PORTFOLIO CAFÉ

26th September 2007, hours 17.00-20.00
29th September 2007, hours 14.00-18.00
Estonian Academy of Arts
Tartu mnt 1, Tallinn

How to get professional feedback to your artwork? What kind of interpretations does the artist get from a viewer who has "previous knowledge" and experience in art world? How to get in touch with critics, curators and other artists? How to talk about your work?

ATTENTION, YOUNG ARTISTS!

Portfolio Café is part of the educational program of the Biennale of Young Artists, Tallinn 2007. Portfolio Café is open to anybody who wants to get more feedback on their work of art, to hear educated opinions or just discuss their portfolio with art professionals. Portfolio presentations will take place in one to one conversation with a professional art critic, curator or writer.

Your artworks will get feedback FROM:

26 Sept – Elin Kard (Hobusepea, Tallinn), Valdur Mikita (semiotic, theoretic of creativity), Maria-Kristiina Soomre (Kumu, Tallinn), Yeb Wiersma (TransArtists Organisation, Amsterdam)
29 Sept – Aura Seikkula (Helsinki Photo Museum), Elena Sorokina (curator, Paris), Annamari Vänskä (curator, Helsinki)

The one and only requirement for taking part of the Portfolio Café is THE PORTFOLIO (a printed catalogue, on-line webpage or CD-R).
Please sign up: 0322@hot.ee

Portfolio Café is an event where the artist can present his/her work to a critic, curator, artist, art editor, gallery owner etc. No public performances – the artist and the critic have the opportunity to communicate privately and discretely and discuss the ups and downs of each project. It’s a professional event, meant for a small circle of professionals. On session lasts as long as 15-20 minutes.

The idea behind Portfolio Café is to give a wider overview about young art in Estonia, create contacts between the artists and critics here in Estonia and abroad and to prepare a young artist for his/her everyday life (as a professional contemporary artist). It’s also a stimulus for the artists to document their professional curricula from the very start. Last but not least – a successful short presentation might end up with a call to participate in an exhibition, workshop etc.

More info:
Anneli Porri
5221048
www.biennaleofyoungartists.org

Proffessional’s bios:

Elin Kard graduated Technical School of Light Industry (BA) in 1997, in 2003 she additionally graduated from Estonian Academy of Arts with a MA degree. 2000–2003 consultant in Gallery Vaal. Since 2003 – gallery coordinator of Estonian Artists´Association and curator of Hobusepea gallery and Draakon gallery and since 2005 – as a project coordinator of the Center for Contemporary Arts, Estonia. Has been active in the field of curating, organizing, teaching and writing. In addition to 10 personal exhibition, has participated in the group exhibitions since 1997 in Estonia, Lithuania, Austria, USA, Hungary, Netherlands, Denmark, Island and Germany.

Valdur Mikita is semiotic and a theoretic of creativity, author of several books.

Maria-Kristiina Soomre is an art historian and critic, project manager of Kumu auditorium, curator of "Biennial of Dissent '77" (Kumu Art Museum). Academic interests vary from institutional critique and museology to history of Venice Biennial. Project manager and editor of art program "AKU" in Estonian Television (2005). Lecturer at Estonian Academy of Arts.

Aura Seikkula is a curator working in Helsinki Photo Museum. Has also worked for Nifca.

Elena Sorokina is a Paris based curator and writer. Between 2002-2006 she worked in New York, where she completed the curatorial studies program of the Whitney Museum of American Art and curated a number of exhibitions – "Enemy Image", "Mapquest", "Russia Redux" and others. Among her recent exhibitions are "Petroliana" at the Moscow Biennial 2007, "Laws of Relativity" at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, 2007, Turin, and the upcoming "Roads to Central Asia" at YBCA, San Francisco, 2008. She has been writing for Artforum, Moscow Art Magazine, Die Zeit and other publications.

Annamari Vänskä is a Ph.D. researcher, free-lance journalist and curator. She currently works in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki. Her expertise is gender and sexuality and how they are represented in visual culture. She is a member of the research group "The Porno Academy" (2005-2008), which is funded by the Academy of Finland. Previously she has worked as a researcher and a lecturer in the Department of Art History at the University of Helsinki and the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki. She has also been active in the art world, she was the curator of the first Young Finnish Art Biennial in 2003 and in 2001-2002 was a member of the Kritiikin kannukset-committee that selected "the break-through artist of the year" in Finland. She publishes articles in Finnish and international academic journals, compilation works, art magazines, art journals, periodicals and exhibition catalogues. Furthermore, she is the chairwoman of the SQS (Society for Queer Studies in Finland), has received grants from several Finnish organizations and has both supervised and reviewed diploma works at art schools.

Yeb Wiersma graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam at the fine arts department in 2001. She continued her study at the Cooper Union Academy for the Advancement of Science and Arts in New York City from 2001 until 2002. Since then she has been exhibiting frequently in The Netherlands and beyond. In 2003 she was selected as an artist-in-residence at the "Art in Engiadina Bassa" programme in Switzerland and in 2004 she attended the artist-in-residence programme at Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces in Melbourne, Australia. Furthermore she writes articles on art for the Dutch contemporary art magazine Mister Motley (www.mistermotley.nl) and since 2002 she is active for the Dutch based Trans Artists Foundation (www.transartists.org), which is also the secretary of the Dutch "Pépinières Européennes pour Jeunes Artists" Programme.