intervention (50 x 50 meter long 14.35 cm wide carpets in train tracks)
2024
first exhibited at the inthecloset, vilnius (lt) in the group show I hope this email finds you well
The artwork explores the notion of a ‘corridor’, drawing parallels with the Rail Baltic(a) process implementation and paradoxes of its dramaturgy. While the Rail Baltica enterprise has to be seen and executed as a singular plan, practically it is managed by three implementing bodies: LTG Infra in Lithuania, SIA Eiropas Dzelzceļa Līnijas, the administrative body in Latvia, and the Estonian partner – Rail Baltic Estonia. The Rail Baltica project’s national implementing bodies in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are responsible for executing the project in their respective countries. As told by Baiba Rubesa, the long-time CEO of Rail Baltica, upon leaving her seat: ‘It [three implementing bodies under one Rail Baltica project] creates a paradox where the national shareholders, who are at the same time implementing bodies, are responsible for the supervision of the joint venture that is in turn tasked with the supervision of these implementing bodies.’
Drawing from the concept of Euroremont – a renovation style prevalent in the Post-Soviet space, which prioritises aesthetic facelifts over structural integrity – the installation questions the dynamics of the project implementation performance, where implementing bodies have to perform friendship diplomacies in office corridors while construction sites await feasibility studies and bank statement updates. The installation consists of an office carpet intervention in the train tracks of the exhibition space. Cut in the width of the EU standard gauge (14.35 cm), the artwork reimagines the office as taking place on the construction site. For the tracks to be switched, the offices first need to find a common ground.
The piece is accompanied by a video installation All Roads Lead to Baltics, which pays homage to the slow TV movement in Northern Europe (such as Norway’s NRK’s coverage of the 7-hour train ride along the Bergen Line). The actual footage of the Tallinn–Valga train journey echoes the slowness of the project’s implementation process.
Photos by Katariin Mudist