The Cleaner Drawing
performance, 2014, Draakon Gallery, Tallinn
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In July 2014 I drew on the floor of Draakon Gallery in Tallinn. Dressed as a cleaner, each day during the time that the gallery was open to the public, I added to the mandala-like network of looped lines using dry soap powder. On the last day of the exhibition I cleaned it all away. Just like the work of a cleaner, I put a lot of effort into work, which then culminated in its removal. A cleaner's job is to remove and we usually only notice when the job isn't done properly. Some people accidentally walked on the drawing, but like a cleaner working in a shopping centre or other public space I humbly stood by and once they had gone patiently patched up the drawing.
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"While known for her “wire drawings”, Ulvi Haagensen has recently acquired a more performance-based approach – she practises her art in the art gallery with the presence of the audience where the artist either creates, changes or, if necessary, destroys her work (her latest exhibitions “Studio”, Draakon gallery, 2011 and “Aagh! Õehh!” Hop gallery, 2013). Thus, Haagensen demystifies what the artist normally does in his/her studio. In her current exhibition with its thriller-like title “The Cleaner”, the artist explores the potential for finding mental enlightenment and growth in the daily acts of domestic cleaning. Her fight with the “daily dust” reflects self-irony and putting up with the situation."
Sirja-Liisa Eelma, exhibition press release |
