Events

On Monday, January 13th, the Institute of Art History and Visual Culture will host a research seminar “Technical Art History and Forgeries” by professor Hilkka Hiiop from the Department of Heritage Protection and Conservation, and Greta Koppel, curator at the Art Museum of Estonia, on the topic of contemporary technical research methods and their impact on the study of art history, as well as the issue of art forgeries.

See the roundtable discussion published in the cultural weekly Sirp.

Urban Studies, resesarch studio presentation.

While few outside Berlin know where Schöneweide is, new developments led by the likes of Bryan Adams and Olafur Eliasson position the neighbourhood as a silent frontier of gentrification dynamics in the city. This research studio explores ongoing transformation of this former industrial area, once the base of the famous AEG electrical company. Contra the commonplace reading of gentrification through the lens of ‘hipster’ culture, the studio underlines the roles of state, finance and real estate as drivers of neighbourhood change and displacement. Investigating dynamics of gentrification at the urban edge, the case of Schöneweide serves as an entry point into a wider debate on how diverse groups are vested in reclaiming cities and its intersection with the official political structures – it necessitates rethinking the role of city planners as mediators between the public and private interests.

It is time to seek out the brightest ideas, because ERKI Fashion Show 2020 is on its way. Estonian Academy of Arts once again presents the biggest fashion event in Estonia, which is a platform for young fashion designers. It helps to encourage young people to present their unique creations to the public. ERKI is hoping to see creative and aspiring young people with crazy and enormously ambitious designs.

Estonian Academy of Arts announces the design competition for ERKI Fashion Show 2020. The collection can have more than one author and everyone can participate if they have graduated from high school and are currently registered in a university, vocational school or college. The ERKI Fashion Show regulation also allows to apply if studies have been completed less than 3 years ago.

The closing date for the competition is March 16, 2020. Those who were selected for the fashion show will be contacted within the following week, not later than on March 23, 2020.

ERKI Fashion Show 2020 will take place on May 23 and the competition for submitting designs begins today, December 9. Designs must be submitted to the guard desk in the lobby of Estonian Academy of Arts or mailed to the address Põhja Puiestee 7. The closing date for the competition is 16 March at 19:00.

Roots of the ERKI Moeshow go back to the early 1980s, when art students organized first theatrical fashion show to shock the audience.

Since then the event has continuously grown, being today a jumping-board for future Estonian fashion creators and also bringing each year to the podium some guest designers from abroad. Our goals are to invest into Estonian talent and its reaching international arena and also with our passionate activities to develop specific fields and society as a whole.

Rules and Regulations
artun.ee/erki-regulations

ERKI website: artun.ee/erki-fashion-show
ERKI on Facebook & Instagram
#ERKIMoeshow

 

A lake and a port. Summer housing and mass housing. Metal, steel, automobiles, and the not-so distant memories of phosphorus mining. Beyond the towers of Vanalinn and the limestone of Lasnamäe exists this municipal assemblage that over 15,000 people call home.

Beyond Borders: Moving through Maardu is a public output & final grading of Estonian Academy of Arts Urban Studies Urbanisation studio “Tallinn–Maardu: expedition into the edge”, tutored by Andra Aaloe & Keiti Kljavin.

Whether or not you are familiar with Maardu, this festival of a kind will urge you to experience the area through various site-specific interventions exploring its physical and conceptual boundaries, the global and local activities that shape it, and the area’s relationship to neighbouring localities.

There will be a private bus service to transport guests to each event according to the programme below. To register for the tour bus that will travel to each exhibition of the festival, please email Lisa Rohrer at lisa.rohrer@artun.ee. You are also welcome to visit individual exhibits via your own transportation at the times displayed in the program schedule below. Please note that the private bus will not return to Tallinn, but public transportation runs between Maardu and Tallinn for our return trip.

Please dress warmly for outdoor weather and bring along snacks and refreshments! For more information check FB EVENT!

PROGRAMME SCHEDULE ON 14 DECEMBER 2019:

9:00–9:25 Urban artist in an urban field

(Last chance to use the loo) – Jesse Keddie

Photo Installation at Põhja pst 7 (Estonian Academy of Arts)

Stanely Kubrick said on the art of filmmaking “You may not have to know very much about anything else, but you must know about photography”. So what do I know? I know about filmmaking and I know about photography. On display at EKA will be the forgotten fields of Rootsi-Kallavere that embody how I express the world at large – it’s not what I’m doing in the space it’s what the space is doing through me.

 

9:30 Private bus service leaves from EKA, Tallinn

 

10.00–10:25 Occupying the void – Marina Pushkar

Walk and installation, starting point at Fosforiidi and Kroodi intersection.

The pedestrian tunnel connecting the Kroodi industrial park and the lake of Maardu facilitates the transition from the industrial realm to the prefigurative urban wilderness. Through a guided walk and installation, this project unveils the layers of human dominance in the process of occupying the space.

 

10:30–10:55 Stories from the other side – Alice Ashton

Expedition and participatory exercise at Vana-Narva maantee – Nurgatagune Puhvet, Vana Narva maantee

Vana-Narva maantee is a highway and an important geographical and infrastructural location for Maardu. It is also home to many diverse local activities and phenomena. Taking speculative fiction, installation, participatory art and postmodern and post-urban theory as a basis, Stories from the other side invites participants to consider how  narratives, signs and momentalisation are didactic processes that shape urbanisation and the different lenses that Vana-Narva maantee can be seen through. 

 

11:00–11:25 The last outpost – Ahmad Tahir

Walk-exercise, starting point at Madikse tee

The process of urbanisation reshapes the concept of the ‘hinterland’ as a warehouse that serves the capital. This curated walk in the backyards of the Kärmu industrial zone explores the role of the post-industrial town of Maardu in regional development, and the municipality’s future speculations in the neoliberal realm.

 

11:30–12:00 Walking along a life vein – Sarah Gerdiken 

Guided walk

Walking the solid but disused line of railroad, the landscape surrounding us is united by different scales of human use joining together the travelers of its past, present and expected scenarios of the future. Wear your gloves and proper shoes!

 

12:05–12:30 AED – Annika Ülejõe

Installation at Kitsekakra 17, Muuga aedlinn

AED looks at the process of suburbanisation changing the dynamics of the once solely summerhouse area on the basis of a family archive. By revealing layers of history, the on-site intervention highlights both physical alteration of the area and the change in its social fabric.  

 

12:35–13:00 Muuga muutub (Muuga Changes) – Deniz Taşkın 

Interactive platform, Muuga aedlinn

For last decades Muuga aedlinn has been experiencing a profound change in its urban fabric and daily practices. An interactive platform is created for locals and visitors alike to archive the change in process, inviting old and new locals to spot the alteration of Muuga in order to be able to cope with it.

 

13:10–13:35 Muuga harbour: The Once Only Unicorn – Egemen Mercanlioglu

Performance-lecture on the roundabout of Laasti tee and Veose street

On an ambiguous roundabout that overlooks the Muuga Harbour, a (non)speculative story of the likely future development of the biggest cargo harbour in Estonia will be put across. Zooming out to grasp the patterns of globalisation-driven urbanisation process of Muuga and Estonia, the narration covers topics from the Rail Baltic to the digitalization. Travelling from Muuga to China and back to Muuga again, this story will help visitors to track the traces of urbanisation.

 

13:40–14:05 A lonesome hill – Oleksandr Nenenko

Performance/exhibition at Ringi 54D, Maardu

Courtyards of mass housing areas as enclosed places for meeting and daily practices accompany the processes around urban, from severe housing crisis to land use value. This project looks at the visible and non-visible changes of one courtyard in Kallavere by trying to answer a seemingly simple question: “why is the hill so lonely?”. 

 

14:10–14:35 Walk around the image – Zahaan Khan

Guided walk, starting point at Ringi 54D, Maardu 

In a heavily visual culture, images can act as representative symbols for a city. Through an investigative walk, this performance will look closer at the orthodox church of Archangel Michael in Maardu to understand how it became to be the centerpiece of the new image created for the city’s socio-cultural life in the past decade.

 

14:45–15:10 In memory of the City – Lisa Rohrer

Ceremonial performance, at Keemikute street (near the Maardu kalmistu bus stop)

The Maardu Cemetery functions as a hybrid space – it is a site for life and for death, for grief and for celebration of a memory, for spirituality and for pragmatism, for expressing emotion and for economic exchange. In light of postmodern scholarship from the late 20th century, this exhibition will consider the death of “the city” and witness the emergence of “the urban” at its passing.

 

15:15–15:40 New archives as karaoke – Wimke Dekker

Screening at Fortuna bar, Stardi 2, Maardu

A spiderweb of scales and structures, houses and containers, roads and electricity networks. The frames are given, but the people who are living in Maardu are what creates a process, a movement, a development. Combining new archives from the internet with fragments that show details of daily life, this film, shown at a local bar Fortuna, creates a new archive of the present.

On Thursday, 5 December, Tallinners will be invited to take part in TRAMWARM, a theatrical performance staged in Tallinn trams by Estonian Academy of Arts scenography students.

On Saturday, 7 December, EKA will host EXHUMATION, a play during which all audience members will be able to participate in an excavation. Both performances are free.

TRAMWARM
On Thursday, 5 December at 16.00, the performance will take place on trams running on line no. 1 and at the following stops: Põhja puiestee (15.30–16.00 and 17.02–17.22), Kadriorg (at 16.19–16.42) and Kopli (at 17.42–17.59).

TRAMWARM is inspired by the location of the new EKA building near the central train station and the tramway. Tram line no. 1 connects various districts, as well as three public universities. According to Aleksandra Ianchenko, who directed the play, the piece focuses on the topic of public space, privacy, home and cosiness, in addition to public transport. “Moving along the tram line, artists create a temporary home for themselves. They play gently but consciously, invisibly but at the same time traceably. Their strange behaviour, which still falls within the boundaries of the normal, invites us to look at the border between personal and public space, hospitality and hostility, and the ordinary and the special,” Ianchenko says, in describing the theme of the play.

EKA’s 1 st year scenography students: Milla Mona Andres, Linda Mai Kari, Anita Kremm, Liisamari Viik, Kristel Zimmer. The performers also include tram passengers, city dwellers and others.
Director: Aleksandra Ianchenko, junior researcher in PUTSPACE (a research project „Public Transport as Public Space in European Cities“, www.putspace.eu)
Stage manager / initiator: Erki Kasemets (Polygon Theatre)

EXHUMATION
On Saturday, 7 December at 16.00 at the third-floor public area (A300) at EKA, Põhja pst 7.

EXHUMATION is primarily about time and the preservation, prolongation and re-conceptualisation of material time stamps, including works of art, and everything that is directly touched upon by
conservators and restorers in their work. During the play, a mysterious dark plastic garbage bag is opened and its contents are explored following strict rules of procedure. Beforehand, it is only known that the bag contains remains of artefacts commemorating historic dates. In the course of delving into the bag, new and deeper layers of issues open up. From the realm of technical work, the journey continues to the philosophical vanishing point and finally finds its way back on the ground. The show ends with an inevitable decision – what will happen to the remnants that have come to light? What will become of them and how? All those present have the opportunity to actively participate in the excavation process.

Coordinator: prof. Hilkka Hiiop (Department of Cultural Heritage and Conservation, EKA)
Organising manager: Taavi Tiidor (Department of Cultural Heritage and Conservation, EKA)
Stage manager / initiator: Erki Kasemets (Polygon Theatre)

Polygon Theatre is a so-called environmental theatre that is open to immediate action; everything, including unplanned events, can become part of the performance. Polygon Theatre often mixes the roles of audience members and actors so that the viewer can become a performer and vice versa.

Maris Mändel PhD student of the Estonian Academy of Arts, Curriculum of Cultural Heritage and Conservation will defend her thesis “Bricks, blocks and panels commonly used in 20th century Estonian architecture. The story of their use and value” on the 18th of December 2019 at 14.00 at Põhja pst 7, room A501.

Supervisors: dr Mart Kalm (Estonian Academy of Arts) and dr Lembi-Merike Raado (Tallinn University of Technology)

Pre-reviewers: dr Karl Õiger (Tallinn University of Technology, School of Engineering) and dr Kurmo Konsa (University of Tartu, Institute of History and Archaeology)

Opponent: dr Karl Õiger

This research focuses on issues in restoration regarding man-made building materials commonly used in 20th century Estonia. These are building materials that in contemporary restoration processes tend to be regarded as having less value and because they are commonplace are often overlooked. The aim of this doctoral thesis is to find solutions to the issues of value and appreciation that arise in the restoration of such materials – to determine when these commonly used materials should be preserved as a valuable original material and when and what kind of a replacement material should be used.

This thorough study of concrete blocks, silicate bricks, large silicalcite blocks and large reinforced concrete panels provides a good overview of Estonian building practices and its step-by-step development from handcrafted techniques and building methods to fully industrialised construction.

This research has clear practical applications. Its outcomes will make it possible for architecture historians, heritage protection specialists, construction engineers, homeowners and others, to make considered decisions about restoration in regard to the materials covered in this study. It will also assist in the informed preservation of Estonian cultural heritage.

Please find the PhD thesis here

Vent Space, student-run project space, announces its new team and Open Call for the Second Season, running from January to October 2020.
The focus of the new season is on the potentiality of unexpected encounters, seeking to expand conventional practices by encouraging experimentation and open-mindedness through cross-disciplinary collaborations.

 

You can apply here!
Deadline for applications is on the
30th of December 2019.

The next European Society for Aesthetics Conference will take place in Tallinn on June 10-12 2020, hosted by the Estonian Academy of Arts.
This year’s keynote speakers are:
· Professor David Davies (McGill University)
· Professor Bence Nanay (University of Antwerp)
· Professor Virve Sarapik (Estonian Academy of Arts)

More information along with the CFP at the ESA homepage.

On December 13th, the Institute of Art History and Visual Culture at the Estonian Academy of Arts is hosting a seminar in honour of professor emeritus Jaak Kangilaski. The seminar will focus on the history of Estonian art history, with four presentations by Jaak Kangilaski’s former students (prof Krista Kodres, prof Virve Sarapik, dr Epi Tohvri and Eero Epner), followed by speeches and a reception.

On Tuesday November 12 Ulvi Haagensen will open her solo exhibition “Distracting the workers” in the EKA Trepigalerii (Showcase gallery at Linnahall’s side of Estonian Academy of Arts’s building) at 5pm. The exhibition will be open until 27 November and being a window exhibition it is viewable 24/7. 

“I am working on the line between art and everyday life. With a particular emphasis on the practices of art-making and domestic cleaning, I focus on the places where art and life meet to try to find out what the dividing lines, overlaps and resulting ambiguities look and feel like. Helping me with my work I have three imaginary assistants – an artist-cleaner, an artist-researcher and an artist-bricoleuse. Together we make, clean, think and write. This installation is a view into our working and thinking space,” says the artist Ulvi Haagensen. 

The title of the show is in part a response to the German art critic Julius Meier-Graefe’s concern about art that is decorative, accusing it of being like a “gentle little housewife” merely amusing “tired people after a hard day’s work”. 

Ulvi Haagensen, originally from Australia, has been living and working in Estonia for many years and is currently a doctoral candidate at the Estonian Academy of Arts Faculty of Design.

Thanks to Kaido Kruusamets, Mart Vainre, Aksel Haagensen, Michael Haagensen, Risto Tali, Fiona Davies