Abstract

Riikka Taavetti's contribution addresses intertwined queer pasts and Soviet legacies in Estonian public discussion. She examines an art exhibition by the Estonian contemporary artist Jaanus Samma, titled “Not Suitable for Work. A Chairman's Tale.” Originally produced for the Estonian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2015, the exhibition caused controversy in the media when presented at the Museum of Occupations in Tallinn in 2016. According to Taavetti's analysis, both of these contexts framed the exhibition with questions of victimhood. In the framework of an international art event, questions of human rights violations were highlighted, while the environment of the Museum of Occupations emphasized questions of the suitability of a homosexual man as a victim of Soviet repression.

Keywords: victimhood, queer, politics of memory, post-socialism, museums, Jaanus Samma

In the popular speech it is even called a gay exhibition. Those on the more conservative side stamp their feet and old freedom fighters have helplessly lowered their hands – what will their eyes see before death!? The unacknowledged fact is that this exhibition was not planned to irritate “the extreme right and Putinists,” but it represented Estonia last year in the 56th Venice Biennale. (Soidro 2016).