the end of no-smoking indoor?

     Erki Kasemets showed thousands of cigarette packs in Tallinn. His exhibition is also called Tallinn 2011. The whole installation was full of cigarette packs, but it has different surfaces with it. Most of them were opened and resealed by cellular tapes which seem a little bit like those tax stamps he collected as well. Tax stamps on the cigarettes are quite similar to those post stamps or any kind of fee stamps, yet these stamps on cigarettes packs might mean that you are buying 'the right to smoke'. 

Installation View from outside

      I haven't thought about the word, Soviet so much before I came to Estonia. Here, everything or everyone seems like talking about Soviet as an adjective. In his explanation about his work, he also mentioned 'exotic post-soviet', well is everything pre-soviet and post-soviet in this area? Of course, they also talk about 'former west people', which I think I am also part of it, since I am from South Korea.

Installation View on the ground floor

     Because of this 'former west' standard, cigarettes packs might have to change their faces according to the EU regulations, I guess. Perhaps, that's is why some of the cigarettes packs in the installation have been half-painted with some neutral color on them.

Detail of the installation

Artist's Talk 

Performance 

     I just left the performance at the very beginning of it, because of amount of smoke in the space, yet it was such an interesting beginning with talking about regulations from an actor who is pretending he is a manager of the theater and he was smoking at the same time. The performance showed the imaginary end of no-smoking indoor era, perhaps.

Exhibition Information
Erki Kasemets
Tallinn2011
Hobusepea Galerii
25 May- 6June, 2011