The Mooste Guest Studio - invitation to participate
	Maarin Ektermann

	Mooste as a village has a touch of magical realism, created by its unexpectedly eloquent surroundings. Attractive landscape with a picturesque lake forms a background to different layers of built-up environment, which represent a typical village development in Estonia with everything in good condition. The renovated manor house and other buildings are situated near huge barns and storehouses from the collective farm era. Private houses, surrounded by flowerbeds and various berry bushes, reflect the safe middle-class lifestyle, whereas the standard two- and three-storey brick buildings serve as witness to the Soviet idea of eliminating differences between city and village through architectural design. This physical and mental background where the Mooste Guest Studio (MoKS) is situated creates a lot of opportunities for analysing the socio-cultural processes more generally than merely within the shift of local paradigm. From the very beginning, MoKS has perceived itself as a place-specific undertaking, with the aim of surviving in a village and maintaining artistic professionalism, and on the other hand analysing, through creative activities, the current situation and enabling the locals to see their surroundings from another point of view.
	MoKS offers two main forms of accommodation - a longer residency programme and a shorter stay for taking part in art symposiums and workshops. Both prefer projects closely related to the local environment, which seek contact with local people. Those interested have to apply and are chosen by the MoKS team. The artists who visit MoKS can be characterised as engaging in a constant search for new forms of expression. The keyword, openness, brings along another keyword, 'interdisciplinarity'. The concept-based approach chooses its medium according to the message: using new media (video, sound, performance, etc) or combining it with more traditional forms of art such as painting, graphics and applied arts. As a model of a post-Soviet approach, the guest studio programme (1-3 months) offers an opportunity to examine present-day Estonia more extensively, and this results in art projects that deal with the artists' personal experiences on several levels. One of the most interesting projects is Gesamtkunstwerk Greetings from Estonia by the Swede Markus Öhrn, a co-operative project with the Mooste village theatre and the local dance band. Dealing with the enlargement of the EU and with the prejudices that well-developed countries like Sweden had against new members, the video shows, in a very touching manner, the 'normality' of the people.
	All year round, MoKS organises events and workshops which introduce to the public various interdisciplinary art projects, and constitutes a meeting point for the artists to exchange experiences and know-how. The best-known is perhaps an event called PostsovkhoZ, which this year is being held for the fifth time. An international artist commune works intensively for two weeks (usually in August). An initial idea emerges in an inner circle, and very often discussions with 'colleagues' transform the final outcome, which is then presented to the wider public. As the name indicates, its main aim is to analyse the local, post-Soviet situation and to synthesise different points of view. A very successful project was PS 3 // Territories, Dirk Lange's (.de) collages from local newspapers, where visual impressions were grotesquely shifted. Another large event, started in 2004, was the sound art symposium Heli & Visioon (Sound and Vision) which introduced different ways of approaching sound and gathered sound artists from Portugal, the US, Italy, Germany, Latvia and Estonia. MoKS represents a characteristic tendency in the Estonian art world, in which new impulses are sought in the 'periphery', such as small towns, villages and rural areas. Away from institutionalised 'centres' where more uniform trends are leading the movement, such physical distancing provides an opportunity to create your own playground. People who come here find isolation from their usual environment - usually a big city scene with its deafening noise. Chances to work in a different context and to concentrate on one project have a strong influence on the resulting work and also on one's development as an artist.
	MoKS is project-based, both in its organisational structure and management, but all undertakings are supervised by its director, Evelyn Müürsepp. The team is compiled and finances are found for specific purposes, depending on the character of each event. The network of people who are connected to MoKS is growing and this will create new opportunities and the future will see even more diversified activities. One priority is to establish broader connections with similar organisations in Eastern Europe and further cultural exchange with this region, because right now MoKS is more West-European and US based. But besides 'entering' there is also a reverse movement - MoKS leaves Mooste to present itself as an umbrella that gathers together variable numbers of artists who adopt concrete conceptions for concrete exhibition (ie Local Image, MoKS in Raskolnikow Gallery in Dresden in September 2004), one-night-shows (ie Follow Your Dreams in Tallinn City Gallery in March 2005) etc. MoKS functions as a kind of multilevel information centre, mediating a concrete environment and local experiences with international and interdisciplinary artistic expression both spiritually and materially. Besides enhancing local life, it can be a key to bringing fresh impulses to the Estonian art world in general. More information: www.mooste.ee/mogs Evelyn Müürsepp +372 51 38 599 Maarin Ektermann art historian, received her BA from the Estonian Academy of Arts
	| Estonian Art 1/05 (16) | Published by the Estonian Institute 2005 | ISSN 1406-5711 (Online) | ISSN 1406-3549 (Printed version) | einst@einst.ee | tel: (372) 631 43 55 | fax: (372) 631 43 56 |