BIO EST - New York Festival of Estonian Contemporary Culture

23.09.2011 - 10.10.2011

BIO EST is a multi venue festival introducing a new generation of Estonian artists and performers to NewYork City. Borrowing its name from a vintage Estonian washing powder Bioest,this inaugural edition will begin at the waterfront area of Dumbo in Brooklynand will then move to Manhattan with events at the Scandinavia House and AlvinAiley American Dance Theater. In addition to two musical world premiers by EnsembleU: there will be screenings of rarely seen vintage Estonian films, soloperformance by Mart Kangro and a photography exhibit by Ulvi Tiit.

Contact:
karin.laansoo@gmail.com
+1 646 920 6303
Programme: facebook.com/BIOEST

P r o g r a m m e

ULVITIIT Exhibition "Second Memory"

Outdoor project and screening program ina shipping container
Friday, September 23 from 6pm to 9pm:Opening
Saturday, September 24 from 12pm to 8pm
Sunday, September 25 from 12pm to 6pm
Nightly screenings from 6pm to midnight on Friday and Saturday
Water Street (between Main Street andWashington Street), Brooklyn, NY 11201
Sound by Taavi Laatsit
FREE

BIO_EST has teamed up with United PhotoIndustries to kick-start the festival with Ulvi Tiit's vintage slide project "SecondMemory." In 2008 photographerUlvi Tiit initiated a countrywide collection of amateur slidesin Estonia fromthe time period 1970 to 1990, zooming in on the visual memoryand everyday representation of Estonia at the time. The exhibition will offer aunique insight into the formation of contemporary Estonian identity, as itreflects the fact that these two decades have strongly influenced the mindsetof a generation now between their 20's and 40's.

Theconceptual starting point of the project is amateur photography as culturalpractice during a time when 35mm cameras and ORWO color film from the GermanDemocratic Republic became widely popular in Estonia. The selection of imagesis presented in small lightboxes, emulating the tradition of watching slidesfrom a projector. Pairing the visual narrative of the vintage slides withcontemporary blowups of the same material, the artist brings out subjectiveemotions in the images.

The exhibition is accompanied by anightly screening program of Estonian films and vintage ads from the 1970's and1980's.

BIO
UlviTiit is a photographer and installation artistcurrently based in Tallinn, Estonia. After earning her MA in Photography from the Estonian Academy of Arts in2002, she started out witha new generation of visual artists. As a conceptual photographer,Ulvi Tiit has participated in more than ten international exhibitions atinstitutions such as the Rogaland Art Center (Stavanger, Norway) and Artgenda(Hamburg, Germany), as well as the Estonian Art Museum and Tallinn Art Hall.
www.ulvitiit.com

MART KANGRO Performance "Start. Based on a truestory"

Saturday,October 8 at 7pm*
Alvin AileyAmerican Dance Theater
405 West 55th Street (at 9th Avenue)
York, NY 10019
FREE

Mart Kangro'sbreakout piece "Start. Based on a true story" (2001) is returning to the sameside of Atlantic Ocean where it originated. Ten years ago, when Mart Kangro wasplanning a residency in Ohio, he received this letter:

"Dear Mart,Here is someinformation that you might find helpful in planning your visit to Ohio NorthernUniversity. Ohio Northern is located in the middle of farm country in WestCentral Ohio. The town Ada is about 5,000 people and the university communitynumbers around 2,900. A small, private, liberal arts school, sponsored by theMethodist Church in a small town. We have a very nice performing arts centerwith a really fine technical staff."

The rest, as theysay, is history. "Start" premiered in Tallinn, was selected by Aerowavesnetwork to be presented at The Place Theatre in London, and won Grand Prix atthe "Lignesde Corps" festival in France in 2002. After being performed in almost all of Europe's major cities, this true story catapulted Mart Kangro into the eliteranks of the European contemporary dance community. It is one of those rareperformances that hasn't lost its edge and value one bit while at the same timebeing an unbelievably funny introduction to Estonia as a country.

Idea, choreography and performance by Mart Kangro
Musicby Paolo Conte

BIO
Mart Kangro is possibly one of the mostinternationally-known Estonian choreographers. After graduating as a dancer andchoreographer from Tallinn University, he danced at the Estonian National Operabefore committing himself solely to choreographic work in which he often is onstage himself. Kangro has directed 8 dance productions that have been presented in more than 20 countries across Europe and NorthAmerica. He haswon the Dance Performance of The Year award in Estonia three times. His recent works include "Longer Than Expected"(2007), "Winners vs. Losers" (2008) (both with Christina Ciupke), and "Can'tGet No / Satisfaction" (2009). In August of this year Mart premiered his newestgroup performance "Talk to Me" at the Helsinki Festival.  

ENSEMBLEU: Concert

Monday,October 10 at 7pm
Doors openat 6:30pm
Concert isfollowed by a reception and performance by Marit Ilison
ScandinaviaHouse
58 ParkAvenue (between West 37th and West 38th Street), New York, NY 10016
FREE

Ensemble U:is a group of six outstanding young musicians dedicated to contemporary music.  Theensemble was founded in 2002 and quicklyestablished itself as Estonia's leading contemporary music group.  Sincethen U: has been performing in numerous contemporary music festivals, mostrecently at the Gaida Festival(Vilnius, Lithuania) and the Sounds NewFestival (Canterbury, UK). The ensemble has chosen to work without aconductor.

After playing together for almost a decade, theensemble recently released two albums in just two years. The second CD,entitled "Protuberances" (UCD 002), was released in the spring of 2011 andincludes music by Tatjana Kozlova, Antti Auvinen, Jarkko Hartikainen, KimmoKuitunen, and Benjamin Broening. U:, which is known for commissioning new musicfrom Estonian and foreign composers, will perform works by both Estonian andAmerican composers written exclusively for Ensemble U:, including worldpremieres by Bryan Christian and Eugene Birman as well as works from TatjanaKozlova, Helena Tulve, Märt-Matis Lill, and Benjamin Broening.

TarmoJohannes: Flute • Helena Tuuling: Clarinet • Merje Roomere: Violin Levi-Danel Mägila: Violoncello • Vambola Krigul: Percussion • Taavi Kerikmäe:Piano
www.uuu.ee 

MARIT ILISON Performance "CottonSmocks"

Monday,October 10 from 7pm to 9pm
ScandinaviaHouse
58 Park Avenue(between West 37th and West 38th Street), New York, NY 10016
FREE

Fashion designer Marit Ilison madea surprising entrance in 2008 with her collection of conceptual garments thatuse high-tech glowing fibers. Usingthe clothing industry simply as a medium, Marit Ilison is executing conceptual projectsthat ask valid questions about surrounding reality.

Her performance "Cotton Smocks" (2008-2011)has been waiting for some time to be presented. The project deals with theabsorption of values and information noise like mass media, politics, etc. fromthe surrounding environment that one can either accept or resist. The smock, ordinarily the simplest uniform for medical workers, labs,and couturier ateliers, here signifies certain values and mind patterns one's subconsciousunconsciously absorbs from the environment and takes on in one's life, slowlylosing one's true self and inner identity. The 50+ cotton smocks worn in the performance are hand-dyed in colorgradations ranging from white to dark purple. Monochrome color gradation refersto the purest, balanced form of self (white), while the dark purple refers tothe self completely absorbed and overwhelmed by surrounding information noise. The artist wentthrough a time-consuming hand-dyeing process,hence looking within while taking off an imaginary smock herself. 

BIO
MaritIlison is an artist and freelance fashion designer. She received her MA inFashion Design from the Estonian Academy of Arts and gained experience inLondon, Copenhagen, Antwerp, and Paris, interning and working for labelslike Bruno Pieters and Camilla Staerk amongothers. She is currently alecturer at the Estonian Academy of Arts, creating and executing personalconceptual fashion and installation projects as well as playing drums in themusical group Väljasõit Rohelisse (Jaunt to Greenery). Her project Lúmine has gained reputation both inEstonia and abroad, having been most recently selected as the opening act ofEurope's largest e-culture festival STRP2010 in Eindhoven, Holland.
 www.maritilison.com

BIO EST is supported by ::

Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Estonian Ministry of Culture
Estonian Cultural Endowment
EstonianAuthors' Society
Music Export Estonia
BoreniusLLC
Indrek Gusev