Damn Rake

In his work, Tanel Rander explores the subconscious mechanisms that have disrupted his attempts to learn German. He seeks to clarify whether the issue lies in his unresolved personal problems or if the centuries of colonial power embodied by German language and culture in Estonia also play a role. The artist confronted these questions during his year in Berlin.

The work consists of two performative videos, one of which tells an old folk tale about a young man returning to his family farm in Estonia after studying in Germany. He has changed significantly and partially lost his language memory, but an unexpected strike of a rake handle and a sensation of pain instantly restore it.

The second video takes a closer look at the striking rake handle and focuses on the artist’s internal struggles. The videos were created while Rander was learning German and working with late 19th and early 20th-century Estonian-German language textbooks, which perfectly express the class relations of that era, rooted in colonialism.

The videos are accompanied by graphic works, consisting of “books” made from historical and fictional fragments, highlighting Estonia’s colonial past. Regardless of which empire was in power, German was the dominant language. Special attention is given to the international and hybrid nature of Russian imperialism and its coexistence with German colonial power.