On June 14 at 17:00, Pavel Rotts will open an inclusive public installation titled “Climbing a Memory.”
Artist Pavel Rotts unveils the installation “Climbing a Memory.” The installation mimics the recognisable form of a climbing wall. However, what makes the wall special are the colorful stones that represent baroque elements such as an angel’s head or a flying Hercules. The baroque fragments come from the ruins of the bombing of Narva 80 years ago and belong to the Narva Museum. The artist has taken molds of these elements and cast them in plastic, allowing people to interact with them.
This is a continuation of the artist’s project “Climbing a Memory,” in which he addresses climbing as a method of dealing with trauma. In his research, he has collected material on how climbing as a sport is a means for many climbers to achieve mental clarity and deal with personal or collective traumas. He has adopted this practice, and in the first project from the series, he climbed using bombing holes in Helsinki, dealing with the complex past between Russia and Finland from the perspective of an Ingrian Finn. With this project, he has moved to Narva—a city with which he also has a personal family connection—and thus continues to unravel the complex past both within himself and externally.
The public installation offers the urban space a new alternative way to deal with and engage with a complicated past.
Pavel Rotts, (b. 1982 Petrozavodsk, USSR) is a multidisciplinary artist working with various techniques and forms, such as installation, sculpture, performance, conceptual art and artistic research. Since 2015, Pavel has been permanently based in Helsinki, Finland. He holds an MFA from the University of Arts Helsinki (2022), previously studied at St.Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design (2004) and graduated from Pro Arte Institute, St.Petersburg, in 2008. As an Ingrian Finn, Pavel draws upon his identity as a source of inspiration for many of his works. His family history has been closely intertwined with Finland and Estonia, heavily influenced by the historical relations of these countries with the Soviet Union and Russia.
Artist: Pavel Rotts
Curator: Kerly Ritval
Architect: Marco Manfredino
Graphic Design: Ljuba Terukov
Supporters: Finnish Cultural Foundation, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Narva Art Residency , Narva Museum