Krista Mölder (1972) is an Estonian photo artist who lives and works in Tallinn. Her works focus on universalized space and viewer experience or, to be more specific, on the transference of a personal (and constructed) viewer experience through which the viewer has a chance to identify with the artist’s view and frame of mind.
The artist uses references and riddle motifs to study relationships between people and the environment. Having visited Japan on several occasions, she has drawn influence from its architecture and culture. In the lager whole, recognizable forms of human origin as well as natural ones are reduced to two-dimensional colour expanses. Her intrinsically spacious shots always offer tiny details for the observant eye, but they are always captured in a way that keeps the pictures from being too “busy”.
Krista Mölder graduated from the Department of Geography of Tartu University, Department of Photography of Tartu Art College in 2001, received an MA degree in photography at the University of Westminster in London in 2004, and another MA at the Department of Photography of the Estonian Academy of Arts in 2006. Krista Mölder was a nominee for the Köler Prize in 2016. She has been a lecturer at the Estonian Academy of Arts since 2003.
Krista Mölder has taken part in exhibitions since the 2000s. Her most noteworthy solo exhibitions in recent years have been “Being Present”, together with Neeme Külm, in the Tallinn Art Hall Gallery in 2012, “Non-spaces” in the Temnikova and Kasela Gallery in 2013, “You/Blue” together with composer Helena Tulve, in the Hobusepea Gallery in 2015, “Between the Archive and Architecture” (curated by Kati Ilves) in the Kumu Art Museum in 2016, a display at the exhibition of Köler Prize nominees at the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia in 2016 and “Getting Lost” in 2017 in the Kanzan Gallery, Tokyo (curated by Mikiko Kikuta). In 2011, Mölder was invited by EU Japan Fest to participate in the project “European Eyes on Japan. Japan Today. Vol. 13”.
Solo exhibitions:
2020/21 You Were a Bird, Temnikova & Kasela Gallery, Tallinn2020 Before the sun blinded our eyes, HOP Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia2019 Yes, I Often Came By Here, ARS Showroom Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia2018/19 Notes on Being Present, Galerie Iragui, Moscow, Russia2018 INTERVAL at the gallery Hanaholmen, Finland2017 Sinking(In) (with Sirja-Liisa Eelma), Evald Okas Museum, Haapsalu, Estonia2017 Getting Lost (curated by Mikiko Kikuta) KanZan Gallery, Tokyo, Japan2016 Between the Archive and Architecture (curated by Kati Ilves), KUMU Art Museum, 5th floor, the Gallery of Contemporary Art, Tallinn, Estonia2016 INTER-SPACE (at the Köler Prize 2016 nominees show), EKKM, Tallinn (ekkm.ee)2015 YOU/BLUE (with composer Helena Tulve) ,Hobusepea Gallery, Tallinn2013 Non-Places, Temnikova & Kasela Gallery, Tallinn2012 Being Present (with Neeme Külm) ,Tallinn Art Hall Gallery2012 MA / European Eyes on Japan. Vol.13 (curated by Mikiko Kikuta) KITAKITA, Akita, Japan2011 European Eyes on Japan. Japan Today. Vol.13 (with Kalle Kataila; curated by Mikiko Kikuta). Turku (FIN), Tallinn (EE)2010 Boredom is not far from ecstasy, Draakoni Gallery, Tallinn2009 PIND / LIND (In between internal & external; 2D ↔ 3D), ArtDepoo, Tallinn2007 The use of empty toothpaste tube. Hobusepea Gallery, Tallinn
Group exhibitions:
2020 Vello Vinn. Interreflections, (curated by Elnara Taidre) Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn, Estonia2018 Border Poetics. Estonian Art 1918-2018 (curated by Eha Komissarov), New Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia2018 Contemporary Art from Estonia (curated by Britta von Campenhausen), European Central Bank, Frankfurt2018 Aesthetic of Boredom (curated by Peeter Talvistu), Tartu Art Hall2017 Circulation(s) Festival, Paris2015 From Explosion to Expanse. Estonian Contemporary Photography 1991–2015, (curated by Anneli Porri), Tartu Art Museum2015 Passaggio. collaborative work with Ensemble U: & artist Neeme Külm for Estonian Music Days; Salme Cultural Centre, Tallinn2013 Where You End, I Begin. (curated by Anneli Porri), Tartu Art Hall2013 Afterlives of Gardens. (curated by Eha Komissarov) Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn2012 Silence. (curated by Jaanika Peerna) Gallery Masters & Pelavin, NY, USA2011 Generaton of the the Place: Image, Memory and Fiction in the Baltics. (curated by Vytautas Michelkevičius) Tallinn Art Hall (EE), Kaunas Photography gallery (LIT)2010 INCLUSION OF ILLUSION / ILLUSION OF INCLUSION, Gallery Vartai/ Vilnius, Lithuania
Curated exhibitions:
2013 Contemporary Japanese Photography books (with Mikiko Kikuta), Tallinn,
Catalogues / Books:
2019 Eesti fotograafia 100 aastat (100 years of Estonian Photography) by Heie Marie Treier, Tallinn2018 20 Years of Estonian Art (ed. by Stacey Koosel), Estonian Institute2016 Between the Archive and Arhitecture (ed. by Kati Ilves, Triin Tulgiste), Kumu Art Museum2016 Köler Prize nominees catalogue (ed. by Marten Esko), EKKM2014 TALKA / yearbook. (ed. by Anna Volkova, Vladimir Svetlov), Riga2013 Afterlives of Gardens 2 (ed. By Eha Komissarov), Kumu Art Museum2012 Generation of the Place: Image, Memory and Fiction in the Baltics (ed. by Vytautas Michelkevičius)2011 European Eyes on Japan. Japan Today. Vol.13 (curated by Mikiko Kikuta)2008 Hobusepea galerii 2003-2007 (catalogue)2004 Home sweet home (exhibition catalogue, curated by Eha Komissarov)
Works in Collections:
Deutsche Bank Collection (in London)Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn
Residencies / Fellowships / Grants:
2015 September, Nida Art Colony. Nida, Lithuania2014 July – October, Artist in Residence – ANNEXES – Chateau de Bourglinster, Luxembourg2014 May, invitation by “Orbita.lv”, European Capital of Culture - Riga 2014, project “Riga Poetry Map”. Riga. Latvia2011 EU-Japan Fest Japan Committee, photography project "European Eyes on Japan / Japan Today". Akita prefecture, Japan
Upcoming:
2021 April, Between the jet oscillation and acoustic field (working title) Tartu Art House2021 December, Duo-show with Kristi Kongi, curated by Siim Preiman, Tallinn Art Hall