2025 brings the 9th Artishok Biennial!

The 9th Artishok Biennial will launch in February 2025! Last held in 2022, the major contemporary art event connecting artists and writers, will be titled Siesta for its current edition curated by Brigit Arop and Margit Säde. The openings of ten new artworks will take place sporadically throughout February and March at various locations in Tallinn.

The curators of the 9th Artishok Biennial, Brigit Arop and Margit Säde, have pointed out that for the first time, the opening marathon of the biennial will truly be a marathon, and not a sprint like in the years before – the openings will take place throughout the two months of the festival, allowing for a much-needed breather, or as the title of the biennial suggests – a siesta, amidst the hustle and bustle of the openings to both the organizers and participants, as well as the audience. The aim of this gesture is to place the idea of slowing down at the heart of the art event outlined by new productions and a limited time frame. 

Furthermore, this year’s biennial will take place at various venues in the public space of Tallinn, often activating locations that are undergoing transitions or are stuck in an in-between state. Making use of the unattractive time of year, the low season and hibernation, the works will be presented in places that do not usually exhibit art. Also, this year, the biennial will not culminate with a joint exhibition of all the artworks, but instead the works will remain available to visitors in the locations for which they were created until the end of the biennial.

The curators comment on the thematic direction of the upcoming biennial:

“Curating the Artishok Biennial, we took a critical look back at the reasons for the biennial’s emergence at first place and analysed also the current local art scene. As a result, we noticed that the idea of the opening sprint as a means to enliven the art scene is no longer justified – there are already more high-quality and diverse art events taking place than one can visit. We believe that what we need is more space and breathing time around ongoing events that would leave room for contemplation and dreaming. The framework for curating the Artishok Biennial grew out of the events of our real life, the mundane and personal needs which say that above all we need more time, working with artists and writers nearby, and managing our resources more reasonably. Although the biennial has grown into a significant international art event, we have chosen to value concentration, emphasising locality and self-organisation associated with the beginnings of Artishok.”

The Artishok Biennial has been taking place since 2008 as an exhibition format that brings together ten artists and ten writers each time in a different location. During the opening marathon, ten artists will present new artworks that will be accompanied by ten art critical texts also published for the openings, offering the visitors a total of one hundred different approaches to interpreting the artworks.

The Artishok Biennial has been previously curated by: Maarin Ektermann and Margus Tamm, Kati Ilves, Liisa Kaljula, Indrek Grigor and Šelda Pukite, Evelyn Raudsepp, Sten Ojavee, Laura Linsi and Roland Reemaa, and Ann Mirjam Vaikla.

The former venues of the biennial have included: Tallinn City Gallery, Tartu Art House, Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM), Mūkusala Art Salon in Riga, Theatre NO99, the former waiting pavilion of the Tallinn Baltic Station, Tallinn’s urban space and Kai Art Center, and the Tallinn Botanic Garden.

Brigit Arop is a Tallinn-based artworker who spends most of her time curating, writing, assisting, and teaching. She is interested in creative practices that use autotheory, poetry, material-sensitive approaches and humour to induce shifts in petrified perceptions and values. In her practice, she is consciously trying to create space for collaborative self-organization.

Margit Säde is a freelance curator and artworker based in Tallinn and Zurich, with a special interest in the relationships between subjectivity and collectivity, human psyche and social well-being. She is a committed food rescuer, as well as a sauna enthusiast, being one of the initiators and organisers of the Logi sauna.

Openings of the artworks:
20–28 February 2025
15–28 March 2025

All the artworks of the biennial can be visited in various locations until 20 April 2025.

Information concerning the exact locations, opening dates, participating artists and writers of the biennial will be announced in February 2025.