Open Lectures
19.10.2023
Open Lecture by Eva Weinmayr: Noun to Verb — the micro-politics of publishing
On Thursday, October 19 at 18.00 Eva Weinmayr will talk about her practice and the social and political agency of artists’ publishing. Speaking from an intersectional feminist perspective the talk’s focus is not on the commodity genre “art publication”, but on the collective processes, exchanges, and relationships such critical publishing practices can enable.
The lecture will take place at the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM).
Eva Weinmayr conducts practice based research at the intersection of art, critical pedagogy and institutional analysis. In 2020 she published her doctoral thesis, titled Noun to Verb, on a MediaWiki. This research is concerned with the micro-politics of publishing and entangled notions of authorship from an intersectional, feminist perspective. (HDK-Valand, University of Gothenburg, SE)
As interims chair of faculty Art and Education at Munich Art Academy (2022-23) she co-initiated together with students kritilab, an open source platform for discrimination-critical teaching in the arts. From 2019 to 22 she co-led the EU-funded collective research and study programme “Teaching to Transgress Toolbox” inspired by US activist, teacher and theorist bell hooks (with erg, Brussels, BE). She is currently Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Postdigital Cultures, Coventry University (UK) with Ecologies of Dissemination, a collaboration with artist Femke Snelting seeking strategies for dissemination and a politics of re-use that acknowledge the tensions between feminist methodologies, decolonial knowledge practices and principles of Open Access (HDK-Valand, 2023-24).
Eva Weinmayr lectures widely and works with art and activist spaces (SALT Research Istanbul, MayDay Rooms London, Showroom London, Kunstverein München, Steirischer Herbst Graz) as well as established art institutions (National Art Gallery Warsaw, Contemporary Art Museum Saint Louis, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia Madrid, Biennale di Venezia).
Recent artistic research-based projects include “Teaching the Radical Catalog – a Syllabus” (2021-22, with Lucie Kolb), “Library of Inclusions and Omissions” (2016-20), “The Piracy Project” (2010-15, with Andrea Francke), AND Publishing (2010-ongoing, with Rosalie Schweiker).
Eva Weinmayr’s lecture is co-organized by MA Graphic Design and MA Contemporary Art programs.
Open Lecture by Eva Weinmayr: Noun to Verb — the micro-politics of publishing
Thursday 19 October, 2023
On Thursday, October 19 at 18.00 Eva Weinmayr will talk about her practice and the social and political agency of artists’ publishing. Speaking from an intersectional feminist perspective the talk’s focus is not on the commodity genre “art publication”, but on the collective processes, exchanges, and relationships such critical publishing practices can enable.
The lecture will take place at the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM).
Eva Weinmayr conducts practice based research at the intersection of art, critical pedagogy and institutional analysis. In 2020 she published her doctoral thesis, titled Noun to Verb, on a MediaWiki. This research is concerned with the micro-politics of publishing and entangled notions of authorship from an intersectional, feminist perspective. (HDK-Valand, University of Gothenburg, SE)
As interims chair of faculty Art and Education at Munich Art Academy (2022-23) she co-initiated together with students kritilab, an open source platform for discrimination-critical teaching in the arts. From 2019 to 22 she co-led the EU-funded collective research and study programme “Teaching to Transgress Toolbox” inspired by US activist, teacher and theorist bell hooks (with erg, Brussels, BE). She is currently Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Postdigital Cultures, Coventry University (UK) with Ecologies of Dissemination, a collaboration with artist Femke Snelting seeking strategies for dissemination and a politics of re-use that acknowledge the tensions between feminist methodologies, decolonial knowledge practices and principles of Open Access (HDK-Valand, 2023-24).
Eva Weinmayr lectures widely and works with art and activist spaces (SALT Research Istanbul, MayDay Rooms London, Showroom London, Kunstverein München, Steirischer Herbst Graz) as well as established art institutions (National Art Gallery Warsaw, Contemporary Art Museum Saint Louis, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia Madrid, Biennale di Venezia).
Recent artistic research-based projects include “Teaching the Radical Catalog – a Syllabus” (2021-22, with Lucie Kolb), “Library of Inclusions and Omissions” (2016-20), “The Piracy Project” (2010-15, with Andrea Francke), AND Publishing (2010-ongoing, with Rosalie Schweiker).
Eva Weinmayr’s lecture is co-organized by MA Graphic Design and MA Contemporary Art programs.
26.10.2023
Open Architecture Lecture: Alexander Römer
In autumn 2023, the open architectural lectures will take place under the title Mobile Masters. The theme brings architects and theorists to Tallinn, who analyse architecture’s flexibility and the mobile practices of architects, spatial designers and artists.
On October 26, at 6 pm Berlin-based architect, designer and carpenter Alexander Römer will be on the EKA main hall stage in Tallinn with the lecture Convivial Ground.
Alexander Römer initiated the international design-build network ConstructLab in 2012 as a member of the former EXYZT collective (2005–2013). ConstructLab is a laboratory for action research, constructive experimentation and interdisciplinary creation.
ConstructLab takes a dynamic approach to uniting concepts, realisation and activation of project situations. Breaking with traditional divisions of labour, the organisation engages a team of multitalented artists and designers – as well as sociologists, urban planners, graphic designers, film makers, photographers, curators, educators, and web developers – who carry the creative process from the drafting table into the field, enabling concept and design to respond to the possibilities and constraints posed by an environment, it’s people and utilisation.
Alexander introduces his lecture in the following words:
Construction is fundamentally a collaborative activity. In this talk, the collaborative aspects of construction processes are examined from different perspectives. In the design and planning process a lot of different expertise comes together, in the construction itself different trades are involved and during the construction there are situations where in sometimes very short moments, e.g. when straightening a roof truss, a lot of hands are needed. A planning and construction process is complex and can only succeed in teamwork. In addition, a broad community is created through participation processes in the building process, and through this participation, a community that cares about the building itself.
I would like to convey the community aspect of design-build processes by looking at our ConstructLab projects. In doing so, I draw on the content structure of the latest ConstructLab book Convivial Ground. Stories from a Spatial Practice (Jovis 2023, Editors: Joanne Pouzenc, Peter Zuiderwijk and Alexander Römer).
*
The open lectures are intended for students and professionals of all disciplines, not just the field of architecture. All lectures take place in the large auditorium of EKA, are in English, free of charge and open to all interested parties. Be there!
Within the framework of a series of open lectures, the Department of Architecture and Urban Design of EKA brings to the audience in Tallinn every academic year about a dozen unique practitioners and valued theoreticians of the field. You can watch previous lectures www.avatudloengud.ee
The lecture series is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
Curator: Gregor Taul
Open Architecture Lecture: Alexander Römer
Thursday 26 October, 2023
In autumn 2023, the open architectural lectures will take place under the title Mobile Masters. The theme brings architects and theorists to Tallinn, who analyse architecture’s flexibility and the mobile practices of architects, spatial designers and artists.
On October 26, at 6 pm Berlin-based architect, designer and carpenter Alexander Römer will be on the EKA main hall stage in Tallinn with the lecture Convivial Ground.
Alexander Römer initiated the international design-build network ConstructLab in 2012 as a member of the former EXYZT collective (2005–2013). ConstructLab is a laboratory for action research, constructive experimentation and interdisciplinary creation.
ConstructLab takes a dynamic approach to uniting concepts, realisation and activation of project situations. Breaking with traditional divisions of labour, the organisation engages a team of multitalented artists and designers – as well as sociologists, urban planners, graphic designers, film makers, photographers, curators, educators, and web developers – who carry the creative process from the drafting table into the field, enabling concept and design to respond to the possibilities and constraints posed by an environment, it’s people and utilisation.
Alexander introduces his lecture in the following words:
Construction is fundamentally a collaborative activity. In this talk, the collaborative aspects of construction processes are examined from different perspectives. In the design and planning process a lot of different expertise comes together, in the construction itself different trades are involved and during the construction there are situations where in sometimes very short moments, e.g. when straightening a roof truss, a lot of hands are needed. A planning and construction process is complex and can only succeed in teamwork. In addition, a broad community is created through participation processes in the building process, and through this participation, a community that cares about the building itself.
I would like to convey the community aspect of design-build processes by looking at our ConstructLab projects. In doing so, I draw on the content structure of the latest ConstructLab book Convivial Ground. Stories from a Spatial Practice (Jovis 2023, Editors: Joanne Pouzenc, Peter Zuiderwijk and Alexander Römer).
*
The open lectures are intended for students and professionals of all disciplines, not just the field of architecture. All lectures take place in the large auditorium of EKA, are in English, free of charge and open to all interested parties. Be there!
Within the framework of a series of open lectures, the Department of Architecture and Urban Design of EKA brings to the audience in Tallinn every academic year about a dozen unique practitioners and valued theoreticians of the field. You can watch previous lectures www.avatudloengud.ee
The lecture series is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
Curator: Gregor Taul
26.10.2023
Open lecture: Frédéric Ogée
English landscape design, landscape art and the Anthropo(s)cenic (1750–1850)
On October 26th, the Institute of Art History and Visual Culture is hosting an open lecture by Frédéric Ogée.
The growing importance of ecological concerns and its transcription into the new discipline of eco-criticism have identified the first half of the 19th century as a possible starting point for the Anthropocene, a period when the profound effects of the two Industrial Revolutions could be felt and seen, when man’s imprint upon Nature became primordial, essential and irreversible.
With their new ‘landscape garden’ and the subsequent rise of picturesque tourism and landscape painting, the British developed a new, empirical exploration of man’s frictional inscription within Nature. The natural world seemed no longer considered as man’s ‘environment’, something peripheral surrounding man’s central presence, in their works Nature IS the center, and is somehow restored as the source of knowledge and truth. Yet this revolution is ambivalent when we know that the main patrons of these English landscapists were also the main actors of the industrial revolution and colonial expansionism, which consisted primarily in commodifying and ‘exploiting’ both nature and man.
Frédéric Ogée is Professor of British Literature and Art History at Université Paris Cité. His main publications include two collections of essays on English artist William Hogarth, as well as ‘Better in France’? The circulation of ideas across the Channel in the 18th century (Lewisburg, 2005), Diderot and European Culture (Oxford, 2006), J.M.W. Turner, Les Paysages absolus (Paris, 2010) and Jardins et Civilisations (Valenciennes, 2019). In 2006-07, he curated the first-ever exhibition of Hogarth for the Louvre. He is currently working on a series of monographs on 18th and 19th-century British artists – Thomas Lawrence, J.M.W. Turner, Thomas Gainsborough and William Hogarth – to be published by Cohen & Cohen (Paris). The first one, Thomas Lawrence – Le génie du portrait anglais came out in December 2022. The next one, on Turner, will be published in the fall of 2024. From 2014 to 2017 he was a member of Tate Britain’s Advisory Council, and since 2014 of the City of Paris Scientific Council. In 2018-19 he was a Kress Fellow in the Literature of Art at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and also a Neilson Professor at Smith College, Massachusetts. Next summer he will be a visiting lecturer in Beijing, at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and the University of International Business and Economics.
Open lecture: Frédéric Ogée
Thursday 26 October, 2023
English landscape design, landscape art and the Anthropo(s)cenic (1750–1850)
On October 26th, the Institute of Art History and Visual Culture is hosting an open lecture by Frédéric Ogée.
The growing importance of ecological concerns and its transcription into the new discipline of eco-criticism have identified the first half of the 19th century as a possible starting point for the Anthropocene, a period when the profound effects of the two Industrial Revolutions could be felt and seen, when man’s imprint upon Nature became primordial, essential and irreversible.
With their new ‘landscape garden’ and the subsequent rise of picturesque tourism and landscape painting, the British developed a new, empirical exploration of man’s frictional inscription within Nature. The natural world seemed no longer considered as man’s ‘environment’, something peripheral surrounding man’s central presence, in their works Nature IS the center, and is somehow restored as the source of knowledge and truth. Yet this revolution is ambivalent when we know that the main patrons of these English landscapists were also the main actors of the industrial revolution and colonial expansionism, which consisted primarily in commodifying and ‘exploiting’ both nature and man.
Frédéric Ogée is Professor of British Literature and Art History at Université Paris Cité. His main publications include two collections of essays on English artist William Hogarth, as well as ‘Better in France’? The circulation of ideas across the Channel in the 18th century (Lewisburg, 2005), Diderot and European Culture (Oxford, 2006), J.M.W. Turner, Les Paysages absolus (Paris, 2010) and Jardins et Civilisations (Valenciennes, 2019). In 2006-07, he curated the first-ever exhibition of Hogarth for the Louvre. He is currently working on a series of monographs on 18th and 19th-century British artists – Thomas Lawrence, J.M.W. Turner, Thomas Gainsborough and William Hogarth – to be published by Cohen & Cohen (Paris). The first one, Thomas Lawrence – Le génie du portrait anglais came out in December 2022. The next one, on Turner, will be published in the fall of 2024. From 2014 to 2017 he was a member of Tate Britain’s Advisory Council, and since 2014 of the City of Paris Scientific Council. In 2018-19 he was a Kress Fellow in the Literature of Art at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and also a Neilson Professor at Smith College, Massachusetts. Next summer he will be a visiting lecturer in Beijing, at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and the University of International Business and Economics.
17.10.2023
Transform4Europe Open Dual Lecture: “Dissonant Heritage”
Transform4Europe Open Dual Lecture: “Dissonant Heritage: Re-evaluating the Soviet Legacies”.
On October 17, the Estonian Academy of Arts will organize an open conversation/ lecture with two speakers, where academic knowledge and practitioner are discussing about the dissonant heritage from the Soviet Legacies
The dual lecture will explore both local and transnational aspects of dissonant heritage in relation to Soviet legacies. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion on Ukraine in February 2022, Russian political behaviour, both in present and past, has been discussed across Europe and beyond as never before, including scrutinising Soviet and Russian-related heritage as one of the reactions to the aggression. This has resulted in creating new and opening up old conflicts between different communities. On the other hand, the situation gives a much needed opportunity for countries and memory groups to acknowledge their collective suppressed conflicts, provoking discussions that had been put on hold for decades. In this delicate process, transregional exchange of comparative experiences is substantial, paving the way for balanced discussions and cross-disciplinary expertise on heritage protection.
On behalf of EKA – Anu Soojärv
Her field of research is Estonian monumental art in the Soviet era, focusing on the role of public monuments in identity formation of local communities. In her everyday work she is mapping and documenting public monuments and works of art from the perspective of preservation and data gathering. She is a doctoral student and a junior researcher in EKA at the department of Cultural Heritage and Conservation.
You are invited to the Summer Hall (Suvesaal) of Maarjamäe Castle, doors open at 4:30 p.m.
The event will be broadcast live on YouTube, but you can definitely have a more exciting discussion experience when you join us in Tallinn, at Maarjamäe!
NB! The event will be in English.
Transform4Europe Open Dual Lecture: “Dissonant Heritage”
Tuesday 17 October, 2023
Transform4Europe Open Dual Lecture: “Dissonant Heritage: Re-evaluating the Soviet Legacies”.
On October 17, the Estonian Academy of Arts will organize an open conversation/ lecture with two speakers, where academic knowledge and practitioner are discussing about the dissonant heritage from the Soviet Legacies
The dual lecture will explore both local and transnational aspects of dissonant heritage in relation to Soviet legacies. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion on Ukraine in February 2022, Russian political behaviour, both in present and past, has been discussed across Europe and beyond as never before, including scrutinising Soviet and Russian-related heritage as one of the reactions to the aggression. This has resulted in creating new and opening up old conflicts between different communities. On the other hand, the situation gives a much needed opportunity for countries and memory groups to acknowledge their collective suppressed conflicts, provoking discussions that had been put on hold for decades. In this delicate process, transregional exchange of comparative experiences is substantial, paving the way for balanced discussions and cross-disciplinary expertise on heritage protection.
On behalf of EKA – Anu Soojärv
Her field of research is Estonian monumental art in the Soviet era, focusing on the role of public monuments in identity formation of local communities. In her everyday work she is mapping and documenting public monuments and works of art from the perspective of preservation and data gathering. She is a doctoral student and a junior researcher in EKA at the department of Cultural Heritage and Conservation.
You are invited to the Summer Hall (Suvesaal) of Maarjamäe Castle, doors open at 4:30 p.m.
The event will be broadcast live on YouTube, but you can definitely have a more exciting discussion experience when you join us in Tallinn, at Maarjamäe!
NB! The event will be in English.
10.10.2023
Artist Talk: Roger Ballen
Born in the USA, Roger Ballen has worked in Johannesburg and its surroundings since the 1970s. Initially, he documented marginalised white South Africans in remote regions near the end of the Apartheid era, conveying their state of mind through stark black and white photography. However, from 1995, Ballen’s aesthetic began to transcend the boundaries of traditional photography. In his unique multimedia ‘Ballenesque’ style, people, figures, and animals inhabit meticulously crafted stage sets adorned with primal, child-like drawings that can be likened to the “Theatre of the Absurd.” This signature style—haunting and beguiling—has captured the imagination of viewers around the world.
After developing an idiosyncratic style which is referred to as “Ballenesque”, Roger Ballen became one of the most prominent artist/photographers of his generation. He achieved international recognition through his unique and powerful use of drawing, painting, and collage alongside various sculptural techniques in elaborate installations, inventing a new, hybrid aesthetics, firmly rooted in the art of photography. From 1995, Ballen’s work evolved into a provocative fusion of reality and imagination. Well-known publications, including “Outland”, “Boarding House”, “Asylum of the Birds”, and “The Theatre of Apparitions”, transcend the confines of traditional documentary photography and incorporate painting, drawing, sculpture and film. His distinctive ‘Ballenesque’ style features ‘outsiders’, animals, found objects, wires, and childlike marks that cultivate a surreal Theatre of the Absurd.
Ballen’s work has been the subject of exhibitions at prestigious institutions for more than thirty years now. His decision to exhibit at the Halle Saint Pierre in Paris on 2019, a museum devoted to art brut and outsider art, is a special event which demonstrates his freedom from artistic genres. Since the exhibition has been successfully exhibited at Jakopic Gallery in Ljubljana, Slovenia; as well as the Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague.
The exhibition “The World according to Roger Ballen” is an unprecedented overview of the artist which presents, along with 90 photographs, drawings, paintings and unseen installations that Roger Ballen has exclusively created for this event.
Wollen opens his personal exhibition “The World According to Roger Ballen” in Fotografiska Tallinn on October 13th – it is a retrospective exhibition that transforms visitors into participants in a living tableau—a gesamtkunstwerk of installations, videos, drawings, and photographic mastery.
Tickets for the opening: https://fienta.com/et/roger-balleni-naituse-avamine
Artist Talk: Roger Ballen
Tuesday 10 October, 2023
Born in the USA, Roger Ballen has worked in Johannesburg and its surroundings since the 1970s. Initially, he documented marginalised white South Africans in remote regions near the end of the Apartheid era, conveying their state of mind through stark black and white photography. However, from 1995, Ballen’s aesthetic began to transcend the boundaries of traditional photography. In his unique multimedia ‘Ballenesque’ style, people, figures, and animals inhabit meticulously crafted stage sets adorned with primal, child-like drawings that can be likened to the “Theatre of the Absurd.” This signature style—haunting and beguiling—has captured the imagination of viewers around the world.
After developing an idiosyncratic style which is referred to as “Ballenesque”, Roger Ballen became one of the most prominent artist/photographers of his generation. He achieved international recognition through his unique and powerful use of drawing, painting, and collage alongside various sculptural techniques in elaborate installations, inventing a new, hybrid aesthetics, firmly rooted in the art of photography. From 1995, Ballen’s work evolved into a provocative fusion of reality and imagination. Well-known publications, including “Outland”, “Boarding House”, “Asylum of the Birds”, and “The Theatre of Apparitions”, transcend the confines of traditional documentary photography and incorporate painting, drawing, sculpture and film. His distinctive ‘Ballenesque’ style features ‘outsiders’, animals, found objects, wires, and childlike marks that cultivate a surreal Theatre of the Absurd.
Ballen’s work has been the subject of exhibitions at prestigious institutions for more than thirty years now. His decision to exhibit at the Halle Saint Pierre in Paris on 2019, a museum devoted to art brut and outsider art, is a special event which demonstrates his freedom from artistic genres. Since the exhibition has been successfully exhibited at Jakopic Gallery in Ljubljana, Slovenia; as well as the Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague.
The exhibition “The World according to Roger Ballen” is an unprecedented overview of the artist which presents, along with 90 photographs, drawings, paintings and unseen installations that Roger Ballen has exclusively created for this event.
Wollen opens his personal exhibition “The World According to Roger Ballen” in Fotografiska Tallinn on October 13th – it is a retrospective exhibition that transforms visitors into participants in a living tableau—a gesamtkunstwerk of installations, videos, drawings, and photographic mastery.
Tickets for the opening: https://fienta.com/et/roger-balleni-naituse-avamine
12.10.2023
Open Architecture Lecture: Willemijn Wilms Floet
In connection with the Delft University of Technology architecture course in Tallinn and EKA, Dr. Willemijn Wilms Floet gives an open lecture about Hofje – the type of building common in the Dutch cultural space, on October 12th at 18:00 in the hall of EKA.
The lecture unravels the secrets of the Dutch Hofje: how to direct the urban atmosphere; what can we learn about collectivity; how is this tradition taken forward by architects reflecting on the archetype and contemporary societal conditions?
The Dutch Hofje – a hidden green intimate courtyard enclosed by repetitive houses for singles – is a very inspirational typology for those working on sustainable social inclusive and green urban living environments.
In contrast to courtyards that were part of, for example, monasteries or speculative exploitation buildings, which were only built in a certain period, the architecture of charity hofjes effortlessly survived the late Middle Ages, the early capitalist era, the Enlightenment and the era from the industrialization period to the development of the post-modern service society. Up to the present time, dominated as it is by neoliberal ideas and market forces, the hofje remains a source of inspiration for (social) housing.
The hofje is deeply rooted in Dutch culture and therefore in Dutch collective memory. Time and again, it is put on the table by not only architects and policymakers, but also socially committed property developers or developers of luxury projects, because of all the positive connotations that surround it.
Dr. Willemijn Wilms Floet, assistant professor at the Faculty of Architecture at the Delft University of Technology is teaching and researching how to make city out of buildings.
She developed her expertise in the documentation and analysis of architectural projects, notably: A Hundred Years of Dutch Architecture (Dutch 1999, English 2002, Chinese 2009). In 2009 she was involved in the organization of the exhibition ‘ From Berlage to Koolhaas_ a hundred years of Dutch Architecture’ in the CAFA Art Museum Beijing. Willemijn is the co-author of the Zakboek voor de Woonomgeving (2001) and editor of Het ontwerp van het kleine woonhuis (2005) and Architectuurgids Delft (2011).
Willemijn obtained a joint PhD degree Villard d’Honnecourt from Venice Faculty of Architecture (IUAV) in 2012 and TU Delft 2014. This architectural study on the Dutch almshouse typology reveals the secrets of green courtyards hidden within the perimeter block, by means of drawing. This resulted in two books ‘Het Hofje Bouwsteen van de Hollandse stad, 1400-2000’ (2016) and Urban Oases; Dutch Hofjes as Hidden Architectural Gems (2021).
Within the global community of the Faculty of Architecture Delft University of Technology she is a leading figure in carrying on the Delft method of plan analysis in-form-ing design, relating knowledge and creativity.
Since 2021 she is initiator and leader of the research programme Architectural Pedagogies at the department of architecture, building a broad platform to reflect upon design education.
The open lectures are intended for students and professionals of all disciplines, not just the field of architecture. All lectures take place in the large auditorium of EKA, are in English, free of charge and open to all interested parties. Be there!
Within the framework of a series of open lectures, the Department of Architecture and Urban Design of EKA brings to the audience in Tallinn every academic year about a dozen unique practitioners and valued theoreticians of the field. You can watch lectures from previous years on YouTube or www.avatudloengud.ee
Open Architecture Lecture: Willemijn Wilms Floet
Thursday 12 October, 2023
In connection with the Delft University of Technology architecture course in Tallinn and EKA, Dr. Willemijn Wilms Floet gives an open lecture about Hofje – the type of building common in the Dutch cultural space, on October 12th at 18:00 in the hall of EKA.
The lecture unravels the secrets of the Dutch Hofje: how to direct the urban atmosphere; what can we learn about collectivity; how is this tradition taken forward by architects reflecting on the archetype and contemporary societal conditions?
The Dutch Hofje – a hidden green intimate courtyard enclosed by repetitive houses for singles – is a very inspirational typology for those working on sustainable social inclusive and green urban living environments.
In contrast to courtyards that were part of, for example, monasteries or speculative exploitation buildings, which were only built in a certain period, the architecture of charity hofjes effortlessly survived the late Middle Ages, the early capitalist era, the Enlightenment and the era from the industrialization period to the development of the post-modern service society. Up to the present time, dominated as it is by neoliberal ideas and market forces, the hofje remains a source of inspiration for (social) housing.
The hofje is deeply rooted in Dutch culture and therefore in Dutch collective memory. Time and again, it is put on the table by not only architects and policymakers, but also socially committed property developers or developers of luxury projects, because of all the positive connotations that surround it.
Dr. Willemijn Wilms Floet, assistant professor at the Faculty of Architecture at the Delft University of Technology is teaching and researching how to make city out of buildings.
She developed her expertise in the documentation and analysis of architectural projects, notably: A Hundred Years of Dutch Architecture (Dutch 1999, English 2002, Chinese 2009). In 2009 she was involved in the organization of the exhibition ‘ From Berlage to Koolhaas_ a hundred years of Dutch Architecture’ in the CAFA Art Museum Beijing. Willemijn is the co-author of the Zakboek voor de Woonomgeving (2001) and editor of Het ontwerp van het kleine woonhuis (2005) and Architectuurgids Delft (2011).
Willemijn obtained a joint PhD degree Villard d’Honnecourt from Venice Faculty of Architecture (IUAV) in 2012 and TU Delft 2014. This architectural study on the Dutch almshouse typology reveals the secrets of green courtyards hidden within the perimeter block, by means of drawing. This resulted in two books ‘Het Hofje Bouwsteen van de Hollandse stad, 1400-2000’ (2016) and Urban Oases; Dutch Hofjes as Hidden Architectural Gems (2021).
Within the global community of the Faculty of Architecture Delft University of Technology she is a leading figure in carrying on the Delft method of plan analysis in-form-ing design, relating knowledge and creativity.
Since 2021 she is initiator and leader of the research programme Architectural Pedagogies at the department of architecture, building a broad platform to reflect upon design education.
The open lectures are intended for students and professionals of all disciplines, not just the field of architecture. All lectures take place in the large auditorium of EKA, are in English, free of charge and open to all interested parties. Be there!
Within the framework of a series of open lectures, the Department of Architecture and Urban Design of EKA brings to the audience in Tallinn every academic year about a dozen unique practitioners and valued theoreticians of the field. You can watch lectures from previous years on YouTube or www.avatudloengud.ee
05.10.2023
“Momentum Montenegro” – Urban Studies I Public Presentations
How is knowledge about the city produced and to what ends? What methods help broaden perspectives on the city? How to learn from urban space and represent the results?
Urban Studies year I students invite you to the final presentations of the “Art and the City” course, which has focused on creative urban methods. Entitled Momentum Montenegro, the evening of presentations delves into the social and material aspects of the first microdistrict of Mustamäe.
As Estonia’s first panel house district, it pioneered a new spatial configuration and quickly became an iconic dream destination in war-ravaged mid-century Tallinn. However, the implementation of this housing model has been heavily critiqued since its inception. Now, four houses from the I micro-district have been earmarked for a neighbourhood renovation pilot project seeking to upgrade the buildings as well as the space between them.
The presented projects focus on the public space between these four panel houses, not with the aim to prove something but to learn something.
The course is tutored by Mattias Malk.
Event on Facebook
“Momentum Montenegro” – Urban Studies I Public Presentations
Thursday 05 October, 2023
How is knowledge about the city produced and to what ends? What methods help broaden perspectives on the city? How to learn from urban space and represent the results?
Urban Studies year I students invite you to the final presentations of the “Art and the City” course, which has focused on creative urban methods. Entitled Momentum Montenegro, the evening of presentations delves into the social and material aspects of the first microdistrict of Mustamäe.
As Estonia’s first panel house district, it pioneered a new spatial configuration and quickly became an iconic dream destination in war-ravaged mid-century Tallinn. However, the implementation of this housing model has been heavily critiqued since its inception. Now, four houses from the I micro-district have been earmarked for a neighbourhood renovation pilot project seeking to upgrade the buildings as well as the space between them.
The presented projects focus on the public space between these four panel houses, not with the aim to prove something but to learn something.
The course is tutored by Mattias Malk.
Event on Facebook
28.09.2023
Open lecture: Anthony Luciano
Thursday, 28th of September at 17.30 Anthony Luciano, a New York based leather designer and entrepreneur will give an inspirational lecture about vintage handbags and building a small business in New York.
Anthony Luciano, a first-generation New Yorker of Italian descent, brings together artistry and family heritage. Raised in a family of skilled artisans, where his mother and grandmother were seamstresses and his father a carpenter, Luciano inherited a passion for crafting with his hands.
He initially pursued a fashion degree at the Fashion Institute of Technology but later transitioned to accessory design. In 2000, he launched his own collection, drawing inspiration from vintage handbag clasps from around the world. His aim was to create luxurious day and evening bags of exceptional quality, quickly gaining acclaim in top retailers like Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, and Stanley Korshak. His bags have been featured in leading fashion magazines and have garnered a loyal celebrity following, including stars like Judith Light, Meryl Streep, Debra Messing, Cameron Diaz, and Megan Mullally.
This lecture is made possible by funding from the Baltic-American Freedom Foundation (BAFF).
Homepage: anthonyluciano.com
Anthony Luciano is visiting EKA to teach students a course on making handbags with frames.
Lecture is in english
Open lecture: Anthony Luciano
Thursday 28 September, 2023
Thursday, 28th of September at 17.30 Anthony Luciano, a New York based leather designer and entrepreneur will give an inspirational lecture about vintage handbags and building a small business in New York.
Anthony Luciano, a first-generation New Yorker of Italian descent, brings together artistry and family heritage. Raised in a family of skilled artisans, where his mother and grandmother were seamstresses and his father a carpenter, Luciano inherited a passion for crafting with his hands.
He initially pursued a fashion degree at the Fashion Institute of Technology but later transitioned to accessory design. In 2000, he launched his own collection, drawing inspiration from vintage handbag clasps from around the world. His aim was to create luxurious day and evening bags of exceptional quality, quickly gaining acclaim in top retailers like Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, and Stanley Korshak. His bags have been featured in leading fashion magazines and have garnered a loyal celebrity following, including stars like Judith Light, Meryl Streep, Debra Messing, Cameron Diaz, and Megan Mullally.
This lecture is made possible by funding from the Baltic-American Freedom Foundation (BAFF).
Homepage: anthonyluciano.com
Anthony Luciano is visiting EKA to teach students a course on making handbags with frames.
Lecture is in english
28.09.2023
Open Architecture Lecture: Keith Murray
In autumn 2023, the open architectural lectures will take place under the title Mobile Masters. The theme brings architects and theorists to Tallinn, who analyse architecture’s flexibility and the mobile practices of architects, spatial designers and artists.
Gregor Taul, the curator of the autumn lectures, introduces the program with the following words: “Architecture stands at a significant crossroads. Ten-year-old buildings are demolished and taken to the landfill. The lifespan of an interior design project is five years at best, if that. These bleak facts do not inspire confidence in a discipline that requires so many resources in light of such a short time perspective. What does ‘better not do anything’ mean for spatial design? What might ‘mobile architecture’ refer to or who is a ‘mobile designer’? How can moving people or things be a positive spatial practice?”
On September 28, Keith Murray will be on the EKA main hall stage in Tallinn with the lecture “MOBILITY: Abstract/Actual/Affect”
Keith Murray is a Zimbabwean born architect, designer, sculptor and jewelry artist who has lived in the UK since 1988. Murray trained as an architect in Cape Town, South Africa and has worked as an architect and lecturer in South Africa, Zambia, Uganda, London and Brighton. About ten years ago, Murray retired to Suffolk on the east coast of the British Isles, where he built an eco-house for himself and his partner and has focused on making sculptures and jewelry from natural and found materials.
Keith Murray introduces his lecture in the following words:
The talk draws on personal experience/interests/thoughts of the last 50 years. Divided into three topics mainly to give some structure, but these will overlap and interweave, as they do in real life.
ABSTRACT – From the Industrial revolution to the Technological revolution, in the last 150 years everything has got faster and faster. This acceleration has affected all aspects of our lives. Including Art, especially Sculpture (Calder is an obvious topic, but Caro and Smith are also looked at), literature, poetry.
ACTUAL – Mobility in Architecture discussed using a few selected examples. Things now made, materials and techniques used, changing demands, some for good, some for bad. Just how bad is becoming more and more obvious, so responsible awareness and action is essential.
AFFECT – Immigration and emigration, the spread of knowledge but also the awareness of things lost, left behind but impossible to forget.
The open lectures are intended for students and professionals of all disciplines, not just the field of architecture. All lectures take place in the large auditorium of EKA, are in English, free of charge and open to all interested parties. Be there!
Within the framework of a series of open lectures, the Department of Architecture and Urban Design of EKA brings to the audience in Tallinn every academic year about a dozen unique practitioners and valued theoreticians of the field. You can watch lectures from previous years on YouTube.
Autumn lectures
– September 28 at 6 pm Keith Murray (https://www.instagram.com/keithmurray5199/)
– October 26 at 6 pm Alexander Roemer (https://constructlab.net/)
– November 23 at 6 pm Laurens Bekemans (https://bc-as.org/)
– December 7 at 6 pm Katarina Bonnevier (https://mycket.org/)
The lecture series is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
Curator: Gregor Taul
Open Architecture Lecture: Keith Murray
Thursday 28 September, 2023
In autumn 2023, the open architectural lectures will take place under the title Mobile Masters. The theme brings architects and theorists to Tallinn, who analyse architecture’s flexibility and the mobile practices of architects, spatial designers and artists.
Gregor Taul, the curator of the autumn lectures, introduces the program with the following words: “Architecture stands at a significant crossroads. Ten-year-old buildings are demolished and taken to the landfill. The lifespan of an interior design project is five years at best, if that. These bleak facts do not inspire confidence in a discipline that requires so many resources in light of such a short time perspective. What does ‘better not do anything’ mean for spatial design? What might ‘mobile architecture’ refer to or who is a ‘mobile designer’? How can moving people or things be a positive spatial practice?”
On September 28, Keith Murray will be on the EKA main hall stage in Tallinn with the lecture “MOBILITY: Abstract/Actual/Affect”
Keith Murray is a Zimbabwean born architect, designer, sculptor and jewelry artist who has lived in the UK since 1988. Murray trained as an architect in Cape Town, South Africa and has worked as an architect and lecturer in South Africa, Zambia, Uganda, London and Brighton. About ten years ago, Murray retired to Suffolk on the east coast of the British Isles, where he built an eco-house for himself and his partner and has focused on making sculptures and jewelry from natural and found materials.
Keith Murray introduces his lecture in the following words:
The talk draws on personal experience/interests/thoughts of the last 50 years. Divided into three topics mainly to give some structure, but these will overlap and interweave, as they do in real life.
ABSTRACT – From the Industrial revolution to the Technological revolution, in the last 150 years everything has got faster and faster. This acceleration has affected all aspects of our lives. Including Art, especially Sculpture (Calder is an obvious topic, but Caro and Smith are also looked at), literature, poetry.
ACTUAL – Mobility in Architecture discussed using a few selected examples. Things now made, materials and techniques used, changing demands, some for good, some for bad. Just how bad is becoming more and more obvious, so responsible awareness and action is essential.
AFFECT – Immigration and emigration, the spread of knowledge but also the awareness of things lost, left behind but impossible to forget.
The open lectures are intended for students and professionals of all disciplines, not just the field of architecture. All lectures take place in the large auditorium of EKA, are in English, free of charge and open to all interested parties. Be there!
Within the framework of a series of open lectures, the Department of Architecture and Urban Design of EKA brings to the audience in Tallinn every academic year about a dozen unique practitioners and valued theoreticians of the field. You can watch lectures from previous years on YouTube.
Autumn lectures
– September 28 at 6 pm Keith Murray (https://www.instagram.com/keithmurray5199/)
– October 26 at 6 pm Alexander Roemer (https://constructlab.net/)
– November 23 at 6 pm Laurens Bekemans (https://bc-as.org/)
– December 7 at 6 pm Katarina Bonnevier (https://mycket.org/)
The lecture series is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
Curator: Gregor Taul
21.09.2023
NART Open Lecture: Motohara & Kabo and Wardega & Zeckel
21 September at 17.45 (room A-101).
The first lecture will be given by two artists’ duos.
During their residency, Japanese duo Reico Motohara and Kabo invite people to cook with them to get to know the participants better and learn about their stories.
Olga Wardega and Christoph Zeckel created an audiovisual installatsion at Kreenholm factory for the Station Narva festival. The artists explored what meaning this place has in the memories of Narva people and what happens when nature takes over.
–
In autumn 2023, international artists from the Narva Art Residency will give three lectures at the Estonian Academy of Arts.
They will talk about the practicalities of being a professional artist, what the daily life of an art residency is like and how to get involved in the opportunities offered to artists. Of course, they will also introduce their own creative work.
Lectures take place on three Thursdays at 17.45. They are free of charge and open to all!
The lectures will be held in English.
NART Open Lecture: Motohara & Kabo and Wardega & Zeckel
Thursday 21 September, 2023
21 September at 17.45 (room A-101).
The first lecture will be given by two artists’ duos.
During their residency, Japanese duo Reico Motohara and Kabo invite people to cook with them to get to know the participants better and learn about their stories.
Olga Wardega and Christoph Zeckel created an audiovisual installatsion at Kreenholm factory for the Station Narva festival. The artists explored what meaning this place has in the memories of Narva people and what happens when nature takes over.
–
In autumn 2023, international artists from the Narva Art Residency will give three lectures at the Estonian Academy of Arts.
They will talk about the practicalities of being a professional artist, what the daily life of an art residency is like and how to get involved in the opportunities offered to artists. Of course, they will also introduce their own creative work.
Lectures take place on three Thursdays at 17.45. They are free of charge and open to all!
The lectures will be held in English.