On 22 March Paul Kuimet launched his Crystal Grid spring book tour at PUBLICS in Helsinki, Finland. At PUBLICS the launch was accompanied by a screening of Paul Kuimet’s 16mm film Material Aspects, 2020 and a conversation between Paul Kuimet and artist Tatu Tuominen.
In April and May Paul Kuimet’s Crystal Grid will be presented in New York and in the beginning of June in Düsseldorf, Germany:
* 26 April 2024 *
Lugemik at NY Art Book Fair
New York, USA
Book signing with Paul Kuimet
* 2 May 2024 *
Esther Art Fair
New York, USA
Paul Kuimet in conversation with Danilo Correale
* 5 June 2024 *
Cosar
Düsseldorf, Germany
Paul Kuimet in conversation Nico Anklam
Paul Kuimet’s new book presents two series by the artist – Crystal Grid (2020–2023) and What It Is to Be What You Are Not (2022) – together with an essay by Neeme Lopp.
The works are connected by a set of geometric shapes from a grid that is based on the roof structure of the central transept of the Crystal Palace, erected for the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. While the photographic material of the Crystal Grid collages has been photographed in different botanical gardens around the world, the assemblages of the What It Is to Be What You Are Not series use images exposed to light-sensitive paper in the darkness of a photo lab together with leaves collected in the Tallinn Botanic Garden. Juxtaposed, the works raise different questions about the notions of place, form and representation in photography.
Crystal Grid is designed by Indrek Sirkel and published by Lugemik (2023). More information here: https://paulkuimet.ee/publications/crystal-grid/.
Paul Kuimet (1984) is an artist who works with photography, 16 mm film, and installation comprising of these media. Although his work is often described by a technological way of seeing, his practice places emphasis on the movement and presence of the beholder in the exhibition space. Since 2013, his work has been interested in modernist forms. In his latest works he has concentrated not so much on the forms of modernism, but on its materials, such as steel and glass, and their relationship to the development of modern capitalism since the mid-nineteenth century. He received an MA degree from the Estonian Academy of Arts (2014). In 2018, he participated in residency programmes at WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels, and at the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York City. Since 2022, Kuimet is the Associate Professor at the Estonian Academy of Arts, Department of Photography.