ArteBA Film Festival: Marge Monko and Jaan Toomik
On 22 May, 2016 arteBA art fair in Buenos Aires, Argentine, offered a unique opportunity to see short films by the Estonian artists Jaan Toomik and Marge Monko. The 25th edition of arteBA, held from 19 to 22 May, 2016 is Latin America’s largest art fair dedicated to contemporary art.
The films were screened as part of CPR Film Festival, organized by Curatorial Program for Research, an international network for curators, artists, and art institutions, in The Open Forum section of the art fair, which serves as a platform for film screenings and discussions and is open to the public free of charge. This year’s CPR Film Festival, titled Closer to the Border, was curated by the Brazilian curator Tainá Azeredo, herself a former participant of CPR Eastern Europe. The inaugural edition of the research programme for curators, CPR Eastern Europe also led them to Estonia, and played a central role in Tainá’s selection of the films. In addition to Jaan Toomik and Marge Monko, the CPR Film Festival screened short films by Axel Straschnoy, Regina Parra, and Minna Långström.
The video and film screenings were preceded by a conversation with the curator Tainá Azeredo, artist Minna Långström, and Karin Laansoo, Director of the Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center, moderated by the co-founders of CPR, Jorgelina Dacil Infer and Carmen Ferreyra.
Jaan Toomik (*1961 based in Tallinn, Estonia) is a painter, video, film, and performance artist. He has gained international recognition primarily for his disquieting, intense and deeply personal video works such as “Dancing Home” (1995), and “Father and Son” (1998), which were both also screened during the CPR Film Festival.
Marge Monko (*1976, based in Tallinn, Estonia) is a photographer, video, and performance artist, addressing women’s position in society, but also labour and workforce policy from a feminist perspective. Her video, Red Dawn, screened during the CPR Film Festival, documents an intervention to the rooftop of a former hosiery factory in Tallinn, which in the Soviet times was called Punane koit (Red Dawn).
For more information on CPR or arteBA please see: