Page 72 - 50.La Biennale di Venezia issue of World of Art Magazine

BIENNALE VENEZIA

50TH INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION 2003

Dreams and Conflicts - The Dictatorship of the Viewer

ARTE COMMUNICATIONS

la Biennale di Venezia ESTONIA

John Smith goes to Venice with “Marko und Kaido”
4th official participation of Estonia
Artist: John Smith Project: “Marko und Kaido”

Organized by Center for Contemporary Arts, Estonia
Co-organized by Arte Communications, Venice
MARKO UND KAIDO Curator: Anders Härm; Commissioner: Sirje Helme

mysterious and permanently shifting persona becomes fixed at least
Yes, you are not mistaken - John Smith is the artist representing Estonia for a minute. He reveals his secrets in form of autobiographic short
this year at the 50th INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION La Biennale story: John is a German immigrant with Polish roots (sic!) who after
di Venezia and the project is called “Marko und Kaido”. Instead of long studies at the Goethe Institute in Stuttgart has become a gene
videos, Estonia will this year show a narration about the life of Marko technologist (sick?). The institute dispatched him to study “average
and Kaido in painting and installation. This story is actually the story people” in Rapla, in provincial city in provincial Estonia (back then a
of provincialism and provincial dreams, our answer to the concept of provincial county of the Soviet Union and now rapidly becoming the
50th Venice biennial “Dreams and Conflicts” suggested by the curator province of the European Union).
Francesco Bonami. The exhibition takes place in the conceptually proper Working as an art teacher at the local secondary school he discovers
apartment and yard near Palazzo Grassi. John Smith, of course, is a two completely average boys - Marko and Kaido, who are strikingly
fictional character. He is the constantly changing Conceptual Persona of similar with artists Mäetamm and Ole and who become the objects
two artists, Marko Mäetamm and Kaido Ole, who have for years shared of his studies. He follows them for almost 40 years throughout their
a studio. Under these circumstances - working side by side - the third tremendously boring life. Smith becomes more and more suspicious
guy John with a third point of view was born. John is an … Idiot as if of the meaningfulness of his work, and at some point he stops sending
Deleuze´s and Guattari´s description of the notion “Conceptual Persona his reports to the institute in Stuttgart, where he has been in fact
“has been taken literally. As an artist John is a freshman, he started forgotten a long time ago. (Anders Härm)
to participate in the exhibitions only few years ago. In Venice John’s

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