Outset Estonia was delighted to invite an international jury to select a video piece by Mari-Leen Kiipli, titled Fish That Swallow the Earth/Particles That Dance in the Sunrays (2018) from the Foto Tallinn art fair 2019, to be gifted to an international public art collection.
The jury, consisting of Melanie Bühler (Frans Hals Museum), Roos Gortzak (Vleeshal), and Karin Laansoo (Outset Estonia/Kai Art Center), was captivated by the way in which Kiipli depicts the relationship between humans and nature. As explained by Melanie Bühler:
"Mari-Leen Kiipli makes nature strange; the artist takes you out in the woods, an experience that is as dazzling as it is surprising. The video starts with an object that defies categories, it becomes a human which is caressed by the machine-esque eye of the camera, to then dissolve into particles. The work hovers between pop & nature, disco & mud, alluding to one of the most urgent topics of this moment: the relationship between human & nature."
This is the second time that a collaboration between Outset Estonia and Foto Tallinn takes place and an international jury selects works to be gifted to international public art collections. The Foto Tallinn art fair took place from September 27th to 29th, 2019, at Kai Art Center in Tallinn. Foto Tallinn is the only art fair in Tallinn and is dedicated to promoting and introducing contemporary photographic art.
Mari-Leen Kiipli (b. 1988) studied photography in Tartu and Tallinn. She was one of the founding members of the artist-run-space Rundum. Her major solo projects combine photography, video, and installation, and focus on the cognitive qualities of spaces and situations. In her work, she closely observes her presence in specific environments and the functioning of the body’s memory, focusing on the relationship between humans and nature. She has exhibited her works in Tartu, Tallinn, Vienna, St. Petersburg, Glasgow and elsewhere.
