Image: Kumu, Paris
The exhibition brings into dialogue Finno-Ugric collections from the Estonian National Museum, ethnographic drawings and photographs produced by students’ expeditions from the Estonian State Institute of Art, and art, film and design inspired by Finno-Ugric heritage.
It presents Finno-Ugricness as having become part of Estonians’ identity through the interaction of art and science. Its central questions are why Estonians travelled far away in search of themselves and why the ethnographic study of other Indigenous peoples became a form of self-searching.
Contemporary artists Karl Joonas Alamaa and Jaanus Samma contribute interventions into the inherited material. One exhibited example is Indrek Erm’s 1987 photograph ‘Sääsekaitse,’ held by the Estonian National Museum.
The exhibition is presented in dialogue with Ann Mirjam Vaikla’s exhibition ‘ei algust ega lõppu. Saami maailma ülesehitamine.’ It is installed in the B wing on Kumu’s third floor.
