all the possibilities that existed

Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, in collaboration with Kogo Gallery, presents Krista Dzudzilo’s first personal exhibition in Estonia. Entitled all the possibilities that existed, the exhibition encompasses a series of new charcoal drawings, as well as a video work and a group of objects that strive to show how to turn observation into awareness. What does it mean to tilt sideways and find another axis – does that yield a new stability? How can you find movement in what is static? How can you change your perspective so that it comprises a new known and the known in what is new? Here are 19 attempts at tilting stability.

The artist’s notes made in preparation for the exhibition reveal the impulses behind the works and how their message developed:

‘everything you say is true’ is a series of charcoal drawings located halfway between sculpture and painting. The drawings were produced by touching the surface of the canvas countless times: the charcoal was caressed into a ground of ashes until the work was covered by dense layers that produce a material depth. There is a long tradition of academic drawing that is layered with conceptual and aesthetical meanings. It opens up the opportunity to comment on the work in the context of contemporary art in the form of a conversation with history and the tradition of drawing. I am interested in different contradictions and the tension that arises between polar opposites. The sterile background is set against a material as dirty as charcoal. The drawings’ sharp edges confront the technical unpredictability of charcoal. The brittle nature of charcoal resembles the surface of a rock, which is full of light. A drawing is usually thought of as something of a modest size, but a larger format gives it the status of a more monumental art form. Yet, at the same time, owing to the technical specifics, it does not lose its fineness or level of detail.

The series of drawings, ‘let your words be mine’, like everything else, came into being a long time before appearing in my consciousness as a clear or unclear idea. In my case, I almost always take a white surface as a beginning. I want to call it empty, since there is nothing there. I am fascinated by how an image can be constructed so that, in relation to the drawing, the sheet becomes a space or is given the opportunity to be called a colour. I pay particular attention to the places where the emptiness, or whiteness, enters uninvited, unexpected, thus marking a rupture. This sheds light on the nature of being, inviting reflection on what is and what is not, that which can be seen, and that which is seemingly covered up – although, in truth, it has not been uncovered. I would like my works to hide more than they reveal. I want to open up silence.

In a similar tenor, I think about the video ‘this is where she is’ – about rushing forward while staying in the same place. Forward from the opposite perspective is backward, but what happens when two entities continue moving, each towards its own forward? Two enormous forces rushing in opposite directions, cancelling each other? Will my gaze follow one of them? Will I see both and experience movement as inertia that takes me nowhere? The mirror of water mirrors itself in the mirrored image.

The installation ‘all the possibilities that existed’ is a sonic unit comprising metronomes and pencils, which help to rein in time through conscious action. If greater precision – greater structure – is needed, can it be solved by increasing the number of time-measuring devices? One rhythm overlaps with others and produces the noise of the sea. This object of academic learning becomes a musical instrument which demonstrates, in quintet, the simultaneity of everything and, rather than keeping the rhythm, suggests stopping. The pencils quiver, drawing signs in the air. Back and forth, each in a somewhat different rhythm. They streak the air in order to achieve nothing at all.

Krista Dzudzilo

Kim? Contemporary Art Centre (Riga) is one of the most visible and respected non-governmental contemporary art institutions from Latvia. Founded in 2009, Kim? has held more than 200 exhibitions by local and international artists, both emerging and established, as well as organised extensive public programming with lectures, talks and performances. As part of its international collaborations, Kim? has organised more than 50 exhibitions and public programmes outside of Latvia, including Smack Mellon (New York), XYZ Collective (Tokyo), Fondation d’entreprise Ricard (Paris), Moderna Museet (Malmo), KW Institute for Contemporary Art (Berlin), and CAC (Vilnius), among others. Additionally, Kim? organised the Latvian Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013), co-curated with long-time partner Art in General (New York), and again at the 58th Venice Biennale (2018), co-organised with the Latvian Contemporary Art Centre. Since 2016, Kim? has collaborated with the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) (New York) to provide residencies for Latvian artists as part of the annual Kim? Residency Award. Through its educational activities and publications, Kim? has made a significant contribution to raising interest and awareness about contemporary art and culture across a broad range of audiences, including non-art professionals and children.

The exhibition is supported by the Latvian State Culture Capital Foundation, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, the City of Tartu, and the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.