From Manhattan art fairs to the Venice Biennale, a generation of Estonian artists and gallerists are putting the country's creative scene on the map. If there’s one thing New York really doesn’t need, particularly amid a sharp downturn in the market, it’s another art fair. Or so you might have thought.
Undeterred by the city’s already crowded marketplace, an Estonian gallerist duo decided to make their mark on the New York scene this year – with a touch of distinctive Baltic flair. Running alongside the Frieze frenzy, the invited collectors, dealers and art lovers to experience the architecture and history of Manhattan’s Estonian House, so named for its role as cultural centre for the diaspora Estonians who left when Estonia was annexed by the Soviet Union after World War II. “It's considered like Estonian territory, in a way,” says Olga Temnikova of Tallinn-based gallery Temnikova & Kasela – one half of Esther’s founding team, together with Margot Samel, creator of the eponymous Tribeca gallery.
Unusually, for the wave-making gallerists it was this historical Estonian ‘island’ on the East Side – far removed from the archetypal white cube, with its wood-panelled walls – that first sparked inspiration. “It had this really incredible cultural, historical and architectural importance – it felt significant to take advantage of all that and have a slightly bizarre environment for galleries and artists to be able to experiment,” Samel enthuses, add.
