Exhibition Diary, Part VI

Name: Criminal minds (Kurjuse kannul)
Made by: Anu Juurak
Material: miscellaneous
Place: Hobusepea Galerii, Tallinn
Press release: The exhibition explores modern twists as fear, anxiety and doubt. Hopefully, it won't evoke more fear but helps to disperse it.

It was told that the exhibition was about the myths produced to fight the crisis. As the economy produces a conception of the global terrorism, as environmental problems lead to climatic disaster myth etcetera. There is no better way to control minds than the presence of enemy, whether it is real or abstract. Proved by The Cold War.


I would say, this exhibition is about lying, though it is difficult to call manipulation a lie (right combinations of truth may collapse the world). Anyway, it is violation as well as threatening, however I find threats more sincere. Cliche though it might sound I think USA are one big fat manipulator and this exhibition proves it.
First prove: toy soldiers glued to one of the walls in the gallery. There were comics' bubbles aroun them with quite predictable phrases "Evil is everywhere", "We must kill all the <...> because they are evil", "I'll let you know when understand myself", "Is it time to eat?"... Same job as many others: boss tells, I shoot and lets go for a lunch - on the field, and this makes another good-night-fairytale for civilians: there IS evil. Who steals our oil (doesn't matter that it's not our yet), who still wants to occupy us (doesn't matter that they don't care about us for last 20 years).
Second prove: videos on the ground floor. My favourite kind of it - "nonfictional" conspiracy, aimed to zombify and frighten. It is very likely that american government itself sponsors all those documental videos about secret societies, corruption in White House, 9/11 planned events etc etc. Those who believe are frighten and easy to control. Those who don't believe are much more easy to manage. Every side is benifitial. But leave the benefit aside, think about media. There in the video was presented 20th in a row american conspiracy. One more Big-brother-is-watching-you microchip system, one more secret society of the powerful ones, and nicely inspiring warning which made me laugh: be vigilant and watch your back! very informative and paranoid. Like in Kristina Norman's video "The Pribalts" was an episode of public rally in Moscow, where about 200 people stayed on some square and voted "by a solid voice" (like there is not another 10 million of people in Moscow...) that media is corrupting us and lying to us, down with it! And all those elderly Russians who run rounds in panic because the government is bad-bad-bad, and buying buckwheat amd matches to prepare to guerilla war. Is it difficult to leave those memories of wars behind?.. Okay, may be it is...

P.S. I should say it still. The name of the exhibition is a little bit unsuitable. The Criminal Minds series are directed to inner analysis of the criminal. It is more like a try to understand psychological nature of the evil, why particular people do crime (which is mostly one preson centered). Here is shown the global conspiracy, extraverted and influential.
"One death is a tragedy, thousands of deaths is a statistics" (c) J. Stalin