Exhibitions

In Ida-Virumaa, a region that once was a home to numerous vibrant settlements sustained by the oil shale mining industry which brought many people to the area, significant signs of shrinkage have emerged following the industry’s decline.

Today, a significant number of  people are relocating, often leaving behind only the memory of a home. As part of our research on the urban landscape of Ida-Virumaa, we spent a day exploring some abandoned properties in Kiviõli, Kohtla-Järve and Jõhvi. Many of these homes continue to contain an abundance of personal items and unspoken stories that reveal not only the past, but also the potential future of the region. Our exhibition will guide  you through the series of seven exhibits all over EKA, each offering a unique perspective on the transitioning identity of Ida-Virumaa.

From installations and maps to TikTok, our projects explore diverse ways of showcasing the everyday of shrinking communities and their ongoing transformation. Through stories of dachas, renovation efforts and the everyday struggles of youth and seniors, we confront the challenges of decline. This includes the sense of entrapment experiences by individuals and their mental health challenges that often stem from systemic failure. At the same time, we search for the possibility of sparks and moments of light in these shrinking places. Our work aims to give insight on both the challenges and the resilience found in these spaces, where accessibility, support and opportunity remain crucial for people of all ages.

SAVE THE DATE!
2nd of May, 15:00 in the open area of A-400.

Projects:

Does the JTF really LNOB?

Annabel Pops, Paula Fischer

The Just Transition Fund is the latest effort under the European Green Deal to ease the burden of the transition from oil shale mining on the workers and regions. Ida-Virumaa is the region in Estonia to receive funding, and one that finds itself between a negative view on the mining industry’s past and a somewhat overly optimistic vision of the future. By questioning the justness of the transition, we are mapping out the new narratives positioned upon the region and ask critically, if the forthcoming change will really LNOB (leave no one behind).

#IdaIsHome

Anna Dzebliuk, Melissa Lee

After visiting Ida-Virumaa, we noticed a deep sense of care among its residents even though this place may often be labelled as “shrinking”. This research explores how perceptions of “home” and ground-up initiatives can support local resilience. TikTok became a tool to test how digital storytelling and informal media can spark dialogue around identity, belonging and the everyday realities of so-called “shrinking” cities. By tapping into a space where many young people already express themselves, we asked: can social media help reimagine these places not as abandoned, but as alive with care, creativity and potential?

Dachniki for Future

Yiğithan Akçay, Sarah John von Zydowitz

Dachas, the iconic countryside retreats of the former Soviet Union, have a rich and complex history serving as both leisure spaces and essential sources of food production. Today dachas function not only as places of leisure but also as social and ecological safety nets. They provide a contrast to urban community gardens, offering more autonomy and stronger intergenerational connections. We visited three Dacha allotment garden cooperatives to get into contact with Dachnikis through letters, asking about their commoning and community practices.

Shifting the Narrative: “Chronic” Struggles of Renovation

Ləman Məmmədli, Viktorija Kolomažņikova

Declining towns have become a reality in regions of eastern Estonia. They have been mostly dependent on heavy industries such as oil shale mining to support their economies. In pursuit of reducing climate damages, such areas that produce fossil fuels have been left in a tricky situation. This industry is planned to be phased out completely soon and replaced with more environmentally sustainable options. In order to make the transition smoother, different grants and funds have been allocated to these areas. These allocations were supposed to create more job opportunities, develop the urban fabric and infrastructure, and improve the living conditions of the citizens. However, through a deeper dive struggles of a senior demographic, especially with the housing renovations, become apparent. This research aims to identify, analyze, and possibly open up a larger discussion on the issues faced by elderly communities when it comes to the topic of renovating their homes and improving their quality of life in shrinking cities.

Decades of Slow Retreat:short leap to social realities and mental health condition

Adeolu Afolabi, Zoë Lipp

Mental health is often the silent echo of long-term neglect. In shrinking regions like Ida-Virumaa—where buildings stand half-empty, the population ages, and public spaces quietly disappear—the impact isn’t just demographic; it’s emotional. Missing park benches, broken stairwells, and fading services aren’t just details—they shape how people live, connect, and endure. This game transforms these everyday realities into tangible experiences. Through each event card, we open a window into the lives of those navigating the in-betweens: between generations, between collapsing systems, between floors in buildings without elevators. Most residents don’t break—they adapt. But the strain leaves its mark, even when no one talks about it. By playing, reflecting, and stepping into these roles, we’re reminded that mental health is not just personal—it’s spatial, social, and political. And sometimes, a warm bowl of soup, a fixed light bulb, or simply an unlocked door is enough to hold a community together.

Trapped at one’s own home

Anna Böhmová, Hanna Steckl

By visiting an old man’s home in Kivioli, Ida-Virumaa, we delved into the topics and problems faced by the elderly in this region. By exploring the health care and financial situation, we came to the issue of the accessibility of Soviet-era apartment blocks. Most of the elderly in this area live in these houses, which are up to five floors high and have no elevators. For many of these people, it is not possible to move anywhere else, and therefore, they end up trapped in their homes. They have nowhere to go, but their current home doesn’t allow them to engage with daily needs and activities. We explore this topic by discussing different possible solutions- some are physical, and some are more on an imaginative level…

Yes / No / Other

Lukas Laubre, Katrīna Stīna Jesikena

With the changing of the guard over thirty years ago, some have found themselves in the middle of a major international dispute forced to choose sides between two or more parents bickering for their loyalty, allegiance. “Yes / No / Other” explores the tough questions these people are forced to answer every day. Questions that, for the sake of supposed national security (of the right side), reach deep into the most private of spheres: identity, domestic life, ideology. In reality, most would rather be left alone and are at best indifferent to these issues. But the questions keep coming, relentlessly and one-sidedly, as if loyalty were a simple box to check and a lifetime of complexity could be conveniently filed away — while others, with the right passports or the right surnames, live freely without ever being harassed.

Urban Studies Urban Models course, tutored by Keiti Kljavin & Johanna Holvandus

Fine Arts Assessment Marathon 30.04.–20.05.2025

The spring assessment marathon is here! For three weeks, you can once again experience works produced by students in the Faculty of Fine Arts as their term projects are presented: every day there will be a fresh showcase of university students’ works on display.

Works in animation, contemporary art, installation and sculpture, painting, photography, graphic art and scenography curricula will be on display. On almost each evening of the marathon, a new exhibition will be installed and in the following evening the exhibit will give way to the next one. Hopefully, viewers will be able to keep up with the pace of the young artists.

The assessments will take place in the main building of EKA (1st & 2nd floor general areas and EKA Gallery; Põhja pst 7, Tallinn) and ARS Project Space (Pärnu mnt 154, Tallinn).

On the assessment day, the exhibitions at EKA Gallery are open from 2 pm to 6 pm, on Sundays the exhibitions are open from 12 pm to 4 pm. NB! EKA Gallery is closed on May 1st.

SCHEDULE

Wed 30.04. Photography BA I, supervisor Madis Kurss (EKA Gallery)
Thu 02.05. – Sun 04.05. Drawing and anatomical drawing, Fine Arts BA I, supervisors Matti Pärk, Maiu Rõõmus (EKA Gallery)

Mon 05.05. Drawing, Fine Arts BA II, supervisor Tõnis Saadoja (EKA Gallery)
Mon 05.05. Anatomical drawing, Scenography and Animation BA II, supervisor Maiu Rõõmus (1st & 2nd floor general areas)
Mon 05.05. Drawing, Scenography BA II, supervisor Eero Alev (1st & 2nd floor general areas)
Tue 06.05. Drawing, Fine Arts BA III, supervisor Britta Benno (EKA Gallery)
Wed 07.05. Photography BA I, supervisor Marge Monko (EKA Gallery)
Thu 08.05. Scenography BA II, supervisor Liina Keevallik (EKA Gallery)
Fri 09.05. – Sat 10.05. Scenography BA I, supervisor Mark Raidpere (EKA Gallery)

Sun 11.05. – Mon 12.05. Contemporary Art MA I, supervisors Sirja-Liisa Eelma, Viktor Gurov, Maris Karjatse, Camille Laurelli, Marge Monko, Laura Põld, David K. Ross, Liina Siib, Taavi Talve, Jaan Toomik, Anu Vahtra (EKA Gallery)
Tue 13.05. – Wed 14.05. Contemporary Art MA I, supervisors Sirja-Liisa Eelma, Viktor Gurov, Maris Karjatse, Camille Laurelli, Marge Monko, Laura Põld, David K. Ross, Liina Siib, Taavi Talve, Jaan Toomik, Anu Vahtra (EKA Gallery)
Thu 15.05. Graphic Art BA I, supervisors Charlotte Biszewski, Caroline Pajusaar, Mark Antonius Puhkan, Mirjam Varik (EKA Gallery)
Fri 16.05. Graphic Art BA II, supervisors Viktor Gurov, Eve Kask (EKA Gallery)
Sat 17.05. – Sun 18.05. Animation BA and MA (EKA Gallery)

Mon 19.05. Painting BA I, supervisors Eero Alev, Anna Škodenko, Jaan Toomik (EKA Gallery)
Tue 20.05. Sculpture BA I, supervisor Anna Mari Liivrand (EKA Gallery)
Thu 22.05. – Sun 15.06. Painting BA II, supervisors Sirja-Liisa Eelma, Alice Kask, Holger Loodus (ARS Project Space, open Wed–Sat 12–6 pm Sun 12–4 pm)

On May 7 at 17:00, the presentation of the augmented reality-based video games “VäikesedElud” will take place at the green area in front of EKA.

As part of collaboration with EKA UNESCO Chair on Cultural Heritage Studies, the Environmental Agency, and the University of Tartu‘s project WoodMeadowLIFE experimental games on the theme of wooded meadows were created in collaboration between the New Media and the Cultural Heritage and Conservation departments of the Estonian Academy of Arts. These games explore the boundaries between video games and art.

As part of the EVA Lab (Experimental Video Games in Arts) course, EKA students developed augmented reality–based games that place a virtual environments directly into the player’s surroundings. The “VäikesedElud“ project is grounded in biology-based data but uses this information in a creative, artistically driven way to tell stories. The aim is to encourage participants to reflect on the issues surrounding wooded meadows. This is achieved through a poetic form.

According to supervisor Andrus Laansalu: “We are not trying to educate anyone with these games. Through the themes presented in the games, we simply point to the need to understand that the problems facing nature are immense, and no one can ignore them anymore. From now on, all of us must continuously take actions that help restore nature – actions that, on a larger scale, have consistently been neglected by many previous generations.”

Project lead: Riin Alatalu 

Supervisors: Taavi Varm, Andrus Laansalu, Jaagup Irve, Amanda Warner, Camille Laurelli, Sten Saarits and Maarja Nuut

Students: Ako Allik, Bob Bicknell-Knight, Kairi Getman, Mihhail Grigorjuk, Joel Jõevee, Marie (Müü) Kanger, Caitlyn Kesa, Lene Lekše, Anett Maiste, Rosa-Maria Katariina Nuutinen, Yiyang Sun

The games titled VäikesedElud are available for download on Google Play and Apple App Store.

The project has been co-funded by the European Union. However, the views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA.

The exhibition “I Got a Great Lick of It Before It All Melted” is an exhibition by students of Graphic Design and Product Design at the Estonian Academy of Arts, which reflects on choices and experiences.

Opening 24 April 6 PM
ARS Art Factory – Studio 53 ja 98

Entrance from the courtyard

We all have a certain number of experiences in life, on which we build the next one. It is like an archive. You can’t ever experience anything without the latter.. And then we end up with those choices that we unconsciously and finally consciously make every day again and again. We are faced with something that is self-evident, like putting one foot in front of the other when walking or inhaling and exhaling.. we don’t notice these actions, but yet we do them constantly. Our choices shape our experiences and, when combined, our dance through life.

Artists: Riko Smirnov, Richard Vainola, Gabriella Tarja, Laura Sööt, Katriin Saulus, Anna Elisabeth Remmelg, Kenneth Pert, Hanna Milk, Anett Elis Männil, Brit Maripuu, Paula Maria Mengel, Stella Maris Liiva, Kelli Kütt, Helen Kärt Käbin, Martin Kislõi, Mark Kokotov, Teele Kiisk, Grittel Kastan, Greg Mikael Juhanson, Daria Titova, Johannes Adrik, Aries Puusepp, Rebecca Lopez,
Graphic Design: Mark Kokotov

Dance like this is the first of its kind for the students and they have been guided to this by Kristel Saan.

Supported and sponsored by Estonian Academy of Arts and Põhjala Brewery

We look forward to seeing you at the opening of the CTC – Climate Truth Crisis exhibition on 11.04, at 14:00, in the open area in front of the Estonian Academy of Arts (Põhja pst 7).

The CTC – Climate Truth Crisis project deals with the spread of misinformation and understanding the climate crisis. The project involves educating young designers in these areas, creating a website that gathers information about the topic, publishing a podcast series, a dictionary and a collection of articles. In addition, students are visualizing the topic in various media. More information on the project website: https://www.climatetruthcrisis.eu/

The first workshop of the project will take place at the Estonian Academy of Arts on 7-11 April, during which students will write down concepts related to the topic, visualize them and on Friday, 11 April, open an exhibition in a public space in front of the EKA to introduce the topic to a wider audience.

The workshop is held in cooperation with the EKA Graphic Design Department and the Department of Semiotics of the University of Tartu. The students will be supervised by semioticians, conspiracy theory and disinformation researchers Mari-Liis Madisson and Daniel Tamm, Laura Vilbiks from the Estonian Foundation for Nature (ELF), and graphic designers Laura Merendi, Ott Kagovere and Kert Viiart. In addition to the supervisors, there will be students and lecturers from Bosnia, Spain, the Netherlands, England, Iceland and Lithuania.

In addition to the workshop, there will also be lectures open to the wider audience:

09.04, 16:00, A502 (EKA, Põhja pst 7)
Artist Kristina Õllek with a presentation Absorbing Hypoxic Water

10.04, 16:00, A300 (EKA, Põhja pst 7)
Graphic designer Maria Muuk with a presentation Graphic Design as a Degrowth Practice

The project will last for three years, 2025-2028, and workshops will be held at various partner universities:

Academy of Fine Arts Sarajevo,

Estonian Academy of Arts,

ELISAVA,

Iceland University of the Arts,

Royal Academy of Art, The Hague,

University of the Arts London,

Vilnius Academy of Arts

SILICATE ONTOLOGY I. A material and social history 1900-2025
EKA Gallery 11.–27.04.2025
Opening: 11.04.2025 at 6pm
Open Tue–Sat 12–6 pm Sun 12–4 pm, free entry

Silicate embodies the evolution of 20th-century Estonian architecture. Among the few widely available materials during Soviet deficits, silicate played a crucial role in shaping both monumental and everyday architecture – from the heyday of functionalist villas to self-built garages, from standardised apartment buildings to military infrastructure.

Through a kaleidoscopic lens, the exhibition marries perspectives from material science, architectural history, and cultural anthropology to critically examine the contested status of silicate and its potential for future application. Interwoven throughout are the insights of alumni and research conducted by students and scholars of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

In an era of increasing resource constraints, the exhibition invites viewers to consider whether, and how, material contaminated by Soviet association can be reborn anew.

Curated by: Henri Kopra ja Iiris Tähti Toom (Spatialist Studio)
Technical support: Erik Hõim

The exhibition is supported by the Estonian Association of Architects, the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Tallinn City, Bauroc and Sadolin Estonia.
Opening drinks from Põhjala Brewery.

Kadri Liis Rääk, “Morphogenesis” 
Opening: April 4, 2025, at 18:00 
04.04.–20.04.2025
Open Mon–Sun, 12–18
ARS Project Space, Pärnu mnt. 154, Tallinn

Kadri Liis Rääk presents an immersive exhibition at ARS Project Space that explores multisensory encounters between space and the body.

“Morphogenesis” functions as a poetic ecosystem, offering opportunities for embodied interaction. The exhibition reveals metamorphoses of the creative process—transformations of materials that have taken shape through the artist’s sensitive, persistent handiwork. This method is morphogenetic, a process of giving form to ideas, creating and transforming materials, similar to biological processes and life cycles. Combining natural and synthetic matter and merging ancient craft techniques with contemporary practices, the artist creates a timeless space to contemplate relationships between mental, physical, and social realms. How do we perceive ourselves when faced with the boundaries between self and the Other? What beliefs and values shape our relationship with the environment and those around us?

Displayed sketches, drawings, and sculptures visualize the artist’s thought processes and express personal bodily experiences. The exhibition intertwines found materials, soft and rigid sculptures, creative residues, and old works reinterpreted alongside new pieces, layering new meanings. “Morphogenesis” serves as a refuge for sensitive organisms, inspired by spatial experiences from Icelandic and Peruvian landscapes as well as the forests of Hiiumaa.

Kadri Liis Rääk is a multidisciplinary artist and researcher, focusing on creating immersive and tactile environments. Operating simultaneously in the expanded fields of art and design, she investigates how tactile interactions with artworks shift perceptions and foster dialogues extending beyond the visible. She studied scenography (BA) and contemporary art (MA) at the Estonian Academy of Arts and autonomous design (MA) at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent (KASK, Belgium). Her works engage with bodily and symbolic narratives, addressing entanglements and dialogues between humans and other life forms. She has participated in exhibitions and residencies in Peru, Czech Republic, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, and Estonia.

Sound design: Ekke Västrik

Special thanks: Raimond Põldmaa, Marika Agu, Kerli Praks, Siim Toomet, Liina Unt, Kristjan Vahtra 

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and the Estonian Artists’ Association

On the 3rd of April at 6pm, Hobusepea gallery will open Zody Burke’s solo exhibition “The House of Asterion”. A live performance will take place at 7pm by experimental musician & performance artist Nick Klein (US/DE).

A new series of works shall be introduced to gallery visitors, featuring sculptural high reliefs, illustrations (accompanied by short stories written by the artist), and several 3D floor-based sculptures, many of which contain oblique allegories to the Labyrinth of Greek mythology. These new works endeavor to challenge viewers to reconsider how modernity reimagines spaces of disorientation and entrapment. Through magical-realist reinterpretations of classical mythology, Burke offers varying glimpses of alternate narratives woven through the labyrinth. The sculpture Pasiphaë, Queen of the Rodeo draws thematic references from both the foundational Greek myth that inspired Borges’ story and contemporary Americana, bridging two distinct cultures—an ongoing theme in Burke’s work. The upstairs space, conceived in the clarity of the white cube, serves as a prelude to the darker, more visceral experience below. The exhibition utilises mythological tools to probe broader questions of power, identity, and the spaces we inhabit—whether spatial, digital, cultural, or existential.

Zody Burke (b.1991, Manhattan) is an American multimedia artist and musician who is currently living and working in Tallinn, Estonia. Informed by her perspective as a New Yorker displaced by the city’s economic inaccessibility, Burke creates cyphers through sculpture and other media through which to cartograph the complexity of American identity within late capitalism, exploring how this mutable identity is refracted and transfigured through the mirror of other cultural spatiality. Often utilizing narrative structures, she is interested in interfacing world-building with geological time, and visualizing a diffusion of boundaries between distinct countries & their national mythologies by the omnipresence of what lies beneath. She recently completed her master’s thesis at the Estonian Academy of Art, which attempted to bridge sociopolitical narratives, legacies, and trajectories of industrialization between Estonia & the USA.

Location Hobusepea gallery (Hobusepea 2, Tallinn)

The opening 03.04.2025 kell 18:00

Open for visit Mon, Wed-Sun 11am to 6pm

Curator Liisi Kõuhkna

Graphic design Taylor “Tex” Tehan

Title Typeface Brian Uhl

Technical support Hobusepea gallery, Gregor Sirendi

Support/Grateful to:

Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Paavli Kultuurivabrik, Valge Kuup Studio, Estonian Academy of Arts, Batuudijuss, Pruulikoda Tuletorn, Punch Club, Põhjala Pruulikoda, Kanuti Gildi Saal, Dan Edelstein, Nora Schmelter, Taylor “Tex” Tehan, Gert Gutmann, Lauri Raus, Jordan Reyes, Roberta Staats, Nora King, Harry Figueroa, Lara Brener, Nick Klein, Oscar Ramos, Jane Treima, Diandra Rebase, Michael Anthony Farley, Laura De Jaeger, Kerli Kurikka, Kaspar Kannelmäe, Composite EE, Karjase Sai