Kristina Norman (b.1979, lives and works in Tallinn) is an artist whose interdisciplinary work includes video installations, sculpture, and projects in the city space, as well as documentaries and performance. She is interested in the issues of collective memory and forgetting, the memorial uses of the public space, but also the subtle sphere of the body politics that transgresses the boundaries between the public and the private. In 2009 she represented Estonia at the 53rd International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia with a solo project, a multilayered mixed media installation After-War. The project was a study of a conflict around the relocation of a Soviet monument in Tallinn and Norman’s public intervention in the former location of the monument became one of the most debated artworks in re-independent Estonia. In 2022 Norman represented Estonia at the 59th Venice Biennial with an ecocritical exhibition Orchidelirium. An Appetite For Abundance, a duo show with Bita Razavi, curated by Corina Apostol. Norman’s experimental film trilogy commissioned for the Estonian Pavilion, offers multiple ways to reflect on the legacies of colonialism from a specific Eastern European perspective.

 

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Kristina Norman is a visual artist and documentary filmmaker, born in 1979, lives and works in Tallinn

 

Education 

2010 Estonian Academy of Arts, MA in visual arts

2003 Estonian Academy of Arts, BA in printmaking

Performative work

2022

Orchidelirium Expanded. Norman & Supriyanto, a cinema screening expanded to performance, (60 min) premiered at Kumu Art Museum’s cinema hall, Tallinn

2019

Lighter Than Woman, solo performance, (90 min). Continuously on festival tour in Europe 2019-2023. Co-produced by Kanuti Gildi Saal, Santarcangelo Festival, New Theatre Institute of Latvia, Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione / Atlas of Transitions Biennale. Premiered on 5 July 2019 at Festival Santarcangelo dei Teatri in Piazza, Italy.

2018

The First To Leave, co-authored theatrical production, (120 min). Performances at Eduarda

Smilga theatre in Riga, Latvia; performances at Kanuti Gildi Saal in Tallinn; performances in Mazirbe, Latvia. Co-produced by New Theatre Institute of Latvia and Kanuti Gildi Saal.

2015

Star-bright hour, (120 min) site-specific solo performances in Estonian History Museum, Tallinn. Commissioned for Saal Biennaal, produced by Kanuti Gildi Saal.

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Filmography / Videography 

Comparative Anatomy, mixed media installation including two-channel video, ca 20 min, 2022

Rip-Off, part of Orchidelirium film trilogy, 13 min 37 sec, 2022

Shelter, part of Orchidelirium film trilogy, 13 min 30 sec, 2022

Thirst, part of Orchidelirium film trilogy, 14 min 20 sec, 2022

Lighter Than Woman, performance including documentary footage, 90min, 2019

Awakening Of Birds, video installation, 5 min, 2018

Bring Back My Fire Gods, video installation, 13 min, 2018

At Home With Refugees, documentary, 28 min, 2017

Festive Spaces, video installation, 30 min, 2016

Governing the Living, video installation, 4 min, 2014

Governing the Dead, video installation, 6 min, 2014

Iron Arch, video, 15 min, 2014

PMR. In the State of Limbo, documentary, 80 min, 2014

Common Ground, video, 37 min, 2013

0,8 Square Metres, two channel video installation, 30 min, 2012

A Monument To Please Everyone, documentary, 87 min, 2011

We Are Not Alone In The Universe, documentary, 11 min, 2010

After-War, mixed-media installation including 5-channel video, ca 30 min, 2009

Monolith, experimental documentary, 15 min, 2007

The Pribalts, experimental documentary, 58 min, 2006

The Field of Genius, mocumentary, 18 min, 2003


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Selected solo exhibitions and performances 2014-2022

2022

Orchidelirium. An Appetite for Abundance, the Estonian Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (2022), a duo show with Bita Razavi, curated by Corina Apostol.

Comparative Anatomy, exhibition in collaboration with Joanna Kalm, commissioned for Art or Science, a research and exhibition project based on archives, curated by Kadi Polli, Linda Kaljundi, Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn

Orchidelirium Expanded. Norman & Supriyanto, a cinema screening expanded to performance, Kumu Art Museum’s cinema hall, Tallinn

Lighter Than Woman, performances at Auawirleben theaterfestival, Bern, Switzerland

After-War at Art in the Comfort Zone? The 2000s in Estonian Art, KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn

2020

Lighter Than Woman Theaterfestival Basel

Lighter Than Woman Plartforma festival, Klaipeda

Lighter Than Woman PNP Pubblico Non Privato, Teatro Magro, Mantova

Lighter Than Woman Black Box Teater, Oslo

Lighter Than Woman Bazaar festival, Ponec theatre, Prague

Lighter Than Woman Baltoscandal Festival, Rakvere theatre

Lighter Than Woman DRAAMA festival, Tartu

Lighter Than Woman DocPoint festival, Tallinn

2019

Festive Spaces. Ideological Art In Time. Solo exhibition, curated by Jan Elantkowski, FUGA gallery, Budapest

Lighter Than Woman, four solo performances at Kanuti Gildi Saal, Tallinn, Estonia

Lighter Than Woman, three solo performances at contemporary theatre and performing arts festival Homo

Novus, Riga, Latvia

Lighter Than Woman, premiere of the production and seven solo performances at contemporary theatre and

performing arts festival Santarcangelo Dei Teatri in Piazza, Santarcangelo di Romagna, Italy

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Selected group art exhibitions and performances 2014 – 2022

2022

Shelter, at D’Autopsie à Utopie, cur. Renato Casciani, 3cinq, Lille, France

Rip-Off, at Around Video art fair, Lille, France

2021

After-War at Art in the Comfort Zone? The 2000s in Estonian Art, KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn

Iron Arch & Souvenir, at Making Another World Possible, Tallinn Art Hall, cur. Corina Apostol

Iron Arh & Souvenir at Art Museum Artsi, Vantaa, Finland, cur. Jussi Koitela, Christine Langinauer

2019

Bring Back My Fire Gods, at Report to the Audience. Acquisitions of Tartmus, cur. Julia Polujanenkova, Heiti Kulmar, Tartu, Estonia

Iron Arch, at La linea del frente. El arte ucraniano, 2013-2019, curated by Svitlana Biedareva, Museo Memoria y Tolerancia, Mexico City, Mexico

The First to Leave, a co-authored performance at Livonian House – Tautas Nams, Mazirbe, Latvia

Bring Back My Fire Gods, at Survival Kit 10. Outlands. Cur. Inga Lāce, Angels Miralda, Solvita Krese. The former Faculty of Physics, Mathematics and Optometry of the University of Latvia

2018

The First to Leave, a co-authored performances at Kanuti Gildi Saal LAT.EST festival’s Tallinn edition

Bring Back My Fire Gods, at Related By Sister Languages, cur. K. Szipocs, Ludwig Museum, Budapest

Bring Back My Fire Gods and A Monument to Please Everyone at Freiraum, Kunsthaus Dresden, cur. Ch. Mennicke, Dresden

Festive Spaces, at Survival Kit 10, Riga Circus, cur. Inga Lace et al., Latvia

Bring Back My Fire Gods, at Supercontinent, Festival Centrale Fies, Dro, Italy

Common Ground, at Portable Landscapes, cur. I. Lace, S. Krese, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga

Festive Spaces, at History in Images – Image in History, cur. L. Kaljundi, T.-M. Kreem, KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn

Bring Back My Fire Gods, premiere at A State Is Not A Work Of Art, cur. K. Gregos, Tallinn Art Hall

The First to Leave, a co-authored performance at Eduarda Smilga Museum, LAT.EST festival’s Riga edition

Iron Arch, at Vdrug, festival of Russian culture of Estonia, cur. Olesja Rotar, Nizhni Novgorod, Russia

UUE – Performance Art Festival, Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum, Helsinki

2017

We Are Not Alone In The Universe, Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Wavelength Series, cur. Erik Martinson, Toronto

We Are Not Alone In The Universe, at Hosting the Inhuman, cur. Karen Sarkisov (VAC Foundation), MMOMA, Moscow

A Monument To Please Everyone, at The Monument and Me, Kaunas Biennial, cur. Udi Edelman, Kaunas

A Monument To Please Everyone, at Process: Monument, cur. Maria Kramar, The GULAG History Museum, Moscow

Without title, at Dissolution, cur. Krist Gruithuisen, Tallinn Art Hall

After-War, at Absent Monuments, cur. Maria Kramar, CCA Vladivostok, Russia

2016

Festive Spaces, at The Specific Emotional: Between The Repetition and The Event, cur. Aleksei Borisionok, Liljevalchs Hubb, Stockholm

Festive Spaces, specially commissioned for and premiered at Darkness. Silence, cur. Anneli Porri, Tallinn Art Hall

Monolith, at KUMU hits, KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn

Shaken, not stirred. A Selection of Estonian video art from 1997–2015. cur. Kati Ilves, Festival of Opinions’

cultural programme, Paide, Estonia

Iron Arch, at Extension.ee. Рефлексия: взгляд внутрь/изнутри. Vol. III, cur. Evi P.rn, Triumph Gallery, Moscow

Kilometre of Sculpture, cur. Anna Virtanen, Rakvere, Estonia

Festive Spaces, at The Specific Emotional: Between the Monument and the Ritual, cur. Aleksei Borisionok, Kryly Chalopa Space, Brest, Belarus

4000 Square Kilometers of Europe, at Identity. Behind the Curtain of Uncertainty, cur. Solvita Krese, Ukrainian National Art Museum, Kiev

Iron Arch, at Refleksioonid: sissevaade/v.ljavaade. Vol II, cur. Evi Pärn, Narva kolledž

Past and Power, cur. Jordi Guixé, Belvedere cinema, Cerbēre, France

2015

4000 Square Kilometers of Europe, at Vision of a Nation, cur. Alina Serban, Fotogalleriet, Oslo, Norway

0,8 Square Metres, at Self-managed Interest Community, cur. Nemanja Cvijanovic, Belgrade Cultural Center, Serbia

After-War, at Kapina/Uprisal, cur. Minna Hendriksson, Maailmantango-festivaali, Tampere, Finland

Iron Arch, at Decompression, cur. Darya Koltsova, Інститут Проблем Сучасного Мистецтва, Kiev, Ukraine

Iron Arch, at Reflections, cur. Evi Pärn, VDRUG Festival of Contemporary Russian Culture in Estonia

After-War, at Society Acts – Version 2, cur. Andreas Nilsson, Maija Rudovska, kim? Riga, Latvia

Common Ground, at Access Denied, cur. Sumeshwar Sharma, Clark House Initiative, Mumbai, India

Iron Arch, at Decompression, cur. Darya Koltsova, Saint-Merry church, Paris, France

2014

Souvenir and Iron Arch, the work specially commissioned for and premiered at Manifesta 10, Public Program, cur. Joanna Warsza, St. Petersburg, Russia

After-War, at Society Acts, cur. Andreas Nilsson, Maija Rudovska, Moderna Museet, Malmö, Sweden

After-War, at Turning Points, cur. Zsolt Petranyi, Vit. Vojnits Purcs.r, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest

We Are Not Alone In The Universe, at FRESTAS – Trienal de Artes, Sorocaba, Brazil

Monolith, at 8th Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Ostrale’14, Dresden, Germany

0,8 Square Metres, at Shifting Identities, MACRO Testaccio, Rome, Italy

Souvenir, at Open City 2014, Lublin, Poland

After-War, at Wiener Festwochen 2014, cur. Dmitry Vilenky, Vienna, Austria

Monolith, Private Nationalism, gallery M21, Pecs, Hungary

Monolith, at A Shadow Of A Doubt, cur. Ilya Budraitskis, Maria Chekhonadskih, Garage, Moscow, Russia