Kogo Gallery, based in Tartu, Estonia participates for the third year in a row at Liste Art Fair Basel. This year, Kogo Gallery presents new works by Estonian artist Anna Mari Liivrand at her solo stand Whispers of Unfurling Tears. The Fair takes place 12 – 18 June in Basel, Switzerland at Messe Basel in Hall 1.1, Kogo Gallery’s stand number is 41.

Using poetic language and her own system of symbols, Anna Mari Liivrand explores evanescence and melancholy in today’s society. As a rather decadent person, she is interested in different emotional experiences, undercurrents in the space like the breeze or sweet smells, impermanence, traces of time and overlaps of cultural history. Recently, Liivrand has been occupied with gloomy feelings of anxiety. As a result, she has created new works that resemble metal cut altarpieces combined with delicate drawings, ornaments and ready made objects. Keeping the aesthetic and form she recently found, Liivrand’s interest has shifted towards the movement of change, the slow but unstoppable process of rebirth. As the symbol of rebirth, theartist has chosen a tadpole. It forms from a frog’s egg but has yet to develop into a frog – an amphibian that can partly live in the water and partly on the ground. In Western history, it has been perceived as a mysterious creature, a symbol of uncertainty. Change means instability and doubt as rebirth goes hand in hand with entropy turning old lives and worlds into ruins for the new life to start. Relying on aesthetics, iconography, decor and storytelling elements forming various visual histories and craft practices, Liivrand will exhibit a group of installative sculptures inlaid with drawings, stained glass and organic matter. Together they will form a surrealistic landscape depicting the birth of a new, unknown life form among the ruins of the old.

Kogo Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Tartu, Estonia, founded in 2018. The gallery focuses on the younger generation of artists, currently representing eight artists from the Baltic countries. The gallery’s recent and upcoming presence in international art fairs includes Art Brussels, Liste Art Fair Basel, Around Video Art Fair and others. The gallery participates at Liste for the third year in a row: in 2021 the gallery presented art works by Mari-Leen Kiipli and Eike Eplik, in 2022 Kristi Kongi’s and Laura Põld’s works.