On July 26th pianist Rober Fleitz will perform a concert in response to Anna Malicka's exhibition “StiTcHeS of iTcHeS” at TUR_telpa

On Wednesday July 26th at 19:00, contemporary art space TUR_Telpa, in Tallinas ielas kvartāls, will present a unique concert by musician and pianist Rober Fleitz. In a one off event, he will engage and respond to the current exhibition “StiTcHeS of iTcHeS” by Anna Malicka.

Pianist Robert Fleitz has been invited to musically engage Anna Malicka's “StiTcHeS of iTcHeS,” TUR_telpa's  second contemporary art exhibition in the summer series “Monumental Encounters.” Malicka is one of the compelling artists with whom TUR_telpa has collaborated making yet another unmissable exhibition at its venue on Tallinas ielas Kvartāls. To add more dimensions to the experience of the public and to challenge the artists to consider different perspectives on the exhibitions, TUR_telpa seeks crossovers between different creative disciplines: new artistic expressions inspired by the artwork on display. One of these crossover formats is a special concert for each of the exhibitions that responds specifically to the ideas and concepts of the presented artist and their work.

Inspired by the often used artist talk - where an audience is invited to listen to a discussion between an artist and a mediator - TUR_telpa has created a format where the conversation takes place before the audience is invited. Instead the conversation becomes the catalyst for a new work: a concert inspired by the exchange and the exhibition. The mediator is Robert Fleitz, a celebrated musician and concert pianist, who engages the exhibited artist, their ideas behind the work and their process. In a one evening concert he reacts to the ideas behind the exhibition and his inspiration from his encounter with the artist. Fleitz is perfect to conduct these cross disciplinary engagements as he has both the talent and personality to find new perspectives in the work he is responding to while simultaneously being open to finding new, exciting approaches to his own practice.

In their meeting, Fleitz was impressed with the size of Malicka's work and the bold use of color. Her square panels are plum purple stitched with electrifying greens and pink on deep pink. There is a clear distinction between the outside and the inside of the tapestries as they hang from hundreds of strips of ribbon to the large white cube central to TUR_telpa. The intensity of Malicka's labor and the relationship she has with the tools of her craft - she “works to the techno rhythm of the sewing machine” - also inspired Fleitz.  

Fleitz's musical response will address both the interior and exterior of the work, both physically and metaphorically. “I am creating a program that brings the physical labor of the artist into the physicality of the musician; and that is inspired by the electronic music that influences Anna in her artistic practice.” His musical engagement will also respond to the architecture of the space and the secret language that Malicka has embroidered into the fabric.

The entrance fee is 10,00 EUR, tickets will be available on the day of the event in the TUR_telpa. To reserve your seat at the concert, please write your name and amount of seats needed to [email protected].

About Robert Fleitz

Through “mesmerizing” and “commanding” performances (The New York Times), pianist and composer Robert Fleitz curates artistic experiences that surprise as often as dazzle. Known as an “innovative musical thinker,” recent honors include the First Prize in the 2022 John Cage Award in Halberstadt, Premio “Rosalía de Castro” in the 2022 International Piano Competition of Vigo, 2021 Pro Musicis International Award, 2023 Baumanis Grant from the American Association for Baltic Studies, the André Boucourechliev Prize in the 2020 International Piano Competition of Orléans, a 2021 Robert Turnbull Piano Foundation Musicians Grant, and winning the 2022 Festival Sansusī Musician Battle. First taught piano at age 4 by his father, Patrick Fleitz, Robert received degrees  (The New York Times),from The Juilliard School (B.M. & M.M.) as a piano student of Hung-Kuan Chen and Julian Martin; as well as the Latvian Academy of Music (M.M.) as a recipient of the Frank Huntington Beebe Grant, where he studied with Juris Žvikovs and was awarded the Young Musician of the Year Award. In September 2023, he will begin his Doctoral Degree at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.

About the exhibition

To the techno rhythm of the sewing machine Anna Malicka crafts patchworks of embroidered abstract drawings and sketches. She assembles layers, stitching together the fabric but also the sediments of her personal, artistic experience. Within her work she weaves a veiled variety of self constructed characters, often reflections of her chaotic self, that inform her process: the party gurl, the radical baby; the unreal agent; and other, often personal elements, informed by the niche youth culture she identifies strongly with. The layers that she creates are both an assemblage of the physical materials - textile, sewing thread, upholstery - and, the traits that reflect her social, artistic and private identities. Through her work, Anna Malicka seeks to create spaces that are in between the real and the imaginary. This “unreal estate,” as she calls it, creates a space from which she can hold a semi-confrontational mirror up to reality. It is a place from where she feels a level of comfort, from where she can remain herself without having to answer to more conventional forces of reality. Tying the monumental textile works together with the space, Malicka and her all women dj collective - PR0_Bi$TR0 - have put down a layer of hard dance, pop and folk music to cut, accompany and challenge the visitor to the experience of her “StiTcHeS of iTcHeS.”

Anna Malicka (1995) was born and is based in Riga. She is a graduate of the Latvian Academy of Art and recently received a MA from the same institution where she was part of the first graduating class of the new POST program. During her bachelor studies she also spent a year at the KASK School of Arts in Ghent, Belgium. She is a multi-media artist working mainly with textiles, drawings on paper and audio-visual content. Her crafted work is often inspired by scribbled abstraction, handicrafts, everyday aesthetics and ideas around sedimentation which she uses to construct excerpts of imaginary spaces. 

About the TUR_telpa

TUR_telpa is an independent art space that values experimentation and process-based art. Since 2020, TUR_telpa has become an important contemporary art space in Riga, organizing contemporary art exhibitions as well as concerts, performances and poetry readings. Since opening three years ago, several of the exhibitions have been nominated for the Purvītis Prize. This year both “Voices in My Heads” in June by Rūdolfs Štamers and “Lapa uz lapas” by Maija Kurševa in April were nominated. The other nominated exhibitions were "O" by Sabine Verners and Kristine Krause-Slucka's solo exhibition "Forced Movements of the Past." 

The three exhibitions of the summer series “Monumental Encounters” are curated by Dutch artist Edd Schouten in close collaboration with the artists and team at TUR_telpa. “StiTcHeS of iTcHeS” is open to the public from Tuesday to Saturday, from 17:00 to 22:00 and runs till August 5th.

TUR_telpa is a non-profit art initiative supported by the Latvian State Culture Capital Foundation and Rigas Dome. For the latest news and events, please follow TUR_telpa's Instagram (tur_telpa) and/or Facebook page (TUR)

Organized by: Uldis Trapencieris, Rūdolfs Štamers, Edd Schouten and Kristīne Ercika

Curator: Edd Schouten

Production: Kristīne Ercika

Exhibition mediator: Andris Freibergs

Technical Support: Maksimilians Kotovičs

Graphic design: Estere Betija Grāvere

 “StiTcHeS of iTcHeS” is supported by: State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia, Art Academy of Latvia, Rigas Dome, Tu jau zini kur and Rilak Paints.