Category: Making Space

TOPOLOGIES OF SOFTNESS – FUTURE(S) OF SPACE

On Friday 29 November at 5 p.m, Gabi Schillig, Professor of Spatial Design and Exhibition Design at the Berlin University of the Arts, will give an open lecture on softness and ephemeral spatiality at EKA. This semester, Schillig is teaching in the MA programme of Interior Architecture. In this lecture, she will open up about her creative practice and present past teaching projects.

Gabi Schillig explores and shapes responsive architectures and spaces of communication. Her artistic work and teaching resonates with an ephemeral, animate, imaginary and temporal understanding of spaces and bodies. She explores the spatial and dimension of a corporeal existence through the sensorial interrelationship of softness, fragility and intimacy as spatial, material and social concepts. Softness creates new possibilities for making contact and being in touch with the world – examining relationships with the „other“, the unknown, the foreign, in contrast and in opposition to violence and destruction that is on the rise in societies world-wide. Instead, as a counter movement, there is a need to unfold new forms of soft spatialities.

Gabi Schillig studied Architecture and completed her postgraduate studies in Conceptual Design at the Städelschule – Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste Frankfurt am Main before founding her ‘Studio for Dialogical Spaces’ in Berlin in 2008. She has exhibited internationally and received several fellowships and prizes, amongst others: Akademie Schloss Solitude Stuttgart (2007-08), Van Alen Institute New York (2009), Nordic Artists’ Centre Dale (2010) , KHOJ International Artists’ Association New Delhi (2011), Largo das Artes Rio de Janeiro (2015), Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau (2016) and Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of the Arts (2018 – 19). Most recent projects have been „bodies without organs*“ for Liebling Haus in Tel Aviv (with Lila Chitayat, 2020-21) or „Accento – The City in the Piano VI“ (in collaboration with dancer and choreographer Yui Kawaguchi and jazz pianist and composer Aki Takase, silent green Berlin, 2022), where she explored the parallels between the structural elements of the piano, space and sound through performative soft architectures and spatial choreographic body-related objects.

From 2012 – 2018 she taught as a professor at the Düsseldorf Peter Behrens School of Art and in 2018 she was appointed as Professor for Spatial Design and Exhibition Design at the Berlin University of the Arts at the Institute of Transmedia Design. During winter 2024_25 she will be teaching as a guest at the EKA Estonian Academy of the Arts in Tallinn, Estonia.

In autumn/winter 2023 Gabi Schillig was an artist-in-residence at Saiko Neon and guest artist at ACAC – Aomori Contemporary Art Center, Japan to explore the potentials of soft matters – spaces of ephemerality and held her first solo exhibition in Japan at Kobo Chika Gallery in Tokyo. For spring 2024 she was invited to join ダイロッカン:dai6okkan 2024 Residency Art Festival initiated by 6okken, Yamanashi Prefecture. In spring 2025 she will return to Japan as an artist-in-residence at Space Department Nara to continue her artistic research on topologies of softness and the sensory, affective, poetic and socio-political dimension of air, space, bodies and atmosphere.

→ www.gabischillig.de
→ www.spacesofcommunication.de

Everyone from the fields of architecture, design, and art are welcome to join! The lecture will be in English and is free of charge. We wish to thank Erasmus+ programme for supporting this lecture.

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Photo Credits_
(left) Gabi Schillig, soft architectures / performed by Yui Kawaguchi / photo by Anna Pasco Bolta / VG Bild-Kunst Bonn / bodies move differently in presence / TUM / München (2022)
(right) Gabi Schillig, absolute interiority (2024)  

On Thursday, 24 October at 17.00, Philipp Teufel, Professor Emeritus of Exhibition Design at the Peter Behrens School of Art (PBSA), University of Applied Sciences, Düsseldorf, will give a lecture on Japanese aesthetics, material culture and philosophical approach to life. In the lecture, Teufel will present a travelling exhibition of the same name curated by himself, which opened this summer at the The Japan Cultural Institute in Cologne and will open in Tallinn in spring 2025. The lecture will be introduced by Masayo Ave, a Japanese designer and former professor of product design at the EKA.

The exhibition “Japanese Happiness” presents the joy that the Japanese experience through aesthetic everyday objects. To put together the exhibition, Philipp Teufel asked dozens of curators, artists, philosophers and other creatives well-versed in Japanese culture to propose objects that they believe best represent the symbiosis of everyday objects, a sense of beauty and well-being. The result is a broad-based exhibition of Japanese product design and applied art, including historical folk art, contemporary high-tech design and phenomena from contemporary mass culture. For example, traditional brooms, bonsai scissors, kimono and a high-tech titanium tumbler are among the curator’s choices. Many of these items are made with the utmost dedication in small Japanese factories, employing highly skilled craftsmen. As well as the form and use of the objects, the exhibition focuses on the way in which they are made – the touch of the master’s hand.

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 concept design 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”).

The exhibition is a joint project between PBSA Exhibition Design and the EKA  Interior Architecture, supported by the Identity Foundation, a Düsseldorf-based institution promoting philosophical discourse. The exhibition design was the result of three workshops led by Japanese designer Masayo Ave. The MA students had to create a unique travelling exhibition, which involved the creation, production and installation of a holistic exhibition architecture and modular design, as well as the sensory communication of the content. The exhibition was first exhibited in Cologne at the Japan Cultural Institute from 24 May to 31 July 2024. In spring 2025, the exhibition will travel to Estonia, opening on 6 March in the ARS project space. The Tallinn exhibition will also be set up by students from EKA and PBSA. For this purpose, a workshop will be held at the EKA on 21-25 October under the guidance of Masayo Ave. In autumn 2025, the exhibition will travel to Japan.

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. Thanks for the support from the Erasmus+ programme.

Further information:

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

The exhibition “Joint Double” by Jüri Kermik engages with the dynamics of the design process and its involvement in looking forward and looking back. “It originates from my long-term interest in regional design and my experience of places I consider home, Estonia and Suffolk,” shares Kermik.

In 2017, having settled to live and work in Suffolk, Kermik noticed similarities and differences between Estonian and Suffolk chair-making traditions. The lightweight vernacular chairs, marked with signs of the conditions they evolved from – whether bodgers’ outworking camps in the woods or seasonally operating village workshops, featured variations of the common frame construction. While observing similarities in the construction of these chairs, one unique difference stood out for the designer. Instead of the seat formed by spindles placed between the legs, a typical Suffolk chair has its seat frame jointed to the front legs from above. Kermik’s designs for Suffolk Chair I & II, and the Wedding Chair explore the design opportunities offered by this joint and the thresholds it sets for structural interventions, proportions and ways of sitting.

In parallel with the “Joint Double” project, Kermik started to work on the site of his ancestral farmstead on the Sõrve peninsula in Saaremaa. The process of building a small hut Mikuelu allowed him to experience how the space could be reimagined. “While constructing a new space, I was unearthing the old. Through the processes of digging and moving earth I found buried components of the activities of the inhabitants and evidence of the layout of the site as it had been.”

Tools and objects are connected to land cultivation and farming: plough blades, cowbells, parts of horse bridles, woodworking chisels and rope-making spikes. Some of these unearthed things will be re-used in constructing the new Mikuelu, and some will be presented in this exhibition as an ‘’archaeological toolbox’’.

Compiled and designed by Jüri Kermik
Graphic design: Stuudio Stuudio
Production team: Kai Lobjakas, Ketli Tiitsar, Toomas Übner

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and the Estonian Academy of Arts.

The exhibition is part of the Tallinn Design Festival programme.

The defense of the BA diplomas of the Department of Interior Architecture will take place this year on two days, Monday and Tuesday, June 3-4, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in EKA (room A403). Eleven students have to defend their works, whose works can be viewed at the same time at the TASE exhibition in the EKA building.

The TASE exhibition is open from May 29 to June 16, every day from 12:00 to 18:00. Step through!

Monday, June 3
Presenting students: Kristiina Theresa Kuusik, Harold Kiisler, Marleen Armulik, Elle Marie Randoja, Laura Movits, Trine Tõniste.

Tuesday, June 4
Presenting students: Mirjam Vaht, Elisabeth Perk, Jaan Repnikov, Getter Pihlak, Sven Christian Arthur Samyn.

The theses were supervised by Anna Kaarma, Grete Tiigiste, Jaan Evart (portfolio), Malle Jürgenson, Ville Lausmäe, Veiko Liis and Jüri Kermik (project).

The theses are evaluated by a committee consisting of Gregor Taul (chairman), Mariann Drell, Kristiina Voolaid, Merilin Tee, Peeter Klaas.

The defense of this year’s master’s theses of the Department of Interior Architecture will take place on Tuesday, May 28 at 10:00 – 15:30 at EKA, room A501. There will also be a live broadcast of the defenses, which can be watched on EKA TV.

Schedule:

10.00 – 10.45 Ann-Katriin Kelder “The Rent Included Three Hounds, or The Alternative Clubs of Tallinn”. Reviewer Brigitta Davidjants.
10.45 – 11.30 Viktoria Ugur “Excavation manifesto. Exploring underground spaces”. Reviewer Mirell Ülle.
11.30 – 12.15 Karen Isabel Talitee “Restoration of destroyed (interior) architecture. From copy to innovation. Using the example of Maakri 28”. Reviewer Liisa Hagelberg.

Lunch break 12.15 – 13.15

13.15 – 14.00 Piret-Liis Carson “Recess rooms that support students’ mental and physical health”. Reviewer Kadri Klementi.
14.00 – 14.45 Päär-Joonap Keedus “I-architecture. Master’s diary”. Reviewer Urmas Lüüs.
14.45 – 15.30 Anni Truu “Towards the urban interior: the potential of interior architecture in the activation of urban space following the example of Kitseküla”. Reviewer Alina Nurmist.

The master’s theses were supervised by Mariann Drell, Pavle Stamenović and Gregor Taul.

The master’s theses are evaluated by a committee consisting of Malle Jürgenson (chairman of the committee), Manten Devriendt, Ardo Hiiuväin, Liina Langemets, Martin Melioranski and Andrea Tamm. The secretary of the committee is Marie-Katharine Maksim.

You can see the works of interior architecture master’s students at the TASE exhibition on the second floor of the EKA building and at the TASE online exhibition. The exhibition is open from May 29 to June 16, every day from 12:00 to 18:00. Step through!

SISU is a major event in the field of Estonian interior architecture and spatial design, which deals with topics related to interior architecture. The symposium has become a meeting place for recognized theorists and practitioners in the field of (interior) architecture from all over the world. This year’s SISU will take place from the 13th until the 2oth of June  in the premises of the National Archives film archive in Pelgulinn. The focal point of SISU is an exhibition and the accompanying symposium, which will take place on 13th of June at 5.00 p.m.

The title of this year’s exhibition … And Nothing is Forever refers to the question of temporality in spatial design. Participants from all over Europe were asked to open up the current state of their profession through one artefact that was to be sent to Tallinn with the smallest size box of the international postal service. Both found objects and works created especially for this event will be on display at the symposium. However, the participants had to take into account the fact that after the end of the exhibition they wouldn’t get back their works. The objects will be put back in the boxes and they will remain in the building as a unified time capsule. 

The curators of the Time Capsule project, Aet Ader, Karin Tõugu Gregor Taul and Pavle Stamenovic, invited 50 individuals and offices from Estonia and abroad to participate in SISU this time, and half of them responded with an artefact. Among the participants are interior architects, architects, designers, artists, urban activists, material researchers, furniture makers, creative researchers as well as performance artists, all of whom have come into contact with the field of interior architecture in one way or another. Attempts have been made to capture the spirit of the era and the profession both through text-based manifestos and ephemeral mock-ups.

In the exhibition, the artefacts enter into a dialogue with the cells of the Ristiku 84 building, which was built as a prison for the Tallinn garrison in the 1950s. It is a unique horseshoe-shaped prison, which reflects the 18th century English enlightener Jeremy Bentham’s idea of a penitentiary as a panopticon. Although the neoclassical prison underwent a thorough renovation in the 1990s when it was converted into an archive, the cells on the first floor were left intact. Films have been shot in these rooms, and architecture enthusiasts have been able to get to know the house as part of the annual Museum Nights, but the house is unknown to the general public. It may happen that it will stay that way, because it is not known what the state will do with the building after the Film Archive moves out. It is not a listed building, moreover, the building is in poor condition, has a somewhat tainted history and is located on a valuable plot. Based on current practice, the entire complex – along with the “buried” SISU 2024 time capsule – is threatened with demolition.

The SISU exhibition opens at 3 p.m on the 13th of June. At 4 p.m there will be a guided tour in the Film Archives building led by its director Eva Näripea. The symposion will take place from 5 p.m to 7 p.m. The exhibition will remain open from the 14th to the 20th of June, Mon-Thu 9 a.m to 5 p.m, Fri 9 a.m to 4 p.m. Further information in English below.

SISU is supported by the Cultural Foundation, the Ministry of Culture, Film Archive of the National Archives of Estonia and the Estonian Association of Interior Architects. In addition to the curators, Gregor Taul and Annamari Nael from the EKA Department of Interior Architecture and graphic designer Anna Kaarma belong to the organizing team of the symposium.

Initial list of participants:

45 degrees (Greece/Germany) – https://www.forty-five-degrees.com/

Hanna Loora Arro

Ljubica Arsic (Serbia/Switzerland) – https://ljubicaarsic.com/

Masayo Ave (Japan/Germany) – https://www.masayoavecreation.org/

Jean Jacques Balzak (France) – https://www.instagram.com/jeanjacquesbalzac/

Laurens Bekemans (Belgium) – https://bcmaterials.org/

Katarina Bonnevier (Sweden) – https://mycket.org/

Janka Csernak (Hungary) – https://mome.hu/en/people/janka-csernak

Aleksandr Delev (Germany) – https://www.aleksandrdelev.com/

Davor Eres (Serbia) – https://ifdt.bg.ac.rs/dt_team/eres-davor/?lang=en

Failed Architecture (Holland) – https://failedarchitecture.com/

Caterina Figuera (Spain/Switzerland) – https://rotativestudio.com/

Ana Filipovic (Germany) – https://www.ana-filipovic.com/

Daniel Fuchs (Switzerland) – https://bach-muehle-fuchs.ch/

Atelier Gapont (Liechenstein) – https://ateliergapont.li/

Tinatin Gurgenidze (Georgia/Germany) – https://www.instagram.com/post_soviet_space/

Matilde Igual (Spain) – https://matildeigual.eu/

Silvia Ingver

Jüri Kermik – https://www.kermikdesign.com/

Keithy Kuuspu – https://www.keithykuuspu.com/

Kuidas.works – https://kuidas.works/

LLRRLLRR – https://llrrllrr.com/

Milica Lopičić (Serbia/Germany) – https://www.lopicic.de/

Urmas Lüüs – https://urmasluus.com/

Tom Vam Malderen (Malta) – https://tomvanmalderen.com/

Philip Mecke (Germany) – https://www.philipp-mecke.com/

Arnita Melzoba and Kārlis Melzobs (Latvia) – https://gaissarhitekti.lv/

Jelena Mitrovic (Serbia) – https://poligon.rs/

mitte_tallinn – https://www.instagram.com/mitte_tallinn/

Maria Muuk, Nele Kurvits, Aimur Takk

Platvorm – https://www.platvorm.ee/

Laura Pormeister

Miro Roman (Croatia/Switzerland) – https://miro.romanvlahovic.com/

Sampling (Latvia) – https://www.sampling.lv/

SPOLKA (Slovakia) – https://spolka.cc/

Sven Samyn

Dubravka Sekulić (Serbia/United Kingdom) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubravka_Sekulić

Sander Joosep Siigur

Linda Marie Zimmer

Pent Talvet – https://www.iseasi.ee/

Margus Tammik, Mari Möldre, Ulla Alla, Merilin Kaup – https://vares.space/

TEN studio (Serbia/Switzerland) – https://ten.studio/

Kristi Tšernilovski

Stuudio TÄNA – https://stuudiotäna.ee/

Mari Uibo

Linda-Marie Urke

Tüüne-Kristin Vaikla – https://www.vaiklastudio.ee/people/tuune-kristin/

Kristina Õllek – https://kristinaollek.com/

Mirell Ülle – https://www.tervislikruum.ee/

On Wednesday, April 24, from 17:30 to 19:00, there will be an information session on the master’s degree program in interior architecture. The meeting will take place in the common area of the Faculty of Architecture students of the EKA study building on the fourth floor (C-400). We will also broadcast the meeting on Zoom, which will also be recorded. The event will take place in Estonian.

In the information session, the head of the curriculum, Gregor Taul, will give an overview of the courses and projects that have taken place so far, on the one hand, and give a more detailed overview of the plans for next year. In addition, we will talk about admission and try to answer your questions.

You can familiarise yourself with the curriculum in advance in Tahvel. We also recommend looking at the department’s latest newspaper. Current information about student activities can also be found on the department’s website and on Facebook and Instagram.

If you are interested, please register via the Google form.

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

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