Category: Doctoral School — Page 12 — Estonian Academy of Arts

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18.12.2020

PhD Thesis Defence of Ingrid Ruudi

Doctoral School

Ingrid Ruudi, PhD student of the Estonian Academy of Arts, curriculum of Art History and Visual Culture, will defend her thesis Spaces of the Interregnum. Transformations in Estonian Architecture and Art, 1986–1994 („Ruumiline interreegnum. Muutused Eesti arhitektuuris ja kunstis 1986–1994“) on the 18th of December 2020 at 17.00 at Põhja pst 7, room A501.

The defence will also be live-streamed on the following link: https://tv.artun.ee/doktoritoodekaitsmised

The defense will be held in English.

Supervisor: Prof. Andres Kurg (Estonian Academy of Arts)

External reviewers: Prof. Vladimir Kulić (Iowa State University), Dr. Johannes Saar (University of Tartu)

Opponent: Prof. Vladimir Kulić

Conventionally, the Estonian architecture history tends to address the late Soviet postmodernism up to the mid-1980s, and then resume with buidlings of the independent republic from the mid-1990s. The period in between constitutes a kind of gap, and indeed, there was a remarkable decline in building activities. Nevertheless, it was a highly loaded period of active production of new social space, establishment of public sphere and public space, and rethinking of the relationship between built environment and its subject. Those processes continue to have a noted impact on our spatial and social environment up to this day. The doctoral thesis challenges this conventional periosidation of the history of Estonian architecture and art, focusing on the era between two more or less clearly defined social formations – the interregnum of 1986–1994 which must not be treated as a temporary transition on the way to ’normalcy’ but as a specific period of abundant creativity worthwile in its own right. During this dynamic era certain late Soviet practices continued while accelerated appropriation and interpretation of new western impulses took place. The transition from one spatial regime to the other did not happen as a clear and definitive cut but rather as a process that was hybrid, fluid and uneven. The dissertation demonstrates how the production of new space took place on various interconnected levels: built and planned, dreamt and imagined, performed and enacted, as well as theorised and reflected.

The monographic thesis encompasses five loosely connected case studies. The chapter Unbuilt space analyses the most vivid examples of the large amount of unrealised architecture projects and urban designs, focusing on aspects such as production of new public space, identity building and the architects’ agency. Utopian space looks at artist Tõnis Vint’s vision of a new high-rise urban settlement on Naissaar island near Tallinn, proposed as a free trade zone, considering the case in the context of international economic developments and New Age ideologies. Discursive space focuses on the two first instances of Nordic-Baltic Architecture Triennials as attempts at establishing an international platform for theoretical exchange, demonstrating the different expectations of the Nordic and Baltic participants and diverging positions regarding the issue of regional architecture in the global context. Performative space investigates the architecture and performance practices of Group T as an interconnected phenomenon, aiming at establishing temporary counterpublic spaces and an alternative concept of community to counteract the nationalistic social tendencies of the era. Institutional space looks at the renovation process of the functionalist Tallinn Art Hall as a conceptual processual work of art by George Steinmann, demonstrating the artist’s agency in establishing international transdisciplinary networks and reconceptualisating the artspace as a multivalent discursive space. The chapter also addresses the project’s inevitable entanglement with certain neocolonialist allusions and the restitutional mentality of the era, fuelled by the desire for rebirth of the pre-war republic.

The case studies demonstrate that the Estonian architecture culture from the end of the 1980s to the beginning of the 1990s was far from in hibernation: quite the contrary, it was unprecedentedly vigorous and operated in active dialogue with other processes in the production of space for the new society. Making use of the radical openness of the era, the architecture of the interregnum built upon the previous late Soviet experience and realised some of its desires. It also tested out new impulses connected with the opening up of the society. The experiments stemmed from a belief in creative individuals’ essential role in imagining future space and their right to participate in the public sphere, thus helping to keep open the discussions of possibilities. The spaces thus produced might have been intangible but they were nevertheless vital in shaping the social life of the interregnum.

Members of the Defence Council: Prof. Krista Kodres, Dr. Anu Allas, Prof. Virve Sarapik, Dr. Anneli Randla, Prof. Juhan Maiste, Prof. Marek Tamm, Prof. Tõnu Viik

Please find the PhD thesis HERE

Posted by Irene Hütsi — Permalink

PhD Thesis Defence of Ingrid Ruudi

Friday 18 December, 2020

Doctoral School

Ingrid Ruudi, PhD student of the Estonian Academy of Arts, curriculum of Art History and Visual Culture, will defend her thesis Spaces of the Interregnum. Transformations in Estonian Architecture and Art, 1986–1994 („Ruumiline interreegnum. Muutused Eesti arhitektuuris ja kunstis 1986–1994“) on the 18th of December 2020 at 17.00 at Põhja pst 7, room A501.

The defence will also be live-streamed on the following link: https://tv.artun.ee/doktoritoodekaitsmised

The defense will be held in English.

Supervisor: Prof. Andres Kurg (Estonian Academy of Arts)

External reviewers: Prof. Vladimir Kulić (Iowa State University), Dr. Johannes Saar (University of Tartu)

Opponent: Prof. Vladimir Kulić

Conventionally, the Estonian architecture history tends to address the late Soviet postmodernism up to the mid-1980s, and then resume with buidlings of the independent republic from the mid-1990s. The period in between constitutes a kind of gap, and indeed, there was a remarkable decline in building activities. Nevertheless, it was a highly loaded period of active production of new social space, establishment of public sphere and public space, and rethinking of the relationship between built environment and its subject. Those processes continue to have a noted impact on our spatial and social environment up to this day. The doctoral thesis challenges this conventional periosidation of the history of Estonian architecture and art, focusing on the era between two more or less clearly defined social formations – the interregnum of 1986–1994 which must not be treated as a temporary transition on the way to ’normalcy’ but as a specific period of abundant creativity worthwile in its own right. During this dynamic era certain late Soviet practices continued while accelerated appropriation and interpretation of new western impulses took place. The transition from one spatial regime to the other did not happen as a clear and definitive cut but rather as a process that was hybrid, fluid and uneven. The dissertation demonstrates how the production of new space took place on various interconnected levels: built and planned, dreamt and imagined, performed and enacted, as well as theorised and reflected.

The monographic thesis encompasses five loosely connected case studies. The chapter Unbuilt space analyses the most vivid examples of the large amount of unrealised architecture projects and urban designs, focusing on aspects such as production of new public space, identity building and the architects’ agency. Utopian space looks at artist Tõnis Vint’s vision of a new high-rise urban settlement on Naissaar island near Tallinn, proposed as a free trade zone, considering the case in the context of international economic developments and New Age ideologies. Discursive space focuses on the two first instances of Nordic-Baltic Architecture Triennials as attempts at establishing an international platform for theoretical exchange, demonstrating the different expectations of the Nordic and Baltic participants and diverging positions regarding the issue of regional architecture in the global context. Performative space investigates the architecture and performance practices of Group T as an interconnected phenomenon, aiming at establishing temporary counterpublic spaces and an alternative concept of community to counteract the nationalistic social tendencies of the era. Institutional space looks at the renovation process of the functionalist Tallinn Art Hall as a conceptual processual work of art by George Steinmann, demonstrating the artist’s agency in establishing international transdisciplinary networks and reconceptualisating the artspace as a multivalent discursive space. The chapter also addresses the project’s inevitable entanglement with certain neocolonialist allusions and the restitutional mentality of the era, fuelled by the desire for rebirth of the pre-war republic.

The case studies demonstrate that the Estonian architecture culture from the end of the 1980s to the beginning of the 1990s was far from in hibernation: quite the contrary, it was unprecedentedly vigorous and operated in active dialogue with other processes in the production of space for the new society. Making use of the radical openness of the era, the architecture of the interregnum built upon the previous late Soviet experience and realised some of its desires. It also tested out new impulses connected with the opening up of the society. The experiments stemmed from a belief in creative individuals’ essential role in imagining future space and their right to participate in the public sphere, thus helping to keep open the discussions of possibilities. The spaces thus produced might have been intangible but they were nevertheless vital in shaping the social life of the interregnum.

Members of the Defence Council: Prof. Krista Kodres, Dr. Anu Allas, Prof. Virve Sarapik, Dr. Anneli Randla, Prof. Juhan Maiste, Prof. Marek Tamm, Prof. Tõnu Viik

Please find the PhD thesis HERE

Posted by Irene Hütsi — Permalink

19.11.2020

Pre-reviewing of Sofia Hallik’s new exhibition “New World”

Doctoral School

On Thursday, 19 November at 17.00, pre-reviewing of Art and Design programme PhD student Sofja Hallik’s exhibition “New World” will take place at Very Hard, 2nd floor of T1 shopping mall. Exhibition is part of the artistic (practice-based) doctoral thesis of Sofja Hallik.

The exhibition opening will take place on November 5 at 18-21.

The exhibition is open until 21 November, 2020
Wed-Sat 12-19

Pre-reviewers of the exhibition: Dr. Raivo Kelomees, Keiu Krikmann

Supervisors: Prof. Kadri Mälk, Dr. Jaak Tomberg

Posted by Irene Hütsi — Permalink

Pre-reviewing of Sofia Hallik’s new exhibition “New World”

Thursday 19 November, 2020

Doctoral School

On Thursday, 19 November at 17.00, pre-reviewing of Art and Design programme PhD student Sofja Hallik’s exhibition “New World” will take place at Very Hard, 2nd floor of T1 shopping mall. Exhibition is part of the artistic (practice-based) doctoral thesis of Sofja Hallik.

The exhibition opening will take place on November 5 at 18-21.

The exhibition is open until 21 November, 2020
Wed-Sat 12-19

Pre-reviewers of the exhibition: Dr. Raivo Kelomees, Keiu Krikmann

Supervisors: Prof. Kadri Mälk, Dr. Jaak Tomberg

Posted by Irene Hütsi — Permalink

20.11.2020

PhD Thesis defence of Kristina Jõekalda

Doctoral School

Kristina Jõekalda, PhD student of the Estonian Academy of Arts, Curriculum of Art History and Visual Culture, will defend her thesis “German Monuments in the Baltic Heimat? A Historiography of Heritage in the “Long Nineteenth Century”” (“Saksa mälestised ja Balti Heimat. Pärandi historiograafia “pikal 19. sajandil””) on the 20th of November 2020 at 11.00 at Põhja pst 7, room A501.

Up to 30 people from EKA can participate on-site, please register HERE
The defence will also be live-streamed on the following link: https://tv.artun.ee/doktoritoodekaitsmised

Live-stream viewers can submit their questions HERE

The defense will be held in English.

Supervisors: Prof. Krista Kodres (Estonian Academy of Arts), Prof. Ulrike Plath (Tallinn University)

External reviewers: Prof. Jörg Hackmann, Dr. Ants Hein

Opponent: Prof. Jörg Hackmann (University of Szczecin; University of Greifswald)

In Estonian humanities the Baltic Germans (Deutschbalten) are mostly addressed as a historical phenomenon, despite the fact that the architecture that they left behind from medieval and later times still continues to shape the local environment of the present. How did the Baltic Germans project the image they held of their past onto their goals for the present and the future? How did that path relate to the culture of the Germans living elsewhere in Eastern Europe? What new research prospects are there available to be taken up today? This transdisciplinary and transnational dissertation looks at the representations of Baltic German identity that expressed themselves in art historiography and in heritage preservation from late eighteenth century until the interwar era. This period witnessed not just the rise of nationalism, but also the emergence of the concept of heritage as a culturally valuable entity, the formation of the humanities and of the idea of civil society. Attitudes to monuments and historiography are reflections on political and social processes. Nevertheless, not much research exists to date on the history of art history and heritage preservation taken as a combined topic, nor yet on the popular dimension of these fields, beyond academic circles. This thesis seeks to show that, rather than leaning exclusively on Estonian nationalism, the idea of the existence of a national heritage goes back to the patriotic movement of the Baltic Germans, which had also struggled to create and preserve the symbols of a glorious past against the background of German identity. This is the first attempt made within Estonian humanities to research the challenges that heritage studies – a field heavily tilted toward contemporary concerns – have posed for the discipline of art history. The analysis also has many overlaps with nationalism studies and German diaspora studies, the key concepts being ʻheritageʼ, Heimat and ʻnationʼ, all seen as constructs. What is in focus here is not the local architectural monuments themselves, but the process of turning them into heritage. Ideological standpoints are more fully articulated in the handbooks and widely disseminated texts that hence provide the main sources for this work, especially texts relating to cultural memory, identity and belonging. Addressing various media by which (national) heritage is constructed – in image, word and practice – this dissertation constitutes a critical historiography of texts on the history and protection of local architecture, focusing for the most part on the contribution of the learned societies and of Wilhelm Neumann (1849–1919). The dissertation therefore looks at discussions on monuments through various visions of continuity and discontinuity, of similarity and difference, of localism and universalism, of nationalism and internationalism, of Balticness and Germanness (and Estonianness), of scholarship and popularisation.

Members of the Defence Council: Prof. Andres Kurg, Dr. Anu Allas, Prof. Virve Sarapik, Dr. Anneli Randla, Prof. Juhan Maiste, Prof. Marek Tamm, Prof. Tõnu Viik

Please find the PhD thesis HERE

Posted by Irene Hütsi — Permalink

PhD Thesis defence of Kristina Jõekalda

Friday 20 November, 2020

Doctoral School

Kristina Jõekalda, PhD student of the Estonian Academy of Arts, Curriculum of Art History and Visual Culture, will defend her thesis “German Monuments in the Baltic Heimat? A Historiography of Heritage in the “Long Nineteenth Century”” (“Saksa mälestised ja Balti Heimat. Pärandi historiograafia “pikal 19. sajandil””) on the 20th of November 2020 at 11.00 at Põhja pst 7, room A501.

Up to 30 people from EKA can participate on-site, please register HERE
The defence will also be live-streamed on the following link: https://tv.artun.ee/doktoritoodekaitsmised

Live-stream viewers can submit their questions HERE

The defense will be held in English.

Supervisors: Prof. Krista Kodres (Estonian Academy of Arts), Prof. Ulrike Plath (Tallinn University)

External reviewers: Prof. Jörg Hackmann, Dr. Ants Hein

Opponent: Prof. Jörg Hackmann (University of Szczecin; University of Greifswald)

In Estonian humanities the Baltic Germans (Deutschbalten) are mostly addressed as a historical phenomenon, despite the fact that the architecture that they left behind from medieval and later times still continues to shape the local environment of the present. How did the Baltic Germans project the image they held of their past onto their goals for the present and the future? How did that path relate to the culture of the Germans living elsewhere in Eastern Europe? What new research prospects are there available to be taken up today? This transdisciplinary and transnational dissertation looks at the representations of Baltic German identity that expressed themselves in art historiography and in heritage preservation from late eighteenth century until the interwar era. This period witnessed not just the rise of nationalism, but also the emergence of the concept of heritage as a culturally valuable entity, the formation of the humanities and of the idea of civil society. Attitudes to monuments and historiography are reflections on political and social processes. Nevertheless, not much research exists to date on the history of art history and heritage preservation taken as a combined topic, nor yet on the popular dimension of these fields, beyond academic circles. This thesis seeks to show that, rather than leaning exclusively on Estonian nationalism, the idea of the existence of a national heritage goes back to the patriotic movement of the Baltic Germans, which had also struggled to create and preserve the symbols of a glorious past against the background of German identity. This is the first attempt made within Estonian humanities to research the challenges that heritage studies – a field heavily tilted toward contemporary concerns – have posed for the discipline of art history. The analysis also has many overlaps with nationalism studies and German diaspora studies, the key concepts being ʻheritageʼ, Heimat and ʻnationʼ, all seen as constructs. What is in focus here is not the local architectural monuments themselves, but the process of turning them into heritage. Ideological standpoints are more fully articulated in the handbooks and widely disseminated texts that hence provide the main sources for this work, especially texts relating to cultural memory, identity and belonging. Addressing various media by which (national) heritage is constructed – in image, word and practice – this dissertation constitutes a critical historiography of texts on the history and protection of local architecture, focusing for the most part on the contribution of the learned societies and of Wilhelm Neumann (1849–1919). The dissertation therefore looks at discussions on monuments through various visions of continuity and discontinuity, of similarity and difference, of localism and universalism, of nationalism and internationalism, of Balticness and Germanness (and Estonianness), of scholarship and popularisation.

Members of the Defence Council: Prof. Andres Kurg, Dr. Anu Allas, Prof. Virve Sarapik, Dr. Anneli Randla, Prof. Juhan Maiste, Prof. Marek Tamm, Prof. Tõnu Viik

Please find the PhD thesis HERE

Posted by Irene Hütsi — Permalink

15.09.2020

Pre-reviewing of Ulvi Haagensen’s exhibition „Thea Koristaja Museum”

Doctoral School

On Tuesday, 15 September at 14.20, pre-reviewing of Art and Design programme PhD student Ulvi Haagensen’s exhibition „ Thea Koristaja Museum” will take place at Hobusepea Gallery. Exhibition is part of the artistic (practice-based) doctoral thesis of Ulvi Haagensen.
Please registrate your participation at the pre-reviewing irene.hutsi@artun.ee.

The exhibition is open until 21 September, 2020.

Supervisors: Dr Liina Unt, Jan Guy (The University of Sidney).
Pre-reviewers of the exhibition: artist Urmas Lüüs and dr Ester Bardone, dr Anu Kannike.

Ulvi Haagensen’s solo exhibition “Thea Koristaja Museum” at Hobusepea Gallery

“Welcome to our place”, says Thea Koristaja, as she opens the door and indicates for us to enter an exhibition that explores the connections between art and everyday life. Thea Koristaja is an imaginary person, an artist, and a cleaner and this is her museum. Together with two other imaginary artists, known as Olive Puuvill and Loome Uurija, she works with Ulvi Haagensen, who is quite real, to explore how art and life can meet, converge, overlap and sometimes clash.

The exhibition uses the upstairs and downstairs of the gallery to present two different contexts – the exhibition space and the studio. Upstairs is clean and tidy, not dissimilar to a living room or hallway in a home – after all, we want to make a good impression, don’t we? But the real action of everyday life may in fact take place somewhere else, in the kitchen, the laundry, in front of the telly, in the everyday, when the visitors aren’t visiting. Downstairs is the cluttered, untidy workspace. This is where Haagensen and her imaginary team discover the unexpected as they push the familiar into new territory. A discarded greeny-blue Värska mineral water bottle, new and recycled timber, a length of rusted steel, wool and cotton yarns in a myriad of colours – all start to find a persona or a potential they never knew they had. Is it possible, here in the studio, to see the most exciting part, the magic of making, the moment when the thing emerges as a thing? Or is that something that takes place in the artist’s mind and can’t be shared?

Ulvi Haagensen was born in Sydney, Australia, but has been living, working and teaching in Tallinn for many years. She studied at City Art Institute in Sydney (BA) and College of Fine Art, University of New South Wales (MFA) and is currently doing her PhD at the Estonian Academy of Arts researching the connections and overlap between art and everyday life, as seen through the eyes of an artist, for whom art, work and everyday life are closely interwoven. 2018–2019 she spent a year as Artist-in-Residence and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Sydney. She has had solo exhibitions in Estonia, Australia, Sweden and Lithuania.

Posted by Irene Hütsi — Permalink

Pre-reviewing of Ulvi Haagensen’s exhibition „Thea Koristaja Museum”

Tuesday 15 September, 2020

Doctoral School

On Tuesday, 15 September at 14.20, pre-reviewing of Art and Design programme PhD student Ulvi Haagensen’s exhibition „ Thea Koristaja Museum” will take place at Hobusepea Gallery. Exhibition is part of the artistic (practice-based) doctoral thesis of Ulvi Haagensen.
Please registrate your participation at the pre-reviewing irene.hutsi@artun.ee.

The exhibition is open until 21 September, 2020.

Supervisors: Dr Liina Unt, Jan Guy (The University of Sidney).
Pre-reviewers of the exhibition: artist Urmas Lüüs and dr Ester Bardone, dr Anu Kannike.

Ulvi Haagensen’s solo exhibition “Thea Koristaja Museum” at Hobusepea Gallery

“Welcome to our place”, says Thea Koristaja, as she opens the door and indicates for us to enter an exhibition that explores the connections between art and everyday life. Thea Koristaja is an imaginary person, an artist, and a cleaner and this is her museum. Together with two other imaginary artists, known as Olive Puuvill and Loome Uurija, she works with Ulvi Haagensen, who is quite real, to explore how art and life can meet, converge, overlap and sometimes clash.

The exhibition uses the upstairs and downstairs of the gallery to present two different contexts – the exhibition space and the studio. Upstairs is clean and tidy, not dissimilar to a living room or hallway in a home – after all, we want to make a good impression, don’t we? But the real action of everyday life may in fact take place somewhere else, in the kitchen, the laundry, in front of the telly, in the everyday, when the visitors aren’t visiting. Downstairs is the cluttered, untidy workspace. This is where Haagensen and her imaginary team discover the unexpected as they push the familiar into new territory. A discarded greeny-blue Värska mineral water bottle, new and recycled timber, a length of rusted steel, wool and cotton yarns in a myriad of colours – all start to find a persona or a potential they never knew they had. Is it possible, here in the studio, to see the most exciting part, the magic of making, the moment when the thing emerges as a thing? Or is that something that takes place in the artist’s mind and can’t be shared?

Ulvi Haagensen was born in Sydney, Australia, but has been living, working and teaching in Tallinn for many years. She studied at City Art Institute in Sydney (BA) and College of Fine Art, University of New South Wales (MFA) and is currently doing her PhD at the Estonian Academy of Arts researching the connections and overlap between art and everyday life, as seen through the eyes of an artist, for whom art, work and everyday life are closely interwoven. 2018–2019 she spent a year as Artist-in-Residence and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Sydney. She has had solo exhibitions in Estonia, Australia, Sweden and Lithuania.

Posted by Irene Hütsi — Permalink

19.08.2020

Pre-reviewing of Ulvi Haagensen’s exhibition

Academic Affairs Office

On Wednesday, August 19th at 15:00, pre-reviewing of Art and Design programme PhD student Ulvi Haagensen’s exhibition „From the Archive: a Collection of Funny Things” will take place at Tartu Art House Small gallery. Exhibition is part of the artistic (practice-based) doctoral thesis of Ulvi Haagensen.

Supervisors: Dr Liina Unt, Jan Guy (The University of Sidney).

Pre-reviewers of the exhibition: Villu Plink and Ester Bardone

The exhibition is open from 30 July to 23 August 2020.

This exhibition is by imaginary artist, Olive Puuvill, who creates work in the manner of a bricoleuse, cobbling, tinkering and using whatever is close at hand. In her latest work she combines patterns, lines, textures and light to create an installation where objects, situations, materials and ideas are juxtaposed in a slightly chaotic arrangement, but one that nonetheless has a logic of its own. All this bears the traces of her intentions, aims and ideas as physical evidence of the working processes where Olive’s everyday life clashes, meets and melds with her art practice.

Ulvi Haagensen’s doctoral research is about the line between art and everyday life. By merging a multi-disciplinary art practice that combines installation, sculpture, drawing, performance and video with everyday experiences – mainly cleaning, one of the more mundane aspects of everyday life – she works across and along the lines between everyday life and art to discover the lines, overlaps and boundaries between art and the everyday.

Together with three imaginary characters and using an autoethnographic approach that includes the methods, tools and attitudes of an artist who uses ‘what is at hand’ and ‘makes do’she uses the everyday, not only for inspiration, but also materials, tools and techniques.

As her characters move between their roles and various places of work and everyday life, they explore notions of the everyday and the specialness of art, especially from the viewpoint of an artist for whom art and art making are very much a part of the everyday and therefore quite un-special.

Posted by Irene Hütsi — Permalink

Pre-reviewing of Ulvi Haagensen’s exhibition

Wednesday 19 August, 2020

Academic Affairs Office

On Wednesday, August 19th at 15:00, pre-reviewing of Art and Design programme PhD student Ulvi Haagensen’s exhibition „From the Archive: a Collection of Funny Things” will take place at Tartu Art House Small gallery. Exhibition is part of the artistic (practice-based) doctoral thesis of Ulvi Haagensen.

Supervisors: Dr Liina Unt, Jan Guy (The University of Sidney).

Pre-reviewers of the exhibition: Villu Plink and Ester Bardone

The exhibition is open from 30 July to 23 August 2020.

This exhibition is by imaginary artist, Olive Puuvill, who creates work in the manner of a bricoleuse, cobbling, tinkering and using whatever is close at hand. In her latest work she combines patterns, lines, textures and light to create an installation where objects, situations, materials and ideas are juxtaposed in a slightly chaotic arrangement, but one that nonetheless has a logic of its own. All this bears the traces of her intentions, aims and ideas as physical evidence of the working processes where Olive’s everyday life clashes, meets and melds with her art practice.

Ulvi Haagensen’s doctoral research is about the line between art and everyday life. By merging a multi-disciplinary art practice that combines installation, sculpture, drawing, performance and video with everyday experiences – mainly cleaning, one of the more mundane aspects of everyday life – she works across and along the lines between everyday life and art to discover the lines, overlaps and boundaries between art and the everyday.

Together with three imaginary characters and using an autoethnographic approach that includes the methods, tools and attitudes of an artist who uses ‘what is at hand’ and ‘makes do’she uses the everyday, not only for inspiration, but also materials, tools and techniques.

As her characters move between their roles and various places of work and everyday life, they explore notions of the everyday and the specialness of art, especially from the viewpoint of an artist for whom art and art making are very much a part of the everyday and therefore quite un-special.

Posted by Irene Hütsi — Permalink

06.07.2020

Pre-reviewing of Darja Popolitova’s exhibition

Doctoral School

On Monday, July 6 at 17:00 , pre-reviewing of Art and Design programme PhD student Darja Popolitova’s exhibition „Magical Hotspot“ will take place at Vent Space gallery. Exhibition is part of the artistic (practice-based) doctoral thesis of Darja Popolitova.

Exhibition will be open on Friday, 3^rd of July at 6 p.m., in Tallinn gallery Vent Space (Vabaduse väljak 6). The exhibition can be visited from 29^th of June to 11^th of July 2020, every day 10-17.

Supervisors: Prof Dr Kadri Mälk, Dr Raivo Kelomees.

Pre-reviewers of the exhibition: Dr Varvara Guljajeva, Keiu Krikmann.

A new exhibition “Magical Hotspot” of the artist Darja Popolitova addresses the themes of xenophobia, sexism and loneliness of the elderly. The exhibition speculates on the themes of spiritualism, social values and Internet culture, finding common ground in jewelry and tactility.
The aim of Darja’s doctoral studies at Estonian Academy of Arts is to investigate how tactile interaction with jewellery affects the viewer through a video medium. “This year I found an artistic approach in the new vlog genre where people on their YouTube channels perform magic rituals or tell how they became eyewitnesses of paranormal events. I think this is an interesting phenomenon. As regards spiritualist-vloggers there are many stylistic elements characteristic not only of the Internet, but also of ancient sacred techniques,” the artist comments. “In the process of preparing the exhibition, I fantasized what problems I could solve with the help of magic on my imaginary channel. The answer came from inside — from my personal experience of a millennial Russian-speaking woman in Estonia. I supported my magical intentions with statistics that I found in several official studies.”

Pre-reviewing of Darja Popolitova’s exhibition

Monday 06 July, 2020

Doctoral School

On Monday, July 6 at 17:00 , pre-reviewing of Art and Design programme PhD student Darja Popolitova’s exhibition „Magical Hotspot“ will take place at Vent Space gallery. Exhibition is part of the artistic (practice-based) doctoral thesis of Darja Popolitova.

Exhibition will be open on Friday, 3^rd of July at 6 p.m., in Tallinn gallery Vent Space (Vabaduse väljak 6). The exhibition can be visited from 29^th of June to 11^th of July 2020, every day 10-17.

Supervisors: Prof Dr Kadri Mälk, Dr Raivo Kelomees.

Pre-reviewers of the exhibition: Dr Varvara Guljajeva, Keiu Krikmann.

A new exhibition “Magical Hotspot” of the artist Darja Popolitova addresses the themes of xenophobia, sexism and loneliness of the elderly. The exhibition speculates on the themes of spiritualism, social values and Internet culture, finding common ground in jewelry and tactility.
The aim of Darja’s doctoral studies at Estonian Academy of Arts is to investigate how tactile interaction with jewellery affects the viewer through a video medium. “This year I found an artistic approach in the new vlog genre where people on their YouTube channels perform magic rituals or tell how they became eyewitnesses of paranormal events. I think this is an interesting phenomenon. As regards spiritualist-vloggers there are many stylistic elements characteristic not only of the Internet, but also of ancient sacred techniques,” the artist comments. “In the process of preparing the exhibition, I fantasized what problems I could solve with the help of magic on my imaginary channel. The answer came from inside — from my personal experience of a millennial Russian-speaking woman in Estonia. I supported my magical intentions with statistics that I found in several official studies.”

10.06.2020

Conference of the Doctoral School

Academic Affairs Office

The annual conference of EKA Doctoral School takes place on June 10 at the Estonian Academy of Arts (Põhja pst. 7) room A101 and via Zoom.
To participate in the conference registration must be completed by June 8 the latest.

TIMETABLE

10:00 – 10:15 Welcoming words

Vice Rector for Research Epp Lankots, head of programmes

Architecture and Urban Design

10:15 – 10:55

Sille Pihlak. “Prototyping Protocols: Protocolling Prototypes* Identifying and systematising design methodology for contemporary modular timber architecture”. Discussant Markus Vihma

Art History and Visual Culture Studies

10:55 – 11:35

Merily Salura. “Flow and time: the temporality of a creative process in Gadamer’s aesthetics”. Discussant Maria Hansar

11:35 – 12:15

Hanna-Liis Kont. “From relational aesthetics to Arte Útil. Selected theoretical frameworks for analysing current curatorial practices related to community engagement and social wellbeing”. Discussant Darja Popolitova

12:15 – 12:45 coffee break

Art and Design

12:45 – 13:25

Ulvi Haagensen. “The art of cleaning: crossing the line between art and everyday life”. Discussant Merily Salura

13:25 – 14:05

Darja Popolitova. “Haptic Visuality of Jewellery”. Discussant Ulvi Haagensen

14:05 – 14:45

Markus Vihma. “Eco Design competencies”. Discussant Sille Pihlak

14:45 – 15:15 coffee break

Cultural Heritage and conservation

15:15 – 15:55

Maria Hansar. “Media Archeological Approach to the Archeological Monument – Narva Case Study”. Discussant Nele Rent

15:55 – 16:35

Nele Rent. “Changes in the use of terms and language over time on the example of the Heritage Protection Act”. Discussant Hanna-Liis Kont

16:35 – 17:00 concluding discussion

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Conference of the Doctoral School

Wednesday 10 June, 2020

Academic Affairs Office

The annual conference of EKA Doctoral School takes place on June 10 at the Estonian Academy of Arts (Põhja pst. 7) room A101 and via Zoom.
To participate in the conference registration must be completed by June 8 the latest.

TIMETABLE

10:00 – 10:15 Welcoming words

Vice Rector for Research Epp Lankots, head of programmes

Architecture and Urban Design

10:15 – 10:55

Sille Pihlak. “Prototyping Protocols: Protocolling Prototypes* Identifying and systematising design methodology for contemporary modular timber architecture”. Discussant Markus Vihma

Art History and Visual Culture Studies

10:55 – 11:35

Merily Salura. “Flow and time: the temporality of a creative process in Gadamer’s aesthetics”. Discussant Maria Hansar

11:35 – 12:15

Hanna-Liis Kont. “From relational aesthetics to Arte Útil. Selected theoretical frameworks for analysing current curatorial practices related to community engagement and social wellbeing”. Discussant Darja Popolitova

12:15 – 12:45 coffee break

Art and Design

12:45 – 13:25

Ulvi Haagensen. “The art of cleaning: crossing the line between art and everyday life”. Discussant Merily Salura

13:25 – 14:05

Darja Popolitova. “Haptic Visuality of Jewellery”. Discussant Ulvi Haagensen

14:05 – 14:45

Markus Vihma. “Eco Design competencies”. Discussant Sille Pihlak

14:45 – 15:15 coffee break

Cultural Heritage and conservation

15:15 – 15:55

Maria Hansar. “Media Archeological Approach to the Archeological Monument – Narva Case Study”. Discussant Nele Rent

15:55 – 16:35

Nele Rent. “Changes in the use of terms and language over time on the example of the Heritage Protection Act”. Discussant Hanna-Liis Kont

16:35 – 17:00 concluding discussion

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18.12.2019

PhD Thesis defence of Maris Mändel

Cultural Heritage and Conservation

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

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

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

Opponent: dr Karl Õiger

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

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

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

Please find the PhD thesis here

Posted by Irene Hütsi — Permalink

PhD Thesis defence of Maris Mändel

Wednesday 18 December, 2019

Cultural Heritage and Conservation

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

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

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

Opponent: dr Karl Õiger

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

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

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

Please find the PhD thesis here

Posted by Irene Hütsi — Permalink

22.11.2019

PhD Thesis defence of Claudia Pasquero

Architecture and Urban Design

Claudia Pasquero, PhD student of the Estonian Academy of Arts, Curriculum of Architecture and Urban Planning will defend her thesis “Polycephalum: Aesthetic as a measure of ecological intelligence in Architecture and Urban Design” (“Polycephalum: esteetika ja ökoloogiline intelligentsus arhitektuuris ja linnakujunduses”) on the 22nd of November 2019 at 10.00 at Exhibition Space of BAU Design College of Barcelona (Carrer de Pujades, 118 Barcelona)

Supervisors: dr Veronika Valk (Estonian Academy of Arts) and prof Mario Carpo (The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London)

Pre-reviewers: Prof Dr Christopher Pierce (Architectural Association, London) and Prof Dr Bart Lootsma (University of Innsbruck)

Opponent: prof dr Dr Christopher Pierce (Architectural Association, London)

This dissertation, titled ‘Polycephalum: the aesthetic as a measure of ecological intelligence in architecture and urban design’, unpacks and articulates the design methodology of the candidate’s practice-based research. It moves from an analysis of the relationship between ecoLogicStudio (co-founded by the candidate in 2005) and the academic work she conducts at the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL) and at Innsbruck University (UIBK). The thesis then explores how, in this body of work, biology intersects computation as the basis for a new architectural and urban design method. Critical to the synergy among these disciplines is the role of aesthetics. The candidate refers to aesthetics as a language of non-verbal communication, a metalanguage, which, she argues, must now embody greater ecological agency in shaping future cities.

Methodologically, the development of this thesis has followed the Creative Practice Research model developed by RMIT University (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), founded on the notion that any creative venturous practice intrinsically involves a form of research enquiry. In supporting the development of this original piece of work the Estonian Academy of Arts doctoral program in architecture and urban planning, in which the candidate enrolled as an ADAPT-r Research Fellow, has aligned its stream of creative practice research with RMIT’s long-established program.

A key outcome of this research is embodied in the concept of Polycephalum architecture. This notion mobilizes multiple forms of intelligence, both human and non-human, to redefine the urban realm in the post-Anthropocene age. What role will non-human intelligence, both artificial and biological, play in shaping future architecture? The Polycephalum dismisses the core notion of modern master-planning, to elevate humanity beyond its material substrate via its foundations in rationality. Its aesthetics apparatus becomes here a mean to establish cybernetic conversations, within which human and non-human ecologies constitute co-evolutionary systems, a form of extended mind.

The thesis was developed as part of the ADAPT-r (Architecture, Design and Art Practice Training-research) program within Architecture and Urban Planning program of EKA Doctoral School.

Please find the PhD thesis HERE

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PhD Thesis defence of Claudia Pasquero

Friday 22 November, 2019