Kristina Norman

Kristina Norman belongs to the generation that entered the art scene in the '00s. She deals with political, provocative, documentary and research-based art. Norman's work is highly context-centred and has grown from her immediate surroundings.

After-War is a comprehensive installation environment comprised of videos, photographs and objects in five separate spaces. The installation is based on a specific event and the issues surrounding it that must be regarded as the most traumatic event in Estonian society since the restoration of independence in 1991, and one which aroused the most public discussion.

In April 2007, the Estonian government removed a monument commonly referred to as the "Bronze Soldier" from a prominent place in the centre of Tallinn, where it had stood since 1947.

The memorial, officially called "The Monument to the Liberators of Tallinn", was dedicated to the Red Army soldiers who fell during what in Russia is known as The Great Patriotic War (WWII), but for most Estonians this memorial was a symbol of Soviet occupation. The monument was removed from its original site and relocated 2.5 km away at the military cemetery.

The original location was then planted with low shrubs and flowers as if there had never been a monument there. This "psycho-geographical" manoeuvre carried out by the Estonian government provoked protest by the Russian-speaking community and was followed by two nights of rioting on the streets of Tallinn.

Using the concept of a memory community, Kristina Norman describes and analyses past events and proposes subsequent cultural practice. The title of the work After-War is a reference to the idea that the war is over, but the conflict still continues. Kristina Norman (1979, works and lives in Tallinn): Kristina Norman has studied at the Estonian Academy of Arts and worked as an art teacher.

She is currently working on a feature-length documentary film about the makers of the monument to the Estonian War of Independence.

Since 2006, she has participated in international exhibitions and festivals: in 2006 she represented Estonia at the Modern Art Oxford in Arrivals - Art from the New Europe with her documentary film The Pribalts ; in 2007 she took part in the Biennale of Young Artists, Tallinn with an experimental documentary film, Monolith ; in 2008 she was included in the 5th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art with a pseudo documentary film titled The Field of Genius.

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Economy expert: Estonia has no other way but deflation

Estonia is 20 pct more expensive than international competitiveness would allow and even modest inflation is harming economy’s recovery, Heido Vitsur, an economy expert at Estonian Development Fund told Eesti Päevaleht.

“Deflation is usually something that is terrifying. But Estonia has no other way than deflation is it doesn’t want or can’t devalue the EEK,” Vitsur said.

“Estonia wasn’t competitive even years ago and it’s so even less with its expenditures and productivity. The level of expenditures can be taken down by devaluation or deflation in the short term. In longer perspective the productivity growth will also help, but it’s not possible to count on it in the time of sharp crisis,” Vitsur said.

He brought out three reasons why it’s not possible to compare Estonia to other countries when talking of deflation.

First, not a single country besides Estonia has set euro as their first priority, but coming out of the crisis.

“These two are far from being concurrent. Of course we’re talking of how big aid packages can be used in one or other case,” Vitsur said.

“The other reason is that Estonia is among those countries that let huge consumption boom on foreign credit to evolve. Accidentally we’re among weak countries in this group and can’t hope on measures which are used by GB, US or even Ireland. It is, to take huge loans to enliven the economy. No one is lending money to us for they don’t believe in our capability to service bigger national loan than we already have. So the 3 pct deficit level is already given by the size of reserves and borrowing capability (considering that the crisis won’t be over this year),” Vitsur said.

“Thirdly – if Estonia had understood importance of a policy that recons with the cyclic nature of economy couple of years ago, it would have given us more liberty is using economy’s incentive programs and we wouldn’t have increased our expenditures to such level from which coming down is painful and complicated,” the economy expert said.

Ultrafast halting like ours is complicated and may bring along downwards spiral which is difficult to control and also social tensions:” But the main problem, as mentioned before, is elsewhere – Estonia’s economy was uncompetitive years ago with its high expenditures that didn’t match productivity,” Vitsur said.

He said that the situation hasn’t improved, rather worsened.

“The currencies of nearly half of our trading partners have devalued sensibly in past 6 months and that has worsened our competitiveness and hopes for recovery,” Vitsur said.

Source http://balticbusinessnews.com/default2.aspx

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April CPI drop puts Estonia close to deflation

The consumer price index rose 0.3 percent year-on-year in April after a rise of 2.0 percent in March. It fell 0.7 percent in the month in April after falling 0.5 percent in March. The median forecast in a Reuters survey was for annual inflation of 0.8 percent and a fall in the month of 0.3 percent. The last time year-on-year price growth was so slow was in June 2003, when it also rose 0.3 percent.

In April compared to the previous month, the consumer price index was mainly influenced by the price decrease of food, especially of dairy and meat products, by a continuous price decrease of heat energy and by a price increase of motor fuel,' the statistics office said in a statement. On a year-on-year basis, the consumer price index was mainly influenced by rising prices for alcoholic beverages and tobacco and by price falls for motor fuel and food.

Analysts see the country entering a deflationary situation in May as heating costs and energy prices remain low, but said it would be short-lived. The possibility of deflation from May is very high,' said SEB analyst Ruta Aurmae.

The falling trend in prices would be supported by an ongoing fall in heating and food prices. I don't think deflation is a threat, it will not go on for very long. Energy prices will rise,' she added. The central bank restated its forecast prices would fall 0.5 percent on average in 2009. Nordea said in a research note that 'the faster than anticipated fall in inflation reinforces our expectations that inflation will moderate to below zero during 2009'.

Estonia's plans to join the euro zone have been held at bay in recent years as inflation hit double digits during an economic boom fuelled by cheap credit. But the country has neared a deflationary situation due to the onset of recession. The central bank has forecast a drop in gross domestic product (GDP) this year of 12.3 percent.

Source http://lse.co.uk/macroeconomicnews.asp

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