Kogutud artiklid is an infinite game of dominoes played with images. These images each refer to and lead the reader on to sometimes surprising, sometimes mysterious connections. Their seemingly casual layout allows them to escape the confines of history, chronology and culture. But they are in fact a reflection of the artist/author’s intuitive understanding of the interconnectivity of iconography across cultures and time. The images are accompanied by articles that have appeared in newspapers and magazines in Estonia over many decades. Vint is less interested in the purely visual qualities of the images than in their communicative possibilities, and the canny choice of paper and low resolution aesthetic of the reproductions only serve to reinforce this intention. The book is a window into the image archive of a singular artistic mind.
Flo Kasearu, Flo’s Retrospective, Lugemik & Kunsthalle Recklinghausen
Flo’s Retrospective is an art catalogue, but more than that it’s a companionable guide to an artist who makes works that are technically varied and temperamentally complex. The almost ergonomic quality of its format, weight and flexibility are a fitting reflection of the book’s content. The artist’s work is at once humorous and satirical, biting and affable. The
catalogue is an expert balance between informative and visual content – there is virtually no gap between the artist’s vision and the book’s formal qualities. Paper, scale and layout
all serve to present the work in its ideal form. The series of bookmarks tucked between the pages throughout the book are an unexpected invitation to interact with and complete the book object.
Anna Rinaldo, Saunast Süstlani, Estonian Health Museum
This book is the result of the Estonian Health Museum’s collection of materials and is a genuine tour de force in that it brings together various different disciplines such as history, literature, communication and medicine. Rather than treating the subject of health practices and medicine in a cold and distant manner, the book has a unique, very well explained and accessible style, emphasising a more humanist approach to the subject. The choice of graphics and artistic direction are strong and coherent, reflecting the direction of travel throughout and giving a contemporary tone to a past subject, thus inviting the reader to enter into the narrative. The choice of a red and blue colour palette recalls the colour code of the circulatory system. Through the graphics and the mix of images and texts, the book clearly affirms the fact that health is linked to people’s lives, conveying an idea of medicine as stories of lives, people and communities.
Liissi Jääts, Marilllis Vaks, Indrek Tirrul, Estonian Country Chairs, Estonian National Museum
A chair is an everyday object. A chair is a simple object, made for sitting on: a chair is born out of necessity but acquires an aesthetic and symbolic dimension that is the result of a
humble yet refined savoir faire. The unique way in which the book is made reflects its theme, craftsmanship and “anonymous” design, making the hands of the craftspeople who assembled the book and those who assembled the chair almost visible. Cardboard, canvas, thread and glue are simple, common materials that seem to reflect those used in the making of this object. The humility of the subject is therefore reflected in the raw materials: the book almost resonates as a prototype of the chair itself. The way in which the chairs are photographed and the images “mounted” highlights the beauty of a very simple object, as if each chair were a portrait made manifest. The typography combines the use of traditional and more common fonts in the bilingual book with expressive and geometric fonts for the titles, which recall the act of sculpting wood, as does the embossing of the title.
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