Railway stations (from up to down and left to right):
Jõhvi, Elva, Risti, Kehra, Rakvere, Jõgeva, (underneath) Keila, Keeni, (underneath) Paldiski, Veriora, Puka, Tartu, Haapsalu, Võru and Tapa.
Jõhvi, Elva, Risti, Kehra, Rakvere, Jõgeva, (underneath) Keila, Keeni, (underneath) Paldiski, Veriora, Puka, Tartu, Haapsalu, Võru and Tapa.
All the railway stations that were part of the art programme "Siberian Childhood" bore signs in Russian. For almost three months we swapped the names of Estonian stations for Siberian ones. They signified the destinations of the deportation trains in 1949.
The other half of the artwork was the website https://siberilapsed.ee. Interactive maps presented the distances between the Estonian and Siberian stations as well as the following information:
1. when the deportation trains left their respective stations;
2. how many people were deported from any given station;
3. the destinations in Siberia and time of arrival.
With this action we invited the public to consider Siberia as an important memory-space, with which Estonia has a strong collective connection. Manifesting Siberian place names in the public space helped actualise historical memory – while at first these names raised questions for many people, deportees understood the point straight away.
On one hand, changing the place names acknowledged the geographic locations and distances, on the other, it commemorated a time when cities, streets and other places were renamed. Labelling and the renaming of public space is the first way that a new power, a new ideology, implements itself. Also, typography and style is always specific to an era.
The other half of the artwork was the website https://siberilapsed.ee. Interactive maps presented the distances between the Estonian and Siberian stations as well as the following information:
1. when the deportation trains left their respective stations;
2. how many people were deported from any given station;
3. the destinations in Siberia and time of arrival.
With this action we invited the public to consider Siberia as an important memory-space, with which Estonia has a strong collective connection. Manifesting Siberian place names in the public space helped actualise historical memory – while at first these names raised questions for many people, deportees understood the point straight away.
On one hand, changing the place names acknowledged the geographic locations and distances, on the other, it commemorated a time when cities, streets and other places were renamed. Labelling and the renaming of public space is the first way that a new power, a new ideology, implements itself. Also, typography and style is always specific to an era.
