Category: Making Space

16.11.2023

Open lecture: Philipp Teufel “Exhibition Design. Exhibiting Design. Exhibiting Happiness”

On November 16 at 6 p.m Philipp Teufel from Düsseldorf will explore the questions of exhibiting design with the lecture “Exhibition Design. Exhibiting Design. Exhibiting Happiness”

The lecture gives a visual insight into the Master’s programme Exhibition design – EDI and a first glimpse of the latest project together with the Estonian Academy of Arts – a concept for the traveling exhibition ”Japanese Happiness”.

EDI, the Exhibition Design Institute of the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences, is a joint institute of the departments of architecture and design that bundles research foci and academic work on the topics of exhibition design, scenic design and museum design. The Exhibition Design programme deals with the broad panorama of design in relation to communication in space in the context of exhibitions.

One focus of the institute is on the history of exhibitions and their design, especially in a socio-cultural context. The second focus is on the exhibiting of design. Questions in exhibiting design are: How does one deal with the decontextualisation of the exhibited? What conflicts arise when exhibiting design, when concepts meet concepts and design meets design? How can design objects communicate with the exhibition visitor? Are design exhibitions only elitist events by designers for designers? What are the objectives, ideas, concepts of design exhibitions? How to make sensual and haptic qualities of design objects accessible?

Professor Philipp Teufel studied visual communication and scenography at the HfG Gmünd University of Applied Sciences in Schwäbisch Gmünd. From 1985 to 1995, he was a partner at the conceptdesign agency in Frankfurt am Main. Until 2007, Teufel was a partner at the nowakteufelknyrim design studio, and from 2008 to 2017, he was managing director of the malsyteufel studio. As artistic consultant for scenography, he supported the Humboldt Forum in the Berlin Palace from 2010 to 2015. Philipp Teufel has been teaching and researching in the field of 3D communication at Hochschule Düsseldorf – University of Applied Sciences for more than 25 years and is currently a member of the Federal

Ministry of Finance’s Art Advisory Board. He has also been a jury member of Red Dot since 2015 and currently curates and designs exhibitions on the Anthropocene and on green urban living (“Grüntopia” and “Transition Now”).

Everyone from the fields of architecture, design, art, media and art research interested in the questions of exhibition design and exhibiting design are welcome to join! The lecture will be in English and is free of charge.

 

Further information:

Gregor Taul
gregor.taul@artun.ee
Lecturer
Department of Interior Architecture
Faculty of Architecture
Estonian Academy of Arts

Posted by Gregor Taul — Permalink

Open lecture: Philipp Teufel “Exhibition Design. Exhibiting Design. Exhibiting Happiness”

Thursday 16 November, 2023

On November 16 at 6 p.m Philipp Teufel from Düsseldorf will explore the questions of exhibiting design with the lecture “Exhibition Design. Exhibiting Design. Exhibiting Happiness”

The lecture gives a visual insight into the Master’s programme Exhibition design – EDI and a first glimpse of the latest project together with the Estonian Academy of Arts – a concept for the traveling exhibition ”Japanese Happiness”.

EDI, the Exhibition Design Institute of the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences, is a joint institute of the departments of architecture and design that bundles research foci and academic work on the topics of exhibition design, scenic design and museum design. The Exhibition Design programme deals with the broad panorama of design in relation to communication in space in the context of exhibitions.

One focus of the institute is on the history of exhibitions and their design, especially in a socio-cultural context. The second focus is on the exhibiting of design. Questions in exhibiting design are: How does one deal with the decontextualisation of the exhibited? What conflicts arise when exhibiting design, when concepts meet concepts and design meets design? How can design objects communicate with the exhibition visitor? Are design exhibitions only elitist events by designers for designers? What are the objectives, ideas, concepts of design exhibitions? How to make sensual and haptic qualities of design objects accessible?

Professor Philipp Teufel studied visual communication and scenography at the HfG Gmünd University of Applied Sciences in Schwäbisch Gmünd. From 1985 to 1995, he was a partner at the conceptdesign agency in Frankfurt am Main. Until 2007, Teufel was a partner at the nowakteufelknyrim design studio, and from 2008 to 2017, he was managing director of the malsyteufel studio. As artistic consultant for scenography, he supported the Humboldt Forum in the Berlin Palace from 2010 to 2015. Philipp Teufel has been teaching and researching in the field of 3D communication at Hochschule Düsseldorf – University of Applied Sciences for more than 25 years and is currently a member of the Federal

Ministry of Finance’s Art Advisory Board. He has also been a jury member of Red Dot since 2015 and currently curates and designs exhibitions on the Anthropocene and on green urban living (“Grüntopia” and “Transition Now”).

Everyone from the fields of architecture, design, art, media and art research interested in the questions of exhibition design and exhibiting design are welcome to join! The lecture will be in English and is free of charge.

 

Further information:

Gregor Taul
gregor.taul@artun.ee
Lecturer
Department of Interior Architecture
Faculty of Architecture
Estonian Academy of Arts

Posted by Gregor Taul — Permalink

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

www.avatudloengud.ee

 

Posted by Tiina Tammet — Permalink

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

www.avatudloengud.ee

 

Posted by Tiina Tammet — Permalink

29.08.2023

Opening of the floating smoke sauna “Püha Viha”

Dear cooperation partner, colleague, and community member!

We would like to invite you to the opening of the floating smoke sauna “Püha Viha” (Holy Anger/Holy Whisk) made by the students of Interior Architecture of the Estonian Academy of Arts, the Antsla municipality and the community on Tuesday, September 29 at 14:00 by the Tsooru lake in the Antsla municipality.

A bus leaves for the opening from Tallinn in front of the EKA building (Põhja pst 7) at 09:00 and returns to Tallinn at approximately 19:00.

Please let us know if you are coming or want to come to Antsla by bus ordered by EKA HERE. There are still some vacancies.

Department of Interior Architecture of the Estonian Academy of Arts

Antsla Municipal Government

*

Additional information:

Annamari Nael
Study assistant – project coordinator
annamari.nael@artun.ee
+372 53413970

Posted by Gregor Taul — Permalink

Opening of the floating smoke sauna “Püha Viha”

Tuesday 29 August, 2023

Dear cooperation partner, colleague, and community member!

We would like to invite you to the opening of the floating smoke sauna “Püha Viha” (Holy Anger/Holy Whisk) made by the students of Interior Architecture of the Estonian Academy of Arts, the Antsla municipality and the community on Tuesday, September 29 at 14:00 by the Tsooru lake in the Antsla municipality.

A bus leaves for the opening from Tallinn in front of the EKA building (Põhja pst 7) at 09:00 and returns to Tallinn at approximately 19:00.

Please let us know if you are coming or want to come to Antsla by bus ordered by EKA HERE. There are still some vacancies.

Department of Interior Architecture of the Estonian Academy of Arts

Antsla Municipal Government

*

Additional information:

Annamari Nael
Study assistant – project coordinator
annamari.nael@artun.ee
+372 53413970

Posted by Gregor Taul — Permalink

01.04.2022

Caring for Ida-Viru? Tracing Frontiers of Shrinkage

facebook banner_no background

We kindly invite you to the exhibition and final grading of Urban Studies and Interior Architecture Urban Models studio tutored by Kristi Grišakov & Keiti Kljavin. Please join us 1st of April, 15:00 in the EKA courtyard. The exhibition has been collectively curated by students of urban studies, architecture and urban planning and interior architecture. 

Urban decline in East-Estonia presents itself in a state of flux: it is tied to the area’s contested past but also allows a peek into the future. Multiple facets of shrinkage manifest in landscapes of extractivistic production, where the line between nature and man-made environment is increasingly difficult to draw. Although urban shrinkage is often associated with deteriorated buildings, abandoned and fragmented urban environments, if we choose to look through another lens there are multiple layers of phenomenologically dense experiences of decline that can provide acceptance and perseverance. Whether shrinking cities are distressing cities is a point of contention that urges us to rethink why cities are only ever received positively and linearly through growth, and whether or why shrinkage is seen as the opposite of growth. Should it be?

The Urban Models studio and its final project Caring for Ida-Viru? Tracing Frontiers of Shrinkage explores various questions related to tangible and intangible aspects of habitation in Ida-Viru county. Urban districts and towns of Ahtme, Järve and Kiviõli, where changing policies and approaches in urban governance aim to respond to the surplus of housing caused by the outmigration of people are in focus. Students of urban studies, architecture and interior architecture collaborated in exploring, reinventing and rethinking approaches towards shrinkage, adaptation and re-use. Some try to trace the stories that are subsumed in the industrially toxic air of Ida-Virumaa. Others attempt to take a peek into the everyday life that has somehow frozen in time. The students’ used relevant literature and explored case studies with experimental media and techniques in order to deliver final projects challenging the condition of shrinkage in Eastern Estonia. 

Students: Paula Veidenbauma, Ljudmila Funika-Müür, Kush Badhwar, Augustas Lapinskas, Karen Isabel Talitee, Kelli Puusepp, Nabeel Imtiaz, Luca Liese Ritter, Julia Freudenberg, Kristiina Puusepp, Paul Simon, Christian Hörner, Hannah Mühlbach, Loviise Talvaru, Khadeeja Farrukh, Nora Soo, Jannik Kastrup. 

Guest critics: Roland Reemaa (https://www.rloaluarnad.com/), Gregor Taul (EKA), Jüri Kermik (EKA), Johanna Holvandus (TÜ)

 

——————————————————-

Opposing the Desert 

EKA courtyard terrace

an interactive installation by Paula Veidenbauma and Ljudmila Funika-Müür

Shrinking cities are aging cities. Enclosed by panels, slippery roads, railway tracks, and liminal landscape, elderly tend to be tied closely with their homes, not receiving enough soft care from the local municipality. While focusing on the topic of the invisibility of loneliness amongst the retried, the project tackles spatial isolation while looking at it from the perspective of the city district of Ahtme. It investigates public space in relation to a private space once inhabited by a senior teacher living in Ahtme’s Sõpruse street Soviet panel building. The installation tackles the findings revealed through critical geography, in parallel exploring the state of social services in Ahtme. How many borders does one have to overcome in order to be cared for? Can public space enable caring relationships between people, place, and materials, towards a city interested in investing resources beyond growth?

———————————————————

Ida

EKA library 

illustrated children’s book presentation and readings by Kush Badwahr, Augustas Lapinskas and Karen Isabel Talitee

Ida (meaning ‘east’ in Estonian but also referring to the ancient Germanic root ‘id’ meaning ‘labor, work’) is an eight year old resident of Ida-Virumaa asking herself what she would like to do when she grows up. On her way home from school, she has various interactions – with a soon to retire army officer, a group of young boys, a bird, her visiting aunt and an ex-miner – that relate to their life and work in the region in which they live. The interactions Ida has and the illustrations that make up the book are based on interviews and research exploring the nature of work, unemployment and retirement and its connections to issues of shrinkage and de-growth in the area. Ida is both a metaphor of the contemporary state of the region and a children’s book that makes these topics accessible through an illustrated narrative form.

 


Underneath the layers

@ the EKA spiral staircase

panorama installation by Kelli Puusepp and Nabeel Imtiaz

As the stones burned in the beginning of the 20th century, the towns in the East of Estonia started to grow. As the terrain in the backdrop was being dug deep, people moved in – families with all their personal belongings. Children played in the parks and their familiarity brought households closer. Memories of good times were made – over on the sidewalks and alleys, behind and in between the walls of Kohtla-Järve homes. As the underground sphere expanded, the mines got deeper, consequently developing the life on the surface. Though the estates grew denser, their expansion was halted by the end of the century. It all fell back inwards, imploding into themselves, throwing the community into an uncertainty. What was left were the remnants of the spaces once inhabited.

The story traces the history of socio-spatial formations and disintegration of the society that once formed Kohtla-Järve. 


——————————————————

Nothing Power: where absent matter matters

A-500

exhibition by Luca Liese Ritter and Julia Freudenberg 

In Ida-Virumaa, shrinkage refers to the complex consequences of going away, becoming less, fading into thin air. People move, things disappear, services close, concrete panels decay and houses are demolished. What remains in those places that were inhabited by heterogeneous matter is a void. But this emptiness is not empty in the sense of a nothingness, a nirvana; rather, it continues to be quasi-present, conceivably retaining many of its material aspects and thus its place in the fabric of socio-material relations that shape the experience of living in and coping with urban shrinkage. 

Our project explores the affective flows between what is gone and what remains, and seeks to highlight the complicated intertwining of cause and effect that residents and policymakers must navigate as they confront the challenges of population loss and subsequent over-provision of housing infrastructure. 

—————————————————-

…so we can keep on watching eesti laul in the future

A-400

house by Kristiina Puusepp and Paul Simon

In the future, Ida-Virumaa will see rapid transformation. The excavation of oil shale, one of the main social and economic pillars of the region, is not in keeping with the reality of the climate crisis. The concept of a ‘just transition’ demands a change-over satisfying both workers rights and environmental care. Originally being required by labor- and environmental activists, the term is meanwhile used by different governmental actors. In Ida-Virumaa, the EU supports the endeavor of a just transition with 340 Million Euros. While the funding will not directly finance housing, by striving for a future-oriented industry, it is the base structure for securing homes for local residents. Despite attempts for widespread participation of just transition, the transformation is mostly directed by demands and plans from external groups and higher institutions. By thematizing the ambiguous relationship between this ‘outside’ and the local population, the project raises the question how we should position ourselves in the process of transition.

—————————————————–

The Last Layer, the Next Layer? Signs for those who choose to stay 

B-205

video installation by Christian Hörner and Hannah Mühlbach

When exploring the abandoned flats of Kohtla-Järve, we came across an outstanding phenomenon of personal expression and appropriation of space: through its multiple colors, patterns and layerings, wallpaper became the collage-like visual theme of our experience as explorers of Ida-Virumaa shrinking cities’ interiors. Inspired by the creativity and self-expression of those who have left the area, our search for shrinkage re-centered around the idea of creating something for those who still live in the cities that de-grow. We began to play with the idea of decorating facades of abandoned buildings with wallpaper in a graffitti-like manner, as a vehicle of intention, resistance and visibility. This next layer on Ida-Virumaa loses the fatality of linear decline until disappearance and points to an alternative future where abandoned buildings become monuments of persistence rather than unwanted obstacles for liveability. Our installation represents the hypothesis that people, when provided with the means to care for their cities, can re-frame narratives of shrinkage and create an optimistic outlook on Ida-Virumaa’s future.

——————————————————

The Other side of the Coin: Must Shrinkage be Only Tormenting?

A-200

mixed media by Loviise Talvaru and Khedeeja Farrukh

Emptiness becomes even more emptier because of our need to define society through community. Kiviõli, one of the many mining towns in Ida-Virumaa, is categorized as an example of urban shrinkage, where dilapidated conditions of facades, rustic reminders of laundry lines, empty apartment buildings, sounds of sea gull penetrating the otherwise silent urbanity urges an outsider to call this environment tormenting. But is that really so?

Must shrinkage be only tormenting? Why is shrinkage antagonistic to growth? Isn’t growth also tormenting? Through this project, a process of personal experiences, of how we perceived shrinkage and how our experience changed it, is depicted. There came a point in our research where we realized that this top-down trajectory of perceptions is quite acute and that urbanity is not an abstraction only to be lived on papers, rather it is an everyday experience. So, we went back to Kiviõli. For good. And for surprises. 

Our approach is not an end-point, but a device of researching, where our visits to Kiviõli enabled an important aspect of experimentation and co-creation, transforming our approach towards shrinkage.

——————————————————

Help yourself with Energy

B-205

video and installation by Nora Soo and Jannik Kastrup 

The electricity meter operates between the public and the private realm. Subject to regular control, it softly breaks their boundaries. In economically deprived regions like Ida-Virumaa its reading frequently decides the fate of the inhabitants, pressuring those who are financially incapable to upgrade to more efficient devices.
Tampering with the electricity meter is therefore a common disruptive practice.
However in the spheres of en vogue online life coaching, energy is portrayed as a personal property that can be manipulated according to spiritual practices, detached from economic and political circumstances. Does it mean that anyone can achieve anything being only restricted by imaginary boundaries? Paradoxically, the imaginaries of inhabitants in Ida-Virumaa are limited in a situation of energy poverty. Within this dichotomy of energy as a contested public good and as an individualized spirituality lies one of the challenges of neoliberal capitalist societies. The (video) installation plays with diverging concepts of energy by audiovisually overlapping and rearranging these distinct narratives.  

 

Posted by Keiti Kljavin — Permalink

Caring for Ida-Viru? Tracing Frontiers of Shrinkage

Friday 01 April, 2022

facebook banner_no background

We kindly invite you to the exhibition and final grading of Urban Studies and Interior Architecture Urban Models studio tutored by Kristi Grišakov & Keiti Kljavin. Please join us 1st of April, 15:00 in the EKA courtyard. The exhibition has been collectively curated by students of urban studies, architecture and urban planning and interior architecture. 

Urban decline in East-Estonia presents itself in a state of flux: it is tied to the area’s contested past but also allows a peek into the future. Multiple facets of shrinkage manifest in landscapes of extractivistic production, where the line between nature and man-made environment is increasingly difficult to draw. Although urban shrinkage is often associated with deteriorated buildings, abandoned and fragmented urban environments, if we choose to look through another lens there are multiple layers of phenomenologically dense experiences of decline that can provide acceptance and perseverance. Whether shrinking cities are distressing cities is a point of contention that urges us to rethink why cities are only ever received positively and linearly through growth, and whether or why shrinkage is seen as the opposite of growth. Should it be?

The Urban Models studio and its final project Caring for Ida-Viru? Tracing Frontiers of Shrinkage explores various questions related to tangible and intangible aspects of habitation in Ida-Viru county. Urban districts and towns of Ahtme, Järve and Kiviõli, where changing policies and approaches in urban governance aim to respond to the surplus of housing caused by the outmigration of people are in focus. Students of urban studies, architecture and interior architecture collaborated in exploring, reinventing and rethinking approaches towards shrinkage, adaptation and re-use. Some try to trace the stories that are subsumed in the industrially toxic air of Ida-Virumaa. Others attempt to take a peek into the everyday life that has somehow frozen in time. The students’ used relevant literature and explored case studies with experimental media and techniques in order to deliver final projects challenging the condition of shrinkage in Eastern Estonia. 

Students: Paula Veidenbauma, Ljudmila Funika-Müür, Kush Badhwar, Augustas Lapinskas, Karen Isabel Talitee, Kelli Puusepp, Nabeel Imtiaz, Luca Liese Ritter, Julia Freudenberg, Kristiina Puusepp, Paul Simon, Christian Hörner, Hannah Mühlbach, Loviise Talvaru, Khadeeja Farrukh, Nora Soo, Jannik Kastrup. 

Guest critics: Roland Reemaa (https://www.rloaluarnad.com/), Gregor Taul (EKA), Jüri Kermik (EKA), Johanna Holvandus (TÜ)

 

——————————————————-

Opposing the Desert 

EKA courtyard terrace

an interactive installation by Paula Veidenbauma and Ljudmila Funika-Müür

Shrinking cities are aging cities. Enclosed by panels, slippery roads, railway tracks, and liminal landscape, elderly tend to be tied closely with their homes, not receiving enough soft care from the local municipality. While focusing on the topic of the invisibility of loneliness amongst the retried, the project tackles spatial isolation while looking at it from the perspective of the city district of Ahtme. It investigates public space in relation to a private space once inhabited by a senior teacher living in Ahtme’s Sõpruse street Soviet panel building. The installation tackles the findings revealed through critical geography, in parallel exploring the state of social services in Ahtme. How many borders does one have to overcome in order to be cared for? Can public space enable caring relationships between people, place, and materials, towards a city interested in investing resources beyond growth?

———————————————————

Ida

EKA library 

illustrated children’s book presentation and readings by Kush Badwahr, Augustas Lapinskas and Karen Isabel Talitee

Ida (meaning ‘east’ in Estonian but also referring to the ancient Germanic root ‘id’ meaning ‘labor, work’) is an eight year old resident of Ida-Virumaa asking herself what she would like to do when she grows up. On her way home from school, she has various interactions – with a soon to retire army officer, a group of young boys, a bird, her visiting aunt and an ex-miner – that relate to their life and work in the region in which they live. The interactions Ida has and the illustrations that make up the book are based on interviews and research exploring the nature of work, unemployment and retirement and its connections to issues of shrinkage and de-growth in the area. Ida is both a metaphor of the contemporary state of the region and a children’s book that makes these topics accessible through an illustrated narrative form.

 


Underneath the layers

@ the EKA spiral staircase

panorama installation by Kelli Puusepp and Nabeel Imtiaz

As the stones burned in the beginning of the 20th century, the towns in the East of Estonia started to grow. As the terrain in the backdrop was being dug deep, people moved in – families with all their personal belongings. Children played in the parks and their familiarity brought households closer. Memories of good times were made – over on the sidewalks and alleys, behind and in between the walls of Kohtla-Järve homes. As the underground sphere expanded, the mines got deeper, consequently developing the life on the surface. Though the estates grew denser, their expansion was halted by the end of the century. It all fell back inwards, imploding into themselves, throwing the community into an uncertainty. What was left were the remnants of the spaces once inhabited.

The story traces the history of socio-spatial formations and disintegration of the society that once formed Kohtla-Järve. 


——————————————————

Nothing Power: where absent matter matters

A-500

exhibition by Luca Liese Ritter and Julia Freudenberg 

In Ida-Virumaa, shrinkage refers to the complex consequences of going away, becoming less, fading into thin air. People move, things disappear, services close, concrete panels decay and houses are demolished. What remains in those places that were inhabited by heterogeneous matter is a void. But this emptiness is not empty in the sense of a nothingness, a nirvana; rather, it continues to be quasi-present, conceivably retaining many of its material aspects and thus its place in the fabric of socio-material relations that shape the experience of living in and coping with urban shrinkage. 

Our project explores the affective flows between what is gone and what remains, and seeks to highlight the complicated intertwining of cause and effect that residents and policymakers must navigate as they confront the challenges of population loss and subsequent over-provision of housing infrastructure. 

—————————————————-

…so we can keep on watching eesti laul in the future

A-400

house by Kristiina Puusepp and Paul Simon

In the future, Ida-Virumaa will see rapid transformation. The excavation of oil shale, one of the main social and economic pillars of the region, is not in keeping with the reality of the climate crisis. The concept of a ‘just transition’ demands a change-over satisfying both workers rights and environmental care. Originally being required by labor- and environmental activists, the term is meanwhile used by different governmental actors. In Ida-Virumaa, the EU supports the endeavor of a just transition with 340 Million Euros. While the funding will not directly finance housing, by striving for a future-oriented industry, it is the base structure for securing homes for local residents. Despite attempts for widespread participation of just transition, the transformation is mostly directed by demands and plans from external groups and higher institutions. By thematizing the ambiguous relationship between this ‘outside’ and the local population, the project raises the question how we should position ourselves in the process of transition.

—————————————————–

The Last Layer, the Next Layer? Signs for those who choose to stay 

B-205

video installation by Christian Hörner and Hannah Mühlbach

When exploring the abandoned flats of Kohtla-Järve, we came across an outstanding phenomenon of personal expression and appropriation of space: through its multiple colors, patterns and layerings, wallpaper became the collage-like visual theme of our experience as explorers of Ida-Virumaa shrinking cities’ interiors. Inspired by the creativity and self-expression of those who have left the area, our search for shrinkage re-centered around the idea of creating something for those who still live in the cities that de-grow. We began to play with the idea of decorating facades of abandoned buildings with wallpaper in a graffitti-like manner, as a vehicle of intention, resistance and visibility. This next layer on Ida-Virumaa loses the fatality of linear decline until disappearance and points to an alternative future where abandoned buildings become monuments of persistence rather than unwanted obstacles for liveability. Our installation represents the hypothesis that people, when provided with the means to care for their cities, can re-frame narratives of shrinkage and create an optimistic outlook on Ida-Virumaa’s future.

——————————————————

The Other side of the Coin: Must Shrinkage be Only Tormenting?

A-200

mixed media by Loviise Talvaru and Khedeeja Farrukh

Emptiness becomes even more emptier because of our need to define society through community. Kiviõli, one of the many mining towns in Ida-Virumaa, is categorized as an example of urban shrinkage, where dilapidated conditions of facades, rustic reminders of laundry lines, empty apartment buildings, sounds of sea gull penetrating the otherwise silent urbanity urges an outsider to call this environment tormenting. But is that really so?

Must shrinkage be only tormenting? Why is shrinkage antagonistic to growth? Isn’t growth also tormenting? Through this project, a process of personal experiences, of how we perceived shrinkage and how our experience changed it, is depicted. There came a point in our research where we realized that this top-down trajectory of perceptions is quite acute and that urbanity is not an abstraction only to be lived on papers, rather it is an everyday experience. So, we went back to Kiviõli. For good. And for surprises. 

Our approach is not an end-point, but a device of researching, where our visits to Kiviõli enabled an important aspect of experimentation and co-creation, transforming our approach towards shrinkage.

——————————————————

Help yourself with Energy

B-205

video and installation by Nora Soo and Jannik Kastrup 

The electricity meter operates between the public and the private realm. Subject to regular control, it softly breaks their boundaries. In economically deprived regions like Ida-Virumaa its reading frequently decides the fate of the inhabitants, pressuring those who are financially incapable to upgrade to more efficient devices.
Tampering with the electricity meter is therefore a common disruptive practice.
However in the spheres of en vogue online life coaching, energy is portrayed as a personal property that can be manipulated according to spiritual practices, detached from economic and political circumstances. Does it mean that anyone can achieve anything being only restricted by imaginary boundaries? Paradoxically, the imaginaries of inhabitants in Ida-Virumaa are limited in a situation of energy poverty. Within this dichotomy of energy as a contested public good and as an individualized spirituality lies one of the challenges of neoliberal capitalist societies. The (video) installation plays with diverging concepts of energy by audiovisually overlapping and rearranging these distinct narratives.  

 

Posted by Keiti Kljavin — Permalink

21.02.2022 — 14.03.2022

EKA “Open Windows” 2022 Exhibition

The exhibition “Open Windows” will reopen on the windows of the Library of EKA on February 21, at 4 pm.

Through the exhibition of EKA windows, different specialities of EKA introduce their most outstanding projects and the latest creations of students. The exhibition can be viewed on the windows of the EKA Library on Põhja pst and Kotzebue streets and will remain open until March 14.

Specialities represented: Installation and Sculpture, Room Design, Product and Environmental design, Visual Communication, Photography, Jewellery and Blacksmithing, Scenography, Fashion Design, Textile Design, Accessory Design, Graphics, Graphic Design, Animation, Ceramics, Industrial and Digital Product Design, Glass, Architecture, Interior Design, Painting, Art and Visual Culture, Cultural Heritage and Conservation

The exhibition of open windows of EKA made its debut in 2021 and received a warm welcome from those interested in art and art education. The Estonian Academy of Arts, located on the edge of Kalamaja, will once again enliven the city’s cultural landscape at street level. Get with it! 

Posted by Andres Lõo — Permalink

EKA “Open Windows” 2022 Exhibition

Monday 21 February, 2022 — Monday 14 March, 2022

The exhibition “Open Windows” will reopen on the windows of the Library of EKA on February 21, at 4 pm.

Through the exhibition of EKA windows, different specialities of EKA introduce their most outstanding projects and the latest creations of students. The exhibition can be viewed on the windows of the EKA Library on Põhja pst and Kotzebue streets and will remain open until March 14.

Specialities represented: Installation and Sculpture, Room Design, Product and Environmental design, Visual Communication, Photography, Jewellery and Blacksmithing, Scenography, Fashion Design, Textile Design, Accessory Design, Graphics, Graphic Design, Animation, Ceramics, Industrial and Digital Product Design, Glass, Architecture, Interior Design, Painting, Art and Visual Culture, Cultural Heritage and Conservation

The exhibition of open windows of EKA made its debut in 2021 and received a warm welcome from those interested in art and art education. The Estonian Academy of Arts, located on the edge of Kalamaja, will once again enliven the city’s cultural landscape at street level. Get with it! 

Posted by Andres Lõo — Permalink

03.11.2021 — 31.01.2022

Spatial design ideas by EKA interior architecture students at Estonian National Museum exhibition

Screenshot 2021-11-18 at 16.39.53
scene_0601_jj_crop

TO THE EXHIBITION! The students of the 2nd year of the bachelor’s study in interior architecture focussed on creating inclusive exhibition spaces, tutored by architect Johanna Jõekalda. The task of the students was to design an exhibition space based on what they had learned, which would take into account visitors with different special needs to the maximum. 

 

During the course, students learned to understand the principles of user-oriented design and create an inclusive environment. Spatial solutions were designed with the Estonian National Museum’s exhibition “Kaasav ELU” (“Inclusive LIFE”) in mind, which brings together different gadgets and tools that support the learning and leisure activities of users with disabilities.

 

In developing their spatial proposals, students used VR technologies to better understand and explain different unique user experiences: VR, allowing for immersive experiences, is an excellent tool for helping to better understand different spatial experiences and designing more inclusive environments. Students’ work was based on the principle that a room that is comfortable for people with special needs is also convenient for all other users.

 

During the development of the projects, the students received support from the parallel course “Digital Techniques” held at the VR Lab and supervised by Johanna Jõekalda. Daniel Kotsjuba (accessibility), Kärt Ojavee (materiality), Artur Staškevitš (exhibition solutions) and Paco Ulman (digital techniques) shared their experiences of inclusive design. The studio was conducted in cooperation with the Tallinn University “Inclusive LIFE” project, led by Tiia Artla and Jana Kadastik.

See a virtual tour of the works of five interior design students.

From early November, a selection of student works completed during the course (Laura Maria Tõru, Kätlin Lond, Triin Kampus, Anni Kõrvemaa, Viktoria Ugur) is available for everyone to see at the exhibition “Inclusive LIFE” at the Estonian National Museum in Tartu. The student work is presented on a touch screen as a virtual tour, which guides the visitors of the exhibition through more exciting space solutions and shares information on the application of the principles of inclusive design in interior architecture.

The Department of Interior Architecture of EKA would like to thank all those who contributed to the supervision of students and for the exciting opportunity to cooperate with Tallinn University and the Estonian National Museum – together we took a small step towards making the environments and premises of the future friendly to all users.

The exhibition will be open until January 31, 2022, so onwards to Tartu!

Posted by Triin Männik — Permalink

Spatial design ideas by EKA interior architecture students at Estonian National Museum exhibition

Wednesday 03 November, 2021 — Monday 31 January, 2022

Screenshot 2021-11-18 at 16.39.53
scene_0601_jj_crop

TO THE EXHIBITION! The students of the 2nd year of the bachelor’s study in interior architecture focussed on creating inclusive exhibition spaces, tutored by architect Johanna Jõekalda. The task of the students was to design an exhibition space based on what they had learned, which would take into account visitors with different special needs to the maximum. 

 

During the course, students learned to understand the principles of user-oriented design and create an inclusive environment. Spatial solutions were designed with the Estonian National Museum’s exhibition “Kaasav ELU” (“Inclusive LIFE”) in mind, which brings together different gadgets and tools that support the learning and leisure activities of users with disabilities.

 

In developing their spatial proposals, students used VR technologies to better understand and explain different unique user experiences: VR, allowing for immersive experiences, is an excellent tool for helping to better understand different spatial experiences and designing more inclusive environments. Students’ work was based on the principle that a room that is comfortable for people with special needs is also convenient for all other users.

 

During the development of the projects, the students received support from the parallel course “Digital Techniques” held at the VR Lab and supervised by Johanna Jõekalda. Daniel Kotsjuba (accessibility), Kärt Ojavee (materiality), Artur Staškevitš (exhibition solutions) and Paco Ulman (digital techniques) shared their experiences of inclusive design. The studio was conducted in cooperation with the Tallinn University “Inclusive LIFE” project, led by Tiia Artla and Jana Kadastik.

See a virtual tour of the works of five interior design students.

From early November, a selection of student works completed during the course (Laura Maria Tõru, Kätlin Lond, Triin Kampus, Anni Kõrvemaa, Viktoria Ugur) is available for everyone to see at the exhibition “Inclusive LIFE” at the Estonian National Museum in Tartu. The student work is presented on a touch screen as a virtual tour, which guides the visitors of the exhibition through more exciting space solutions and shares information on the application of the principles of inclusive design in interior architecture.

The Department of Interior Architecture of EKA would like to thank all those who contributed to the supervision of students and for the exciting opportunity to cooperate with Tallinn University and the Estonian National Museum – together we took a small step towards making the environments and premises of the future friendly to all users.

The exhibition will be open until January 31, 2022, so onwards to Tartu!

Posted by Triin Männik — Permalink

22.05.2021 — 31.08.2021

Exhibition LibrarySPACE

What should the modern library space offer its user, the 3rd year students of the EAA bachelor’s study of interior architecture ask, and offer a number of spatial concepts at the exhibition opened at the National Library until 31 August. The student projects presented at the exhibition have been created within studio “Public Space”, which was supervised by Jan Skolimowski and Hanna Karits. Public space – in the sense of buildings serving public purposes – is dealt with in the Department of Interior Architecture of EAA every autumn semester, focusing on one or another specific building.

 

This time the focus was on the Estonian National Library. The building, designed by architect Raine Karp and completed in 1993, will soon be undergoing renovation. During the course, the students researched the spatial typology of library buildings more broadly and took a closer look at the foyer and the 5th floor of the National Library, in particular. Multi-layered ideas and fresh creative spatial solutions were developed that would meet the expectations of the 21st century in the context of people’s needs, the organization itself and the surrounding Tallinn city. The focus was on the values ​​of the existing interior, the basics of lighting and room acoustics both in theory and practice. Ideas of ​​a library as a creative residency, a small village, an active movement space, an urban jungle, a memory place, etc were born.

 

On an interior architect’s desk, a public space project takes on the meaning of a social space with a physical dimension and a social content. In today’s urban and cultural landscape adapted for consumption, it is critical to relate to spaces on a daily basis that do not require opening one’s wallet. How has the public space changed in the last year, when the doors of almost all public spaces were closed for quite a while? The subject of public space provides an opportunity to think big and dream openly when studying the interior architecture of EAA. The content of the professional studio is to delve into different spatial typologies (incl. the peculiarities of the interior architecture of a large hall) and to critically interpret their functioning in contemporary and future space-time. During the semester, students interact with one specific public building, looking for connections with the architecture of the building, the urban context and new modern users. Until the end of August, all visitors to the National Library have been invited to reflect on the results of one such semester.

 

We thank:

EKA interior architecture 3rd year students 

Germo Ausin, Silvia Ingver, Sanna-Betty Jaanimaa, Marie Jõgi, Regina Kaasik, Ann-Katriin Kelder, Kertu Kuusemets, Kristiina Püü, Celine-Cathy Raaga, Grete-Loviis Saar, Loviise Talvaru, Linda-Maria Urke

Tutors: Jan Skolimowski, Hanna Karits

Exhibition team: Interior Architecture department, Ann-Katriin Kelder, Grete Tiigiste, Triin Männik

Design: Stella Skulatšjova

Support: Eesti Rahvusraamatukogu, Eesti Kunstiakadeemia

 

Posted by Triin Männik — Permalink

Exhibition LibrarySPACE

Saturday 22 May, 2021 — Tuesday 31 August, 2021

What should the modern library space offer its user, the 3rd year students of the EAA bachelor’s study of interior architecture ask, and offer a number of spatial concepts at the exhibition opened at the National Library until 31 August. The student projects presented at the exhibition have been created within studio “Public Space”, which was supervised by Jan Skolimowski and Hanna Karits. Public space – in the sense of buildings serving public purposes – is dealt with in the Department of Interior Architecture of EAA every autumn semester, focusing on one or another specific building.

 

This time the focus was on the Estonian National Library. The building, designed by architect Raine Karp and completed in 1993, will soon be undergoing renovation. During the course, the students researched the spatial typology of library buildings more broadly and took a closer look at the foyer and the 5th floor of the National Library, in particular. Multi-layered ideas and fresh creative spatial solutions were developed that would meet the expectations of the 21st century in the context of people’s needs, the organization itself and the surrounding Tallinn city. The focus was on the values ​​of the existing interior, the basics of lighting and room acoustics both in theory and practice. Ideas of ​​a library as a creative residency, a small village, an active movement space, an urban jungle, a memory place, etc were born.

 

On an interior architect’s desk, a public space project takes on the meaning of a social space with a physical dimension and a social content. In today’s urban and cultural landscape adapted for consumption, it is critical to relate to spaces on a daily basis that do not require opening one’s wallet. How has the public space changed in the last year, when the doors of almost all public spaces were closed for quite a while? The subject of public space provides an opportunity to think big and dream openly when studying the interior architecture of EAA. The content of the professional studio is to delve into different spatial typologies (incl. the peculiarities of the interior architecture of a large hall) and to critically interpret their functioning in contemporary and future space-time. During the semester, students interact with one specific public building, looking for connections with the architecture of the building, the urban context and new modern users. Until the end of August, all visitors to the National Library have been invited to reflect on the results of one such semester.

 

We thank:

EKA interior architecture 3rd year students 

Germo Ausin, Silvia Ingver, Sanna-Betty Jaanimaa, Marie Jõgi, Regina Kaasik, Ann-Katriin Kelder, Kertu Kuusemets, Kristiina Püü, Celine-Cathy Raaga, Grete-Loviis Saar, Loviise Talvaru, Linda-Maria Urke

Tutors: Jan Skolimowski, Hanna Karits

Exhibition team: Interior Architecture department, Ann-Katriin Kelder, Grete Tiigiste, Triin Männik

Design: Stella Skulatšjova

Support: Eesti Rahvusraamatukogu, Eesti Kunstiakadeemia

 

Posted by Triin Männik — Permalink

22.05.2021 — 05.06.2021

Exhibition A Tale of Persistence: Expanding on Decline in Ida-Virumaa

The master students from the Interior Architecture and Urbanism Departments of the Estonian Academy of Arts present their projects on Ida-Virumaa’s living spaces at the White Hall of Kohtla-Järve Oil Shale Museum. The landscapes of Ida-Viru, where distinguishing between the man-made and the natural has become increasingly difficult, conceal hope. They speak of a future different from the one that was planned in the past. That difference, despite the bleak outlook, is still liveablethese are environments of adaptation where a new tale is being made. Students of urban studies and interior architecture were asked to question how various experiences of habitation could be connected to the governance of decline and strategic shrinkage of the built environment. In the beautiful interiors of the White Hall, they present installations, drawings, photos, that represent topics relating to living in declining places, such as preservation, re-wilding and enchantment of emptiness.

The related courses were tutored by Mariann Drell, Kristi Grišakov, Keiti Kljavin and Laura Linsi.

Participants:

Mira Samonig, Mirell Ülle, Janosh Heydorn, Alexander Nenenko, Juss Heinsalu, Ardo Hiiuväin, Triin Juhanson, Veera Gontšugova, Eeros Lees, Þórhildur Guðmundsdóttir, Daria Khrystych, Fernanda Ayala Torres, Semele Kari

Exhibition design:

Mirell Ülle, Juss Heinsalu, Ardo Hiiuväin, Veera Gontšugova, Eeros Lees, Semele Kari

Posted by Triin Männik — Permalink

Exhibition A Tale of Persistence: Expanding on Decline in Ida-Virumaa

Saturday 22 May, 2021 — Saturday 05 June, 2021

The master students from the Interior Architecture and Urbanism Departments of the Estonian Academy of Arts present their projects on Ida-Virumaa’s living spaces at the White Hall of Kohtla-Järve Oil Shale Museum. The landscapes of Ida-Viru, where distinguishing between the man-made and the natural has become increasingly difficult, conceal hope. They speak of a future different from the one that was planned in the past. That difference, despite the bleak outlook, is still liveablethese are environments of adaptation where a new tale is being made. Students of urban studies and interior architecture were asked to question how various experiences of habitation could be connected to the governance of decline and strategic shrinkage of the built environment. In the beautiful interiors of the White Hall, they present installations, drawings, photos, that represent topics relating to living in declining places, such as preservation, re-wilding and enchantment of emptiness.

The related courses were tutored by Mariann Drell, Kristi Grišakov, Keiti Kljavin and Laura Linsi.

Participants:

Mira Samonig, Mirell Ülle, Janosh Heydorn, Alexander Nenenko, Juss Heinsalu, Ardo Hiiuväin, Triin Juhanson, Veera Gontšugova, Eeros Lees, Þórhildur Guðmundsdóttir, Daria Khrystych, Fernanda Ayala Torres, Semele Kari

Exhibition design:

Mirell Ülle, Juss Heinsalu, Ardo Hiiuväin, Veera Gontšugova, Eeros Lees, Semele Kari

Posted by Triin Männik — Permalink

14.05.2021

A Tale of Persistence: Expanding on Decline in Ida-Virumaa

urbanmodels_2021
In Ida-Virumaa the politics of the climate neutral futures, the deprived status quo and the infrastructures inherited from the past intensively meet, showing multiple endings but also some possible new beginnings. The landscapes of Ida-Viru, where distinguishing between the man-made and the natural has become increasingly difficult, conceal something we might describe with the word ‘hope’. They speak of a future different from the one that was planned in the past. That difference, despite the bleak outlook is still liveable—these are environments of adaptation where a new tale is being made.Students of urban studies and interior architecture were asked to question how various experiences of habitation could be connected to the governance of decline and strategic shrinkage of the built environment. A Tale of Persistence focuses on areas of Kohtla-Järve and Kiviõli, a duo of out of many municipalities in decline in East Estonia, where the changing policies and socio-economic drivers of recent decades have led to excess supply of housing. Contrary to specific housing programmes and demolition initiatives, this course has approached housing as an experience. Tandems of both study programmes worked with different conditions of decline by rethinking growth or adaptation. Their projects use varied mediums and techniques to examine formal and informal practices, debates in literature and applied studies.

 

A Tale of Persistence: Expanding on Decline in Ida-Virumaa is a final grading of Estonian Academy of Arts Urban Studies and Interior Architecture Urban models studio, tutored by Kristi Grišakov, Keiti Kljavin and Laura Linsi.

 

Students: Þórhildur B. Guðmundsdóttir, Ardo Hiiuväin, Janosh Heydorn, Daria Khrystych, Veera Gontšugova, Juss Heinsalu, Eeros Lees, Oleksandr Nenenko, Mira Samonig, Fernanda Torres, Semele Kari, Mirell Ülle, Triin Juhanson.

 

Guest critics: Anna Anna Bitkina (The Creative Association of Curators TOK), Tüüne-Kristin Vaikla and Maroš Krivy (Estonian Academy of Arts)

Join us online: https://zoom.us/j/94968674543

 

————————————————————————–

Hope Against Hope

The In-Betweenness of Emptiness

by Mirell Ülle and Mira Samonig

Emptiness does not necessarily equal a state of something being empty; in fact, it can be very full, but full with the wrong things. This renders emptiness to a condition of disorder, of unclearness. It constitutes a state in-between the tension of something that has ended, and another thing that is not yet graspable.

This project investigates the concept of emptiness within the shrinking context of the east Estonian town Kiviõli. It highlights the varying aspects of emptying traced throughout Kiviõli’s history and intends to make emptiness informed by a feeling of hopelessness comprehensible. Eventually, a glimpse into a possible future is offered that re-approaches emptiness neither through the lens of hopelessness nor hope, but as a potentiality for both.

 

Plural Preservations

by Janosh Heydorn and Juss Heinsalu

Plural Preservations reflects on the complexity of maintaining areas of milieu value. A compiled album of the possible futures of Lehola Street ansambel takes a close look at the Stalinist architecture and its prospect. Engaging with theories and formal guidelines of preservation, speculative scenarios unfold seemingly disappearing options to navigate protective regulations, ownership division, financial segregation, architectural value and will. This project is a flow of thought, an experiment to explore the concepts of preservation in the context of shrinkage.

 

DachaIn

By Oleksandr Nenenko and Triin Juhason

The focus t of the project is to find a conceptual vision for a ‘green’ strategy which could help to deal with the decline of the Järve district in Kohtla-Järve. Inspired by the experience of countries like Germany and the US, we looked into the possibility of bridging urban farming and post-soviet dacha culture (its structure, functions and practices). Our work investigates possible ways of bringing those two phenomena into the urban context of Kohtla-Järve in order to create sustainable and ecological urban blocks that through supporting various forms of gardening lifestyles help to reactivate the town.

 

 

Sompa Sanctum

By Semele Kari

The condition of living in godforsaken Ida-Virumaa declining settlements made me wonder, “Why do people stay in these ghost-towns and how?” Since then, I have rephrased the question to: Why should someone new go and live there? If this environment symbolises an abandoned territory, could it speak out to those whose environment has neglected them?

In this interaction between human and built environment I see a way for redemption. This shrinking physical world is giving back something by going backwards, dying a slow death. And in the process of leaving this world it represents an ongoing prospect of decay.

The user of this world harvests the last it has to offer: silence, solitude and sanctuary, the spirits of this long gone functional world. These last men standing are giving back to architecture in means of mercy, worship and care which manifest in the coexistence of decline.

 

Adaptation of Facades in Times of Decadence

By Eeros Lees and Fernanda Ayala Torres

Our project investigates the aesthetic change of Kohtla-Järve central boulevard Keskallee. Here the adaptation and transformation of the facades of Stalinist architecture are reflected, as their ornamentation and symbolism are making a way for small businesses on the first floors bringing along new signs, window stickers, painting practices, new entrances and perhaps also new hope? Our vision marks the changing reality of a decadent city that reinvents itself through its facades but must still follow heritage requirements.

 

To Keep Or Not To Keep: Reconsideration of Khrushchevka

By Veera Gontšugova and Daria Khrystych

The project is an online archive aiming to recover the public image of the Soviet-time mass housing building typology, known as the Khrushchevka. Such a typology tends to be not favored in the post-Soviet environment, occasionally entailing the abandonment and demolition of these buildings. By gathering and structuring information, our goal is to present a future-oriented point of view to showcase the potential and hope for this particular residential building typology. We base our storytelling on the historical findings, empirical data as well as presenting the examples of dealing with the similar issue in different contexts. By looking at both material and social aspects, we are referring to the retrofitting and collective living strategies that can be implemented in order to rebound the reputation of Khrushchevka.

 

Rethinking Growth

Þórhildur B. Guðmundsdóttir and Ardo Hiiuväin

Our project explores the idea of “giving land back to nature” within the context of spatial shrinkage and half-emptiness, with a focus on rewilding. Accepting the half-empty future of Sompa, we aim to question the concept of wilderness and emphasise the importance of the shared sense of responsibility required to create a sustainable living environment.

These ideas are implemented through proposing a vision competition for the rewilding of a selected housing complex in Sompa. With the hope of bringing in a wide array of ideas and perspectives, the competition entries would reflect the different ways of which rewilding can be a tool for engaging with spatial shrinkage. Furthermore, the goal of hosting the competition is to bring attention to this subject, inviting the public to ask what shrinkage actually entails, what it means for those affected and ultimately valuing the already existing qualities embedded in these shrinking communities.

Posted by Keiti Kljavin — Permalink

A Tale of Persistence: Expanding on Decline in Ida-Virumaa

Friday 14 May, 2021

urbanmodels_2021
In Ida-Virumaa the politics of the climate neutral futures, the deprived status quo and the infrastructures inherited from the past intensively meet, showing multiple endings but also some possible new beginnings. The landscapes of Ida-Viru, where distinguishing between the man-made and the natural has become increasingly difficult, conceal something we might describe with the word ‘hope’. They speak of a future different from the one that was planned in the past. That difference, despite the bleak outlook is still liveable—these are environments of adaptation where a new tale is being made.Students of urban studies and interior architecture were asked to question how various experiences of habitation could be connected to the governance of decline and strategic shrinkage of the built environment. A Tale of Persistence focuses on areas of Kohtla-Järve and Kiviõli, a duo of out of many municipalities in decline in East Estonia, where the changing policies and socio-economic drivers of recent decades have led to excess supply of housing. Contrary to specific housing programmes and demolition initiatives, this course has approached housing as an experience. Tandems of both study programmes worked with different conditions of decline by rethinking growth or adaptation. Their projects use varied mediums and techniques to examine formal and informal practices, debates in literature and applied studies.

 

A Tale of Persistence: Expanding on Decline in Ida-Virumaa is a final grading of Estonian Academy of Arts Urban Studies and Interior Architecture Urban models studio, tutored by Kristi Grišakov, Keiti Kljavin and Laura Linsi.

 

Students: Þórhildur B. Guðmundsdóttir, Ardo Hiiuväin, Janosh Heydorn, Daria Khrystych, Veera Gontšugova, Juss Heinsalu, Eeros Lees, Oleksandr Nenenko, Mira Samonig, Fernanda Torres, Semele Kari, Mirell Ülle, Triin Juhanson.

 

Guest critics: Anna Anna Bitkina (The Creative Association of Curators TOK), Tüüne-Kristin Vaikla and Maroš Krivy (Estonian Academy of Arts)

Join us online: https://zoom.us/j/94968674543

 

————————————————————————–

Hope Against Hope

The In-Betweenness of Emptiness

by Mirell Ülle and Mira Samonig

Emptiness does not necessarily equal a state of something being empty; in fact, it can be very full, but full with the wrong things. This renders emptiness to a condition of disorder, of unclearness. It constitutes a state in-between the tension of something that has ended, and another thing that is not yet graspable.

This project investigates the concept of emptiness within the shrinking context of the east Estonian town Kiviõli. It highlights the varying aspects of emptying traced throughout Kiviõli’s history and intends to make emptiness informed by a feeling of hopelessness comprehensible. Eventually, a glimpse into a possible future is offered that re-approaches emptiness neither through the lens of hopelessness nor hope, but as a potentiality for both.

 

Plural Preservations

by Janosh Heydorn and Juss Heinsalu

Plural Preservations reflects on the complexity of maintaining areas of milieu value. A compiled album of the possible futures of Lehola Street ansambel takes a close look at the Stalinist architecture and its prospect. Engaging with theories and formal guidelines of preservation, speculative scenarios unfold seemingly disappearing options to navigate protective regulations, ownership division, financial segregation, architectural value and will. This project is a flow of thought, an experiment to explore the concepts of preservation in the context of shrinkage.

 

DachaIn

By Oleksandr Nenenko and Triin Juhason

The focus t of the project is to find a conceptual vision for a ‘green’ strategy which could help to deal with the decline of the Järve district in Kohtla-Järve. Inspired by the experience of countries like Germany and the US, we looked into the possibility of bridging urban farming and post-soviet dacha culture (its structure, functions and practices). Our work investigates possible ways of bringing those two phenomena into the urban context of Kohtla-Järve in order to create sustainable and ecological urban blocks that through supporting various forms of gardening lifestyles help to reactivate the town.

 

 

Sompa Sanctum

By Semele Kari

The condition of living in godforsaken Ida-Virumaa declining settlements made me wonder, “Why do people stay in these ghost-towns and how?” Since then, I have rephrased the question to: Why should someone new go and live there? If this environment symbolises an abandoned territory, could it speak out to those whose environment has neglected them?

In this interaction between human and built environment I see a way for redemption. This shrinking physical world is giving back something by going backwards, dying a slow death. And in the process of leaving this world it represents an ongoing prospect of decay.

The user of this world harvests the last it has to offer: silence, solitude and sanctuary, the spirits of this long gone functional world. These last men standing are giving back to architecture in means of mercy, worship and care which manifest in the coexistence of decline.

 

Adaptation of Facades in Times of Decadence

By Eeros Lees and Fernanda Ayala Torres

Our project investigates the aesthetic change of Kohtla-Järve central boulevard Keskallee. Here the adaptation and transformation of the facades of Stalinist architecture are reflected, as their ornamentation and symbolism are making a way for small businesses on the first floors bringing along new signs, window stickers, painting practices, new entrances and perhaps also new hope? Our vision marks the changing reality of a decadent city that reinvents itself through its facades but must still follow heritage requirements.

 

To Keep Or Not To Keep: Reconsideration of Khrushchevka

By Veera Gontšugova and Daria Khrystych

The project is an online archive aiming to recover the public image of the Soviet-time mass housing building typology, known as the Khrushchevka. Such a typology tends to be not favored in the post-Soviet environment, occasionally entailing the abandonment and demolition of these buildings. By gathering and structuring information, our goal is to present a future-oriented point of view to showcase the potential and hope for this particular residential building typology. We base our storytelling on the historical findings, empirical data as well as presenting the examples of dealing with the similar issue in different contexts. By looking at both material and social aspects, we are referring to the retrofitting and collective living strategies that can be implemented in order to rebound the reputation of Khrushchevka.

 

Rethinking Growth

Þórhildur B. Guðmundsdóttir and Ardo Hiiuväin

Our project explores the idea of “giving land back to nature” within the context of spatial shrinkage and half-emptiness, with a focus on rewilding. Accepting the half-empty future of Sompa, we aim to question the concept of wilderness and emphasise the importance of the shared sense of responsibility required to create a sustainable living environment.

These ideas are implemented through proposing a vision competition for the rewilding of a selected housing complex in Sompa. With the hope of bringing in a wide array of ideas and perspectives, the competition entries would reflect the different ways of which rewilding can be a tool for engaging with spatial shrinkage. Furthermore, the goal of hosting the competition is to bring attention to this subject, inviting the public to ask what shrinkage actually entails, what it means for those affected and ultimately valuing the already existing qualities embedded in these shrinking communities.

Posted by Keiti Kljavin — Permalink

09.09.2019

Open lecture on interior architecture: dr JAMES CAREY „becoming [in]determinate: from specificity to responsiveness, from site to situation”

Open lecture becoming [in]determinate: from specificity to responsiveness, from site to situation” by JAMES CAREY, artist and lecturer in Interior Design, School of Architecture and Urban Design, RMIT University on Monday, 9 September 4 pm (A300). 

James Carey’s creative research practice explores process-based interventions within decommissioned buildings and gallery spaces. This presentation will discuss James’ practice and how it shifted during his PhD candidature; from one that was defined by himself and others as site-specific and spatial practice, to one that explores and manifests the concept of duration through a practice that is temporal, material and spatial. Furthermore, James will also discuss his ongoing creative research practice, particularly in the cities of Detroit and Hamtramck, USA and his project as part of the Oslo Architecture Triennale 2019.

Biography:

James Carey is an artist and a Lecturer in Interior Design, School of Architecture and Urban Design, RMIT University. James is also an artistic director at BLINDSIDE gallery, and he lives and works in Melbourne, Australia. 

James has an inherent curiosity to notions of process, time and duration. His practice is one of mark making, marking time, making time, and time making; foregrounding duration and marking an occurrence. His technique is one of working responsively, allowing particular temporal conditions to surface within specific situations. His marks materialise immateriality and allow the residue of particular processes to be assembled as collections of materialised and spatialised time. 

Recent projects and exhibitions include interruptions Stockroom Gallery, Kyneton 2018, future interior with staff and PhD candidates Interior Design, School of Architecture & Urban Design, RMIT as part of Melbourne Design Week 2019, and ! 金! curated by Dr Kent Wilson and La Trobe Art Institute, as part of the Castlemaine State Festival, Australia 2019. In June and July 2019, James returned to Detroit, USA for continuing research, and he will also participate in the Oslo Architecture Triennale, whose provocation explores the concept of degrowth within contemporary cities and cultures.

Posted by Mart Vainre — Permalink

Open lecture on interior architecture: dr JAMES CAREY „becoming [in]determinate: from specificity to responsiveness, from site to situation”

Monday 09 September, 2019

Open lecture becoming [in]determinate: from specificity to responsiveness, from site to situation” by JAMES CAREY, artist and lecturer in Interior Design, School of Architecture and Urban Design, RMIT University on Monday, 9 September 4 pm (A300). 

James Carey’s creative research practice explores process-based interventions within decommissioned buildings and gallery spaces. This presentation will discuss James’ practice and how it shifted during his PhD candidature; from one that was defined by himself and others as site-specific and spatial practice, to one that explores and manifests the concept of duration through a practice that is temporal, material and spatial. Furthermore, James will also discuss his ongoing creative research practice, particularly in the cities of Detroit and Hamtramck, USA and his project as part of the Oslo Architecture Triennale 2019.

Biography:

James Carey is an artist and a Lecturer in Interior Design, School of Architecture and Urban Design, RMIT University. James is also an artistic director at BLINDSIDE gallery, and he lives and works in Melbourne, Australia. 

James has an inherent curiosity to notions of process, time and duration. His practice is one of mark making, marking time, making time, and time making; foregrounding duration and marking an occurrence. His technique is one of working responsively, allowing particular temporal conditions to surface within specific situations. His marks materialise immateriality and allow the residue of particular processes to be assembled as collections of materialised and spatialised time. 

Recent projects and exhibitions include interruptions Stockroom Gallery, Kyneton 2018, future interior with staff and PhD candidates Interior Design, School of Architecture & Urban Design, RMIT as part of Melbourne Design Week 2019, and ! 金! curated by Dr Kent Wilson and La Trobe Art Institute, as part of the Castlemaine State Festival, Australia 2019. In June and July 2019, James returned to Detroit, USA for continuing research, and he will also participate in the Oslo Architecture Triennale, whose provocation explores the concept of degrowth within contemporary cities and cultures.

Posted by Mart Vainre — Permalink