exhibition “From the Archive: a Collection of Funny Things”

On Thursday, 30 July at 5 pm Ulvi Haagensen will open her solo exhibition “From the Archive: a Collection of Funny Things” in the small gallery at Tartu Art House.

This exhibition is by imaginary artist, Olive Puuvill, who creates work in the manner of a bricoleuse, cobbling, tinkering and using whatever is close at hand. In her latest work she combines patterns, lines, textures and light to create an installation where objects, situations, materials and ideas are juxtaposed in a slightly chaotic arrangement, but one that nonetheless has a logic of its own. All this bears the traces of her intentions, aims and ideas as physical evidence of the working processes where Olive’s everyday life clashes, meets and melds with her art practice.

The artist adds: “Some of the pieces are handmade, others not. They clash, they harmonise. Some are possibly useful or functional, others not. From the depths of her creative practice and ideas, Olive has emerged with crocheted doilies that attempt to take centre stage in an installation where brushes, cloths and other cleaning equipment and tools are presented on an equal footing with handicraft and decorative art ornaments, and where handmade tables and lighting fixtures also claim their place as art objects.”

Ulvi Haagensen was born in Australia but has been living in Estonia for many years. She studied at City Art Institute in Sydney (BA) and College of Fine Art, University of New South Wales (MFA) and is currently doing her PhD at the Estonian Academy of Arts researching the connections and overlap between art and everyday life as seen through the eyes of a practising visual artist. She has had solo exhibitions in Estonia, Australia, Sweden and Lithuania. This is the first time Haagensen has presented her works in Tartu.

The exhibition will remain open until 23 August.