EKA Gallery

“A chair, a door, a rose, a spoon”
EKA Gallery 27.10.–22.11.2026
Open Tue–Sat 12–6 pm Sun 12–4 pm, free entry
Opening: Thu, 29.10. at 6 pm
Curatorial tours: Fri 30.10. at 6.30 pm (in Estonian) and 7.15 pm (in English)

The group exhibition “A chair, a door, a rose, a spoon”, curated by Kati Saarits and Hannah Segerkrantz, stems from their shared interest in practices that move between craft, applied arts and design. Gathering works from artists, designers and makers based in the Baltics and Finland, the exhibition places contemporary pieces in relationships with selected objects from local museum collections.

Functional objects tend to need bodies around them. A chair expects weight, a door ought to be opened, a rose longs for a vase, a spoon needs a hand. These things have been made to be used, looked at, lived with, inherited, displayed, collected, owned. Their functions accumulate and recede. And sometimes use remains only as a memory of use, or as a possibility.

Decorative objects have historically existed to attract, to impress, to seduce, be adorned, touched and possessed. Their beauty has never been supplementary to function, sometimes beauty was the function. Such objects were made by hands that also thought of them as pictures. Objects that served a purpose and, at the same time, refused to be reduced to it.

The exhibition “A chair, a door, a rose, a spoon” begins somewhere inside these distinctions focusing on applied arts, as if application were a compromise rather than a form of thought. These are not contradictions to be resolved, they are how the objects argue their existence. Rather than approaching craft through heritage or technique alone, this exhibition brings together designers, artists and makers whose works exist in the overlap of these practices, carrying both use-value and decorative autonomy, and asking to be read on both terms simultaneously.

A chair is hung on the peg rail, a door is opened, roses are brought inside, a spoon is placed on the table.

Participating artists and designers: Anna Larionova, Aleš Rezler, Artek, Brit Pavelson, Bruno Tomberg Studio, Carlo Raymann, Carmen Kremm, Claudia Lepik, Darja Popolitova, Garbage Kids, Hannah Segerkrantz, Helena Keskküla, Heli Juuti, Helle Gans, Hertta Kiiski & Janne Punkari, Johanna Adojaan, Juss Heinsalu, Kaisa Sööt, Katahana, Kati Saarits, Katrin Kask, Kay Shek, Kirsikka Tuuli, Kärt Ojavee, Maarja Mäemets, Maile Grünberg, Mariam Mestvirishvili, Marite Kuus-Hill, Mona Sofia Tahk, Muusa Stuudio, Paul Flanders, Rait Lõhmus, Rita Vaali, Santeri Mortti, Tatu Laakso, Tea Tammelaan, Teresa RA, Veera Gontsugova, Viieline, Vilius Dringelis, Ville Aakula and Yrjö Kukkapuro (Artek 2nd Cycle)
Curators: Kati Saarits, Hannah Segerkrantz
Exhibition design: Kadri Villand
Technical support: Ats Kruusing, Asmus Soodla
Graphic design: Simon Janson
Exhibition team: Kaisa Maasik-Koplimets, Aleksander Metsamärt, Valve Saarma, Marily Simenson-Plasko, Andreas Vrettos, Hanna Õunapuu

Thanks to: Estonian Museum of Architecture, Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, EKA Museum
The exhibition is supported by Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Embassy of Finland, Tallinn City and Sadolin Estonia.
Opening drinks from mirai™ and Põhjala Brewery.

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“Beyond the Veil”
EKA Billboard Gallery 24.10.–24.12.2026
Open 24/7, free admission
Opening: Friday, October 23 at 6 pm

Who is haunting the school walls, lurking beyond the veil? Hidden in the basement of the EKA library lies an archive of ghosts and restless spirits who are asking to be released. Using the archive as a starting point, the graphic design students have developed an exhibition for the EKA Billboard Gallery, which also became a publication and, finally, an exorcism. This, of course, meant that all working materials were haunted: everything was spooky.

Andrew Kuus-Hill, the curator of the exhibition, described the process: “We have enchanted 250 A3-sized prints, pasted them on the billboard, and with the phantoms by our side, performed an exorcism to set them free. Sorcerer hats will be provided on site.”

Supervisors: Andrew Kuus-Hill, Ethan Anthony Read
Workshop participants (Bachelor’s students of the Graphic Design department of the Estonian Academy of Arts): Saskia Algma, Helen Forsel, Art Kruus, Stella Maris Liiva, Deisi Anelle Poska, Anna Elisabeth Remmelg, Ann Aotäht Sarv, Ariana Sigin, Eva Ševtšenko
Graphic design: Andrew Kuus-Hill, Ethan Anthony Read

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and Tallinn City.
Opening drinks provided by Põhjala Brewery.

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Getriin Kotsar & Maria Helena Seppik
“home.house.hardcore.”
EKA Gallery 16.–18.10.2026

The project “home.house.hardcore.” focuses on the possibility of creating a sanctuary, driven by a lack of security, stability, and opportunity. The young artists are interested in how to create a space for a few days that resembles a home in the best sense of the word—a place that is safe and warm. The entire work stems from the artists’ interest in fragility, an unstable world, and crumbling materiality. Together with visitors, both the performance and the installation seek ways to maintain a sense of hope and security, even in the face of challenging circumstances.

The performance lasts for 12 hours, beginning at 7 pm on October 16 and concluding at 7 am on the morning of October 17. The installation is open to the public during EKA Gallery’s regular opening hours on October 17 and 18 (Sat 12–6 pm and Sun 12–4 pm).

Performance artists: Getriin Kotsar, Maria Helena Seppik
Sound design: Kaur Tõra
Graphic design: Simon Janson
Technical support: Ats Kruusing
The project is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Tallinn City, Uuskasutuskeskus and Sadolin Estonia.
Drinks served during the performance from mirai™ and Põhjala Brewery.

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“STUDIO: EKA Architecture and Urban Planning Graduation Projects 2004–2026”
EKA Gallery 12.09.–11.10.2026
Open Tue–Sat 12–6 pm Sun 12–4 pm
Opening: Friday, September 11 at 6 pm

Architecture is one of the disciplines through which societies imagine alternatives to present conditions. In Estonia too, architecture students have for decades asked in their graduation projects what other lives could be possible for us. Characteristically for the discipline, answers have been sought through imaginative representations – drawings, models and texts.

The graduation project, a creative genre in which realisation is not expected, has allowed students to wander and stake out a place of their own in this strange territory between hard reality and pure imagination, starting from existing conditions, yet able to play out possibilities more freely, sometimes well beyond the bounds of realism.

From 2004 to 2026, EKA’s Department of Architecture and Urban Planning has supervised this work in the studio format. “STUDIO” situates this format within the broader history of architectural education and practice-based research, while looking back at the rich archive of graduation projects that have accumulated over these years. What have successive cohorts considered worthy of attention, investigation and change? What architectural responses have they imagined? And what role has the studio played in shaping such inquiry?

Curators: Eik Hermann, Andres Ojari, Toomas Tammis (Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, EKA)
Exhibition design: Andres Ojari, Toomas Tammis
Design of light boxes: Raul Kalvo (InPhysica Technology)
Graphic design: Stuudio Stuudio
Technical support: Ats Kruusing, Eugenio Marini, Éric-Olivier Thériault-Raymond

Thanks: all the supervisors and students of the EKA department of Architecture and Urban Planning 2004–2026, Sander Haugas, Oliver Kanniste, Mikk-Mait Kivi, Jevgeni Krassi, Priit Kõiv, Tiina Tammet, Avo Tragel

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn City and Sadolin Estonia.
Opening drinks from mirai™ and Põhjala Brewery.

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On Wednesday, September 2 at 4–6 pm, as part of the exhibition “The Island of Girls” at EKA Gallery, artist and designer Katya Lesiv (@katya.lesiv) will share her practice and work over tea. During the conversation, we will drink tea together, sit around the table, and talk.

The event is free, but places are limited (up to 20 participants). Please register in advance here.

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Katya Lesiv currently lives and works between Ukraine and Finland. Her practice explores cyclicality, physicality, emotional and sensitive experience, and motherhood. She works across photography, artist books, installation, objects, text, graphics, and moving image. Performative methods, often rooted in everyday rituals, allow her to encapsulate and share intimate experiences while safeguarding personal space. The body of the book often serves as the final form of her work.

Lesiv’s work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions in Ukraine, Finland, and the Netherlands, as well as in curated group exhibitions internationally. Her photobook Lullaby 1 was included among the top 100 photobooks in How We See: Photobooks by Women, selected by 10×10 Photobooks. Her book I Love You was shortlisted for the Aperture PhotoBook Awards in 2022. In 2024, she was nominated by ISSP to join the FUTURES Photography Platform. Lesiv is a member of the Association of Photographic Artists in Finland and the Finnish Darkroom Association.

Read more about the exhibition here.

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On August 22 and 24 at 6pm, a communal dinner and embroidery workshop will take place part of the exhibition “The Island of Girls”.

Food will be prepared using recipes created by Aly Sparkling Beveridge (@alysparklingbeveridge). The food is prepared and the workshop is led by Helena Atkin, Mariia Chudna and Daria Titova.

The table will become a place to share food, recipes, stories, and fairy tales about resistance, survival, home, and escape. Guests will also contribute to a shared embroidered tablecloth, stitching onto it the things they wish to leave behind. As the dinners continue, the tablecloth will grow with the stories of the people who gathered around it.

You don’t need to bring a story or know what you want to say. You can come to share, listen, eat, embroid, or simply sit at the table.

The dinners are free, but places are limited (up to 10 participants). Please register for one of the two evenings in advance here.

Read more about the exhibition here.

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“The Island of Girls”
EKA Gallery 22.08.–6.09.2026
Open Tue–Sat 12–6 pm Sun 12–4 pm
Opening: Friday, August 21 at 6 pm

What if there was a utopian island? A place where fragility, kindness, vulnerability, and care were not seen as weaknesses, but as forms of resistance and escape.

“The Island of Girls” is a feminist group exhibition and storytelling project that imagines a fictional island inhabited by girls alongside flowers and nature. Here, there is no war and no grief. Flowers and plants become symbols of resistance, while tenderness, imagination, and care become ways of surviving and creating another reality.

The project grows from Ukrainian artist Daria Titova’s lived experience of war and explores childhood, grief, home, and the need to create spaces where imagination can offer refuge. The “girls” of the island are not a restriction upon gender, but rather a symbol of openness, curiosity, sincerity, and the belief that the world can be different. Anyone is welcome here.

The exhibition features Titova’s visual works alongside Mariia Chudna’s ceramics and Helena Atkin’s original music. Natalia Stojkova and Kornélia Nemcová present their film “A Woman’s War”, adding another perspective on women’s experiences of war.

During the exhibition, the island will also become a space for shared meals and storytelling. Communal dinners planned by Aly Sparkling Beveridge will take place on August 22 and 24, bringing visitors together around food, conversation, and shared stories. On September 2, artist and designer Katya Lesiv will have an artist talk and lead a tea ceremony.

Programme:
The number of participants is limited, please sign up in advance!

• On Saturday, August 22 at 6–9 pm communal dinner and embroidery workshop. Register here
• On Monday, August 24 at 6–9 pm communal dinner and embroidery workshop. Register here
• Wednesday, September 2, 4–6 pm artist talk & tea ceremony with Katya Lesiv. Register here

Participating artists: Helena Atkin, Aly Sparkling Beveridge, Mariia Chudna, Natalia Stojkova & Kornélia Nemcová, Daria Titova
Project initiator: Daria Titova
Graphic design: Teele Kiisk
Technical support: Eugenio Marini
The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Tallinn City and Sadolin Estonia.
Opening drinks from mirai™ and Põhjala Brewery.

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Sonya Isupova
“Water Usually in the Shape of a River. Hydroelectric Imaginaries of the Southern Ukrainian Landscape”
EKA Gallery 4.07.–16.08.2026 (NB! Closed during 20.07.–2.08.)
Open Tue–Sat 12–6 pm Sun 12–4 pm
Opening: Friday, July 3 at 6 pm

“Water Usually in the Shape of a River” is the first solo exhibition by Ukrainian artist and researcher Sonya Isupova. The exhibition explores Soviet infrastructural projects and their modes of representation, focusing on the hydroelectric dams built along the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine, particularly the Kakhovka and Dnipro hydroelectric stations. Through film and archival research, Isupova examines how these projects reshaped both landscape and collective memory.

The exhibition forms part of her doctoral research on the effects of colonial infrastructure on the landscape. She approaches Soviet films about infrastructure as “imaginary maps” that helped construct a unified Soviet space while simultaneously preserving visual records of territories before their transformation. Through these films, it becomes possible to trace the beginnings of ruination and reconstruct fragmented memories of landscapes submerged beneath the man-made seas of the Kakhovka and Dnipro reservoirs.

Positioned between monumentality and utility, Soviet hydroelectric projects generated a distinct visual language that presented nature as transformed by political power. Through archival artefacts and speculative reconstruction, the exhibition revisits these submerged landscapes and the histories embedded within them.

Events taking part of the finissage of the exhibition “Water, Usually in the Shape of a River” at EKA Gallery on Friday, August 14:
1–2.30 pm public peer preview
6–8 pm finissage: live musical performance by dijakritika and drinks from Põhjala Brewery

Events are free of charge.

Graphic design: Simon Janson
Technical support: Ats Kruusing
The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and Sadolin Estonia.
Opening drinks from mirai™.

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Ronja Siitonen, Maria Wrang-Rasmussen, Martina Zito
“Charge, Jaw, Babble, Faucet”
EKA Gallery 4.07.–16.08.2026 (NB! Closed during 20.07.–2.08.)
Open Tue–Sat 12–6 pm Sun 12–4 pm
Opening: Friday, July 3 at 6 pm

The exhibition “Charge, Jaw, Babble, Faucet” expands through the magical, gray areas of active incoherence, wielding gibberish as both shield and tool to explore alternative logics of language. Here, communication extends beyond words into expanded forms and hidden meanings. Gibberish, as a private space of understanding, offers a playground for hide-and-seek between language and body, humour and mystery.

Working across video, installation, sculpture, and jelly painting, the exhibition brings together artworks by Ronja Siitonen, Maria Wrang-Rasmussen, and Martina Zito. Here, modern-day spells take shape as rhythmical languages in translation. Alchemical transformations simmer as teeth are scratched and paws wait patiently; skin wrinkles and stretches into a sweet tension; the trapeze pendulum hangs poised, ready for a push.

Graphic design: Simon Janson
Technical support: Ats Kruusing
The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and Sadolin Estonia.
Opening drinks from mirai™.

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Asmus Soodla
“Tool Room, Gallery”
EKA Gallery 4.–26.04.2026
Open Tue–Sat 12–6 pm Sun 12–4 pm, free entry (NB! EKA Gallery is closed on Good Friday, April 3 and Easter Sunday, April 5!)
Opening: Thursday, April 2 at 6 pm
Guided tours: Fri, April 10 at 1 pm (est) / Sun, April 12 at 2.30 pm (est) / Sun, April 12 at 3.30 pm (eng)

Asmus Soodla’s exhibition “Tool Room, Gallery” focuses on the art gallery as an ecosystem, where value-based distinction between the result and the process doesn’t exist. The conceptual starting point of the project is the internal conditions and work processes of the gallery as an institution, as well as its spatial logic. The exhibition focuses on activities that are usually hidden from the visitor’s gaze, but which play a decisive role in how the artwork and the viewer meet.

The project includes a spatial intervention that occupies the entire gallery, highlighting the spaces of EKA Gallery and its contents. The conceptual framework also includes the group exhibition “Field Notes from Immediate Proximity”, the curation of which Soodla entrusted to artist Riin Maide. This role-playing gesture treats the form of collaboration as a separate artwork.

Asmus Soodla (b. 2003) is a Tallinn-based artist and art technician. Soodla’s practice is conceptual and spatially sensitive, often employing sculpture, text, and photography. His work is primarily inspired by the existing environment and objects, unraveling their operational logic and history. Through his installative interventions, invisible systems and traces of human thought are brought into focus. Soodla earned a Bachelor’s degree in Installation and Sculpture (2025) from the Estonian Academy of Arts and completed a preparatory course in architecture and interior design (2022) at the EKA Open Academy. Additionally, he has furthered his studies at artist Simon Starling’s studio in Copenhagen.

Technical support: Mattias Veller
Graphic design: Sunny Lei
The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Tallinn City and Sadolin Estonia.
Opening drinks from mirai™ and Põhjala Brewery.

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