About
Public Preparation is an international platform for knowledge-production and network-based communication. First and foremost, it is a space for self-education focusing on current practices of critical thinking and production in the field of contemporary art. The practice of Public Preparation is mainly based on creating situations for experience, reflection, and discussion, in various formats. The project is a method for recognising, discussing and establishing, intellectual and professional connections. In that sense, it is a collective exercise in order to prepare for the upcoming future – a continuous preparation process that can never be complete but is always ready to take action.
The main agenda of Public Preparation is to concentrate on questions linked to the concept of artist as a citizen. If one thinks of society as a democratic communal project, then everybody who participates in this project is responsible for it – when noticing that something is wrong, one needs to speak up immediately. Contemporary art is a crucial part of the public realm, exhibition halls are spaces for open discussion, and artists have the power and responsibility to be actively engaged in the process of examining, imagining and changing social reality. The current agenda of Public Preparation activities is to deal critically with the growing tendencies of nationalism in contemporary Europe.
Public Preparation started in February 2007 as a sequence of informal encounters, which, at the same time, constituted a publicly visible preparation process for the Biennale of Young Artists (October 2007, Tallinn), as well as a procedure for preparing and educating the public about the Biennale. After that exhibition was over, Public Preparation continued as an independent collaborative project undertaken variously between Rael Artel and contemporary art professionals and cultural institutions. The current course of Public Preparation consists of four steps and is producing the contextual framework for the international exhibition project Let's talk about nationalism! Between Ideology and Identity, opening in January 2010 in Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn.
Public Preparation team
Main organiser:
Rael Artel is an independent curator based in the forests of Estonia. She graduated from the Institute of Art History at the Estonian Academy of Arts in 2003, and participated in the Curatorial Training Programme in De Appel, Amsterdam (2004/05). Since 2000, she has contributed to a number of magazines in Estonia and elsewhere, and curated shows in Estonia as well as in Lisbon, New York, Amsterdam and Warsaw. In 2004–2008 she ran and moderated her project space Rael Artel Gallery: Non-Profit Project Space.
Collaborators:
Virginija Januškeviciute is a curator and art critic based in Vilnius. In 2007/2008 she participated in the Curatorial Training Programme in De Appel, Amsterdam. She has published articles in various magazines and publications since 2000. In 2002, she started working as a curator at the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius, and since 2006 she has been the head producer of CAC TV. Virginija contributed to Public Preparation in organising iMagine workshop in 2007, Vilnius.
Airi Triisberg is a cultural producer based in Tallinn. She graduated from the Institute of Art History at the Estonian Academy of Arts in 2006 and currently continues her MA studies in cultural theory at the Estonian Institute of Humanities. Since 2003, she has contributed to a number of cultural newspapers and magazines in Estonia. Public Preparation events in 2007 and Translocal Express. Jubilee Edition in 2008 were organised in close collaboration with Airi.
Dovile Tumpyte is an art critic and curator based in Vilnius. She graduated from the MA Theory and Criticism of Art at Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts in 2005. Since 2002, she has published articles in the Lithuanian cultural press and art publications. Since January 2006, she has been the curator at the Contemporary Art Information Center (CAIC), which spun off from the Soros Foundation and started operating in the Lithuanian Art Museum. Dovile contributed to Public Preparation in organising iMagine workshop in 2007, Vilnius.
Visual identity of Public Preparation project is created by Jaan Evart.