Kristi Kongi exhibition sets Kumu record with 50,000 visitors

An exhibition by Estonian artist Kristi Kongi has set a visitor record for solo shows by Estonian artists at Kumu, drawing 50,000 people, the museum’s director Kadi Polli told ERR. Polli also said that, despite technological advances, art is visibly returning to materiality, environmental concerns and the value of craft skills.

Polli said the museum was surprised by the exhibition’s popularity. Before it opened, two Kumu curators had even bet champagne on whether a show by a contemporary Estonian artist could match the appeal of a retrospective by a major classic artist.

Kongi and curator Ann Mirjam Vaikla worked for two years to create the exhibition’s works specifically for Kumu. Polli said it was only the third exhibition of newly created work in the museum’s large hall, following shows by Jaan Toomik in 2007 and Kaido Ole in 2012. Such commissions involve risk, she said, because the final result cannot be known in advance.

The museum reprinted the exhibition catalogue in its second week, after the initial run sold out. Polli said only 33 copies remained at the time of the interview.

Polli attributed the show’s appeal to its vivid visual and spatial experience, which visitors can take in without relying on lengthy texts. She said it also offers playful, poetic and aesthetic layers beyond its immediate impact.

Kumu will not market the production abroad, Polli said, because the works belong to Kongi rather than the museum’s collection. The museum does take its own exhibitions abroad and organises exhibitions from its collections outside Estonia.