Opening programme of the exhibition “They Began to Talk”
The opening programme of Kumu’s new contemporary art exhibition “They Began to Talk” features the following events:
14:00 Guided tour of the exhibition led by the curators Ann Mirjam Vaikla and Hanna Laura Kaljo, in Estonian
15:00 Guided tour of the exhibition led by the artists Sasha Tishkov, Ruth Maclennan and John Grzinich, and the curators Ann Mirjam Vaikla and Hanna Laura Kaljo, in English
16:00 Participatory performance “AudioSwarm: Geofractions” by John Grzinich, in English
16:30 Discussion: On Belonging, Environmental Change and Cultural Resilience. Participants: the Finnish environmental sociologist Outi Autti, the British film-maker Ruth Maclennan, and the exhibition’s curators Ann Mirjam Vaikla and Hanna Laura Kaljo, in English
These events are part of the public programme of the exhibition “They Began to Talk”, an international group exhibition which takes the intertwinement of the body and the environment as its point of departure, in an era marked by rapid environmental change and inequality. Sudden changes in the physical environment, often caused by human activity, can lead to mental suffering in land-based communities. Stored in the body, this trauma is passed on to future generations, who perceive it as an interruption in their relationship with their surroundings. The exhibition brings together the practices of artists working in this region with those from Indigenous communities in the Nordic countries, exploring the possibility of recovering and cultivating a sense of connection. “They Began to Talk” continues the Kumu Contemporary Art Gallery’s programme of exhibitions on environmental themes, which began in 2023 with the exhibition “Art in the Age of the Anthropocene”.
