Culture.ee’s weekly recommendations: 6–12 May 2019

Go to AHHAA’s new exhibition and check out
the space satellite Sputnik (yes, the one that has actually been in space!),
a real space suit,
bits and pieces of Moon that were gathered during the lunar missions,
telescopes and other various space studying instruments from ancient times to the current age.

Amélie Ravalec’s documentary is a journey into art, madness and the unconscious. An exploration of visionary artists and the creative impulse, from the Flemish Masters of the Renaissance to the avant-garde movement of Surrealism and the unsung geniuses of Art Brut and Outsider Art.

Featuring artists Hieronymus Bosch, Francisco Goya, Vincent Van Gogh, William Blake, Edvard Munch, Salvador Dali and many more.

A performance by Heleliis Hõim and Irmeli Terras.

A person never wants to feel that they are truly alone. You want to feel protected and guided by some higher power or feel that your choices are directed by someone else because the most terrifying realization is that you are alone and that you alone have the responsibility to choose. According to the theory of the origin of beliefs, worshipping objects bestowed with a greater power, i.e. fetishism is the oldest kind of religious belief. What do we do with these objects? What do we use them for? In the contemporary consumerist world, this is pure imagology and often carries a promise of a better life and a better me. We have returned to polytheism and reach out to our gods. “I believe in things, I want things, therefore I am.”

“The Red Cube” installation by Manuel Lima (1981, Brazil) is an installation for multiple red light bulbs and sound. For every five minutes, there is a different light-sound composition that explores the diverse symbolic meanings of the color red interposed with the ontologic notion of the red itself devoid of symbolic or metaphoric associations.

Director: Chuck Smith

Shot when she was just 18, Barbara Rubin’s orgiastic Christmas on Earth (1964) shocked NYC’s thriving underground film community. A mythical Zelig of the Sixties, she introduced Andy Warhol to the Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan to the Kabbalah, and Allen Ginsberg to life on a farm. For years, 95-year-old film-maker Jonas Mekas (1922‒2019) saved all of Barbara’s letters and cherished her memory. Working with Mekas’s footage and other rare footage from the 1960s, the documentary reveals the impact that Barbara Rubin had on an underground world that was dominated by men, and reveals how and why one of the freest spirits of the sixties disappeared into legend. It’s a fascinating portrait of a groundbreaking woman who truly believed that film could change the world.

Introduction by Estonian filmmaker Piibe Kolka. The film is not suitable for minors.

The 16th Tartu International Literature Festival Prima Vista is bearing the subtitle Far from Funny. The festival offers the guests and audience an opportunity to discuss the borders of humour as well as ways to interpret the concepts of funny and serious.

The festival program will include Russian philosopher and satirist Mikhail Zhvanetsky, writer and screenwriter Jean-Philippe Toussaint from Belgium, Ralf Rothmann and many other writers from across the world.

A concert where film-like alternative pop meets with danceable rap.

ENSO and maestro Neeme Järvi will end the season in a grand and earnest way, focusing on the temporality of our earthly life, resurrection, and eternal life. The most important vocal symphonic works of Johannes Brahms will be performed – the monumental A German Requiem and Schicksalslied (‘Song of Destiny’), which is only 15 minutes long, but has been called the little brother of his main requiem. Our southern neighbours’ state choir Latvija, with whom ENSO has worked together successfully for nearly 40 years, will also join ENSO for both performances.

Müürilille Flea Market begins its 11th outdoor season on May 11 in the courtyard of Widget Factory. The flea market includes second-round clothes but you can also find design and craft items, books, household goods, and other interesting things.

Concert by Triin Ruubel Quartet:
Triin Ruubel (violin)
Joosep Reimaa (violin)
Sandra Klimaité (viola)
Theodor Sink (cello)

Introduction by Peeter Volkonski.

Shostakovich’s string quartet series is reaching its end and the stellar violinist, soloist, and chamber musician Triin Ruubel’s quartet will be performing the series’ final concert.