Urmo Vaikla “An Island Is Not an Island. Shades of Dark Heritage”

27.08 – 26.09.2026

Opening 27.08. 18:00

“An Island Is Not an Island. Shades of Dark Heritage” is the first exhibition of Urmo Vaikla’s practice-based doctoral research. It explores military architectural heritage in the context of Hiiumaa and its impact on the island’s landscape, local community, and collective memory.
Although island may appear separate and isolated, it has always been influenced by global political processes. Defensive lines and military installations were built on the Hiiumaa both before and during the First and Second World Wars. A rich military heritage also dates from the 50-year period of Soviet occupation, when the island was the westernmost border zone of the Soviet Empire. Traces of this history remain visible: boundary strips once ploughed and raked through the coastal forests, defensive trenches branching out like a capillary network, and barbed wire still scattered here and there. Countless bunkers, cannon positions of coastal batteries, border guard towers, and training grounds remain abandoned in the landscape, evoking a dark history embedded in the island’s natural environment.

Urmo Vaikla’s research focuses on spatial conditions in the aftermath of trauma, examining the persistence and adaptation of architectural heritage in the context of social and political change. The aim is to map and investigate spatial values and to seek answers to the questions of whether, and how, dark heritage can be interpreted and (re)used.

Methodologically, the exhibition project draws on two curated international creative residencies addressing military heritage—Time Lap and Pinhole—which took place at Kordon Art Residency on Hiiumaa between 2024 and 2026. The residency programmes explored political trauma through embodied (somatic) experience, personal objects, and individual experience. The exhibition is a visual and poetic synthesis of the material gathered and experienced during the residencies, together with the creative projects.

Artists participated in the residency program: Selina Bonelli, Thomas Reul , Alexander Petrounine, Anna Underowicz, Anu Pennanen, Kaisa Karvinen, Jona Kleinlein, Nelly Haag
Residency Program Curators: Urmo Vaikla, Tüüne-Kristin Vaikla
The exhibition is supported by: Eesti Kultuurkapital, Eesti Sisearhitektide Liit, ühendus Ruum ja Vorm