NART: Exhibition "Facelessness" and Video Game Museum
15.01.2022
Start Time:
15:00
End Date:
10.04.2022
Video games museum LVLup! in Tallinn used to be the first and only one in the Baltics, but from the 15th of January until the 10th of April the cosy atmosphere of the museum will be recreated in the Narva Art Residency (NART). The project “VGA” invites guests to enjoy retro video games and reflect on the impact they’ve had on our culture through the perspective of contemporary art.
The project “VGA” (Video Games & Arts) is done in cooperation with LVLUp! museum, curator Juhan Soomets and Narva Art Residency. Johanna Rannula, the head of NART, said “In the nineties, video games were played at game rooms that were often located in the basements, so the basement of the residency was perfect for the museum. It’s also a way to bring new people to art exhibitions. Once they’ve finished playing games, the visitors go up the stairs and find themselves at an art exhibition that opens the subject from different perspectives. The two fields have not been juxtaposed in this way in Estonia before. It is unique, especially for Narva.”
In the last month, the project team has collected Soviet-era furniture across Ida-Virumaa. They needed to find 24 floor lamps, 10 sofas, 13 carpets, 4 armchairs, 5 stools, 11 TV tables, 4 curtain rods, curtains, cabinets, 2 coffee tables, many houseplants and a box of old vinyl. Now everything is ready for guests to travel back in time and spend time with friends and family playing Nintendo, Sega, Sony PlayStation, Guitar Hero and other legendary video games.
On the first floor is an exhibition of contemporary art called “Näotus” (‘Facelessness’), which makes sense of the video game collection and gives it new meanings. The exhibition is curated by Juhan Soomets and it includes works by Oleg Frolov (RU), Denisa Stefanigova (CZ), Alexei Gordin, Anna Shkodenko, Henri Hütt, Danel Kahar, Mihkel Kleis, Raul Keller, Kaspar P. Loit (EST).
The project opens on January 15 at 3 pm, admission is free. The opening day program includes curators’ tours, video game tournaments (and prizes for the winners!). The curators, DJ Nextraxx and DJ Суперюкс Лимитед, will be playing the music as well.
From January 16 to April 10, Narva Art Residency will be open as follows: the art exhibition “Näotus” is open Wed – Sun from 2 pm to 6 pm.
The video game museum LVLup! WarpRoom is open Wed – Sun from 2 pm to 9 pm. Bring your slippers!
The project is being implemented in partnership with the British Council under the People to People Cultural Engagement program.