Category: Faculty of Fine Arts

Oona Libens
29.05 17.00 B-305

NAUSEA – performance and lecture

Oona Libens is a swedish-belgian visual and performance artist. Her work revolves around the history of the (moving) image and media-archeology. Using simple components such as light, shadows, and analog projections, she illustrates scientific subjects, providing a tactile screen experience with shadows and refractions that animate the entire space.  Her performances become a mixture of object theatre and film. The audience gets to see how the images are being created and manipulated live.

Kata-stroofe / Catastrophes is the group exhibition of the second year painting students of the Estonian Academy of Arts, opening Thursday, 22nd of May in ARS Project Space (Pärnu mnt. 154, Tallinn).

The participating artists are Aleksander Kiigemägi, Alec Hales, Kirke Kits, Marit Loitmets, Liisa Nurklik, Veronika Pavliuk, Elery Sallert, Polina Solovjova.

This exhibition brings together the works of eight different young painters who are connected by a shared studio space, common studies and the era into which they have been born. In addition, the works on display are connected by their format, the starting point of these paintings was a large blank canvas, mostly measuring around 2 x 3 metres in size. Such a surface challenges a painter in various ways, expecting sufficient planning and an ability to keep a freshness throughout the whole process.

Painting big is like running a marathon, with the performer needing to keep the spark until the end, knowing and preparing in advance for the idea and resources to last for a longer time and a wider brushstroke.

The resulting artworks variate between figuration and abstraction, predominantly being poetic and introspective. The artists themselves comment on the following:

Here on the walls we have verses made of frames, canvas, paint and something else in between. We have reached for what appeals to us, haunts, nourishes, questions without giving an answer. What ought to be the answer, instead turns out to be a pair of opposites divided by a slash. Control/trust, something/nothing, serious/absurd, emptiness and fulfillment, individuality and hiding oneself.

The exhibition remains open until the 15th of June, Wed-Sat 12-18, Sun 12-16.

The students were supervised by Sirja-Liisa Eelma, Alice Kask and Holger Loodus.

Graphic design by Pärtel Eelmere, photography by Mikk Keis.

The exhibition is supported by the painting department of the Estonian Academy of Arts, Rott/Rat, Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonian Artists’ Association, ARS Art Factory, Põhjala Brewing AS, Kulinaaria OÜ, Punch Club OÜ.

The exhibition is held by the painting department of the Estonian Academy of Arts and is a part of the Estonian Academy of Arts Grad Show TASE’25 satellite programme.

Contact: sirja-liisa.eelma@artun.ee, holger.loodus@artun.ee

Catastrophes

Hello, dear person – you are so welcome in our space. Here on the walls we have verses made of frames, canvas, paint and something else in between. We have reached for what appeals to us, haunts, nourishes, questions without giving an answer. What ought to be the answer, instead turns out to be a pair of opposites divided by a slash. Control/trust, something/nothing, serious/absurd, emptiness and fulfillment, individuality and hiding oneself.

Should we consider this lack of one certain answer a catastrophe of multitudes? See the absence of one final and definitive confirmation as a failure of the question itself? If we truly believed in that, we would have covered up our stanzas and left this room.

The exhibition’s title comes from a poem of the same name by Artur Alliksaar. In this poem, the following line can be found: “Why won’t you believe in the doors you have not unlocked? Why?!” Thank you, our guest, for taking the step towards our door. We’ll now lead you to more than one window.

Public screening of the short films by the 2nd year students of the department of photography at the Estonian Academy of Arts will take place at 10:00AM on Monday, May 26th in Cinema Sõprus (Vana-Posti Street 8, Tallinn).

Films were made during the Art Project 3 course, supervised by Paul Kuimet, Lauri Laasik, Mattias Veermets and Jevgeni Berezovski.

The screening is free and everyone is welcome!

More info: Paul Kuimet, paul.kuimet@artun.ee

20.05–21.05

 EKA Artists Reclaim Forgotten Military Ruins in Astangu, Tallinn 

Co(h)e(r)cion is a site-specific group exhibition by Contemporary Art MA (MACA) students of the Estonian Academy of Arts, held in the historic ruins of the ammunition tunnels in Astangu, Tallinn. Once part of a Tsarist-era military complex and later a highly protected Soviet ammunition site, this area is now largely forgotten and abandoned.

Four international contemporary artists :
Fausta Norekaite (LT), Denis Lebedev (DE), Giulio Cusinato (IT), and Kroplya (BY) – mediate the layered histories of this unique landscape through sound, language, ecology, image, and interactive elements.

The title Co(h)e(r)cion is a wordplay, reflecting the site’s ambiguous nature and the emotions it evokes –  blending cohesion, coercion, and erosion.
The mysterious ambience of Astangu inspired the artists to explore concepts that extend beyond human consciousness.

Co(h)e(r)cion invites you to experience these artistic incarnations of loss, presence, absence, and natural forces firsthand.

This exhibition also raises awareness about the role of ruins in post-humanist art ethics — exploring the potential for artistic intervention in more cohesive, integrated, and thoughtful ways.

From May 20 to 21, Co(h)e(r)cion dares visitors to immerse themselves in the secret realm of the unspeakable and the unseen.

Curated by Anastassia Janovskaja

Location
The exhibition takes place in Astangu forest, Haabersti, Tallinn.
Coordinates: 59°23’50.6″N 24°37’35.0″E

You can find the exact location by scanning the QR code provided or clicking the link below:
 https://maps.app.goo.gl/UiC3KA5CYYYknW3u5 .

The map is also available on our flyer for your convenience.

Opening:
30.05.2025 at 17:00 

Location: Paks Margareeta, Pikk tn 70, 10133 Tallinn
Curator: KITKIT PARA
Artists: Andre Joosep Arming, Zody Burke, Laura De Jaeger, DOKK (Liina Leo, Eugenio Marini, Ingrid Helena Pajo), Kadi Estland, Maria Kapajeva, Ando Naulainen & Pire Sova, Sarah Nõmm, Mari Volens

As questions of care and belonging become ever more entwined with vulnerability and fragility, the group exhibition COCOON examines how contemporary artists engage with the theme of protection through diverse perspectives. Set within the historic walls of Fat Margaret, a 14th-century defensive tower in Tallinn’s Old Town, the exhibition connects the history of medieval fortification to reflections on land, water, borders, and the fluidity of identities. Tracing the shifting nature of place, where land holds memory, water signals change, and borders reveal evolving cultural and political lines, while identities are explored as fluid and ever-changing, shaped by adaptation, exchange and context.Featuring nine artists, duos, and collectives based in Estonia, the exhibition includes video, sculpture, photography, photographic prints, and site-specific installations, displayed throughout the museum to engage with the building’s historical architecture and existing artifacts, creating a dialogue between past, present, and future. COCOON explores the evolving meaning of protection amid ecological, political, and cultural shifts and questions what it means to protect and care for ourselves, for one another, and for the stories we carry.

Graphic design: Fatima-Ezzahra El Khammas

Translator: Kristiina Arna

Special thanks to Põhjala Brewery, Hansas Plaadimaailm OÜ, Mihkel Karu, Hanna Samoson

Supported by Cultural Endowment of Estonia and Estonian Maritime Museum

The exhibition Jääkolek consists of works by the second-year graphic art students at the Estonian Academy of Arts.

The word jääkolek in Estonian refers to what is left behind. The exhibition looks at how memory settles into ordinary things: the spaces we move through, the tools we use, the images we make. These traces live not only in the work itself, but also in the studio we share; a space that holds the rhythms of our daily making, quiet moments, and collective conversations. Over time, it has become both a place of creation and reflection, marked by what has happened within its walls.

The works of Jääkolek explore a range of topics, from personal introspection and identity to tradition, collective memory, and the nature of artistic labour. Some pieces are shaped by family histories or past events, while others focus on internal experiences and questions of the self.

There is a shared interest in traces: the marks left by repeated gestures, the sounds that linger, the material presence of things. Together, these works form a collection of imprints, fragments of thoughts, feelings, and memory that refuse to disappear.

Participating artists:

Aliisa Ahtiainen, Alona Chuprina, Olga Dubrovskaja, Merit Himmelreich, Jacqueline-Desirée Rosenthal, Robin August Vöörmann

Thank you: Eve Kask and Viktor Gurov for supervising, EKA Graafika for support and Art Lovers of Estonia for sponsoring the opening eventJääkolek

Exhibition dates: 20.–30.05 2025

Opening: 19.05 2025 kell 17.00

Location: GÜ galerii, Pärnu mnt 154, Tallinn

Opening hours: E–R / Mon-Fri 12–18

EKA Graduation Show TASE ‘25 opens on May 28, 2025

The Estonian Academy of Arts’ grad show TASE ’25 is back, with the main event being the graduation exhibition held at the “Projekteerijate maja”, located at Rävala puiestee 8, Tallinn.

The TASE ‘25 opening event will be held on Wednesday, May 28, at 17:00 in the park in front of the Rävala 8 building. During the public opening event, awards for Young Artist, Young Applied Artist, and Young Designer will be presented to both bachelor’s and master’s level students.

PROGRAM
TASE ‘25 Opening: 28.05, 17:00–23:00

Graduation defenses at the Estonian Academy of Arts and at the TASE graduation festival, Rävala puiestee 8, Tallinn: 26.05–11.06.2025

TASE ANIMA 2025 — animation graduation film screening on Friday, June 13, 17:00–19:00 at Cinema Sõprus, free entry.

Further information will be updated at: https://tase.artun.ee/

TASE is the Estonian Academy of Arts’ annual spring graduation festival, with the graduation exhibition at its heart. The exhibition features graduates from the faculties of architecture, design, art culture, and fine arts.

Anita Kremm’s exhibition on contracts and identity

On April 30, 2025, at 18.00, the solo exhibition CONTRACT by Anita Kremm, recipient of the 2024 EKA Young Artist Award, will open at Hobusepea gallery.
The exhibition is curated by Ene-Liis Semper.

Anita Kremm has been working with the theme of contracts since 2021. Since then, she has conducted a series of practical experiments, entering into contracts on a wide variety of topics and in various formats: a contract signed in blood, in which participants commit to revealing the most violent act from their past. A birthday contract, wherein all guests bring the birthday person a book they are then required to read throughout the course of the evening. A debt contract, in which both parties agree to a mutual debt relationship, which can only be resolved by performing the specified act or surrendering an object as described in the contract. And so forth. All contracts are valid under current legislation and binding upon mutual agreement between the parties. According to Anita, this artistic trajectory emerged as a response to the COVID-19 era: “I felt I needed a deeper understanding of people and how they function. I felt that everything I knew was merely the surface.”

The current exhibition centres around a contract made between the artist and a volunteer, to whom she transferred her entire external identity for a 24-hour period: her apartment, clothing, eating habits, daily routines, phone, computer, and all social and familial contacts.

A video documentation of the experiment invites viewers to reflect on questions such as: What constitutes the self? What defines me? Does the self require external identity to be recognised? Or is the self formed through this external framework? What personal and general agreements define our sense of self? Etc.

Anita Kremm (1998) is an interdisciplinary artist working in photography, theatre, film, video, and performance. While engaging with various styles and mediums, her work consistently focuses on interpersonal relationships, and the boundaries between the familiar and unfamiliar, the everyday and uncanny. By disrupting daily routines and pushing beyond comfort zones, she creates extraordinary moments, provokes the everyday, and welcomes the unknown into familiar spaces. Her works have been exhibited in Tallinn, Helsinki, Moscow, Weimar, Graz, and Prague, and her experimental short films have been screened at multiple European festivals. Her master’s thesis,  Me/Her – In Dialogue with Julia Kristeva, was awarded the EKA Young Artist Award in 2024.

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia & COBALT Law Firm.
The artist’s gratitude goes to: Irina Kremm ja Vladislav Kremm, Ljudmilla ja Hariton Drajev, Jakob Juksaar, Mia Maria Rohumaa, Aksel Haagensen, Karin Allik, Eva Mari Mahhov, Ele Mall Vainomäe, Mihhail, Tõnu Hiielaid, Oliver Reimann, Anette Pärn, Mark Raidpere, Peeter Kutman, Kanuti Gildi Saali perekond, Still Frame OÜ.
Exhibitions in Hobusepea gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, the Estonian Ministry of Culture, and Liviko AS.

Fine Arts Assessment Marathon 30.04.–20.05.2025

The spring assessment marathon is here! For three weeks, you can once again experience works produced by students in the Faculty of Fine Arts as their term projects are presented: every day there will be a fresh showcase of university students’ works on display.

Works in animation, contemporary art, installation and sculpture, painting, photography, graphic art and scenography curricula will be on display. On almost each evening of the marathon, a new exhibition will be installed and in the following evening the exhibit will give way to the next one. Hopefully, viewers will be able to keep up with the pace of the young artists.

The assessments will take place in the main building of EKA (1st & 2nd floor general areas and EKA Gallery; Põhja pst 7, Tallinn) and ARS Project Space (Pärnu mnt 154, Tallinn).

On the assessment day, the exhibitions at EKA Gallery are open from 2 pm to 6 pm, on Sundays the exhibitions are open from 12 pm to 4 pm. NB! EKA Gallery is closed on May 1st.

SCHEDULE

Wed 30.04. Photography BA I, supervisor Madis Kurss (EKA Gallery)
Thu 02.05. – Sun 04.05. Drawing and anatomical drawing, Fine Arts BA I, supervisors Matti Pärk, Maiu Rõõmus (EKA Gallery)

Mon 05.05. Drawing, Fine Arts BA II, supervisor Tõnis Saadoja (EKA Gallery)
Mon 05.05. Anatomical drawing, Scenography and Animation BA II, supervisor Maiu Rõõmus (1st & 2nd floor general areas)
Mon 05.05. Drawing, Scenography BA II, supervisor Eero Alev (1st & 2nd floor general areas)
Tue 06.05. Drawing, Fine Arts BA III, supervisor Britta Benno (EKA Gallery)
Wed 07.05. Photography BA I, supervisor Marge Monko (EKA Gallery)
Thu 08.05. Scenography BA II, supervisor Liina Keevallik (EKA Gallery)
Fri 09.05. – Sat 10.05. Scenography BA I, supervisor Mark Raidpere (EKA Gallery)

Sun 11.05. – Mon 12.05. Contemporary Art MA I, supervisors Sirja-Liisa Eelma, Viktor Gurov, Maris Karjatse, Camille Laurelli, Marge Monko, Laura Põld, David K. Ross, Liina Siib, Taavi Talve, Jaan Toomik, Anu Vahtra (EKA Gallery)
Tue 13.05. – Wed 14.05. Contemporary Art MA I, supervisors Sirja-Liisa Eelma, Viktor Gurov, Maris Karjatse, Camille Laurelli, Marge Monko, Laura Põld, David K. Ross, Liina Siib, Taavi Talve, Jaan Toomik, Anu Vahtra (EKA Gallery)
Thu 15.05. Graphic Art BA I, supervisors Charlotte Biszewski, Caroline Pajusaar, Mark Antonius Puhkan, Mirjam Varik (EKA Gallery)
Fri 16.05. Graphic Art BA II, supervisors Viktor Gurov, Eve Kask (EKA Gallery)
Sat 17.05. – Sun 18.05. Animation BA and MA (EKA Gallery)

Mon 19.05. Painting BA I, supervisors Eero Alev, Anna Škodenko, Jaan Toomik (EKA Gallery)
Tue 20.05. Sculpture BA I, supervisor Anna Mari Liivrand (EKA Gallery)
Thu 22.05. – Sun 15.06. Painting BA II, supervisors Sirja-Liisa Eelma, Alice Kask, Holger Loodus (ARS Project Space, open Wed–Sat 12–6 pm Sun 12–4 pm)

At the seminar ‘Contemporary Higher Art Education: A Dialogue with the Future,’ leaders from five Nordic art academies will share ideas and exchange perspectives. In addition, faculty members from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Estonian Academy of Arts will discuss these challenges.

Advocating for art and art education has never been an easy task. This seminar focuses on key issues in contemporary higher art education here and now, at a time when critical thinking, ethical approaches and the independent power of art are more important than ever. The development of higher art education is closely connected with contemporary art movements – it’s not easy to say which influences the other more. Art must be able to engage with a vast range of phenomena and questions.

Art must maintain creative freedom, independence and autonomy, while also integrating more and more with other fields. A significant portion of contemporary art is exploring research-driven paths. In the education landscape, art education must offer comparability with research-based universities. Art and artists must manage themselves, communicate, and market their work. At the same time, art higher education must remain an attractive choice for the new generation. How can art academies offer all of this and meet these expectations?

PROGRAMME

11:30 –12:00 Coffee, Gathering and Welcome Words
12:00–12:20 – Maj Hasager (Rector of Malmö Art Academy) – Higher Art Education and the Political Gaze
12:20–12:40 – Jacob Jessen (Head of Department, Trondheim Academy of Fine Art) – Art and Research in the Creative University
12:40–13:00 – Kirke Kangro (Dean of Fine Arts Faculty, Estonian Academy of Arts) – Art Education between Freedom and Frameworks

13:00–13:20 – Coffee break

13:20–13:40 – Bjarki Bragason (Dean of Fine Art, Iceland University of the Arts) – environments in art education – a few thoughts
13:40–14:00 – Leevi Haapala (Dean of the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Helsinki) – Art Education and the Professional Art Field

Event will be held in English.

Please register to the seminar through the following link: https://forms.gle/wYxHjxZ8GiAiQkiWA

More info: Kati Saarits, kati.saarits@artun.ee