Exhibitions

Eugenio Marini & Ingrid Helena Pajo
THE DAY THE LINE BENT INTO A SPIRAL
Second floor of EKA Gallery 27.09.–19.10.2025
Open Tue–Sat 12–6 pm Sun 12–4 pm
Opening: Friday, September 26 at 6 pm

We don’t know the exact day the line bent into a spiral. At some point, it was simply happening—twisting ever forward, spinning as it turned. In the beginning, perhaps it all moved a little slower—the bending and the spinning—and already then, we were inside it.

“The Day the Line Bent into a Spiral” brings together works, material experiments, and found objects created and collected over the course of nearly a year by artists Eugenio Marini and Ingrid Helena Pajo. The main principle for building this collection of fragments was to work with a single idea for no longer than a week—both in parallel and in collaboration. Another key aspect was the associative threads that emerged while working with the materials: allowing these to carry the artists along, and pausing from time to time somewhere in the middle of the process. While the material may suggest a direction, in the end each form speaks about the artists’ themselves and their temporary states. The exhibition becomes a kind of diary, written in an unknowable order, along curved lines. Now, the artists invite you to turn with them along this line—summoning memory, and rowing your way back to the starting point through the spiral labyrinth.

Eugenio Marini (IT) and Ingrid Helena Pajo (EE) are artists based in Tallinn and Rome. While both artists have individual artistic practices, they have been combining their backgrounds in sculpture and textile by collaborating regularly since 2022. Pajo’s works explore early textile technologies through gathering and weaving, trying to make sense of the experience of human life. Marini reflects on the idea and meaning of utility in today’s living. Found materials are an integral part of this shared journey of exploration, highlighting the importance of the path and the process, often encouraging improvisation.

Graphic design: Daria Titova
Technical support: Erik Hõim
The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Sadolin Estonia and Tallinn City.
Opening drinks from mirai™ and Põhjala Brewery.

On Thursday, September 25th at 18.00, Ron Verlin’s first solo exhibition that which I was in life, I am in death will open at Draakoni Gallery. The exhibition brings fashion into the gallery context in a distinctive way, framing it through existential and social perspectives.

The spatial installation presented in the gallery integrates fashion, light, and sound to create an environment that invites visitors to engage in existential reflection. Central to the exhibition are garments conceived as symbolic objects, embodying themes of decadence, decay, and transition as metaphorical states of weariness that precede redemption or rebirth. These motifs unfold through a language of symbols and allegory. At the root of the project is the artist’s dream of navigating a city with a bottomless pit at its core. The artist later found echoes of this haunting dream in the pages of Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, and together with Purgatorio, these seminal texts served as foundational sources of inspiration.

Ron Verlin is an emerging fashion designer whose work draws upon faith, mythology, and the psyche. The works engage with existential concerns against the backdrop of a world marked by scientific progress and technological advancement, yet spiritual depletion, raising questions about the possibility of redemption and renewal. The exhibition interrogates fashion’s role in contemporary society, questioning whether it functions solely as aesthetic expression or whether it can also serve as a conduit for critical inquiry.

The curator of the exhibition is Sten Ojavee (Estonian Center for Contemporary Art), and the project manager is Olivia Soans.

Supported by: Cultural Endowment of Estonia
Partner: Center For Contemporary Arts, Estonia

The exhibitions at Draakoni Gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, the Ministry of Culture, and Liviko AS.

Fashion designers Ron-Jonas Verlin (Ron Verlin), Maria Roosiaas, Jaagup Kaiv, Kristiina Tali and Hanna Tiina Pekk from the Estonian Academy of Arts’ Fashion Department will present the best works from their successfully defended graduation collections in the spring of 2025 at the Solaris Centre.

The works selected by the designers will be on display on the Solaris Centre’s Design Street from 29.09-12.10.2025.

“30×30. Exhibition on the Graphic Arts Collection of the Faculty of Architecture at the Estonian Academy of Arts”
EKA Gallery 29.08.–21.09.2025
Open Tue–Sat 12–6 pm Sun 12–4 pm
Opening: Thu 28.08. at 7 pm

The Estonian Academy of Arts has been educating architects for 75 years. The exhibition “30×30”, which kicks off the anniversary year, explores the past decades of the Faculty of Architecture of the Estonian Academy of Arts through graphic assignments from the first year.

“Architectural Design I”, “Project Graphics”, “Composition I” – behind the different names lies a preparatory studio that has existed since the 1970s, which has been completed by all first-year students of the EKA Department of Architecture. Also in 2025, new architecture students will be introduced to rapidographs, the materiality of paper, questions of composition, the differences and similarities between plan and section, and the possibilities and impossibilities of graphic imagery. This is the students’ first exposure to the tools of an architect, which are both the means of depicting and creating space, as well as the ways of thinking about space and communicating it on a more abstract level.

The archive exhibition “30×30” opens up an array of graphic works secretly collected in the EKA Museum and the archives of the Faculty of Architecture. The paper and ink and the form of the works seem unchanged, yet the nearly seven hundred sheets reveal the emphases, feelings and tasks that have changed over the course of half a century, on the basis of which the shaping of a person into an architect begins.

The works exhibited at the exhibition belong to the collection of the EKA Museum and the archives of the Faculty of Architecture of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Exhibition organizers and architecture: Madli Kaljuste, Paco Ulman
Participants: former first-year students of the Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn University of Arts and the State Art Institute of the Estonian SSR
Graphic design: Maria Muuk
Exhibition construction: Dream Team (Johannes Säre, Dénes Farkas, Eke Ao Nettan, Paul Säre)
Technical support: Karmo Migur
Lighting design: Mikk-Mait Kivi
The exhibition is supported by the Estonian Association of Architects, the Estonian Cultural Endowment, the Faculty of Architecture of the Estonian Academy of Arts, ETS NORD, Niguliste Museum, Sadolin Estonia and Tallinn City.
We also thank: Ulla Alla, Imbi Hepner, Malle Jürgenson, Tiina Kaljuste, Reeli Kõiv, Laura Linsi, Hannes Lung, Mari Möldre, Andres Ojari, Sille Pihlak, Tarvo Roose, Tarmo Saaret, Mihkel Säre, Merilin Tee
Opening drinks from Põhjala Brewery.

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Public program at the exhibition “30×30” at EKA Gallery
Participation in the events is free!

Thursday, September 11 at 4–6 pm
Event “And this is not all…”
Drawing lesson with Malle Jürgenson, head of the Interior Architecture Department (on the second floor of EKA Gallery, in Estonian)
NB! The number of participants is limited, register here.

Sunday, September 14
At 1 pm, guided tour led by curators Madli Kaljuste and Paco Ulman (in Estonian)
At 2 pm, curatorial tour (in English)

Sunday, September 21 at 3 pm
Discussion

This Friday, August 29th from 4 pm to 6 pm, the Erasmus+ BIP “Navigating Through the Complexities of the Digital Jungle” pop-up exhibition will be open in the monumental gallery of the EKA White House.

The Erasmus BIP workshop “Navigating Through the Complexities of the Digital Jungle” was held on 25–29 August 2025, organized by the Department of Ceramics of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

18 students from five partner universities are participating: Aalto University, Vilnius Academy of Arts, Latvian Academy of Arts, Saarland University of the Arts and Estonian Academy of Arts.

The students’ primary task was to recognize a specific spatial condition in the human environment where biodiversity and coexistence are limited. Based on this, they had to consider how the 3D design solution could connect and interact with the architecture or other specificities of the chosen location to increase species diversity and/or energy and matter circulation.

This project included lectures, presentations, discussions and practical sessions where they 3D modeled and adapted their files to be suitable for 3D clay printers. The workshop also covered different slicing software and other parametric path creation techniques. Our lecturers and invited expert from Belgium guided both the practical work and discussions and contextualized 3D clay printing in a broader theoretical framework.

Participants: Marcelo Guajardo, Mattia Anderle, Florêncio Justino João, Julie Ternus, Christian Schmidt, Stephan Andreas Petry, Ādams Sūna, Lauris Krauze, Laima Madara Lauriņa, Beatrise Kaktina, Beatrise Grudule, Jeva Šiaudvytytė, Rugilė Kriaučiūnaitė, Tauras Stuogis, Ruta Gedeikaite, Jonas Rakutis, Karl Otti, Olivia Jegorov.

Supervisors: Dries Verbruggen, Lauri Kilusk, Kaiko Kivi

Coordinator: Kersti Laanmaa

The opening of the joint work “Weather As a Conversation Topic” by Liisa Kruusmägi and Lukas Weidinger will take place on Thursday, September 11 at 6 pm in front of the EKA Billboard Gallery. During the event an artist talk will also take place. The event will be held in English and will be moderated by David Schilter. In case of bad weather, the conversation will take place indoors. The artwork is visible round the clock until October 26.

Read more about the exhibition here.

Liisa Kruusmägi & Lukas Weidinger
“Weather As a Conversation Topic”
EKA Billboard Gallery 27.08.–30.11.2025
Open 24/7, free
Opening & artist talk: Thu 11.09. at 6pm

The opening of the work and a talk with the artists will take place on Thursday, September 11 at 6 pm in front of the EKA Billboard Gallery. The event will be held in English and will be moderated by David Schilter. In case of bad weather, the conversation will take place indoors. The artwork is visible round the clock until October 26.

Invisible, all-encompassing phenomena such as heat, cold, wind, (un)happiness, desire, love, poverty, wealth play the leading roles in a fragmented narrative about the weather and its irritating omnipresence in the everyday life of the society that lives in it. The work contains many personal reflections and references to people and situations. Lukas Weidinger and Liisa Kruusmägi have created a joint work where one story is told within another. Some look at the outside – the weather in the cityscape, others colorfully depict life indoors.

Liisa Kruusmägi is a freelance artist working primarily with painting, drawing, and ceramics. Liisa Kruusmägi has been painting her thoughts and feelings, featuring people, animals, and the things around her in various environments often using bright colours in her practice . In addition to having held numerous exhibitions, she has also focused on creating public artworks, for example her large murals are on the north side of Paide Pritsumaja and above the entrance of Tops Bar in Tallinn.

Lukas Weidinger is a freelance graphic artist and comic author from Austria. Weidinger has studied in Vienna, Leipzig, and Strasbourg. Since then creating, editing and publishing a range of solo and collaborative comic books, anthologies, print series, besides working on commissioned illustration, screenwriting, tattoos and more. Weidinger takes us on a journey through landscapes bursting with life – from lively streets in modest, workingclass neighborhoods to front-row seats in a theatre where an orchestra plays joyfully out-of-tune.

David Schilter is the founder, director, and curator of Kuš!, the only comics publisher in Latvia. Since 2007, Kuš! has been regularly releasing comic books and anthologies, organising competitions, residencies, masterclasses, and other events, promoting alternative comic art in Latvia, and popularising local talent around the world.

Graphic design by Daria Titova
The exhibition is supported by Tallinn City.

Opening hours:
Thu, Fri, Sat 13:00 – 18:00
Sun 13:00 – 17:00

EKA invites you from September 29 to October 5 on a journey through different layers of young design.

The exhibition and event program bring together the heritage of EKA’s design past, the diversity of the present, and future directions, opening doors to fresh ideas and creative courage.

During EKA Design Week, a variety of events will take place:

Public lectures and discussion evenings – inspiring meetings where designers, faculty, and students discuss the role and meaning of design in today’s world.

Design workshops – our students and faculty offer the opportunity to experience the design creation process firsthand and explore new knowledge and skills in various fields. Workshops are open to all interested in contemporary design thinking and practical experimentation.

Pop-up shop – The pop-up shop offers visitors a rare chance to purchase unique products, support the journey of young designers, and take home a piece of EKA’s creative energy. Get young and fresh design directly from the creators.

Come and experience the vibrant and ever-changing landscape of young design – look back, be present, and peek into the future.

The EKA Design Week schedule:

September 29 – October 5 – Exhibition “Lines of the Past, Directions for the Future”
Open Mon–Fri 10:00–19:00, Sat–Sun 10:00–15:00 at EKA White House, Kotzebue 10.
Exhibition opening: September 29 at 16:00.

September 29 – October 5 – Design & Innovation Program 10th Anniversary Exhibition
Open Mon–Fri 10:00–19:00, Sat–Sun 10:00–15:00 at EKA White House, Kotzebue 10.

September 30 – October 1 – Two-day social design workshop “Designing Our Future for All”
Day 1: 09:45–13:00, Day 2: 14:00–17:15 + independent work between the two days.
Location: EKA White House, Kotzebue 10.

Workshop will be held in English.
Detailed description and schedule of the workshop.
REGISTER HERE.

September 30 at 17:30 – ERKI Fashion Show Discussion Evening
The discussion evening brings together the organizers, designers, and alumni of the ERKI Fashion Show to discuss the significance of the runway, behind-the-scenes stories of the creative process, and ERKI’s role in the Estonian design landscape. This is an opportunity to hear inspiring experiences, ask questions, and see how young fashion designers bring their ideas to life.
Location: EKA Main Building Foyer, Põhja pst 10.

The event will be in Estonian.

September 30, 14:00–16:00 – Open Workshop “Gardenly Slowness”
Instructors: Marta Põldma and Jane Remm (places are full).
Location: EKA White House Monumental Studio, Kotzebue 10.
(Join the waiting list, the event will be in Estonian.)

October 1 at 17:30 – Open Lecture “Creative Design Research: Body-Inclusive Play for Children and Their Grandparents Living Far Away”
Lecturer: Kristi Kuusk.
Location: EKA Foyer, Põhja pst 7
The lecture will be held in English.

October 2 at 18:00 – LEIDA Article Collection Presentation
Introduction of a new edition gathering reflections and analyses in the field of design.
Location: EKA Foyer, Põhja pst 7
(Please RSVP)

October 7 at 19:00 – Design and Innovation Program 10th Anniversary Celebration
Location: EKA White House Monumental Studio (invitation only)

EKA Design Week Facebook event here.