Kilometre of Sculpture (kmS) is an international exhibition project that explores ways of presenting contemporary art in the public space with a special interest in working with and in regional towns in Estonia.

KmS started in response to an invitation from the organisers of Baltoscandal, who were seeking a complement to their biennial theatre festival (in the regional town of Rakvere). KmS has since provided exhibitions in Rakvere in 2014 and 2016, and will return in 2018.

KmS is the kind of event that is normally at home in a capital city, where people are used to all kinds of innovative cultural events and happenings. In regional towns, however, seeing contemporary art in the public space is a new experience for many, and this has been one of our core challenges. Fortunately, since the capital empties out across the country in summer, kmS has always managed to attract city people who summer in the countryside as well as locals and the usual contemporary art set.

From its inception, kmS has been an ambitious undertaking – one that we felt would slowly gather momentum and secure sustainable funding to establish itself as an annual art event. After 2014, we saw the potential to explore other regional towns, and so while Baltoscandal was in recess, we staged a successful second exhibition in the southern town of Võru in 2015.

On returning to Rakvere in 2016, it seemed this time funding was more difficult to secure. We pushed on and delivered a solid exhibition, but resolved to pause in 2017 and reconsider what was possible for kmS in the context of shrinking funds for the arts in general.

KmS will now continue as a more carefully considered biennial event. It will continue to complement Baltoscandal in Rakvere, but it will also pursue its broader interest in taking contemporary art to other regional towns across Estonia.