Kristiina Aarna

• Light Turquoise
• Tutor(s): Laura Kuusk, Reimo Võsa-Tangsoo
• Video with sound, 11 min 8 sec

An important basis for my graduation work has been my home over the past year – Mustamäe. The video work includes various shots, which I filmed in and around my home. In moving to Mustamäe, I hoped to find a certain anonymity, which I felt I had lacked before. I am interested in the dynamics of the district and how an individual manages in an environment shared with hundreds of neighbours one doesn’t actually know.

My work is influenced by the writers Mati Unt, Arvo Valton, George Perec and Marusja Klimova. The first two describe Mustamäe of the 1970s, when it was a “new” district, although the authors’ alienation from their environment is apparent. Reading Klimova conjured various 90s mentalities, which I often come across in Mustamäe (or any other residential district). All one needs to do is visit the TIPI grocery store behind the building and the 90s return. Only the number of cars has changed. 

I filmed my immediate surroundings that affect my everyday (the view from the window, view of the park, view of the writing desk). The work does not have a chronological narrative. The fast jumpy cuts describe well how I managed everyday with isolation, which amplified all the “joys” associated with prefabricated buildings – the lack of room, thin walls and the ambivalence among neighbours. The text that is part of the work was written in the form of a diary in the Spring of 2020.