BACKGROUND STORY
My main inspiration for creating works of art derives from our ever-changing society in the technological era. Since I was born in a scientist-meets-economist family, I was in touch with technology from an early age in the 1980s. In the Soviet Union, technology that was not generally available had to be self-built. Our home was equipped with self-made computers, radios, satellite receivers, etc. DIY was the normal way of thinking.
I tried to relate to this topic by studying computer science and mathematics, but it did not lead me to the questions and solutions I was looking for. Instead, photography, which started as a hobby, gave me the tools I needed to see and analyze the world. I started using it to document public life on the streets and the private lives of my peers. My studies at the Estonian Academy of Arts developed my skills in analyzing society within the medium of photography.
Unfortunately, the topics I wanted to research were not particularly photogenic. The virtual parts of our lives are not well suited for documentation by the tools made for recording physical reality. It became clear that the camera is not the best tool for documenting and talking about the new layer of reality. By stepping out from behind the camera with a wish to document and critically analyze society, new possibilities emerged. Technology became the subject of my works as well as being a tool used in them. It has facilitated the exposure of the virtual layers of our daily lives in a meaningful, expressive and effective way.
CV
Name: Timo Toots
Date of birth: September 1982
Place of birth: Tartu, Estonia
Nationality: Estonian
Studio: MAAJAAM
Address: Ojaveere, Neeruti küla
Otepää Vald, 67505
Valgamaa, Estonia
E-mail: info@timo.ee
2005 - 2009 Estonian Academy of Arts (photography BA)
2008 - Exchange student in Iceland Academy of Arts (fine arts)
2007 - Exchange student in Karlsruhe HfG (media arts)
2001 - 2004 University of Tartu (computer science, not graduated)
1997 - 2001 Hugo Treffner Gymnasium
2014 / Le Lieu Unique / Nantes, France
2012 / Edith-Russ Haus / Oldenburg, Germany
2010 / Hobusepea Gallery / Tallinn, Estonia
2010 / Y-Gallery / Tartu, Estonia
2000 / Music Gallery DamTanDance / Tartu, Estonia
CURATED EXHIBITIONS
2018 / Maajaam / Neeruti, Estonia
2016 / public space / Tartu, Estonia
2015 / Maajaam / Neeruti, Estonia
2014 / Art House / Tartu, Estonia
2013 / KUMU Art Museum / Tallinn, Estonia
2013 / ZKM / Karlsruhe, Germany
2013 / private collection / Italy
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019 / ISEA 2019 / Gwangju, South Korea
2019 / Voronja Gallery / Varnja, Estonia
2019 / Cesis Brewery / Cesis, Latvia
2019 / Estonian Museum of Applied Arts & Design / Tallinn, Estonia
2018 / public space / Tartu Valgus Festival / Tartu, Estonia
2018 / KUMU Art Museum / Tallinn, Estonia
2018 / Tallinn Art Week / Noblessner Shipyard / Tallinn, Estonia
2017 / European Parliament / Brussels, Belgium
2016 / Mooste Seed Sorting factory / Mooste, Estonia
2015 / ZKM / Karlsruhe, Germany
2015 / Estonian Pavilion / Milan, Italy
2015 / Tartu Art Museum / Tartu, Estonia
2014 / Ii Biennale of Northern Environmental and Sculpture Art / Ii, Finland
2014 / City Gallery / Võru, Estonia
2014 / Survival kit 6 / Riga, Latvia
2013 / KUMU / Tallinn, Estonia
2013 / Museum for Communication / Frankfurt, Germany
2013 / Temp Gallery / New York, USA
2013 / Kleine Humboldt Gallery / Berlin, Germany
2012 / House of Electronic Arts / Basel, Switzerland
2012 / Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova museum / Turku, Finland
2012 / La Gaîté Lyrique / Paris, France
2012 / Liste Art Fair / Basel, Switzerland
2012 / Prix Ars Electronica / Linz, Austria
2012 / KUMU / Tallinn, Estonia
2012 / Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia / Tallinn, Estonia
2012 / Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia / Tallinn, Estonia
2011 / Moscow Biennale / Moscow, Russia
2011 / KUMU / Tallinn, Estonia
2011 / Gallery of Design and Architecture / Tallinn, Estonia
2011 / public space / Tallinn, Estonia
2011 / Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia / Tallinn, Estonia
2011 / CAC / Vilnius, Lithuania
2011 / European Media Art Festival / Osnabrück, Germany
2010 / City Gallery / Tallinn, Estonia
2009 / Leigo Lake Music Festival / Leigo, Estonia
2009 / Estonia Concert Hall / Tallinn, Estonia
2009 / Gallery of Estonian Academy of Arts / Tallinn, Estonia
2009 / Art Depoo / Tallinn, Estonia
2008 / Vaal Gallery / Tallinn, Estonia
2007 / Tallinn University Academic Library / Tallinn, Estonia
2007 / Artist House / Tartu, Estonia
2007 / Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia / Tallinn, Estonia
2007 / Art House / Tartu, Estonia
2007 / Vaal Gallery / Tallinn, Estonia
2006 / Los Patrankos / Kaunas, Lithuania
2006 / Manege Central Exhibition Hall / St. Petersburg, Russia
2006 / Tartu Kaubamaja / Tartu, Estonia
2006 / SERDE - The Center For Interdisciplinary Art / Aizpute, Latvia
PRIZES
2012 Award from Cultural Endowment of Estonia
2012 Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica in Interactive Art
2011 Nomination for Köler Prize
2009 3rd prize at contest Estonian Ethical Souvenir with Kristiina Nurk
2008 2nd prize at Estonian Portrait Photography Contest
2006 1st prize at Estonian Sports Photography Contest
OTHER ACTIVITIES
2013 - Founder and operator of project space MAAJAAM
2011 - Founder and owner of interaction design studio MASINISM
2013 - 2016 Interaction design for Estonian National Museum as MASINISM
2012 Interaction design for Vapramäe Nature house
2009 "Cell phone symphony" concerts with Eve Arpo, Riin Rõõs, Lauri Eltermaa
2009 Internship in Argos Center of Art and Media, Brussels, Belgium
2004 - 2009 founder and photographer of youth culture magazine "Sahtel"
2001-2011 part of freelance design and art collective D*Art
2001-2007 Freelance photography for online, print press
2001-2010 Freelance web-site programming
WORKSHOPS
2016 Button workshop / Uit Festival / Tartu
2016 Hacking junk workshop / Tartu Art College and Estonian Academy of Arts