Bring Back My Fire Gods

Single channel digital video, color, sound, 13 min

2018

Director, concept: Kristina Norman

Original musical composition: Märt-Matis Lill, based on a Russian and Estonian folk song “Transvaal, Transvaal”

Poetry: Maarja Kangroo

Performance: Sofia Jernberg

Director of Photography: Erik Norkroos

B-camera: Epp Kubu

 

Still from video

Still from video

Still from video

Still from video

Installation view at the exhibition The State Is Not A Work Of Art in Tallinn Art Hall. Photo: K. Koplimets

Installation view at the exhibition The State Is Not A Work Of Art in Tallinn Art Hall. Photo: K. Koplimets

Kristina Norman’s video Bring Back My Fire Gods is based on a performative intervention at the Song Festival Grounds in Tallinn. A holy site for the Estonian nation, the place is associated with the Singing Revolution and the gaining of independence from the USSR in 1991. Nearly one-third of Estonian population speaks Russian as their first language, and Norman’s piece is an artistic comment to the recent discussion on the impossibility of including a song in Russian into the repertoire of the festival which celebrates national unity and continuity. Norman messes around with the main symbols of the festival – the grounds is occupied by a solo singer, the festival fire is brought down from the tower, and the singing is happening in Russian and Estonian at once, the lyrics referring to the distress of a people in a distant country.