Darja Popolitova at VENT SPACE

The exhibition MAGICAL HOTSPOT aims to address the social phenomena of Estonia, using video and in-situ happening as artistic media. Three video works and the fortune-telling session create a fictional world of a witch called ‘Seraphita’.

During the preparation of the show, I was inspired by videos of magicians and spiritualists that they publish on YouTube. These characters perform magic rituals or tell how they became eyewitnesses of paranormal events. Thus was born Seraphita, the witch who created video tutorials to address the social phenomena of Estonia with the help of ‘magic’ and jewellery. She performs pseudo-rituals against xenophobia, homophobia and loneliness while using the jewellery pieces as ritual tools. These tactile and performative activities provide an opportunity to fantasise about an alternative present: how to feel accepted and find a good job and friends in a homophobic, xenophobic and ageing society.

I supported my magical intentions with statistics that I found in several official studies: Integration Monitoring of the Estonian Society 2017, Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe 2013—2015 and Gender Equality Monitoring in Estonia 2016. I build my concept on the following facts: only a little over 10% of the residents of other nationalities in Estonia communicate with the Estonian-speaking majority, and less than 10% of Estonian-speaking people communicate with the Russian-speaking population or other nationalities daily. In Estonia, more people think that girls and boys should be raised differently. For example, 50% of respondents aged 15-19 think that cooking should be the most important skill for girls. In addition, in a recent survey in Estonia, 74% of the elderly have no other close person to talk to about their joys and worries.

Vent Space, Tallinn
29.06.—11.07.2020

VFX: Ando Naulainen
Sound Design: Andres Nõlvak
Graphic Design: Johanna Ruukholm

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

RELATED TEXTS, INTERVIEWS & MEDIA COVERAGE
ESTONIAN COVERAGE:
<noba.ac> <femme.ee> <cca.ee> <artun.ee> <kultuur.err.ee> <muurileht.ee> <artun> <edasi.org> <kulka.ee> <kultuur.postimees.ee> <idaidaida.net [Lilian Hiob]> <femme.ee>

ENGLISH COVERAGE:
<link [Keiu Krikmann]> <blokmagazine.com> <echogonewrong.com> <current-obsession.com [arvustus]> <news.err.ee> <noba.ee> <artun.ee> <arterritory.com [intervjuu]>

RUSSIAN COVERAGE:
<rus.err.ee> <jana.delfi.ee> <limon.postimees.ee> <sillamäeski vestnik> <r4.err.ee [raadiosaade]> <etvpluss.err.ee [TV saade]> <etvpluss.err.ee [TV saade]>