Category: Making Space

13 March at 18.00, as part of the exhibition “Japanese Happiness“, we will be screening the documentary Soundscapes of Japan in room A-400, which portrays the master metalworkers of Tsubame-Sanjo. The film will run for an hour. In Japanese with English subtitles.

Japanese Happiness. In search of the happiness of inner peace through aesthetic experiences

ARS Project Space
7-23 March 2025

Opening ceremony (by invitations only): 6 March 18:00 at Studio 98

Guided tours and workshops by appointment: Mon–Fri

Exhibition opening hours: Sat–Sun 12:00–18:00

 If there is one universal desire that connects humanity, it is the pursuit of happiness. Despite the challenges we face, our determination to seek joy never wanes. Around the globe, individuals explore various avenues in their quests for greater happiness, and there is much we can learn from one another. The exhibition Japanese Happiness – In search of the happiness of inner peace through aesthetic experiences invites visitors to discover new and often overlooked inspirations that enrich our lives. It highlights the profound relationship between aesthetics and happiness, a bond deeply embedded in Japanese culture. This immersive and sensory exhibition illuminates the connections between happiness and Japanese aesthetics through a curated selection of everyday items, design pieces, and works of art – raging from metal tools created with extreme attention to detail, as well as the uniform of the Tokyo public toilet cleaners made famous in Wim Wenders’ film Perfect Days.

The objects on display at the exhibition were selected 20 representatives of the fields of art, design, philosophy, cooking, Japanese studies, music, fiction, fashion, photography and typography from both Europe and Japan who are inspired by Japanese culture. The initiators of the exhibition are the Identity Foundation, which develops philosophical culture in Düsseldorf, and Philipp Teufel, professor emeritus of exhibition design at the Peter Behrens School of Art (PBSA). It is a traveling exhibition that first opened in the spring of 2024 at the Japanese Cultural Institute in Cologne. The design of the exhibition was completed in collaboration with the PBSA exhibition design and the interior architecture master’s students of the Estonian Academy of Arts. The exhibition design is both experimental and playful, radiates calmness and simplicity and evokes a wide variety of sensory impressions.

The exhibition in the ARS Project Space (Pärnu mnt 154) is open to the public on weekends: 8-9, 15-16 and 22-23 March from 12:00 to 18:00. On all other days, visits to the exhibition take place with pre-registered guided tours. The exhibition is accompanied by a daily programme of workshops, film evenings, lectures and discussion groups at ARS Project Space and EKA in cooperation with TTK University of Applied Sciences, the Japanese Cultural Society in Estonia and the Japanese Embassy in Estonia.

Information and registration: https://www.artun.ee/en/curricula/interior-architecture/japanese-happiness/side-programme/

Curator: Philipp Teufel

Exhibition team: Masayo Ave, Annika Kaldoja, Jüri Kermik, Veiko Liis, Ranvir Singh Sandhu, Rainer Zimmermann, Gregor Taul

Organisation: Department of Interior Architecture of the Estonian Academy of Arts in cooperation with TTK University of Applied Sciences, the Japanese Cultural Society in Estonia and the Japanese Embassy in Estonia

Supporters:

Identity Foundation, Estonian Artists’ Association, ARS Art Factory, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Academy of Arts, Erasmus+ Program

Text by Gregor Taul

Additional information:

Gregor Taul
Guest lecturer, EKA Interior Architecture Department
gregor.taul@artun.ee
+37255690456

EKA Experimental Forms Exhibition “Foam Futures” at Viru Keskus

“Foam Futures” is an experimental fashion forms exhibition by the fashion, textile, and accessory design students of the Estonian Academy of Arts. Under the guidance of fashion designer Liisi Eesmaa and artist Flo Kasearu, futuristic foam plastic characters have come to life and will take over the Viru Keskus Atrium starting February 4th.

The exhibition “Foam Futures” at Viru Keskus Atrium invites visitors to reflect on the impact of human-made synthetic materials on the environment. This artistic display, created by students of Estonian Academy of Arts , focuses on the journey of foam plastic – from industrial waste to a nature-hostile “life form” that poisons the environment and gains strength, creating post-apocalyptic landscapes.

The pieces on display were created during a month-long workshop, where packaging industry waste was transformed into unique sculptures. The students manipulated materials using cutting, bubbling, and molding techniques to create both futuristic and organic shapes. Their inspiration was drawn from nature – plants, fungal networks, and strange life forms – reflecting the conflict between human creation and the natural world.

“This exhibition is raw energy and an endless amount of work hours, resulting in these haunting, bubbling, and foaming creations. Like a shadowy-black colony of beings, drawn from the students’ subconscious and rosy dreams,” commented one of the workshop mentors, fashion designer Liisi Eesmaa. “Our goal is to shock just enough and test the boundaries – how large and how colorful does packaging waste in the urban landscape need to be for people to clearly realize that the only way forward is through material recycling. We are thrilled to do this in collaboration with the emerging generation – the talented students of the Estonian Academy of Arts,” said Kristel Martis, Marketing and Communications Manager of Viru Keskus.

“Foam Futures” does not offer answers, but urges visitors to ask: what happens to the waste we create? Do we only notice it when it directly disrupts our lives, or does it silently blend into nature, causing irreversible harm?

The exhibition’s interactive elements – touch walls and sound experiences – take visitors to the heart of the foam plastic and its transformed environment, helping them better understand the impact and longevity of materials in nature.

“The students created incredibly juicy and voluminous accessories! The raw material was delightfully fascinating, and while the process was as always challenging and labor-intensive, the final transformations of the material were incredibly rewarding!” said mentor Flo Kasearu.

The exhibition “Foam Futures” will be open at the Viru Keskus Atrium from February 4th to February 19th.

Admission is free.

*The synthetic PE (polyethylene foam) material widely used in the exhibition is recyclable with modern technology. After its “artistic life,” it can be shredded and converted back into granules, 70% of which can be reused to create new materials.

Event Supporters: VIRU, EKA, Viva-color, Digiprint, Reval Kondiiter, ETTeam Baltic OÜ, AS Norma, Põhjala, WÕLU, Kadrioru Park

Artists: Allan Suomalainen, Anete Aurelie Aas, Halyna Yaroshenko, Hedi Leppik, Helen Tambla, Katriin Raudsepp, Kertu Seestrand, Linda Teemägi, Lucille Gonzalez, Maksim Kapustin, Mihhail Zaytsev, Oskar Tammäe, Pihla Alina Teder, Roosi Mändmaa, Sofia Robbe, Tereza Bláhová

Interior Architects: Airi Anderson, Brigita Praks, Carmen Pikknurm, Helena-Liisa Moks, Janet Kljuzin, Karl Oskar Palo, Kertu Bachmann, Madli Bulgarin, Raigo Tšetšin, Reigo Raal

Form Supervisors: Liisi Eesmaa, Flo Kasearu

Space Creation Supervisor: Annika Kaldoja

Production: Piret Puppart, Cristopher Siniväli, Marion Laev

Graphic Design: Anete Ots, Mariliis Tarja

Artistic Direction of Photos: Liisi Eesmaa

Photographer: Riina Varol

Photographer’s assistant: Karmel Kull

MUAH: Eliise Brigita Mõisamaa

Models: Merzeede (Agency Icon), Sam (E.M.A. Model Management)

Additional Information: piret.puppart@artun.ee

Event Facebook: Event – Vahu Vahel

Photo Link: To be added later

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.

—
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