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The Maturity and Early Middle Age of the Finno-Ugric Expedition of the Estonian Academy of Arts | |
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Anneli Porri | |
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The Finno-Ugric expedition of the Estonian Academy
of Arts is a somewhat exceptional phenomenon on the
anthropological-ethnographical science landscape. It is a
hybrid work cycle that, on the one hand, uses the classic
form of anthropological-ethnographical work, ie participatory
observation in field work, in an examined environment.
On the other hand, the documenters retain an extremely
individual artistic programme. It would actually be quite
difficult to find an institutional roof for such a scientifically
vague research programme. In 1978, Professor Kaljo
Põllu smoothly joined two aims in the expedition to the
Murmansk district: collecting and preserving ethnographic
information and student art practice. He managed to include
this undertaking in the curriculum of the State Art Institute
in Tallinn. The traditional EAA expedition will celebrate its
30th anniversary next year. |
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In essence, the expedition means a year’s work cycle,
beginning with studying the destination in relevant literature,
to be followed by three weeks of fieldwork, during
which a student’s normal output is 20 ethnographic drawings
provided with an item’s measurements, materials and
handicraft technologies, and photographs sufficient for six
films documenting local life, people and events. The principle
is that the ethnographic environment must remain
intact afterwards: the students only bring home photographs
or drawings, whereas the item itself is brought to Estonia
only very rarely, usually when it is necessary in order to
save it. In addition to the task of taking general notes, each
student has his special area of research, normally connected
with his speciality at the academy – from silver jewellery to
fired earth ceramics, from interior textiles to the didactics of
local art teaching. As the group consists of 10–15 students
from different fields, the expedition offers expert opinions
on the technology of applied arts and other relevant topics.
It is therefore possible to work, from the very start, with professional
and precise terminology. Fieldwork is followed by
an exhibition and conference, where the papers rely on both
specialist literature and observations conducted during the
expedition. The most significant aspect in such an arrangement
is the constantly changing and adapting position of
the student, vacillating between the roles of artist, scientist,
handicraft master and diplomat.
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Leaving aside the romantic rhetoric concerning a young
artist and wild nature, and looking only at the ideological
side of the expedition, we can see what huge ideological
and essential changes have taken place. During the first 14
years, the research groups visited Finno-Ugric peoples in the
Soviet Union, as anywhere else was forbidden. The expedition
thus started with postcolonial research of heterogeneity
within the country. The formal position of Soviet Estonia
was naturally quite different from most Finno-Ugric autonomous
districts or republics in the Soviet Union. However,
belonging to the same political system and having the same
experience of cultural homogenisation afforded the Estonian
research groups an immense advantage. Russian, used as the
common language, was the first foreign language for both
sides, so all of them, including the art students and local
potters, elk farmers and weavers, were minority nations in
the big state. They were all ‘others’, in fact, seeking ways to
avoid the destruction of national diversity.
Changes emerged beginning in the mid-1980s, when it was possible to travel to areas of Finno-Ugric peoples living outside the Russian Federation. However, due to new circumstances the situation of the explorers in the territory of the former Soviet Union changed as well. Suddenly, Estonia was no longer one of the fraternal republics of equal standing, but had altered by various standards, such as selfawareness, foreign policy and economics. Communicating with Russian administrations brought along the image of ‘aliens’, and in small Finno-Ugric and Russian communities, the students were quickly lumped together with western tourists. The solution lay in the method of the Academy’s expedition, arranged by Kadri Viires: in a village community, students are strangers anyway, conscious of standing out everywhere. Discrete interest and respect for local customs, however weird, lead to an amazing change – they turn a drawing and photography student into the ‘other’ who tries to shift the locals’ behaviour from waiting on guests to their normal or independent behaviour. |
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The academy expedition has taken the classic technique
of documentation into exciting new situations ; instead of
watercolour and Indian ink drawing, the students use various
extraordinary means to best document the jewellery of
Mari people or a Khanty girl’s false braids. Collage? Possible!
Spangles cut out of a cider label? But of course! The virtual
attraction of an ethnographic item must be clear in a drawing
as well. At the same time, the great artistic liberty provides
a chance to also examine the artist via the drawing, as
a style of documentation.
All of the material brought back from an expedition is handed over for free to the Estonian National Museum. The Academy of Arts and the Museum work together in compiling an impressive digital archive, which contains, besides other Finno-Ugric ethnographic and anthropological material, all the drawings and photographs produced during the Academy’s expeditions. These are made accessible to the wider public. The practice, so far, has shown that the exhibitions are not really enough, and visitors would like to read commentaries as well. The expedition materials are totally unpretentious and exceed the expectations usually associated with the exclusive border between academic ethnography, anthropology and art. To me, the main attraction of these drawings lies simply in the artist’s curiosity and the abandonment of the position of expert authoritarian commentator. It is all quite democratic. Anneli Porri art critic and curator |
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| Estonian Art 2/06 (19) | Published by the Estonian Institute 2006 | ISSN 1406-5711 (Online) | ISSN 1406-3549 (Printed version) | einst@einst.ee | tel: (372) 631 43 55 | fax: (372) 631 43 56 | |
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