Jewellery artists Piret Hirv and Eve Margus test the limits of the world’s tolerance with the exhibition “Drift” opening at the Design Museum

28.3.2022

Exhibition

From 2 April, the gallery of the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design will host the exhibition “Drift” by Piret Hirv and Eve Margus, where instead of the miniature forms expected from jewellery artists, the scale is much larger. 

In this exhibition, Hirv and Margus deal with push-’n-pull relationships, testing the limits of the world’s tolerance, looking for balance. “The point of view or centre of gravity that reaches the viewer from the big picture cannot be predicted – particles and fragments drift into place when the time is right,” says Eve Margus. 

The artists didn’t receive the idea of the exhibition out of thin air. Each thought formed and experience has influenced the next one. “We knew already before making the exhibition that a pure essence, a principle, not a functional finished object must be presented,” says Piret Hirv. “We are exhibiting raw power, an immediate effect that has not yet been formalised, but provides food for thought and material to work with.”

The bigger picture is created by an installation that divides the room horizontally. A feeling of vastness is created by slightly sloping surfaces, with images projected onto them opening up a view on a unique fragment of landscape. According to the artists, a whole world lies between earth and sky, a world in which things and events that we perceive become possible.

“Two people do not think exactly the same way, there is always a difference. Shared thoughts on similar perceptions of what could happen between two forces or physical objects, and how strong, permanent, random or whatever its impact is, have led to what is on display in the space, ”says Villu Plink, curator and designer of the exhibition. “It can be understood as a journey somewhere in the landscape, towards the horizon. It’s just that this landscape, which is clearly made up of two opposites, is held together by small elements, fragments.”

The focus of the exhibition is on the horizon, the area between the two, where the gap between opposing forces creates a precondition for something new to be created. The fragments expressing the consequences hold the installation together, and at the same time break it apart. The works in the area in between are fragments of more or less controlled processes that have had different effects on different materials.

“The material has been chosen so that it would be difficult to process – requiring strength – or because we have had no previous experience with it at all,” says Piret Hirv. “So something unexpected can happen during the work. Something that is quite a challenge. The selected materials may even seem conventional, but the way they are handled is unusual or unconventional. As a rule, the material is taken into account, its properties enhanced. In the present case, the material has also been taken into account, but rather in the opposite way – by using force and pressure. Slowly and abruptly. In doing so, care has been taken to avoid exceeding the limit at which the material may break or even crumble.”

Artists Eve Margus and Piret Hirv and curator and designer Villu Plink have worked together for many years, they are all members of the jewellery group Castle in the Air (õhuLoss) and have been exhibiting together for more than 20 years.

“Such unique artists with a strong style do not present their works often. I have repeatedly seen their work in larger group exhibitions, but they rarely organise more intimate solo exhibitions. My interest was to see where they had come so far. What are the themes, the materials they are currently working on and what speaks to them at the moment, ”says Villu Pink. “The previous exhibition took place in 2014, examples of earlier work can be seen right here, in the permanent exhibition at ETDM. It is good to see the developments and shifts of the artists, where and what point they have reached today.”

The exhibition will remain open until 29 May.

An artist talk will take place on 26 May at 17:30. 

The common history of Piret Hirv (1969) and Eve Margus (1972) is long. In 1993–1997, they were in the same course in the Department of Jewellery and Blacksmithing at Tallinn Art University, where they also continued their master’s studies together. Already during their studies, they both started working in the department headed by Professor Kadri Mälk. Today, both have become the principal mentors for a new generation of jewellery artists. Under their guidance, extensive and in-depth professional training takes place, with a strong emphasis on preparing students for independent exhibition activities. Both artists belong to the nationally and internationally recognised jewellery artist group Castle in the Air (õhuLoss), which also includes Kadri Mälk, Tanel Veenre, Kristiina Laurits and Villu Plink. They have been participating in exhibitions since 1996, and since 1999 mostly with Castle in the Air. Together, they have organised exhibitions in galleries, museums and alternative spaces, and published a number of captivating publications. Both of them are members of the Estonian Artists’ Association. Their subtle sense for material has been noticed by the Estonian museum scene, where they are consultants and skilled installers of appreciated exhibitions of all kinds of objects. They share a studio, and have held duo exhibitions (most recently in 2014 at Hop Gallery) and created small series and commission works together. Their works are held in the collection of the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design and in collections in Switzerland, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

The focus of Piret Hirv’s work is defining the boundary between presence and absence in both the personal and public space. Through the fine embossing of paper-thin silver, the perceived points of contact, touches, views experienced, distance and proximity are sketched into sensitive drawings that force the viewer to sharpen all of their senses to see and discover.

In her work, Eve Margus deals with the almost invisible boundary between the integrity of material and its complete dispersion. Motifs from nature, fragments from the past and experience have been turned into delicate matter made of fragile stones, bone and horn, which is supported by a structure skilfully reduced in the extreme.

The curator of the exhibition is jewellery and visual artist Villu Plink (1977), who has compiled and designed several exhibitions, and belongs to the group Castle in the Air Estonian Artists’ Association. 

Artists: Piret Hirv & Eve Margus
Curator, exhibition designer, videographer: Villu Plink
Texts: Piret Hirv & Eve Margus (Drift, Fragments); Ketli Tiitsar (Biographies)
Graphic design: Kersti Heile
Language editor: Hille Saluäär
Translation: Refiner Translations
Exhibition team at ETDM: Ketli Tiitsar, Toomas Übner
Exhibition is supported by: Cultural Endowment of Estonia
Thanks: Villu Mustkivi, Taavi Teevet, Urmas Lüüs