Entering

Estonia again. This time the peculiar theme of English Country Parks. Kadriorg Palace, holiday home of Peter I, Tsar of Russia, and now a gallery of ‘foreign art’. In the park construction was underway for the new museum of contemporary art. Halfway between the two sites was the Estonian Presidents house.

Again the site logistics provided the bones of the work. Discussion about the building site dominated the conversation. Common interests in building and building materials seemed appropriate routes to follow. Research began into the feasibility of sourcing the raw materials for concrete within the park. Experiments were undertaken in Scotland into the proportion and mixing of different materials. It was decided this was possible and the group flew to Tallinn to began a week, locating, seiving, crushing, combining and pacing.

The gallery threshold had been a focus of interest in Switzerland and seemed the appropriate formal vehicle to carry our carefully selected and prepared ingredients here near the site of a future gallery. So the threshold of Kadriorg was modelled and replicated in home-made concrete. Sticks of chalk from a local school were crushed with pestles and mortars from the university. Paths were seived to gather rubble for the mix. The fountain provided the water.

The pour took place in a shallow threshold trench halfway between the old and the new gallery sites. Right outside the Presidents front gate. As far as we know it still exists.