URBAN PAUSES:
JOHAN KIRSIMÄE & MARKUS VARKI
installation programme
URBAN PAUSES/ August 16-19
9 installations / different locations
The main theme of the 2023 festival is "Urban Pauses" that focuses on the wastelands and voids of Tartu. These are transitional and untamed places, which at first glance seem to lack function, but nevertheless are valuable as they are. Together with artists we explore the impact and meaning of urban pauses in the city space. Installations inspired by urban pauses are created by nine artists or groups from Estonia and abroad, three of them are young architects that were selected through an open competition.
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photo: Jenna Velsvebel
JOHAN KIRSIMÄE & MARKUS VARKI (EE) “The Stool”
August 16-19 at 12-20
Ohvitseride park, Puiestee 73b
"The Stool" is an interactive space creating installation that allows you to intuitively design the space around you while enjoying an urban pause. Like the reshapeable nature of a sandcastle, it embraces the idea that everyone has the ability to shape and change their environment. The inspiration behind the constructive and visual simplicity of “The Stool” are precisely the eclectically arbitrary, but completely functional small forms of Tartu's hidden places of leisure. “The Stool” records the in-between use of a non-formal space that is brief in terms of time and simple in terms of physical intervention i.e being. Grab a stool and have a seat!
Johan Kirsimäe and Markus Varki are young freelance architects from Tartu. They studied architecture together at the Estonian Academy of Arts, and after their studies also practiced together in Porto, Portugal. The creative process of Johan and Markus draws inspiration from the do it yourself mentality, where the research-architectural output is dedicated to the materiality of recycling as well as the creation of space that is free from constraints.