Active Crossover, soundscouting | photo: John Grzinich

contentsMoKS info / 3 /

Conclusion / 3 /

AIR / 4 /

Curated and Group residencies / 5 / Crossing Contexts / 6-7/ Active Crossover / 8-11 / What is real? / 12-13 /

Between the Islands / 14-15 / Instrument Inventors Initiative / 16-19 /

Black Holes / 20-21 /

Exchange residencies / 22-23 /

Fresh AIR / 24 /

Alumni return and rental residencies / 25 /

Open Studio / 26-27 /

Gallery / 28-29/

Artists to Schools / 30-31 /

Events / 32/

Budget / 33/

Timeline / 34 /

Credits / 35 /

Lake at Kellamäe bog | photo: John Grzinich

MoKS, artistic and creative practices

Mooste mõisa valitsejamaja

Mooste 64616, Põlva maakondEstonia

moks@moks.ee

www.moks.ee

www.facebook.com/MOKSperiphery

MoKS info

Active Crossover, Jim Haynes searching resonances of rusty old water tower | photo: John Grzinich

ConclusionTo make brief summaries of another busy year of

programming is always difficult without generalizing or

giving a fuller picture of what happened. However for

2015 we feel it is most important to reflect on our decision

to open the residency process to the artists who apply

in the interest to collaborate and share the residency

experience. The curating, programming and organization

of residencies is often seen as an administrative task to

be handled by the residency hosts themselves, drawing

a distinct line between the organizers and their guests.

Purposely blurring this line has led us into new territories

concerning the ideas, tasks and responsibilities of

running MoKS and being hosts, redefining our relationship

the artists we host. Hosting groups, or in most cases, a

revolving door of pairings and clusters of artists offered

an array of situations even more varied and complex than

with hosting individuals. Making time and space for artists

to create and work collaboratively in and open-ended

manner has always been a priority at MoKS symposia

and attempting to foster this within the residency program

seemed like a natural step as we felt there is a growing

demand (and need) among artists to be able to share the

residency experience with colleagues and collaborators.

With that said we want to thank those who made the effort

to come together in 2015 to help, share and work at MoKS

and we hope for more of the same in 2016.

in 2015 our main focus was in:

Artist-in-residence programme (48 artists for longer and

shorter stays, from 21 countries)

|

Gallery (4 exhibitions / approx 600 visitors

|

Educational activities: Artists to Schools visits (16 visits,

approx 250 participants, involving 15 artists),

workshops (3)

|

Event series: MoKS meetings (8), CineMoKS screenings

(7), concerts (4)

3

In 2015 MoKS altogether hosted 48 artists from various

disciplines. Four artists made long-term visits (1-2 months),

with 36 artists for shorter-term residencies (2 weeks to 1

month). All 4 available studios were for artistic use. Artists

came from the following countries: USA (6), Netherlands

(5), Estonia (4), Latvia (4), UK (4), Denmark (3), Lithuania (3),

Finland (3), Germany (2), Austria (2), Australia (2) South-

Korea (1), Chile (1), Scotland (1), Armenia (1), Ukraine (1),

Japan (1), Spain (1), Belgium (1), Taiwan (1), Sweden (1).

5 programmes were open for artists to apply:

Group and Curated residencies

| Exchange residencies with DAR (Lithuania) and FKSE

(Hungary)

|Fresh AIR residency

|Open Studio

| Alumni return and studio rentals

MoKS 2015 AIRs were:

Camilla Graff Junior, Luisa Greenfield and family, Michael

Kjaer, Myna Trustram, Eduardo Abrantes, Sebastian

Dietrich, Daina Dieva Pupkevičiute, Arlene Tucker, Kaspars

Lielgalvis, Argo Vals, Simon Whetham, Park Jin Young,

Richard Eigner, Yiorgis Sakellariou, Tuulikki Bartosik,

Jim Haynes, Fernando Godoy, Eamon Sprod, James

Wyness, Dawn Scarfe, Taavi Suisalu, Rostislav Rekuta,

Vahram Muradyan, Tero Nauha and Karolina Kucia, Piotr

Armianovski, Masayo Kajimura, Maiko Date, Mykolas

Natalevičius, Tadas Dailyda, Doug Reed, Matteo Marangoni,

Mariska de Groot, Dewi de Vree, Patrizia Ruthensteiner,

Lars Kynde, Wen Chin Fu, Yolanda Uriz, Aurélie Lierman,

Mischa Daams, Adam Denton, Luke Twyman, Marianna Liik,

Linda Leimane, Voldemars Johansons, Anna Jaaniste, Seth

Nehil, Kelly Rauer.

Artist in Residence

4 MoKS front door | photo: Tanel Rander

- .

-

5

MoKS Curated and Group residencies were initiated at

the end of 2014 to realize the potential of residencies for

collectives and collaborating artists and to meet the need

of expanding curatorial practices involving residencies.

A number of these residencies were able to bring a

focused and determined group of people under one roof,

to use the residency as a period for open but shared

explorations (Active Crossover), exhibition preparation

(Totaldobze Black Holes) or development of performances

(Masayo Kajimura and Maiko Date), testing prototypes for

workshops (Tero Nauha and Karolina Kucia), discussion

and symposium preparations (Crossing Contexts) or taking

a chance for an established group to meet, work and

cross-pollinate (Instrument inventors Initiative).

With the organisation and facilitation of the residency in

the hands of visiting artists and curators, MoKS role was

to welcome the groups, provide and introduce them to

the available contacts in Estonia (both local and national)

and local community, finding resources and stipends

for artist projects, organise events in conjunction with

residency (MoKS meetings, Artists to schools visits, public

performances and presentations).

Besides free studio and accommodation, stipends from

350€ to 1400€ were provided for visiting artists and

organisers depending on the duration and scale of their

residency.

Curatedand Groupresidencies

Even shoes are mossy here | photo: John Grzinich

CROSSING CONTEXTS, A LAB FOR ARTISTIC RESEARCH

Curated by

Camilla Graff Junior and Luisa Greenfield

Participants

During my residency at MoKS I worked on my

current performance and artistic research

project "Is love a concept (by which we measure our

pain)?".

My activities consisted of developing and presenting

a series of one to one performances, daily working

sessions with invited guests and collaborators and

together with Luisa Greenfield preparing our symposium

in Artistic Research for the Nordic Summer University

held at Kanuti Gildi Saal in Tallinn from March 26th

-28th.

The series of one to one performances was developed

for - and in dialogue with - members of the MoKS

community. Together with invited artists, curators and

researchers, I prepared a performance-panel that was

presented at Genialistide Klubi in Tartu on March 21st

and at Kanuti Gildi Saal in Tallinn on March 28th in the

frame of the symposium in Artistic Research.

The environment of MoKS in general offered excellent

working facilities for conceiving this project with

equally a local and international character. It gave me,

both as a curator and artist, the opportunity to open up

my writing process to the participation of the

guests that Luisa and I had invited.

[Camilla Graff Junior]

““

NSU Symposium in Artistic Research, Kanuti Gildi Saal | photo: John Grzinich 6

- .Myna Trustram, Michael Kjaer, Daina Dieva Pupkevičiute,

Eduardo Abrantes, Sebastian Dietrich, Luisa Greenfield

family: Ming Tsao, Kathleen Escalada, Elsa Greenfield Tsao

MAR02

MAR26>>

7

Silent dinner | photo: John Grzinich

In Mooste Sebastian Dieterich and I created a daily ritual

of walking, not talking and getting lost. Each day we would

step outside of MoKS, determine a direction to start out

in and let our silent intuition and the landscape guide us

from there. What transpired were entirely unpredictable

encounters with the local landscape and the remarkable

discovery of an ability to communicate everything without

words. We never had a problem getting lost and learned

right away to trust in the uncanny intuition that lead two

haphazard explorers to find the way back every time.

We went to Tartu to meet with Kalevi Kull, one of the most

generous and open scholars we have ever met, to discuss

semiotic ecologies and the wonders and contradictions of

Estonia and our silent walks with him.

At MoKS Sebastian and I screened the third instalment of

our mash-up experiment, Biological Wisdom and Social

Transformation, this time on the theme of fungi. With Myna

Trustram and Eduardo Abrantes, we also discussed our

plans as editors of the Nordic Summer University 2013-

2015 artistic research study cycle anthology. Partly based

on our collective experience at MoKS, we developed the

theme for the anthology, Being There: Exploring the local

through artistic research.

It would be reductive to say that my time at MoKS was a

merely a productive time. Concrete work happened but the

experience was much more than that. MoKS, Mooste

and Estonia was a transformative experience.

[Luisa Greenfield]

“

I arrived at MoKS with my husband, mother and

three year old daughter. Together with

collaborator friends who joined at intervals along the way,

Evelyn, John and their daughter, we cooked and ate meals

together, sweat in the sauna, had discussions that ran late

into the night, experienced the astounding northern lights

together, took long walks, ate yogurt, cheeses and pickled

foods from the local farm. In short, we had a truly amazing

time.

Camilla Graff Junior was my touchstone collaborator and

we met daily to plan our upcoming winter symposium in

artistic research for Nordic Summer University.

“

ACTIVE CROSSOVER

by

Simon Whetham and John Grzinich

Participants:

Tuulikki Bartosik, Arlene Tucker, Park Jin Young, Richard

Eigner, Yiorgis Sakellariou, Jim Haynes, Fernando Godoy,

Eamon Sprod, James Wyness, Dawn Scarfe, Rostislav

Rekuta, Taavi Suisalu.

8

APR01

MAY31>>

Performance setup, Active Crossover at Tartu Artist House | photo: John Grzinich

The main strength of the Active Crossover project

was definitely the combination of the

different energies and approaches each artist

brought and shared. Although one or two of the

artists knew each other personally, most did not.

A further strength was having the support and involvement

of the directors of MoKS, Evelyn and John Grzinich.

The project simply could not have happened without

them. To have established such a renowned and

successful residency in Mooste, situated in rural South-

East Estonia is to their credit and they have created a

working environment that is both relaxed and inspiring.

From the project's inception I have always enjoyed

the company of like-minded individuals and groups,

where we can share ideas and experiences, from

theories and approaches, through to recording activities,

Lake listeners Fernando Godoy & co | photo: John Grzinich

9

performances and workshops. I am always willing

to learn from experience (my own and others') and

possible errors of judgement (in any form), and also from

participating in something I would not normally consider.

For this development of the project, my aim was for

participating artists to join me in Mooste and for us to share

experiences such as these - the familiar and the unfamiliar.

I feel I faced two major challenges. The first was the

organisation and management of the artists and activities.

This encompasses many aspects of project management

but the specific challenges I faced were as follows:

Knowing what my role actually entailed - Was

I to be the aforementioned project manager, or more

one of the participants? I followed the latter rather than

the former, but I am now unsure if that was the correct

choice. However, although having more than one organiser

eased so much pressure in many ways, this also left me

feeling that many decisions or plans could not be made

without consultation. The group could not be spontaneous

to a certain degree, which I would have preferred.

Knowing when to push to engage the group in

collective activities and when to leave participants

to organise themselves - This is always a difficult

situation as personally I do not like having a project

organised around me and having to follow set

guidelines. On the other hand, the most common

question each day was 'What is the plan for today?'.

Having a proposed 'end product' - While

the artists who joined Active Crossover: Mooste

were content with engaging in the group activities,

discussions and with the peaceful Estonian countryside,

it became clear that some of the participants

wished there to be a final resolution to the project.

Even now, I feel it would have been impossible to propose

a fixed final outcome, not knowing how many of the artists

functioned, both individually and in a group context.

I knew the general nature of their works, but only had

insight into the working methods of one or two of them.

The project allowed me to work alongside all of the

participants, getting to know how they worked and more

importantly why. Only now would I be able to propose

a fixed outcome for a future project development,

but even this would need to be open and flexible

to accommodate each artists' approach and vision.

“

Simon Whetham, Fernando Godoy, Arlene Tucker in search of sound | photo: John Grzinich

10

The second challenge was one of being immersed

in the project over 2 months, with very few breaks or

downtime. Because of the participants availability

and other engagements, each chose a time period

to join the project that suited them best. However,

this meant that over the 9 weeks of the project, there

was only a period of 3 days where John, Evelyn and I

were able to have some time away from the project.

I know that none of us could have foreseen how

exhausting this would be, and we have to thank the artists

who joined us later in the project for bringing

their energy and enthusiasm, which kept us going.

[Simon Whetham]

“

APRMoKS Meetings. The Movement of Sound, Y Gallery, Tartu

08

APRArtists to Schools: Simon Whetham and Yiorgis Sakellariou at Räpina Gardening School

09

APRArtists to Schools: Jim Haynes at Võnnu High School

12

photo: John Grzinich

11

APR

MoKS Meetings: Trans-missions of Sound, Tartu Artists House

30MAY

Workshop with Tallinn University MA Students in Audio-Visual Ethnography

8>> 9MAY

Artists to Schools: Dawn Scarfe at Põlva High School

12MAY

Concert: Chatterbox, Tuulikki Bartosik, Hannah James + AC guests

28

JULWorkshop, What is real? 1.

15>> 16

WHAT IS REAL?

by

Tero Nauha and Karolina Kucia

Participants:

Svetlana Bogomolova, Vahram Muradyan, Marta

Bogomolova Muradyan, Tuulikki, Mattias, Leo and Theo

Bartosik, Maarja, Madis and Melissa Masing, Anselm

Nauha-Kucia, John, Evelyn and Kayt Grzinich

In July 2015 we have run two workshops with

Karolina Kucia and I at MoKS. They took place

on July 15-16 and July 28-30, 2015. The total amount of

participants, including the organizers were fifteen people,

adults and children. The topic of the workshop was "What

is real?" Both workshops followed a structure created

by us, in collaboration with Evelyn Grzinich and John

Grzinich, which was directed for including both adults

and their children around this question.

The workshops were intense and required a flexibility

and demanded strong involvement from us and the

MoKS residency organizers. That is to say, the total of

the residency was focused on providing this workshop

for the participants, which were artists, their spouses and

children. This model had not been tried out in any place

else beforehand, and therefore the organization

was rather demanding.

[Tero Nauha]

““

JULY

12

What is real? | photo: John Grzinich

JUL

Workshop, What is real? 2.

28>> 30

The world is often created through response,

speculation, playing, experimenting, reaction

and reflection. The method of the workshop was based

on notion that all thinking is equal, that is to say, all

understanding of what is real, are considered equally valid,

may it be a baby, toddler, teenager, adult or senior. When

we think of what is real, we tend to create hierarchies

of knowledge. Some points of views or thoughts are

supposedly correlating more with the real than others -

some thoughts are more 'realistic' than others. Then, in

our proposal, we considered everything equally as real,

or that everything is equally 'as-if-real'. We proposed not

to create art, but instead propose stations as 'frames' or

'framework'. To observe often ordinary or mundane event

in a frame or through certain point of view like through

different lenses. Also, we did not propose to focus only on

the knowing or knowledge of children or teenagers, but to

regard the relationships we have. Thus, these frames do

not require anything excessive, but everyone may do them

within their own limits or interest.

The workshop followed a twelve-hour schedule. There

were four stations allocated for the day, in certain times.

Out of these stations, two of them were directed for the

whole group, and other ones were for smaller group. The

food preparations and cooking were done in a group.

Each day ended with a short assessment, where every

participant shared his or her experiences of the day.

In the workshop we used a system called meta-model, a

'system of a system', which functions as dynamic tools in

creating materials both for artistic production and how one

perceives the subjectivity in relation with the group, milieu,

social norms or political bodies. We had great occasion

to try the structure for group organisation based on this

model based on Fernard Deligny's and Felix Guattari's

research and trial in Clinique de La Borde. That model

was originally meant for therapeutic organisation for

schizophrenics, however we were following the analysis of

capitalist structure as schizoid by Gilles Deleuze and Felix

Guattari's, which was useful in working with our group or

family structures, as well. One of our small successes was

ability to understand the function of analytic structures

used by Guattari, the metamodelization, which gives us a

courage to use this method in future projects.

13

What is real? | photo: Tero Nauha

We feel that collaboration and organization of the

workshop with MoKS was flexible, productive and

functioned well. We were given enough space, attention

and interest to develop our idea. The actual workshops

were intense, and required participation from all members

of the group. However, the intention of the workshop

was focused on research around this topic, instead of

creating for instance some emancipatory result for

the participants. We were able to work both physically,

emotionally and theoretically around the topic, and were

able to produce real results, also. Therefore, we r e g a r d

the workshop successfully co-created with the

MoKS organization.

[Tero Nauha]

“The subject of the workshop

“

BETWEEN THE ISLANDS

by

Masayo Kajimura and Maiko Date

Participants:

EETER (Anna Hints, Marja-Liisa Plats, Ann Reimann)

14

Masayo Kajimura, Anna Hints, Maiko Date, Ann Reimann, Marja-Liisa Plats | photo: Masayo Kajimura

AUG04 AUG24>>

15

photo: John Grzinich

"between islands" is a video dance performance

project, that we started in 2012. Since then the

project has grown, and so far we have presented the

performance 8 times in 7 different locations in 4 countries

together with diverse collaborators. This year, we were

lucky to have had the opportunity to further develop the

project in two residency programs: a one month residency

in June at the Künstlerhaus Lukas in Ahrenshoop/Germany,

and another residency in August at MoKS in Mooste/

Estonia. During our stay at MoKS, we were able to collect

and create further material for "between islands". Maiko

worked on the choreography and development of the

scenes, while Masayo recorded video material mainly in

nature (forest, lake, and other landscapes), and created

paper cut figures for the shadow theater elements of

the performance. A crucial element of our residency

was the collaboration with the Estonian vocal electronic

music band EETER (Anna Hints, Marja-Liisa Plats, Ann

Reimann). Their music was included into our performance,

and together we recorded video and sound in different

spots in and around Mooste, which also became part of

"between islands".

The intense working process during the residencies resulted

in the recreation of most scenes of "between islands".

When we presented the performance on September 4th,

2015 at miss hecker in Berlin, we were able to show the

audience an intensified and transformed piece, which

carried very much the experiences and moods that we

breathed in during our residency stays. We can only stress

the importance of the residency at MoKS, which allowed

us to work in an unique environment (not only the splendid

studio, but also the natural landscape such as the forest),

where we had the luxury of concentrating on the creative

process, could go back to the essential, and lived in a

slow but clarified rhythm which is different from our usual

urban environment. The creation time together with EETER

was a great source of inspiration, and we enjoyed our

common time so much, that we would like to continue our

collaboration , and hopefully will do a live performance

together in the future.

"between islands" is an ongoing project, which will be

further developed, and the residency at MoKS gave us a

lot of resources to do so. We are very grateful for

this input.

[Masayo Kajimura]

““

APRIL

OCTOBER

16 Sonografs by Mariska de Groot | photo: Evelyn Grzinich

INSTRUMENT INVENTORS INITIATIVE

Participats:

Patrizia Ruthensteiner, Dewi de Vree, Mariska de Groot,

Matteo Marangoni, Mischa Daams, Lars Kynde, Adam

Denton, Luke Twyman, Yolanda Uriz, Aurelie Lieman, Wen

Chin Fu

APRIL

In the context of a group residency organised

by the Instrument Inventors Initiative "iii" we

stayed with 11 artists in MoKS for the full Month of October

2015. Among our group were 8 members of iii and 3 guest

artists. During the residency we worked on new projects,

presented performance programs in different venues in

the Baltic region and hold workshops in several schools

around Mooste.

Our collective started 3 years ago with former students

of the ArtScience Interfaculty in The Hague (NL). To

strengthen the bounds of our collective, we organise

every year a group residency, in which we work for a

longer period on a common location. This year we were

very happy that MoKS could give us this opportunity and

offered us their space for a full month. Being together in

MoKS gave us the chance to exchange information and

ideas, give each other feedback during the development

of new works, make plans for the future, and to get to

know 3 potential new members of the initiative. Also to

make known our collective and make new connections

in the Baltic region by presenting our performance

programs, it was great to have MoKS as a base from which

to operate. For all of us individually as well the time in

MoKS was a perfect place to withdraw from our daily

preoccupation at home and to be able to fully focus on

our projects. Besides working and doing research, simply

enjoying silence in this remote and quiet place gave us the

chance to let our senses become sensitive again, to relax

and reflect on our work. Patrizia Ruthensteiner and Dewi

de Vree worked during their stay on new antenna-based

costumes for sound performance and installation. For this,

they fully emerged themselves in the Estonian nature and

history and used found local materials for the making

of site specific new pieces, documenting the project on

specifically selected spots. Mariska de Groot developed

new versions of her work 'Sonografs', that consist of

pendulums made from wood straight from the estonian

woods, a mechanical system that translates the movement

of the pendulums into a line drawing and a sensor system

that then converts the drawing into sound. She also hold

a workshop with children in which a simple version of a

Sonograf could be made.

“

17 Dewi de Vree | photo: Evelyn Grzinich

Dewi de Vree | photo: Evelyn Grzinich 18

Matteo Marangoni was mainly working on the yearly

substantive and financial plan of iii for 2016 and gave a

workshop to the collective on the business side of being

an artist, as well as a workshop with students of the

Räpina Gardening School with his self made echo-location

instruments. Yolanda Uriz continued her research into

the use of smell in a performative setting and developed

new instruments which link smell and sound. Dieter and

Jonathan worked on prototypes of new wireless sound

synthesis modules for a new collaborative work. Mischa

Daams researched the influence of very selective light

exposure on our eyes and did experiments with portable

analogue optical devices. Wen Chin Fu continued her

research into the acoustical properties of sugar in different

chemical states and developed a collection of percussion

instruments called 'TANG' made out of sugar for her

project 'Sounding Sugar'. Aurélie Lieman worked on her

research into the threshold between meaning and music

of speech and developed a performance and workshop

based on this theme. Finally Lars Kynde researched and

made experiments with new methods of musical notation,

which resulted into a printed book with various attempts

of harmony- and instrument-specific scores.

At the end of the residency all newly developed works

were presented in a performance event in Moks. A

gathering around a campfire with Wenchin's sugar

experiments started off the evening and was followed by

a tour alongside all individual and collaborative works

which were presented in various unique spaces in and

around the building. This collective presentation was very

useful in a way that we could support each other during

setting up, playing and documentation and of course to be

able to experience each others freshly made works. Other

presentations in venues in the Baltic region in this period

have given us a lot of new contacts. iii has invited several

Baltic artists to join its public program in home base The

Hague and made plans for future shows of iii on different

venues. More exchanges to come, we are

looking forward!

[Dewi de Vree]

“

Artists to Schools: Mariska

de Groot, Mooste Folk Music

SchoolOCT12

MoKS Meetings: No

Patent Pending #13,

Tartu, AparaaditehasOCT10

Artists to Schools: Matteo

Maragnoni, Räpina Gardening

School

OCT13

Artists to Schools: Lars Kynde,

Yolanda Uriz, Ahja Youth Center

OCT21>> 22

19

No Patent Pending #15

OCT24

Antennae by Patrizia Rutherstein and Dewi de Vree | photo: Tanel Rander

The participating artists and composers worked together for three weeks on creating ideas for their new art works. After each week a public presentation of the workshop was organized, where participants shared their experiences. The first presentation took place in the Tartu Artists Union on December 2nd. The second presentation took place at the project space MIMstuudio in Tallinn on December 10th. The third and final presentation took place in a gallery|cafe Austra in Riga on December 16th. After each presentation the audience had a chance to ask questions about the ideas and process of the workshop. In events which took place in Estonia Kaspars Lielgalvis explained the background of the project - with its 5 year history of activities held at Totaldobže in Riga.

During the workshop the exhibition planned in the Sorting Factory of Flax Seeds, in July 2016, in Mooste, was founded. There is a plan to invite a chamber orchestra "Sinfonietta Riga" to perform compositions composed during the residency at the opening.

The workshop participants carefully explored the Sorting Factory of Flax Seeds, in Mooste interviewing the workers of the factory about its history, production and their personal life and searching on internet about the qualities of the flax seeds. Many hours were been spent in the factory recording sounds, documenting the process of sorting, planning the placement of art works, orchestra musicians and audience for the opening concert. There were inner presentations where the participants shared among themselves their previous artistic practices. And numerous discussions were held about the existing and possible connections between the factory and the outer world using different scales and levels.

The title of the exhibition will be "Omega 3". This fatty acid is extremely important for our health today, because it restores a balance in foods, produced

“

Factory for sorting Flaxseed, Mooste | photo: Kaspars Lielgalvis 20

NOV23

DEC13>>

using new industrial technologies. The exhibition will be celebrating the factory and the people, who still run it despite the difficulties they are facing because of new regulations and constant market changes.

All participants will continue to develop their ideas and make art works for the exhibition. Totaldobže Art Centre and MoKS will work closely together, to collaborate on production of the exhibition.

BLACK HOLES by TOTALTOBZE

by

Kaspars Lielgalvis

Participants:

Voldemars Johansons, Taavi Suisalu, Linda Leimane,

Marianna Liik

-“

21

MoKS Meetings. Tartu Artist House

DEC02

Factory for sorting Flaxseed, Mooste | photo: Kaspars Lielgalvis

MoKS Meetings.

Tallinn, MiM Studio

DEC10

MoKS Meetings. Riga, Austra

DEC16

Tadas Dailyda & Mykolas Natalevicius playing at the organ in Põlva church | photo: John Grzinich 22

exchange residencies

-- --

DAR- MoKS exchange

part 2 at MoKS, 1.-14.11.2015

Let's start from the beginning then. We arrived by

car from Vilnius which turned out to be not so

far away and a pretty ordinary trip as well if not for

Latvian roads (this is the first negative experience but

the residency hadn't begun at that point so it doesn't

count). After we had finally arrived at Mooste we had a

wonderful welcoming (including pre-heated sauna). The

first impression for me was that this place has nothing to

do with bureaucrats or people "just doing their job" which

is a must for any art related institution (I promise not to

use this word again in this text) in my humble opinion.

Regarding the building itself I have to say that it's very

spacious and practically laid out. Maybe even too

spacious for composers who don't need much space to

"exhibit their work". For me personally three basic things

are needed to work on music: good feng shui with proper

kitchen, computer and some music instrument. Fortunately,

we had good access to a piano which needs a bit of

tuning but is perfectly workable otherwise. Computer was

successfully extended with two Behringer monitors which

were just waiting to be used on the second floor. In terms

of feng shui only little tweaking of bed positioning and

knife sharpening down at the kitchen was necessary. After

all, it is a very well equipped artist residency indeed. We

even got ourselves a small PA system to use in the concert

which tops this list.

Some few days after arriving we got to see the Põlva

church and it's pipe organ which we would be

working on for the upcoming weeks to prepare for

a concert.

[Tadas Dailyda]

“

“

NOV

01NOV

14>>

In 2015 we continued residency exchange with Budapest

based FKSE (Fiatal Képzomuvészek Stúdioja or The Studio

of Young Artists' Association). Though we did not host any

Hungarian artists in 2015. Instead we sent for 2 months

to Budapest Estonian Artist Mari Volens and selected

Hungarian artist Klara Petra Szabo for residency at MoKS

in February-March 2016. The Estonian artist selected by

FKSE for a residency in Budapest in 2016 is Tanel Rander.

A new exchange took place with the Composers

Union of Lithuania. 2 Lithuanian composers: Mykolas

Natalevicius, Tadas Dailyda and 2 Estonian sound artists:

John Grzinich, Taavi Suisalu, worked the first 2 weeks

in August in Druskininkai Artist-in-residence (DAR) and

later same group gathered again at MoKS for 2 weeks

in November. Besides free studio and accommodation

for all artists Lithuanian artists were provided with the

stipend 350€ each for a 2 week residency at MoKS.

23 Tadas Dailyda and Mykolas Natalevicius giving workshop at Põlva Primary School | photo: Evelyn Grzinich

Põlva, not so far from Mooste, has very nice

church with the small pipe organ, which is in very

good condition. As we are big pipe organ fans, that was

a great source of inspiration and we took the challenge

to make a full concert consisting of huge variety of pipe

organ music. The organ by itself was with only one manual

and pedal and a very tough keyboard (we worked really

hard to push those keys in faster places). But it had a very

nice disposition with a big variety of colors and

characteristics of a baroque organ.

[Mykolas Natalevicius]

It's important to mention that the time in MoKS

was really disturbance free. So I guess the rural

setting of MoKS was kind of a productivity booster for

me. And then all the public activities happening in and

around MoKS during residency were optional but also not

too many. I'm glad I participated in most of them though.

Kudos to our hostess Evelyn for flawless organization

of the concert with cool poster and everything. Come

the day of the concert I still was unready to play Keith

Jarrett's Hymn of Remembrance but that's again my fault

for overcomplicating things. On the other hand, this was

my first experience transcribing an organ piece from a

highly reverberant recording. That's why the score wasn't

finished until the day before the concert if I remember

correctly. Composing my own piece was a lot of fun and

that's how it should be but doesn't happen that often. This

proves that in general MoKS experience was uplifting.

To sum up, MoKS was a very good opportunity to work on

our continuous organ-themed projects with Mykolas with

some really interesting results. Thanks for a coincidentally

good balance of freedom, opportunities and

limitations!

[Tadas Dailyda]

Artists to Schools: John Grzinich

and Taavi Suisalu at Vastse-

Kuuste Primary School

NOV1 1

MoKS Meetings: Impossible

Organ, Põlva, Maarja

Church

NOV14

Artists to Schools: Mykolas

Natalevičius and Tadas Dailyda,

Põlva Primary School

NOV10

Artists to Schools: John

Grzinich and Taavi Suisalu

at Ahja Primary School

NOV09

“ “

In August 2015 I spent 2 weeks in Druskininkai,

a small town in southern Lithuania, not far from

the borders of Belarus and Poland. During those weeks

I was mostly hunting and gathering sounds, exploring

the place sonically and historically. The intention of

the residency was to trigger a collaboration and/or

exchange ideas between two Lithuanian composers

and two Estonian-based artists whose practice involves

working with sound. Our stay in Lithuania concluded with

a collaborative sound broadcast, a remote participation

to a symposium of arts happening simultaneously in Nida,

Lithuania.

The second part of the project took place in Mooste

where we were working mostly individually but having

great conversations and exchanges of ideas. I was mostly

working on an upcoming sound-performance of Post-

instrumentum, building new instruments and also giving

couple of lecture-workshops in nearby schools.

The research done in this exchange-project has already

found its way to my later work, either by using sound

material collected in Druskininkai or instruments

built during the stay at MoKS.

[Taavi Suisalu]

““

“

“ As the follow up residency to my experience

at DAR in Druskininkai, it was good to meet again

with Mykolas and Tadas and see how they work in an

unfamiliar territory. The connection for them to the organ

in the church in Polva was essential and gave a focus to

their residency. As for me I was able to take some time

to get to know them better. Otherwise it was somewhat

difficult to be productive as MoKS is my base and it is

not always easy to escape the daily routine of

running the organization.

[John Grzinich]

“ “

MoKS Meetings: Art as

provocation,Võru, Jüri 39

JUL18

24 Piotr Armianovski talking and showing at Y Gallery, Tartu | photo: John Grzinich

fresh air

Piotr armianovski

JUL

02AUG20>>

This residency was organised in collaboration with

the Nordic Fresh Air Project run by HIAP - Helsinki

International Artist Programme, Perpetuum Mobile &

Cooperative Buongiorno.

FRESH AIR is geared towards artists, writers, journalists

and scholars who are targets of politically motivated

threats and persecution. The primary idea of the

residency is to provide for artists at risk a safe place

to live and work for a certain period of time. In July-

August 2015 we hosted Ukranian artist-activist and

actor Piotr Armianovski who was recommended to us by

contemporary art organisation Izolyatsija.

Besides free studio and accommodation artist was

provided with a honorarium 1320€ for a 7 week

residency and travel costs covered up to 230€.

When I got information about a residency at

MoKS I thought: "Great, I could take distance

and in silence overview my ideas and experience for

last dashing year". However it was not easy to leave my

country when the conflict is still going on. So I decided to

have less time in Estonia.

Before arriving I set few goals for myself - to finish some

old ideas. I was not fully succeeded with it, e.g. because

scenes shot in Donetsk in 2014 are still too painful to

watch. However I came up with few new ideas. Artist

talks in MoKS, Võru and Tartu were quite useful for me.

However, I am still in a production period for these new

ideas, so I can't report any titles. But I could boast by

the finishing translation the book by Russel Roberts "The

choice. A novel about free trade and protectionism", and

finish editing the movie "Culture of Russian Swearwords".

It was interesting to meet local people and the artists that

were at MoKS at the same time. I enjoyed the Mooste lake,

forests and blueberries. Also it was very nice to

sightsee in Tartu, Tallinn and Helsinki.

[Piotr Armianovski]

“

“

Before the Journey, Ross Cochrane & co | photo: John Grzinich 25

alumni returnrental residencies

Working in Flaxseed factory, Seth Nehil and Kelly Rauer | stills from their video 26

Open Studio residencies are for artists and researchers

from all over the world. 4 residencies were offered

from 2 weeks to 1 month for musician Argo Vals,

graphic designer Vahram Muradyan, researcher of

traditional log buildings Doug Reed, sound and video

artists Seth Nehil and Kelly Rauer. Resident artists

were provided with free studio and accommodation.

MoKS offered for its former AIRs possibility for return

visits. Following artists returned for a brief residency:

Jaana Kokko, Michael Holly, Alan Burns, Ross Cochrane.

All artist visits were in connection with their exhibitions

at Y- Gallery in Tartu. Besides funded residencies we

also provided 2 short term rental residencies.

open stud

io

Doug Reed | photo: Doug Reed 27

My stay at MoKS was especially beneficial to my

efforts to research and write about Estonia's

log building culture and traditions. Having a base camp

to work from and a quiet place in which to write I

visited many historic houses and other buildings and

was able to write almost 50,000 words while there for

one month. It was a concentrated effort not diluted

by the chores of a farm where I live and the normal

family interruptions of everyday life. While in Estonia

I was able to go see the buildings I was writing about

and in so many ways during my stay at MoKS the time

there was helpful beyond words. I cannot thank you

enough for assisting me with translations and unending

questions. My MoKS experience was good in that it helped

me concentrate on the project for a 30 day period.

I see the need now for MoKS to continue as it has in providing

a place where those who are attempting to

research or better their skills in various forms of art.

[Doug Reed]

“

“

gallery

28 Dreams Revised | photo: Evelyn Grzinich

Altogether there was 4 exhibitions. 3 exhibitions by

illustrators from the area: drawings by Jaan Rõõmus,

illustrations by Marja-Liisa Plats, graphic works by

Vahram Muradyan and the longer-term exhibition

Dreams Revised, curated by Evelyn Grzinich, a

retro-perspective show that featured works from

MoKS archive.

The gallery is located both on the second floor and

in the cellar of MoKS and is open to the public

several days per week and by appointment. The

Gallery received approximately 700 visitors and

was supported by Estonian Ministry of Culture

support programme for galleries.

Dreams Revised used examples to illustrate how

visions held by different people in Mooste, a village

in Southeast Estonia with 500 people, were realized.

These visions were facilitated and documented by

MoKS over nearly a 15 year period, where we have

been active as artists and organisers. This duration

has given us a possibility to witness visions dreamt,

visions spoken, spoken again and eventually

realized, whether practical or utopian in nature or

somewhere in between.

The approach exhibited in Dreams Revised suggested

not only the possibilities found in artistic work,

but how citizens in general can reflect on, create

and shape the world they live in, either through

practical challenges, constructive collaboration or

stepping into the unknown to find that the answers

to even the most exotic vision can be found in your

own backyard.

The exhibition featured works by SUSANNE

KUDIELKA, KASPAR WIMBERLEY, PINK PUNK,

PUHAS RÕÕM, RATAPLAN & PLAN_B, DIRK LANGE,

IZABELLA OLDAK, JOHN GRZINICH, JAAN TOOTSEN

and EVELYN MUURSEPP-GRZINICH.. ..

29

MARGallery: Jaan Rõõmus, Exhibition nr 13

13MAY01>>

Jaan Rõõmus | photo: John Grzinich

JUNGallery: Vahram Muradyan, illustrations

04SEP01>> JUL

Gallery: Dreams Revised. Retro-perspective

17SEP10>>Gallery: Marja-Liisa Plats,

illustrations MAY07>> 30

Simon Whetham and Yiorgis

Sakellariou at Räpina

Gardening SchoolAPR09 Jim Haynes at Võnnu

High SchoolAPR12

Exploring old radios, workshop by Jim Haynes | photo: John Grzinich

Altogether 15 artists paid a visit to nearby schools and

gave total 16 2-hour workshops in the frame of Art and

Music classes, English conversation or outside the school

curricula. The following schools partnered: Põlva Primary

School, Põlva High School, Räpina Gardening School, Ahja

Primary School, Vastse-Kuuste Primary School, Mooste

Folk Music School, Võnnu High School. Artistic workshops

took place also at the Ahja Youth Center.

The programme was supported by funding from Estonan

Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Education of Estonia and

Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

30

Dawn Scarfe at Põlva High SchoolMAY

12artists to schoolsSveta Bogomolova, Vastse-Kuuste Primary SchoolMAY

21

31 Taking school for a blind walk, workshop by Simon Whetham and Yorgis Sakellariou | photo: John Grzinich

Vahram Muradyan,

Räpina Gardening

SchoolJUN1 1

Evelyn Grzinich,

Mooste Primary

SchoolSEP02

Mariska de Groot,

Mooste Folk Music

School0CT12

Matteo Maragnoni,

Räpina Gardening

SchoolOCT13

John G

rzinich a

nd

Taavi

Suisalu

at

Ahja Prim

ary Scho

ol

NOV09

Mykolas Nataleviči

us

and Tadas D

ailyda, P

õlva

Primary School

NOV10

John Grzinich and Taavi

Suisalu at V

astse-K

uuste

Primary School

NOV1 1

Lars Kynde, Yolanda

Uriz, Ahja Youth Center

20>>21OCT

Upa-Upa Ubinakõnõ concert | photo: John Grzinich 32

EVENTS

MoKS meetings, is a series of events, introducing MoKS

AIRs to audiences outside of Mooste. The event is lead

by an invited moderator, usually someone local, whose

activity or field of research links with invited artist.

MoKS meetings center point is a moderated talk, but

also includes performances and screenings. Meetings

took place in various locations around Tartu (Y- Gallery,

Tartu Artists House), Võru (in the frame of Kilometer of

Sculpture Festival), Tallinn (MiM studio), Riga (Austra)

and Põlva (Põlva Church). In 2015 altogether 8 meetings

took place. Meetings were funded by Estonian Ministry

of Culture and Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

Other regular events included Cine MoKS public

movie nights, that are organised in conjunctions with

Kodanikukino and is regular gathering for people from

and around Mooste. The Cine MoKS programme was

coordinated by Aiki Hainsoo and Kati Taal. Altogether 10

movie nights were held in 2015. We also had the pleasure

to host 3 cozy concert and performance evenings at MoKS

that drew significant audience numbers considering our

location. Acoustic concerts by Tuulikki Bartosik and

Hannah James; Mari Kalkun and Ramo Teder (as Upa-

upa ubinakõnõ) and large scale performance evening by

the 'instrument inventors initiative'.

Sugar drums by Wen Chin Fu | photo: Evelyn Grzinich

budget

33

2930

2640

2020

19415

810

11085

Reserve 5822

TOTAL 44722

5000

€

1000

0€

1500

0€

TOTAL 44722

Expenses €

Gallery

Artists to Schools

MoKS Meetings

Residency (artist stipends, transport, premises)

Communication of programmes (web, yearbook, etc)

Administration (salaries)

Income €

Estonian Cultural Endowment 10750

Estonian Ministry of Culture 19000

Kulturkontakt Nord 8767

Estonian Ministry of Education and Science

HIAP RY 1555

Self-earned income 3850

800

March

2.-26.03 AIR: Crossing Contexts / Curated-group / 6-7/ 13.03-1.05 Gallery: Jaan Rõõmus, Exhibition nr 13 / 23-24/

July

1.-31.07 AIR: What is Real? / Curated-group / 10-11/ 2.07-20.08 AIR: Piotr Armianovski / Fresh AIR / 20/ 4.06-1.09 Gallery: Vahram Muradyan, illustrations / 23-24/ 17.07-10.09 Gallery: Dreams Revised. Retroperspective / 23-24/ 18.07 MoKS Meetings: Art as provocation,Võru, Jüri 39 / 27/

October

1.-30.10 AIR: iii / Curated-group / 13-15/ 10.10 MoKS Meetings: No Patent Pending #13,

Tartu, Aparaaditehas / 27/ 12.10 Artists to Schools: Mariska de Groot,

Mooste Folk Music School / 25-26/ 13.10 Artists to Schools: Matte Maragnoni,

Räpina Gardening School / 25-26/ 20.-21.10 Artists to Schools: Lars Kynde, Yolanda Uriz,

Ahja Youth Center / 25-26/ 24.10 Event: No Patent Pending #15, iii / 13-15/

April

1.-30.04 AIR: Active Crossover / Curated-group / 7-9/ 13.03-1.05 Gallery: Jaan Rõõmus, Exhibition nr 13 / 23-24/ 8.04 MoKS Meetings: ACTIVE CROSSOVER,

Tartu, Y-Gallery / 7-9/ 9.04 Artists to Schools: Simon Whetham and Yiorgis

Sakellariou at Räpina Gardening School / 25-26/ 12.04 Artists to Schools: Jim Haynes at Võnnu

High School / 25-26/ 30.04 MoKS Meetings: ACTIVE CROSSOVER,

Tartu, Artist House / 7-9/

June

1.-14.06 AIR: Vahram Muradyan / 21/ 11.06 Artists to Schools: Vahram Muradyan,

Räpina Gardening School / 25-26/ 4.06-1.09 Gallery: Vahram Muradyan, illustrations / 23-24/

November

1.-14 AIR: DAR-MoKS exchange / 18-19/ 2.-12 AIR: Anna Jaaniste / 4/ 4.11 Concert: Upa-Upa Ubinakõnõ / 27/ 9.11 Artists to Schools: John Grzinich and Taavi Suisalu

at Ahja Primary School / 25-26/ 10.11 Artists to Schools: Mykolas Natalevičius

and Tadas Dailyda, Põlva Primary School / 25-26/ 11.11 Artists to Schools: John Grzinich and Taavi Suisalu

at Vastse-Kuuste Primary School / 25-26/ 14.11 MoKS Meetings: Impossible Organ, Põlva,

Maarja Church / 27/ 23.11-13.12 AIR: Black Holes / Curated-group / 16-17/

August

2.07-20.08 AIR: Piotr Armianovski / Fresh AIR / 20/ 2.-24.08 AIR: Between the Islands / Curated-group / 12/ 12.08 Event: Those Who Journey (in) the forest / 27/ 17.07-10.09 Gallery: Dreams Revised. Retroperspective / 23-24/ 4.06-1.09 Gallery: Vahram Muradyan, illustrations / 23-24/

September

2.-30.09 AIR: Doug Reed / 21/ 17.07-10.09 Gallery: Dreams Revised. Retroperspective / 23-24/ 13.09 Artist talks: Marianne Liik & Reinis Nalivaiko / 27/ 17.-27.09 AIR: Seth Nehil, Kelly Rauer / 21/ 2.09 Artists to Schools: Evelyn Grzinich,

Mooste Primary School / 25-26/

December

23.11-13.12 AIR: Black Holes / Curated-group / 16-17/ 2.12 MoKS Meetings: Black Holes, Tartu Artist House / 27/ 10.12 MoKS Meetings: Black Holes, Tallinn, MiM Studio / 27/ 16.12 MoKS Meetings: Black Holes, Riga, Austra / 27/

34

timeline

May

1.-31.05 AIR Active Crossover / Curated-group / 9/ 7.-30.05 Gallery: Marja-Liisa Plats, illustrations / 9/ 8-9.05 Workshop with Tallinn University MA Students in Audio-

Visual Ethnography / 9/ 12.05 Artists to Schools: Dawn Scarfe at Põlva High School / 9/ 21.05 Artists to Schools: Sveta Bogomolova, Vastse-Kuuste

Primary School / 9/ 28.05 Concert: Chatterbox, Tuulikki Bartosik, Hannah James +

MoKS AIRs as guests / 9/

credits

Organiser

Mooste KülalisStuudio MTU

Producers

Evelyn Grzinich and John Grzinich

Design and Layout: Agnieszka Pokrywka

Big thanks for all the artists and

Roomet Allese, Aiki Hainsoo, Kati Taal, Kayt Grzinich,

Marko Kikas, Mikk Luht, Saviukumaja OU, Sireli Talu OU,

Nils Naatan Kaivo, Tuuli Ermel, Agnieszka Pokrywka,

Tanel Rander, Y-Gallery, Indrek Grigor, Tartu Kunstimaja,

Krista ja Raivo Sildoja, Mooste Rahvamuusikakool,

..

..

In 2015 MoKS was supported by

photo: John Grzinich 35

title | photo: John Grzinich Playing rusty old water tower, Active Crossover | photo: John Grzinich