Events

Please join us on the 7th of December, 15:00 for the final evaluation of “Fitness and the City,” a research studio course by Urban Studies. The evaluation takes form of an exhibition opening in A500 (the open space near the terrace).

“Fitness” is most commonly thought of as a sculpting of the body through training and exercise. But when considered through the lens offered by the field of urban studies, “fitness” raises broader questions about who we are the and the cities we live in: What are the structures, urban and otherwise, that shape us? What makes life survivable? Is it norms, habits, routines of self-care? It is our environment? Or is it the fear of what we might become? In this exhibition, EKA students Daria Khrystych, Mira Samonig, Luisa Fernanda Ayala Torres, Alexander Nenenko, and Dorothea Müller combine theory, research, and design methods in order to offer a series of unique answers to these questions. The course is part of the Masters of Urban Studies, and is taught by Maros Krivy, Leonard Ma, and Helen Runting.

Event on FB.

Image source: https://nypost.com/2020/09/25/hudson-yards-edge-yoga-by-equinox-is-an-elevated-outdoor-class/

MA in Graphic Design, Online Open House
Wednesday, 8 December 2021, 17:00–18:00 EET (local Estonian time)

We invite prospective students to join the Master of Arts in Graphic Design at the Estonian Academy of Arts for our Open House on Wednesday, 8 December 2021, 17:00–18:00h EET. This will be an opportunity to hear more about the program, to meet and to ask questions directly from the faculty and students.

**Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the open house will be hosted online over zoom. If you would like to attend, please register online through the form below. A link to attend will be e-mailed the day of the event.**

Please register through our online form:
https://forms.gle/Gg2oMhenjNT9E4hz9

Within the framework of the Open Lectures Series of the Department of Architecture and Urban Design of EKA, architect David Sim will take the stage in the hall of EKA on 2nd December at 6 pm with lecture “Soft City”.

This fall, all the lectures in the series revolve around the issue of health in one way or another. We have already looked at whether architecture as a process can be therapeutic or in its own way improve the person in the room, as well as whether and how architects can contribute to the healing of the construction world or improve the environment around us.

On 2nd December, David Sim will give a lecture at EKA, in which he will look at the main issues of his book “Soft City” – now also available in Estonian – from the perspective of health. In the book, Sim addresses today’s biggest challenges – how to ensure and improve the quality of life of people in a growing city, in the context of the climate change and the digital society through creating a quality living environment. We’ll be talking about Scandinavian human-centered and human-dimensioned urban planning, which aims to support a local, functional and sustainable – healthy – living environment. Sims addresses in parallel both social, spatial and environmental issues, juxtaposing theory and ideals with real-world examples and solutions from existing environments around the world. Listeners and readers do not need to have prior knowledge of urban planning, but on the other hand, this book makes for an effective tool for professionals dealing with the design of the built environment at different levels. Both Thursday’s lecture and the book are particularly timely because of climate change issues, offering modern solutions to make the urban environment more resilient and at the same time serving the community and people: everyday urban lives in our climate can still offer pleasure, health and joy.

NB! The lecture is preceded by public book presentation at 5 pm at EKA cafe lobby.

David Sim worked for Ralph Erskine in Sweden for many years and moved on to Jan Gehl’s architecture office in Denmark, where he also worked as a partner for many years and where the book “Soft City” was born. David Sim believes that creating a good city is like organizing a great party; the author takes a simple, humane and apt approach to complex topics.

In order to minimize the risk of the virus spreading, we will broadcast the lecture on EKA TV and it can be viewed along with all previous lectures at www.avatudloengud.ee as well as the faculty’s Youtube channel. The lecture can also be attended in-person – we do ask you to carry your COVID vaccination certificate or proof of having had COVID and cover your nose and mouth with a mask. Academy students are subject to the usual in-house rules. NB! You can’t ask questions via EKA TV, so it’s worth coming to the hall to participate in the discussion! The lecture is free and in English.

Curators: Sille Pihlak and Johan Tali.

The season of open lectures is supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment.

On Monday, November 29, at 4 pm, Dr. Kadri Ukrainski, Professor of Research and Innovation Policy and Head of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tartu, will give a public lecture on “Basic Concepts of Innovation: Theory and Practice” in the hall of EKA (A-101).

Innovation is a word that runs through all walks of life today, ambitiously encompassing the readiness to innovate, the creation of new values ​​and the management of these processes. In the Academy of Arts, too, innovation is something we encounter on a daily basis, but can we also make sense of its various aspects and the conscious orientation of its possibilities?

Kadri Ukrainski is an Estonian economist and professor of research and innovation policy at the University of Tartu. With her research on innovation policy, she has supported the development of research policy both in Estonia and in international organisations.

The lecture is open to anyone on presentation of a valid Covid digital certificate.
It is mandatory to wear a mask in the EKA building.
The lecture will be in Estonian.

The lecture is organised by the Estonian Association of Architects.

EKA Urban Studies programme invites prospective Master’s students to join the online info session on Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 16:00 (GMT+2).

This online info session will be a good opportunity to hear more about the curriculum, and to meet and ask questions directly from people behind Urban Studies programme. The info session will be hosted online over Zoom.

If you would like to attend, please register online through the form below. A link to attend will be e-mailed shortly before the event begins.

REGISTER HERE

More information about Urban Studies MSc programme:

• https://www.artun.ee/urban-studies
• https://www.facebook.com/urbantallinn

On November 3 at 3 pm, the results of the three-year Unfinished City research project will be presented in the form of a thorough 400-page publication of articles, interviews, maps and projects, titled “Unfinished City. Tallinn’s urban visions”. The parties who have contributed to the completion of both the research project and the book, will gather for event at the lobby of EKA, where you will also see a selection of scaled models and an animation which were prepared for the Unfinished City exhibition at the Estonian Museum of Architecture this spring. Both the research project and the book were completed with the support of the real estate company Kapitel.

The publication summarizes the discussions held during the three-year research project and is intended for everyone interested in thinking about Tallinn’s potential as a city of the future – what we expect from Tallinn in the future, what the city needs and what problems it has to overcome in order to be attractive both as a place to live and work.

25 authors from Estonia and elsewhere look at Tallinn’s potential from the perspective of architects and urban planners, dissecting the city as a whole and paying attention to key places. Separate chapters deal with the spatial future of Lasnamäe and other similar residential areas of the Soviet era, the potential of the bastion belt area surrounding the Old Town, the green areas of Tallinn and the blue/water network. In more detail, it is examined in which background system of rules, permits and statistics urban planning in Tallinn takes place, in comparison with other cities in Europe with a similar profile and size – Vilnius, Helsinki, Zurich, Copenhagen, Prague and Riga. In addition, it is asked how we could plan a better Tallinn using all the numerical data that can be collected about the city today with the help of technology.

In cooperation with Garage48, EAA, TSENTER and the Estonian Science Council, the fifth Garage48 Future of Wood will take place in 2021. It calls for the development of innovative and climate-friendly solutions in architecture, wood processing and forestry.

In November 26-28, FoW will take place again in Väimela, TSENTER competence center, where Garage48 Future of Wood started.

The prize fund is over 10,000 €. In addition, catering, TSENTRI fleet and materials, mentor support and spacious workspaces that support intensive creative teamwork and prototyping for 48 hours. All this with the aim of bringing together the Estonian wood industry in one room and looking to the future. How to manage forests more sustainably? How to use production residues and value wood?

More information on the event website

Facebook event

Register HERE

See you in Väimela!

EKA Fox Party will take place on November 4, in EKA atrium, where this year’s crazier first-year students will perform.

Doors at 6 p.m.

Main act Arg Part

DJs are EKA’s own CT Venom and Alexandra BB (Karin Nahkur & Sandra Mäesepp team)

Performances at 7 p.m.

EKA Fox Party on Facebook

EKA Fox Party is organized by the Student Council of the Estonian Academy of Arts

As part of the design theory course at the Faculty of Design, professor Alison J. Clarke will give a public lecture The Politics of Design on Tuesday, 19 October at 9:30AM at the EKA hall.

This lecture draws on the themes of the speaker’s recent publication Victor Papanek: Designer for the Real World (MIT Press 2021) and the co-curated exhibition The Politics of Design (with Vitra Design Museum, Germany) exploring the origins of the social design movement and its attempts to consciously decolonise design. Unpicking the contradictions of designers’ gestures to transform the material and social worlds of the ‘excluded’ and ‘under-represented’ – the talk casts a critical eye on how attempts have been made, with varying degrees of success, to build cultural difference into design practice and theory.

The lecture will be held at the EKA hall. EKA students and staff are asked to follow the general EKA COVID-19 safety rules. Guests are kindly asked to follow all COVID-19 rules and prove their infection safety. There is no on-site testing. The lecture will be held in English, and it will be streamed on EKA TV platform live, however, the lecture will not be recorded.

Professor Alison J. Clarke, author of Victor Papanek: The Politics of Design (MIT Press 2021) and Design Anthropology: Object Cultures in Transition (Bloomsbury 2018), explores the intersection of design, material culture and anthropology. A design historian (Royal College of Art London) and trained social anthropologist (University College London), she joined the University of Applied Arts Vienna from the Royal College of Art, London to become chair of the department of Design History and Theory and founding director of the Papanek Foundation: she is convener of the biennial Papanek Symposium exploring the ethics and futures of contemporary design. Recipient of major international grants and fellowships (including the Smithsonian; Arts and Humanities Research Council; Austrian Science Fund; Graham Foundation), she acts as an expert advisor and jury member for numerous academic bodies including the Danish Independent Research Council and the German Research Foundation (DfG) program, Clusters of Excellence.

Clarke is a regular media broadcaster, curator and international speaker in the field of design; her monograph Tupperware: The Promise of Plastic in 1950s American was optioned for an Emmy-nominated documentary. She is co-editor of the anthology Émigré Cultures in Design and Architecture and co-founder of the leading academic journal Home Cultures: The Journal of Architecture, Design and Domestic Space. She has recently curated, with Vitra Design Museum, Germany, the international travelling exhibition Victor Papanek: The Politics of Design (2017-2020). Her latest book project, for MIT Press, explores the historical origins and legacies of the intertwining of social science and industrial design.