January 20 - May 8 2011
15th Tallin Triennial: FOR LOVE NOT MONEY
Kumu Art Museum, Estonia
15th Tallin Triennial: For Love not Money is intended to present a timely reflection on the state of contemporary art production, presentation and reception during a period of world financial crisis.
In English language the aphorism “For love not money”describes any labour that is undertaken for passionate and not pecuniary reward it is almost interchangeable with the equally aphoristic “labour of love”.
The 15th Tallinn Print Triennial will explore a range of concepts embodied within the project’s title, including: addiction, desire, dedication, duty, family, love, lust, objectification, romance, religion, political commitment, and sex. It will encourage reflexive examinations of these concepts from perspectives such as Walter Benjamin on reproducibility in art, Marx and Freud’s theories of fetishism, Aquinas, Pascal and Montaigne’s theories of faith, Roland Barthes, Michael Fried and Susan Sontag’s descriptions of the camera”s role in prescriptions of the public imaginary and its links to consumer culture, and Sean Cubitt and Boris Groys’ writing on the aesthetic and cultural affects of digitization.
On Bartolomé's work for the Triennial, Einara Taidre wrote:
"Balam Bartolomé's artistic strategy is to reuse old lithographs –the artist has chosen images that illustrate American history as the basis of his work, to which the toughts or comments of the characters are added with the help of comic-style bubbles. From the viewpoint of those who appreciate old art, the originals have been ruined and lost their previous value. From the standpoint of contemporary art, however, this is a conceptual gesture that creates a post-modernist palimpsest by adding a new layer of meaning to an existing image..."