This project will examine Estonia’s relationships with Indigenous peoples and the influence of these relationships on Estonian self-identity, focusing on visual culture, artworks and museum collections. The transdisciplinary project is being carried out in collaboration between the Art Museum of Estonia and the Estonian Academy of Arts.
The exhibition and research project Expedition: Estonians and Indigeneity is closely related to the study of Soviet-era art, one of the Art Museum of Estonia’s research foci which aims to open up new contexts and interpretations of Soviet-period Estonian art, viewing it as a crossroads of cultural and geopolitical spheres of influence. Focusing on artworks, scientific illustrations, films and other visual materials associated with scientific, ethnographic and creative expeditions to different regions of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, the project will also contribute to debates and dialogues concerning the decolonisation of Eastern European and Eurasian cultural heritage. At the heart of the exhibition and research project is the expedition as a means of gathering knowledge and establishing power relations. Examining the material collected during various Estonian expeditions over centuries in a new light will also enable us to think through the relationships between Estonians and the Indigenous peoples of Siberia and the Far North.
Although Estonians today see themselves as an Indigenous people, this has not always been the case. Nor has the linguistic connection with Finno-Ugric and Samoyed peoples living hundreds and thousands of miles away always been central to the Estonian identity.
The self-identity of Estonians today has been shaped by the late Soviet expeditions to study Finno-Ugric peoples in Karelia and Siberia, which inspired the films and books by Lennart Meri, the works of Kaljo Põllu and his students at the then State Art Institute (the present-day Estonian Academy of Arts), and many other works that have become central to the modern Estonian culture and identity. But why did so many members of the Estonian cultural elite suddenly take such a keen interest in Indigenous peoples and their cultural heritage in the 1970s and 1980s, and why did they have to look so far afield, essentially in search of their own identities? What spurred them to approach this pursuit with such scholarly rigour? Furthermore, why was the Estonian public in these decades so receptive to this vision of a shared Finno-Ugric cultural heritage and close association with smaller Finno-Ugric peoples?
The project involves the mapping of the materials collected on Finno-Ugric expeditions and the works and (creative) research inspired by these trips. It will also explore the cooperation and conflicts between artists and researchers. In addition, it will examine the contexts in which the voyages took place. How did these Finno-Ugric expeditions relate to the “folklore turn” prevalent elsewhere in Eastern Europe and Central Asia at the time? How did the interest in Indigenous peoples connect to the development of nature conservation, eco-nationalism and the political activism of the 1980s leading to the regaining of Estonian independence.
An important aim of the project is the mapping and recognition of forgotten authors and perspectives. The Finno-Ugric canon in Estonia is dominated by male authors. We will seek to identify and highlight works and research on Indigenous peoples by women artists and designers of the late Soviet period, to find out whether they followed a different perspective. Another aim of the project is to empower the often marginalised voices of Indigenous authors.
The project will also explore other issues that have so far been largely neglected in the history of expeditions. How did interactions with Indigenous peoples unfold? How do the research and artistic practices of the time appear from today’s perspective regarding collection and exploration ethics and cultural appropriation? Why did the image of Finno-Ugric peoples living in harmony with nature take centre stage in Estonian culture at a time of explosive expansion of oil and gas fields in their territories in western Siberia in the 1970s–1980s?
The project also looks at the historical background of Finno-Ugric expeditions, focusing on the links between expeditions, power and the mapping of mineral resources. In Estonia, the tradition of expeditions began in the 18th and 19th centuries, when the Russian Empire organised voyages to chart the lands, peoples and natural resources of the expanding empire. Baltic-German nobility from Estonia played a leading role in many of these expeditions and other expansionist ventures. The project will look at the impact and legacy of this tradition. It will also examine how Estonians’ attitudes towards Indigenous peoples have been shaped by their own changing status. For a long time, Estonians were considered the last savages of Europe, but the nationalist movement of the 1860s and the creation of the Estonian nation state in 1918 led to a desire to become “white Europeans”. The power relations behind the Soviet-era expeditions were no less complicated. Some of the questions to be explored in the project include: To what extent were the late Soviet Finno-Ugric expeditions linked to voyages undertaken to map natural and mineral resources? Was there a connection with the Stalinist practice of dispatching artists to industrial areas to seek inspiration and depict “Soviet reality”? How are the Siberian expeditions intertwined with memories of the gulag prison camps?
By highlighting these long-marginalised voices and themes, the project relates to a new wave of decolonisation of history, art and museum collections in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. To unlearn colonial tradition, we first need to learn the (often forgotten) histories of colonialism. In the case of Russian colonialism, the question of oblivion and amnesia is more relevant today than ever. To understand it better, however, it is also necessary to recognise the traces of colonial legacy and the impact of imperial power on our own culture and heritage.
The outputs of the project will include a large-scale exhibition based on the collections of several museums, accompanied by a catalogue, a public and educational programme involving different target groups, and a conference.
The exhibition project will continue the work that started at the Kumu Art Museum with the exhibitions The Conqueror’s Eye (2019) and Art or Science (2022‒2023) in mapping and conceptualising the relationships between visual culture, power and identity. In 2026, Kumu will host an exhibition of contemporary Sápmi art, focusing mainly on the work of the Sápmi artists who work or have worked in the Sápmi territory in Finland. In collaboration with the Kiasma and EMMA museums, a selection of works by Sápmi artists in their collections will be brought to Estonian audiences.
Project team
Team: Linda Kaljundi, Johanna Jolen Kuzmenko, Anastassia Langinen, Elnara Taidre, Ann Mirjam Vaikla and Karin Vicente
Advisers: Svetlana Karm (Estonian National Museum), Piret Koosa (Estonian National Museum), Jaak Prozes (Fenno-Ugria), Marika Alver, Jaanika Vider (University of Vienna / Tallinn University) and Bart Pushaw (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga)
In collaboration with
the Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonian National Museum and Fenno-Ugria
The project examines the collections of the following memory and research institutions:
Estonian History Museum, Estonian Literary Museum, Tartu Art Museum, Estonian Academy of Arts Museum, Art Museum of Estonia, Estonian National Museum, Estonian Museum of Applied Arts and Design, University of Tartu Museum, University of Tartu Art Museum, University of Tartu Natural History Museum, Estonian Museum of Natural History, Tallinn University Archaeological Research Collection, TalTech Museum, Kiasma, EMMA and the MO Museum.