Satellite: Everyone Is at Home

 

Eve Kiiler (1960) has focused on the representation of urban landscapes and layers of time in her recent work. In the exhibition “Everyone is at Home,” the artist presents Haapsalu, Narva, and Pärnu to the viewer, but her photos do not reveal the familiar touristy or picturesque views, nor do they showcase historical or contemporary architectural gems. As indicated in the title of the exhibition, the artist’s gaze in Haapsalu, Narva, and Pärnu remains on the diverse temporal space of the living environment, primarily the individual houses, where the processes of renovation and the traces of long-term use coexist. Besides the houses, gardens also play an important role – landscaped vegetation and freely formed urban nature islands. The artist herself has stated that her objects of interest are neighborhoods built in previous decades, where the traces of residents’ activities have developed over a long period, where intermediate areas keep emerging, which have not been standardized in design, where residents have implemented unique everyday aesthetic solutions. Intermediate areas that reflect the identity of the residents and are an important part of their identity.

Although most of the photos are captured in the quiet early morning hours and have few people in them, their presence is strongly felt. Eve Kiiler’s urban views function as urban novellas or micro-dramas, and they strongly reflect the author’s position.

Eve Kiiler (1960) graduated in interior architecture from ERKI (1986) and completed her master’s degree in cultural studies at Goldsmiths, University of London (2003). Since 2015, she has been a lecturer at the Baltic Film, Media and Arts Institute of Tallinn University. Her recent exhibitions of urban landscapes include “Location Scouting by the Sea” at Vabaduse Gallery (2020), “All Roads Lead to the Sea” at Haapsalu City Gallery (2021), and “Alone in the City” at the Academic Library of Tallinn University (2022). Kiiler’s urban landscape series were exhibited at the first Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art (RIBOCA, 2018) and the “Fictions Documentaries” festival in Carcassonne, France (2021).