„Become the fortress“ by Julian Angermann

Contemporary art in the historic surrounding of the Kiek in de Kök museum by
the German artist Julian Angermann.

18th of August is the opening of a solo exhibition by German based artist Julian
Angermann. He has spent the last half year in Estonia, including the time of
corona. In this time he studied at the Tallinn University, EKA and worked in the
city archive. Inspired by the history of Tallinn, he connects the year of 1710 —
the year of siege and plague with the year of 2020 — the year we will
remember being sieged by the corona virus. The outcome is a conceptual
multimedia art piece.
The starting point of the work is the attempt to determine the German based
artists standing in the Estonian society.

To reach this goal, a sociological, contemporary, historical, and personal level

get into conversation with each other. Of course this resulted in chaos.
This chaos got interrupted by the pandemic and the almost complete isolation
of the artist with the absence of the questioned society. Historical and
contemporary events begin to mix through this time of revolve around itself
and ultimately become inseparable. The fortress serves as a constant point of
reference, but it is not a one-dimensional metaphor and therefore has no frm
hold to offer.
The experience to work in the city archive in the aftermath of the pandemic is
like a branch to hold for the artist. Through sorting the different artworks in
Nimistud and Sailikud (Estonian archival terms) he attempts to bring order to
the chaos. The subjective experience of the historical events surrounding the
Covid-19 crisis are declared like this early on as archive material. At the same
time the artist finds his place in the Estonian society by writing himself into the
history of this place.
“Become the Fortress” questions roots and history, its preservation and
reception in the place of its belonging; The fortress itself.

18th-30th of August 2020 Kiek in de Kök