Waiting Exhibition

"Ootamine" (waiting in Estonian) is a personal conceptual work by Marit Ilison, which took 6 years to come to life. She had been looking for a right environment for the highly site sensitive site-specific piece for years, till the opportunity at VAAL gallery came along in 2017.

Current times are faster, more instant and anxious than ever before. Everything is instantly accessible, everything must happen here and now. We expect constant new stimulation – something exciting or something relieving. „Be here and now“ is probably the most popular advice in today’s world of oversaturated information and technology, but while fighting with the anxiety coming along with the latest tech developments, such advice has tendency to sound more like a soft joke, rather than help.

Consciously or unconsciously we are constantly waiting for something - for a message, a bus, Christmas, retirement. Jackpot, cup of coffee, love of our life. Death. We are waiting for something to change, to end, to begin. It can be for a short few moments or for many endless years, it can be a pure pleasure or a slowly nagging pain.

The perceptual exhibition consists of 4 motorised and programmed industrial ready-made ventilators, which irregularly switch on and off to avoid overheating.

A trivial starting point at glance, but it needs to be observed to be fully experienced - one needs to stop, take time, observe and delve. It is like a meditation exercise, which brings the observer smoothly into the moment, away from the daily business, to "be here and now". Observing the ventilators will then instinctively awake natural curiosity and inner dialogue.  What am I waiting for? Is there anything to wait for? Is the time going fast or slowly? How long do have to wait? Will it happen? Will anything happen? The art piece will eventually emerge in every viewer’s head and the experience started with the decision to go to the gallery as it was located off the city centre and common routes. The visitor had to take time to visit the gallery, not just run past it.

Consciously or unconsciously we are constantly waiting for something -
for a message, a bus, Christmas, retirement. Jackpot, cup of coffee, love of our life.
Death.