Pärnu Art Summer is a festival with a long-standing tradition—the first edition took place in 1995, and over the following three decades, many of the most prominent figures in Estonian art have participated in its exhibitions. In honor of this legacy, this year’s exhibitions have a celebratory, retrospective tone, taking us back to the 1990s.

While the main festival exhibition “Crazy 1990s!” at Pärnu Town Hall reunites—with some updates—the artist group from the very first Art Summer, the satellite exhibition at the Artists’ House presents works that the curators consider inseparable from the 1990s. These are pieces they view as symbolically and contextually significant within that decade.

In the curators' memories, the 1990s were a contradictory time—Coca-Cola replaced grandma’s homemade redcurrant juice, saucy burgers became serious rivals to smoked sausage sandwiches, and the media became filled with alarming reports of the global AIDS epidemic, seen as an inevitable companion to the sexual revolution of the era. The sudden arrival of freedom and the fulfillment of dreams of the "desired world" brought an exhilarating euphoria, but also new fears, vices, and paranoias. These themes—sex, AIDS, and Coca-Cola—also echoed strongly in the art of the decade.

Participating artists: Marko Mäetamm, De Studio, Peeter Laurits, Herkki-Erich Merila, Raul Meel, Raoul Kurvitz & Rühm T, Leonhard Lapin, Peeter Allik, and Sorge.

Curators: Marian Grau, Jan Leo Grau

Contributors: Ain Kaldra, Orm Naarits

Supported by: Estonian Cultural Endowment and Pärnu City Government

Pärnu City Gallery is open Tue-Sat 11:00-18:00 (closed on public holidays). Entrance is free.

Pärnu City Gallery’s Artists’ House (Nikolai 27, Pärnu)

Pärnu City Gallery in the Town Hall (Uus tn 4, Pärnu)