout: Agnieszka Pokrywka Big thanks for all the artists and Roomet Allese, Aiki Hainsoo, Kati Taal, Kayt Grzinich, .. Marko Kikas, Mikk Luht, Saviukumaja OU, Sireli Talu OU, Nils Naatan Kaivo, Tuuli Ermel, Agnieszka Pokrywka, Tanel Rander, Y-Gallery, Indrek Grigor, Tartu Kunstimaja, Krista ja Raivo Sildoja, Mooste Rahvamuusikakool, photo: John Grzinich
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title Playing | photo: rustyJohn old Grzinich water tower, Active Crossover | photo: John Grzinich