Swarm
Location Narva Old Town State School
/ Perforated and printed steel sheets, photos and magnets; dimensions 4.05×1.55 meters /
Authors Oliver Soomets, Bruno Lillemets and Tõnis Hiiesalu
2018
Every early summer, thirty young people leave the old school building in Narva. They are all similar – excited and hopeful. In a building that has housed a school for nearly 170 years, it is known that a house without people is an empty box. People create a space that is remembered and written about. The artwork “Sülem” depicts the people who create the school.
Over time, the familiar faces that gather form a kind of altar – everyone who has attended the school, after years have passed, visits to see themselves, schoolmates, and former teachers. Students, who, amid their daily hustle, see pictures of all their predecessors, hopefully understand that they are part of something greater. A large bee family.