PRESS RELEASE

MADIS LUIK (1988) & JARMO NAGEL (1986) will open their co-exhibition Stiv, Superstar in Hobusepea gallery at 6pm on February 25, 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gTmfnqi6bo&feature=player_embedded

Current exhibition of photography, sound and video deals with the phenomenon of being a superstar in Estonian society and media and is the first personal co-exhibition by Madis Luik and Jarmo Nagel, members of the former art grouping Inter Fenster.

Exhibition has been divided into two parts. The upper floor of the gallery offers the debut music video of the young innovative powerpop artist who has grown up in Mustamäe, one of the bedroom suburbs of Tallinn. The video introduces the private life and the glamorous moments of the rising star. The lower floor of the gallery functions as the backstage (and not the green room), exposing the story of the young star's rapid success. Artists have acted as managers in order to produce the documentary evidence about the events and activities that were carried out in order to give birth to the young musician. What kind of resources were grown and used? Even such triviality as buying a bus ticket has not been excluded as well as the testimonial letters that give specialist proof to Stiv's status of being a superstar. Artists have experimented with various approaches in order to give birth to a star for Estonia that is hungry for glamour. Next to the consumer of culture, the actual question lies in the general need for the celebrities. Stardom is accompanied with artificiality that is closely observed by the artists through their documentation process. Stiv has been displayed as a perfect superstar. For emphasizing the contrast, the star's family portrait taken at his parents' home has been brought to the viewers.
The expression „superstar“ was most probably introduced by Ingrid Superstar, Andy Warhol's acquaintance. She appeared in fancy society for a while and attracted much attention with her name, then became a dressmaker and disappeared from the crowds. Warhol liked the word (superstar) a lot and started to use it for the celebrities he fabricated. It must be stated that every superstar is always a fabricated one, whether created by a producer or media – the latter cannot be ignored in the context of contemporary mass culture. Superstar is born whenever he or she is called a superstar.
In Estonian language, „superstar“ means a star being extremely high that the average person is unable to reach. Stiv, Superstar turns the expression upside down, while investigating the real background of the essence of being a superstar.

Madis Luik, Jarmo Nagel

Exhibition will be open until March 8, 2010.

Supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and the photography department of Estonian Academy of Arts.