“How to Reframe Monuments” at EKA Billboard Gallery 1.12.2025–15.02.2026

“How to Reframe Monuments”
EKA Billboard Gallery 1.12.2025–15.02.2026
Open 24/7, free admission

The Past as Artistic Material
We live in a time when monuments cannot be ignored. Around the world, debates rage over their meaning and over whether – and how – contested monuments should be displayed in public space. Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine has brought one of the epicentres of monumental conflict to Eastern Europe. To date, a large number of Soviet-era monuments in Estonia, particularly World War II memorials, have been removed. 

The project “How to Reframe Monuments” is based on the premise that removing a monument does not resolve the problem – complex heritage cannot simply be bypassed, but must be worked through. By bringing together knowledge and expertise from multiple fields, we have developed solutions that, through academic research, heritage conservation and digitisation practices, as well as artistic interventions, enable dissonant heritage not to be demolished but to be reframed within a new critical context. 

At the heart of the outdoor exhibition is the potential of art in addressing memory conflicts in public space – and, through this, the social role of contemporary art. Three design competitions carried out in the frame- work of this project illustrate ways of reframing different types of dissonant heritage – memori- als, paintings and sculptures. To date, already one of the artistic interventions has been realised: the reframing of the Tehumardi memorial by Neeme Külm. 

Between 2024 and 2025, a total of 17 artists took part in the art competitions. The conceptualisation of the Tehumardi memorial complex on Saaremaa—now partially dismantled—involved Kirke Kangro, Neeme Külm, Anna Mari Liivrand, Johannes Säre, Kristina Norman, and Taavi Piibemann.

Anna Škodenko, Hanna Piksarv, Jevgeni Zolotko, Kati Saarits, and Sigrid Viir proposed their own solutions for redesigning the monumental paintings, completed in 1955, in the old passenger terminal of Tallinn Airport.

Trevor Kinna, Bob Bicknell-Knight, Hasso Krull, Camille Laurelli, Samuel Lehikoinen, Ülo Pikkov, and Yiyang Sun created digital artworks based on the monument “Vyatchko and Meelis Defending Tartu” (1950/1956) located in Tartu. These works are shown as part of the exhibition “The Monument and the Fairy Tale” in the EKA foyer during 1.–12.12.2025.

Exhibition team: Linda Kaljundi, Kirke Kangro, Annika Tiko, Maris Veeremäe
Design: Kristjan Mändmaa
Language editing: Hille Saluäär, Jason Finch
“How to reframe monuments” is a collaborative project between the Estonian Academy of Arts and Tallinn University, funded by the Estonian Ministry of Culture. 

The project’s follow-up exhibition will open in February 2026 at EKA Gallery.