Exhibitions

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.

On Wednesday, 27th of August 2025 at 6 PM, the exhibition Anatomy of Dust, by Juss Heinsalu and Kim Morgan, opens at Hobusepea Gallery.

Anatomy of Dust brings together two artistic practices that meet at the intersection of material investigation, scientific inquiry, and narrative building. Through intricate objects, experimental processes and installations, the gallery transforms into a cohesive spatial experience, a hybrid lab–studio environment, exploring the physical and conceptual forms of matter – from dust and dirt to blood, skin, and ash.

The viewer encounters “material bodies,” human and non-human, and the complex systems and cycles that connect and sustain them – presented in a range of altered micro-macro scales, amplified textures, scientific and medical imaging technologies, archive research and poetic interventions. The gallery’s large front window is used as a living interface between interior and exterior, offering passersby glimpses into the ongoing dialogue between organic and inorganic, life and death, matter and meaning.

“Informed by the experience of vibrant matter at the microscopic level these works offer new forms of body representation and an opportunity to bridge the gap between science, medicine, and art. Equally important to these installations are my propositions for the work to be situated in public space.” – Kim Morgan

“My recent work focuses on meteoritic origins, petrification and speculative conditions that present alternative mineral-based lifeforms. I have been curiously exploring ways to combine metal and ceramic compounds. Additionally, some older lines are included, such as optical devices and breathing clay-lungs animated by air pumps.” – Juss Heinsalu

The project extends beyond the visual: Kim Morgan will be using the gallery space as a studio/lab/research space to discuss her work within the context of her doctoral research, which includes situating the work in public space. A panel for public discussion (presenters TBA) is organised to engage with the scientific, artistic, and speculative ideas underpinning the works.

Artist tour: Saturday 13.09.2025 at 15 PM in ENG and 16:30 in EST
Panel discussion: Thursday 18.09.2025 at 18 PM (discussion will be held in ENG)

The exhibition will remain open until the 22nd of September.

Juss Heinsalu is an Estonian artist based in Tallinn. His autonomous research-creation process explores the embodiment of life in clay, merging scientific hypothesis, mythological and ethnographic knowledge with material-led studio practice. Heinsalu holds a degree in ceramics from the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) and received his MFA at NSCAD University in Nova Scotia, Canada. Currently, he is an associate professor and the head of the Craft Studies MA programme at EKA.

Kim Morgan is a Canadian visual artist working in multi-media installation and public space. Her work explores the impact of technology on people’s perceptions of time, space, and the body, and the shifting boundaries between the private and the public. Morgan is a professor at NSCAD University, Canada, and a PhD candidate at the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Graphic designer: Aimur Takk

Many thanks to: Estonian Academy of Arts, Arts Nova Scotia, The Dalhousie Art Gallery, Heron Vrubel, Eric-Olivier Theriault Raymond, Gary Markle, Bruce Anderson, Kärt Ojavee, Katherine Diemert, friends and family members.

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

The Estonian Academy of Arts has been training architects for 75 years!

We will celebrate this at the Faculty of Architecture throughout the upcoming academic year.

You are invited to the opening of the anniversary year on August 28, 2025 in the EKA auditorium:

at 6:00 PM, with opening remarks and speeches, we will open the new newspaper of the Faculty of Architecture “c400”. Editors-in-chief Diana Drobot and Linda Li Arro.

at 6:30 PM, we will take a look at the longest-established architectural subject “30 x 30”, of which the curators of the exhibition, doctoral student Paco Ernest Ulman and Madli Kaljuste, will provide a historical overview.

at 7:00 PM, we will open the exhibition “30 x 30. Exhibition from the graphic arts archive of the EKA Department of Architecture” in the EKA Gallery.

You are welcome to join us!

Kvadraat exhibition “Naabriga sama kena” at Lootsi 17, Kuressaare.

The focus of the exhibition is on collaboration, which is undeniably embedded in all artistic practices. Eight young artists have gathered under one roof, leaning on each other, both in this old weighhouse and outside it, for example, during their studies, as part of unions and collectives. All these intertwinings and encounters, growths and developments form the core of the exhibition.

The curators are members of the art collective Kvadraat: Elise Marie Olesk, Marten Prei, Paul Rannik, Sandra Puusepp, Triin Mänd. This is a continuation of their exhibition series, which explores the characteristics and expressiveness of graphic art in the field of contemporary art.

Participating artists: Asmus Soodla, Elo Vahtrik, Irma Holm, Kail Timusk, Liisa-Lota Jõeleht, Margarita Feofanova, Maria Izabella Lehtsaar and Sonja Sutt.

The exhibition will be open daily until August 18 between 12:00-18:00.

Liisa Chrislin Saleh’s & Hansel Tai’s duo exhibition “Dance of Resistance”
Second floor of EKA Gallery 1.–24.08.2025
Open Tue–Sat 12–6 pm Sun 12–4 pm
NB! EKA Gallery is closed during Wednesday, August 20.
Opening: Thursday, July 31 at 6 pm

Estonian-Yemeni artist Liisa Chrislin Saleh and Tallinn-based, Chinese-born artist Hansel Tai join forces for the first time in their duo exhibition “Dance of Resistance”. With a shared appreciation for each other’s artistic practices, Saleh and Tai engage in a powerful dialogue that confronts their rich cultural heritages through the lens of feminist and queer ideologies. By intertwining their personal narratives, they explore the intersections of identity, culture, and resistance.

Liisa Chrislin Saleh was born into an Estonian-Yemeni family and raised mainly in Estonia. Her perspective is shaped by this Northern European context, but she is increasingly engaging with her Yemeni background, navigating what it means to hold both identities. With this project she explores the connections and disconnections between historical resistance movements across different regions. The work examines how solidarity is formed—and where it breaks down—across cultural and political lines. Drawing on humanist values and intersectional feminist thought the artist considers how resistance is remembered, represented, and reinterpreted today. Rather than aiming to present a unified narrative, the project opens space for complexity, contradiction, and critical reflection.

Hansel Tai, born in Mainland China and now based in Tallinn, has long focused on queer culture in the Post-Internet era. His award-winning project, “Nude Jade Pierced”, explored Chinese cultural identity through a queer lense, blending traditional symbols with subcultural aesthetic. In “Dance of Resistance”, Tai re-contextualizes traditional Chinese calligraphy and incense—both of which have found resonance in Western culture, from tattoo parlors to metaphysical shops. His work aims to challenge the appropriation of these cultural symbols, while reclaiming their significance from a queer perspective.

This multifaceted installation brings together objects, jewelry, and immersive elements to examine how cultural identity and ideological resistance are experienced and expressed by the two artists. Saleh and Tai draw from their own positions to explore themes of cultural disconnection, feminism, and queer identity. The installation does not aim to present a unified message but instead opens space for critical engagement with the complexities and contradictions of identity, belonging, and resistance
Together, “Dance of Resistance” offers a poignant reflection on the fluidity of identity and the power of art as a form of resistance in the face of cultural and societal challenges.

Graphic design: Daria Titova
Technical support: Ats Kruusing and Karel Koplimets
The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Sadolin Estonia and Tallinn City.
Opening drinks from Pühaste Brewery.

HIDDEN RIVERS
Ground floor of EKA Gallery 1.–24.08.2025
Open Tue–Sat 12–6 pm Sun 12–4 pm
NB! EKA Gallery is closed on Wednesday, August 20
Opening: Thursday, July 31 at 6 pm

The body is a porous system in constant exchange with its environment – it excretes matter, absorbs substances, and is shaped by its surroundings as much as it shapes them. Digestion is not merely a linear passage but a generative process: the body organizes itself around the intestine, whose intricate folds allow for immense spatial capacity, concealed within the torso.

This principle of folding extends beyond the body to architecture and the subterranean infrastructure of cities. The digestive tract, building pipework and sewer systems form a continuous, obscured network of movement and transformation. At the thresholds where this flows cross – mouth, anus, toilet – conflicts arise. These are culturally charged, ritualized zones where the body meets architecture: highly coded, regulated, contested. The fold, with its spatial density and ambiguity, becomes a central motif for grasping these borderline structures of transition and control. The group exhibition “Hidden Rivers” is a site of excavation. Bodies are opened and buried systems are lifted to the surface. Infrastructures are disrupted and rerouted, landscapes reshaped, rivers diverted.

Over the course of ten months, artists Bob Bicknell-Knight, Giulio Cusinato, Fausta Noreikaitė, Rosa-Maria Nuutinen, Teresa RA and Denis Kudrjašov worked with curator and exhibition designer Theresa Roth in a collective process of uncovering and reflecting upon the organism of digestion. Their artistic positions – manifested in sculpture, installation, embroidery, text, sound, and video – trace the flows and frictions between body, space, and system.

The exhibition architecture, merging curatorial and artistic practice, acts as both mediator and memory. It holds the sediment of the shared process, an organic archive, and unfolds the sealed terrain of the EKA Gallery.

Participating artists: Bob Bicknell-Knight, Giulio Cusinato, Fausta Noreikaitė, Rosa-Maria Nuutinen, Teresa RA, Denis Kudrjašov
Curator and exhibition designer: Theresa Roth
Graphic design: Lukas Milkereit
Technical support: Ats Kruusing & Karel Koplimets
The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Sadolin Estonia and Tallinn City.
Opening drinks from Pühaste Brewery.

Kuressaare Castle, Lossihoov 1, Kuressaare, Saaremaa
13.07.-04.08.2025; entrance with museum ticket
Opening: July 12 2PM; free entrance during the opening
The Exhibition is part of Saarte Art Fest program.

WALKTHROUGH is a group exhibition showcasing media art installations by students of EVA Lab, part of the Estonian Academy of Arts’ New Media programme. The lab focuses on experimental approaches to video games within contemporary art practice.

Bob Bicknell-Knight, Alisa Butenko, Rosa-Maria Nuutinen and Yiyang Sun explore video games as an artistic medium, examining how material culture, time, and the environment are perceived and constructed across both physical and digital realms.The exhibition itself is a liminal manifestation of the two worlds, where the viewers are invited to explore the many spaces that the exhibition occupies. Looting is a fundamental part of video games, where the player has an opportunity to upgrade or increase their powers through exploring the digital environment, much of the time in minute detail. Many of these found items are worthless, and the chance of finding the most valuable loot is limited. Like in games, we invite the viewer to explore the different spaces and discover the separate artworks.

Artists: Bob Bicknell-Knight, Alisa Butenko, Rosa-Maria Nuutinen, Yiyang Sun

Supervisors: Camille Laurelli, Sten Saarits

Production assistance: Sava Plukhooii, Taavi Varm, Hans-Gunter Lock

Supported by Estonian Academy of Arts, EVA Lab, Saaremaa vald, Kuressaare Kultuurivara, Kuressaare Castle

Tallinn Print Triennial’s youth exhibition “Print Muscle”
EKA Gallery 5.–27.07.2025
Open Tue–Sat 12–6 pm Sun 12–4 pm
Opening: Friday, July 4 at 6 pm
Curatorial tour: Thursday, July 10 at 6 pm (in Estonian)

NB! The exhibition can only be accessed through EKA Gallery’s Kotzebue Street door. On July 9 and 10, between 12 and 3.30 pm, there may be power outages due to the maintenance of electrical systems, which may interfere with experiencing the exhibition. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience!

“Print Muscle” is the 2025 youth exhibition of the Tallinn Print Triennial, highlighting the role of trace-based visual practices through the work of young artists.

The exhibition introduces viewers to “methods of leaving a trace” through works in which artists imprint their presence in the current moment through gestures borrowed from printmaking – though not necessarily confined to its traditional techniques. In an age where digital repetition has become commonplace, manual repetition still holds lasting significance. Whether the repetition functions according to object-based, bodily, ritualistic, or traditional principles, it often becomes a form of playing at being – a training of the print muscle.

While disciplinary boundaries in contemporary art have long since become arbitrary, print-based thinking often stands out through persistent, process-oriented engagement – ritualistic repetition, close observation, and the materialization of time. Through such practices, artists trace their daily rituals, reflect on autobiographical elements, or give tangible form to our time. Though printmaking techniques are sometimes considered delicate – perhaps even feminized – this exhibition emphasizes the physicality and force inherent in printmakers’ way of thinking. The exhibition brings together artists from Estonia, Lithuania and Ukraine.

An additional focus of the exhibition is the increasing popularity of artist books, zines, and self-publishing. While bookmaking has traditionally been part of both printmaking and graphic design curricula, recent years have seen a notable rise in its cultural and artistic relevance. To reflect this, we’ve invited Agnes Isabelle Veevo to curate a reading corner dedicated to artist books on the second floor of EKA Gallery. This curated space includes works by participating artists as well as other artists from fields like printmaking, graphic design, and beyond, offering visitors the opportunity to engage with these publications in a tactile and intended way, i.e. by physically holding and looking at them.

Curators: Anita Kodanik & Maria Izabella Lehtsaar
Participating artists: Mindaugas Aniūnas, Loora Kaubi, Elise Marie Olesk, Paul Rannik, Nils Joonatan Rammo, Gintaute Siniakovaitė, Aidas Stončius, Daria Titova
Book corner curator: Agnes Isabelle Veevo
Artists participating in the book corner: Rokas Bokus, Eline Cremers, Fatima-Ezzahra el Khammas, Laura Merendi, Helena Pass, Eleri Porroson, Julia Syrzistie, Ljubov Terukova, Laura Tursk, Mirjam Varik
Technical support: Erik Hõim
Graphic design: Daria Titova

Exhibition supported by: Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania, Sadolin Estonia and Tallinn City.
Thank you: Liis Aleksejeva, EKA graphic art department, EKKM, Johannes Luik
Opening drinks from Põhjala Brewery.

Rebecca Green
“LA BABY”
EKA Gallery 25.–28.06.2025

Open Wed 2–6 pm, Thu–Fri 12–6 pm
Performance event: Sat, 28.06. at 6–10 pm
Free entry

Welcome to “LA BABY”, your own personal window into the exotic fantasy of Los Angeles, right here in Eesti. Money? Check. Sunshine? Check. The Kardshian’s secret serums? You’ll just have to see for yourself…

Part exhibition, part soft investigation and part sun-kissed performance experiment, LA BABY puts forward the question, what does Los Angeles promise us?

Observing the surreal migration of symbols globally and following the subtle mutations of representations as they travel 1000’s of kilometers from California to Estonia, we wonder, does everyone want to be an LA BABY?

Created by Rebecca Green
Supported by Kirte Jõesaar, William Primett, Liisamari Viik,
Javier Cárcel Hildalgo-Saavedra, Ksenia Verbeštšuk
Graphic design by Fatima-Ezzahra Khammas

Projects at EKA Gallery are supported by Sadolin Estonia and
Tallinn City.
Drinks at the performance event from Põhjala Brewery.

On Friday, 20 June at 5:00, the exhibition of artists’ films “Once More I Would Like To Return” * will open in the large gallery of the Tartu Art House. The exhibition is being curated by Marge Monko and designed by Karel Koplimets.

The exhibition features five films by artists that deal with home and the memories, longing and melancholy associated with it in various psychological and aesthetic registers.

The motifs of leaving home and longing for home are as old as human history. On a personal level, fleeing or being forcibly displaced is a tragic event that leaves a mark on the rest of our lives, even if we manage to adapt well. “They don’t know that they will never really fit in. No, never. Some part of them can´t be fully present, something left behind in the old country that won’t allow them to really settle in elsewhere, to put down roots,” writes the Lithuanian-American avant-garde film-maker Jonas Mekas in his memoir I had nowhere to go. Mekas has captured his experiences as a refugee and his search for self in a new homeland through his experimental film-making.

“Artistic film is a phenomenon that situates itself outside film industry formats but uses the (audio)visual means of expression offered by the moving image. In her book War is not a woman’s face, Svetlana Alexeyevich uses the term “luminous force” from optics to describe the difference in experience of war between women and men. The more luminous a lens is, the greater its ability to record an image in poor lighting conditions. Hopefully, the films selected for the exhibition will help to illuminate those layers of homesickness and longing that are overshadowed by the great narratives of history,” explains Marge Monko.  

*The title of the exhibition is borrowed from Marie Under’s poem “The Refugee”, written while she was in exile in Sweden.

Participating artists: Noor Abed, Paul Kuimet, Jonas Mekas, Marge Monko and Anna Scherbyna.

Thank you: Kaisa Maasik, Brigita Reinert, Eesti Kunstimuuseum, AS GoProperty, Valge Kuup OÜ

The exhibition is being produced in collaboration with the Photography Department of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

The exhibition will be open until 20 July.

www.kunstimaja.ee

facebook.com/kunstimaja

The Tartu Art House (Vanemuise 26) is open Wed–Mon 12.00–18.00. All exhibitions are free of charge.

The exhibition activities in the Tartu Art House are supported by the Tartu city government and the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.