Catalogue of the Estonian Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale.
“The work of Kris Lemsalu is pagan and it's punk and it's hers and it's
ours... It's the lightning of heaven and the volcanic heat in
the abyssal ocean. It's the carnival of objects Frankensteined together into
concoctions as fragile as life itself. It's life.”––
Andrew
Berardini
This book offers a peek into Lemsalu's explorations in art and life, which
in her case are inseparable. The rich visual material, selected by the
artist herself, ranges from exhibition views; to analog photos of the
artist, her friends, and her collaborators; to her everyday work at the
studio; to the wild parties she attends. Essays by Los Angeles–based writer
Andrew Berardini and Estonian curator and writer Tamara Luuk overview
Lemsalu's oeuvre with a particular focus on
BIRTH V: Hi and Bye,
her biggest project yet, which was co-published by Mousse Publishing and the
Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art and produced for the Estonian Pavilion
at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019.
Published on the occasion of the exhibition at the Estonian Pavilion at the 58th International Exhibition of visual arts – La Biennale di Venezia, from May 11 to November 24, 2019.
Kris Lemsalu (born 1985 in Tallinn, Estonia, lives and works in Vienna
and Tallinn) creates mixed-media sculptures,
installations and performances
with unexpected materials. Lemsalu's pieces evoke the bestial side of
human beings and civilizations and are often underscored by
feminist
themes. Lemsalu has shown at Goldsmiths CCA, London (2018),
Secession,Vienna (2018), as part of Performa 17, New York (2017), DRAF
Performance Night, London (2017), Bunshitu Gallery, Tokyo (2015),
Ferdinand Bauman Gallery, Prague (2015).
