Category: Contemporary Art

ANNA KAARMA will open her personal exhibition ON THE THRESHOLD in Hobusepea gallery at 6pm on Thursday, May 23^rd, 2019.  

With the current exhibition, the artist is observing the borders of the personal and the public, dreams and waking, the permanent and the changing. Anna Kaarma focuses on the living environment of the district of Lasnamäe in Tallinn – the architectural and social superstructure is being unravelled to fragments charged with personal meanings and experiences.

Lasnamäe has the characteristic features of a metropolis. It is easy to remain anonymous for individuals between and inside the housing blocks that have been mathematically positioned – the intimate views into the neighbours’ lives that one gets through the windows and walls has rather the effect of a background noise than a human contact. The exhibition emphasizes the microcosm of an individual resident belonging to the so-called anonymous crowd. Everyday objects are interwoven with a personal perception of space, playful childhood memories, stories and a dreamlike logic of space.

Anna Kaarma: „In the mid-1990s, a bullet was shot into the kitchen window of my 8^th floor apartment in the Lasnamäe district. The bullet probably bounced off of the wall in ricochet, only penetrating the outer glass of the window. The pane was therefore left as it was for several years. In the context of the criminal events of the last decade of 20^th century, the bullet hole has no special value; it is more meaningful for me as a strange image from the past. It is intriguing how an element from the outer environment had intruded into the personal space, got stuck between the two spaces while creating a new field – a certain wormhole that makes it possible to go back to the space in the past. The window as the connecting link between the private and public sphere became an entry point to the third sphere, the one of memories.”

This spring, Anna Kaarma will defend an MA degree in Contemporary Arts in the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Estonian Academy of Arts. She has obtained a BA degree in Graphic Design at the same academy. She has also studied at Hochschule Düsseldorf and in Baltic Film, Media, Arts and Communication School. Anna Kaarma is the laureate of Adamson-Eric Scholarship in 2017. Kaarma’s diverse artist’s practice involves publication design, artists’ books, video works as well as expansive installations. In her work, Kaarma skilfully combines the elements of graphic design, this often resulting from a 2D image to a monumental spatial installation. Anna Kaarma’s first personal exhibition „Type 121” was held in EKA Gallery in 2017 that can be considered as an ideological predecessor to her current exposition.

The artist would like to thank: Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Marge Monko, Jan Kaus, Sebastian Saaremäe, Anu Vahtra, Angela Ramires, Lee Kelomees, department of installation and sculpture of Estonian Academy of Arts, Jaana Jüris, Neeme Külm, Ingvar Heamägi, department of glass art of Estonian Academy of Arts and Eve Koha, Virko Kuusk, Kaisa Maasik, Kulla Laas, Gregor Taul, Saara Bergström.

Installation of the panel block: Valge Kuup LLC.

Exhibition will be open until June 10^th, 2019.

Supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and the Department of Photography of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Exhibitions in Hobusepea gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and Estonian Ministry of Culture.

Current exhibition belongs to the programme of TASE – the annual spring graduation show festival of graduation works of Estonian Academy of Arts. The main TASE exhibition includes all MA graduation projects and selected BA projects in the new academy building on Põhja pst. 7 from May 31^st to June 16^th, 2019. The Young Artist Award and the Young Applied Artist Award will be announced at the opening of TASE’19 in collaboration with the Estonian Artists’ Association. The extensive satellite programme of the festival presents students films in TASE FILM, offers presentations of selected graduation works in TASE Elevator Talks, provides feedback to your artwork from international experts in Portfolio Cafe and opens several diverse personal and group exhibitions by students. Additional info: artun.ee/tase

Performance by Heleliis Hõim and Irmeli Terras at Vent Space project space on 6 May, 6-9.30 pm.

A person never wants to feel that they are truly alone. You want to feel protected and guided by some higher power or feel that your choices are directed by someone else, because the most terrifying realisation is that you are alone and that you alone have the responsibility to choose. According to the theory of the origin of beliefs, worshipping objects bestowed with a greater power, i.e. fetishism is the oldest kind of religious belief. What do we do with these objects? What do we use them for? In the contemporary consumerist world, this is pure imagology and often carries a promise of a better life and a better me. We have returned to polytheism and reach out to our gods. “I believe in things, I want things, therefore I am.”

Irmeli Terras, person?, consumer, fetishist, pagan, artist. She studies human psychology and their actions when it comes to consumerism, religion, the occult, fetishism and imagology. She creates performances in which she incorporates various media: sound, vocals, video, dance, installation.

Heleliis Hõim, person, consumer, pagan-being, artist. Consumed media: painting, performance, sculpture, video, dance, sound. A childhood spent in the forests of Estonia convening with the trees and other beings. A consumer of art and culture. A fetish for new materials.

We invite you to the public viewing of the installation SEWN LAND by Laura De Jaeger on the 4th of December from 2-6pm.

For SEWN LAND (2018) De Jaeger divides the gallery space in 2 by placing a replica of the Belgian language border diagonally through it. The installation is an investigation of a line, an object connecting two points, creating two spaces, breaking them or overlapping. When that line is a border, one only visible on a map, and stolen out of its context, it becomes an almost romantic object. However, it is man made and artificial, it is a carrier of history and movement. It creates it’s own nature and flows organically. You could almost see it as a crack in the earth, or the mountains touching the sky.

The shape is covered with yellow sewing thread: an act of healing of a 16 century wounded line. In space you find 3 Brussels sprouts sewn with the same thread – apart, yet bound – different, yet the same. Yellow, as the basic foundation of the two flags, a colour that according to Kandinsky reaches out rather than pulls back into itself. As in real life, we can not visually sense the border, the artist translated the line in another sense: a sound in the space vibrates, and by that covers every movement and corner it takes.

Laura De Jaeger (1995) is a Belgian visual artist who explores organic matter through space. Humanity, their natural habitat, but also impermanence often touches her work. By translating universal themes to visual poetry, she asks questions about the forgotten corners of our surroundings.
De Jaeger (LUCA School of Arts in Brussels) is currently an exchange student in the 3rd year BA Sculpture and Installation Department in The Estonian Academy of Arts.

Vent Space is supported by the Student Council of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

On Wednesday, the 12th of December at 19 o’clock, we will open the exhibition “Disassemble” at Vent Space (Vabaduse väljak 6/8). The exhibition is open from 13 to 19 of December from 14-20 o’clock.

It is the first group show of the students of the 2nd year of photography department.

The participating artists: Kristiina Aarna, Ben Caro, Gerda Nurk, Diana Olesjuk, Anna Pazucha, Pille-Riin Vihtre & Lisann Lillevere.

Through their individual visions they propose unique viewpoints of their surroundings. By looking closer they have re-constructed reality within the photographic frame to ask us to question hierarchies both inside and outside the image. Furthermore they have de-constructed reality and built a meditative space into which they invite us into. De-constructing familiar places through a rather personal view. Using a historical viewpoint to highlight overlooked traces visible under close looking.

Vent Space is supported by the Student Council of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Angela ‘Goo’ Ramírez will open the evolving exhibition “Sometimes We Remember [Remembered]” at Vent Space on Friday, February 15, 2019 at 7:30pm. The exhibition and artist residence will be open from Monday to Thursday from 1pm to 5pm and Saturdays and Sundays from 1pm to 7pm until February 28. Finissage will take place on Friday, March 1st, 2019 at 7:30pm.

Goo is currently interested in exploring the consciousness of our own memory, called metamemory, through the materialization of the effort of remembering.

“Sometimes We Remember [Remembered]” is an exhibition exploring the metamemory of the exhibition “Sometimes We Remember”. By withdrawing to the past, time – the essential material for memory – reveals how we creatively transform our own memories through selection, oblivion and imagination to fit our current needs.

Angela ‘Goo’ has a background in spatial and urban design and pedagogy. She has worked as a researcher for the Tecnologico de Monterrey University and curated architecture/art exhibitions in the City Museum in Queretaro, Mexico. She is currently studying the MA Program of Contemporary Art at the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Vent Space is supported by the Student Council of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Kadri Liis Rääk and Wondering O (Mihkel Tomberg) will open their audiovisual installation “Rhizopia2” at Vent Space project space on 3 March 2019, at 7pm. An improvisational live-concert will take place on the opening evening.

Rhizopia2 is a constantly developing and changing multidisciplinary environment, which is activated by the people that enter it. Rhizotopia i.e. a rhizomatic utopia is a living organism, a speculative narrative where meaning is created in an infinite number of junctions. Stories of pasts, presents and futures keep the organism alive, feed it and maintain it. Rhizotopia is a tactile playground, which everyone can join and come listen to stories. Blurring the borders sparks connections.

Kadri Liis Rääk is currently graduating from the fine art masters course at the Estonian Academy of Arts. She finished studies in scenography at EKA as well as a masters in autonomous design at KASK University in Gent, Belgium. This installation is part of a continuation of a work which started at KASK. Her area of research is senses in a mediated reality: the sensory organs as interfaces for creating and conceptualising the world. Currently, she is focused more on tackling speculative narratives and studying posthumanism in an installation-based context.

Mihkel Tomberg is studying audiovisual composition at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. He is known for the projects “Algorütmid” and “Heaven’s Trumpet” and had contributed various sound designs for many audiovisual projects. He has participated in exhibitions in Estonia and Italy.

The exhibition will be open 4-5 March, 2pm-7pm.

Vent Space is supported by the Student Council of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

You are welcome!
Live graffiti, music, and rhymes.
Performance by the one and only SELJOS

DJ:
—Ken Two
https://www.facebook.com/djkentwo/
—Q100
https://www.facebook.com/iamq100/

MC:
Päda and Ronaldo Da Vinci
https://www.facebook.com/kaheksksksa/

The solo exhibition “Silence from the Ceiling” by Mari-Liis Sõrg will be opened at Vent Space project space on Thursday, 25 April 2019 at 6pm. The exhibition will be open until 28 April 2019, Fri 2-7pm and Sat, Sun 12-6pm.

Mari-Liis Sõrg tackles the stories behind views that have entrenched themselves in the mind,
despite not being remembered. In a world, where moments have lost their duration, the fear of oblivion grows. Grasped by this fear, we begin to record the past and the present, the troubling
disquiet forces us to collect views, objects, data, writings. The calm that has been lost in the
panicked fervour of collecting is replaced by an uncertain perspective concerning the future. That said, the moments, which we have not attempted to archive, can enjoy the silence and freedom.
Using painting and photography, she looks at the discrepancy between depiction and conservation.

Mari-Liis Sõrg has graduated from the department of graphic art at the Estonian Academy of Arts (BA 2018) and is continuing her studied in the contemporary art programme (MA).

Vent Space is supported by the Student Council of Estonian Academy of Arts.

Our planet is dying.

A breakdown of our climate and ecology could very well drive humans and other animals to extinction within a couple of generations.

Governments and big corporations are busy making up excuses and hiding the truth, to steer the conversation away from the problems.

Is anyone dealing with this situation at all?

Yes!

From 15-21 April, the Week of International Rebellion is taking place in cities all over the world. Started by the Extinction Rebellion movement, these mass protests are spreading all over the world, with the epicentre in London.

The protesters have occupied important roads in cities, disrupting everyday hustle and bustle and demanding immediate action concerning the crisis, despite the mass arrests taking place.

Vent Space will be the climate protest centre of Estonia from 19-23 April. We will be broadcasting live events taking place in London, Estonia and other parts of the world, supporting the brave activists fighting for our future. Workshops and presentations on the subject of the climate crisis will also be held.

Vernissage on 19 April at 7 pm.

Additional information on the workshops and presentations TBA.

The project is lead by Tiiu Lausmaa, alumni of EAA painting department, year 2018 (bachelor’s degree), along with the rest of the XR Estonia team.

The group exhibition “Lasnamäe?”
will open at Vent Space project space on Friday, 12 April 2019 at 7pm. The exhibition will remain open until 17 April.

Participating artists: Anna Kaarma,
Lee Kelomees, Tõnis Laurson, Tiiu Lausmaa, Janne Lias, Riin Maide,
Vassa Ponomarjova

Considering Lasnamäe, the first things that spring to mind are the rows of prefabricated buildings and the wastelands interspersed between them. As a manifestation of a characterless, purely utilitarian space in the cityscape, it continues to be an important and intriguing environment for us, the young people born in the former Soviet Union or right after its collapse. The impersonal nature of Lasnamäe provides us with breathing space, creating a gap into which it was possible for us to write our story. It is our conceptual playground between the real playgrounds and rows of windows, where memories and the emotions they conjure intertwine with the foreign, thereby making it familiar.

The exhibition does not aspire to be an overview nor a broad research of the given subject, we have selected examples from the work by students at the fine art department at EKA created in recent years. The decisive factor in most of the works is coincidence, the initial task of the artist was not to depict Lasnamäe, these works have been by-products in the processes of other works.

The exhibition will remain open during April 13–17 from 12pm to 6pm.

Anna Kaarma (1992) received her bachelor’s degree in graphic design at EKA (2015) and will graduate from her master’s studies in photography/contemporary art this spring. Concurrently, she is preparing a second solo exhibition, which looks at the architectural aesthetics and ideological frame of reference for Lasnamäe, to which she ascribes a human perspective and dreamlike spatial experience through her own perspective. That said, she is also attempting to work past the anonymity of the district and reach its origin. A lifelong inhabitant of Lasnamäe.

Lee Kelomees (1995) is a photographer with a bachelor’s degree from the Estonian Academy of Arts and has lived in Lasnamäe since her early childhood. The inspiration for Lee’s previous work has been the industrial romance unfolding from the window of her 11th floor childhood home, which can be considered her emotional shelter and carrying force, based on her previous work.

Tõnis Laurson (1996) is studying graphic art at the fine art department of the Estonian Academy of Arts. He has lived in Lasnamäe for the past two years, but was not born there nor did he grow up there, therefore, it would be an exaggeration to claim he is from Lasnamäe. That said, living deep in Lasnamäe, the peculiarities of the district have influenced his work in many ways.

Tiiu Lausmaa (1989) graduated from the bachelor’s studies at the painting department of the Estonian Academy of Arts in 2018. She was 2 years old when she moved to Lasnamäe and, for her, it was her first home. She thinks, it was a good place to grow up: it wasn’t too sleek or safe, instead, you could experience real life. There were playgrounds meant for children, but the little woods and wastelands, where you could create your own world, were much more interesting.

Janne Lias (1981) is studying painting at the fine art department of the Estonian Academy of Arts. She was 10 years old, when her family moved from a Mustamäe dormitory room to a 3-room apartment in Lasnamäe with all the conveniences. While she was trying to acclimatise to Lasnamäe, Ivo Linna sang “Stop Lasnamäe!” on the radio. Janne moved away from Lasnamäe already at the beginning of the 2000s, but the awkwardness of living in the wrong place has remained.

Riin Maide (1997) is studying graphic art at the fine art department of the Estonian Academy of Arts. Riin has lived in a prefabricated building, although, in Keila, where there were precisely three buildings tall enough to require a lift. All those “Lasna” and other “mäed” (hills) seem utopic, because the buildings there really are full of people.

Vassa Ponomarjova (1984) is studying painting at the fine art department of the Estonian Academy of Arts. Vassa lived in Lasnamäe for 2 years, now she lives in Õismäe. She considers Lasnamäe to be an area separated from the rest of Tallinn – a city within a city, where the mentality is a little different to that which exists in the rest of Tallinn.