Darja Popolitova at HOBUSEPEA GALLERY
At the solo show TACTILITE — STONE THAT TICKLES THE GAZE, five videos, jewellery pieces and installations create a fictional world where the witch Seraphita helps to cope with the frustrations of everyday life. In the rooms of Hobusepea Gallery, I mix the ritual features of jewellery with the theme of digitality.
Seraphita is a fictional character who helps me to expand the usual functions of jewellery. For example, to shoot the pieces so that a visitor would be more interested in watching a video rather than a stand-alone jewellery attached to a stand. Thus I consider the physical materiality of jewellery as part of a digital/video one.
The videos at the exhibition are presented as tutorials, and jewellery pieces are created to address specific human desires. For example, someone may want to become more self-confident, another may seek to bring lost intimacy into life, and yet another may aim to cope with aggression.
Without such powerful wearable symbols as jewellery, human life would have fewer sentimental values — gift-giving rituals, tactile moments and personal memories. The actions performed by the witch Seraphita on the screen become a ‘ritual’ involving physicality.
Kelly Riggs, a contemporary critic and curator, writes about my work in the Dutch art magazine CURRENT OBSESSION: ‘Though the physical jewellery objects are the crux of what Popolitova creates, they are also just a part of the total picture or the collective persona she presents when she shares that jewellery online.’
Hobusepea Gallery, Tallinn
04.—30.07.2021
VFX: Jakob Tulve
Sound Design: Andres Nõlvak
The exhibition is dedicated to my father, Aleksandr Popolitov, the artist, restorer, collector and treasurer of Sillamäe Museum, who passed away in 2021.
Artists’s gratitude goes to: Aleksandr Popolitov and Nadežda Popolitova, Ando Naulainen, Anastasia Dratšova, Doctoral School of Estonian Academy of Arts, Jewellery and Blacksmithing Department of EAA, Estonian Artists’ Association, Elnara Taidre, Karl Kivinurm, Kadri Mälk, Karmo Järv, Keiu Krikmann, Kristo Pachel, Norman Orro, Pire Sova, Raivo Kelomees.
SUPPORTERS
Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Academy of Arts, Moe OÜ, Õllenaut OÜ, Hobusepea Gallery, Orbital Vox Studios.
RELATED TEXTS, INTERVIEWS & MEDIA COVERAGE
ESTONIAN COVERAGE:
<eaa.ee> <trtr.ee> <noba.ac> <kultuur.err.ee> <ajakirikunst.ee [arvustus]> <kultuur.postimees.ee> <säde> <cca.ee> <artun.ee> <ekspress.delfi.ee [intervjuu]> <goethe.de [intervjuu]> <muurileht.ee [arvustus]> <femme.ee>
ENGLISH COVERAGE:
<echogonewrong.com> <news.err.ee> <eaa.ee> <trtr.ee> <cca.ee> <ajakirikunst.ee [review]> <aqnb.com> <current-obsession.com [interview]> <research.aalto.fi [review]>
RUSSIAN COVERAGE:
<rus.err> <arterritory [interview]> <bublik.delfi.ee> <etvpluss.err.ee [TV]>
