Category: Faculty of Fine Arts

Have you ever  wondered how to make the most out of your art practice or projects?

How to functions public art field in Scandinavia?

Where and how to exhibit your work abroad?

Then OPEN ARS: CONNECTORIUM series of events are meant for you.

All professionals in the field of contemporary art interested in expanding their networks and learning more about art-related processes – this is for you!

OPEN ARS: CONNECTORIUM project warmly welcomes you to the 4-day event held in ARS Art Factory focusing on public art in Scandinavia. Lectures, studio visits, meetings and a workshop will be led by curator and art consultant TORUN EKSTRAND and artist JAN CHRISTENSEN.

PROGRAM:

6th June at 5pm: lecture by Torun Ekstrand that shares her understanding and experience in public and contemporary art from the perspective of curator and commissioner. In her words: “this will be a talk about art in public space-processes, Baltic art projects, exhibitions and artists’ conditions – a variety of perspectives on contemporary art practises.”

Participation fee: 12 EUR

7th June: artist studio visits and meetings by request with Torun Ekstrand (the priority will be given to the ones, who participated in the lecture).

13th June at 5pm: artist talk by Jan Christensen. Jan will introduce his art practice, share his personal experience with public art projects and strategies how to survive from art practice.

Participation fee: 12 EUR (for the workshop participants the lecture is for FREE)

14th June 11am-7pm: workshop for artists by Jan Christensen. To the workshop are welcome all practicing artists, who wish to learn how to present their art project proposals in the best way. The participants will explore how to go from an idea to realization. Also, the workshop offers to learn from a successful artist how to survive and make a living from art practice.

Workshop program:

STRATEGY. Strategies for survival and notes on the general art world: Living and working as a contemporary artist today.

SAMPLE PROJECT. Comprehensive description of certain public art projects, from conception to construction.

PRESENTATION. Presenting tools and techniques with regards to the initial stages of compiling a presentation, discussing teamwork, software and advantages and disadvantages of technology.

Participation fee: 36 EUR (includes FREE entrance to the lecture of Jan Christensen)

The number of participants is limited. Please register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSedZ3Ccqnb2cqYeCBq-WGelaenFtcja33s7vLak46_ChzMQBA/viewform?usp=sf_link

The events take place at ARS Art Factory, Pärnu mnt 154 Tallinn, room 111.

In case of questions: Varvara Guljajeva, varvarag@gmail.com, telefon: 58178424

www.arsimaja.ee

Our first guest is an independent curator and art consultant Torun Ekstrand from Sweden. She is an expert on public art in Sweden and has a vast experience in establishing and managing the international network and collaborative projects. Torun has been working with international artists in different museums and art halls since 2002, the latest were Songlines for a New Atlas, Make a Change and Mare Balticum.

Art consultant in public art commissions, working with permanent and semi-permanent public art works and city development projects. Network curator. Project leader for the EU project Art Line, a platform for projects challenging the notion of public space in physical and digital space, together with 14 art institutions and academies in the Baltic Sea area. Leader for Think Tank Transbaltic, an interdisciplinary collaboration about around the Baltic Sea that use methods of participative art. Both of them got the Flagship award by the European Commission.

Regional art developer supporting art institutions, artists and art organization, and organizing A.I.R. Blekinge – Baltic One.

More about Torun and her projects: www.artland.se, www.artlinecatalogue.eu, www.artline-southbaltic.eu, www.thinktanktransbalticpilot.blogspot.com, www.konstiblekinge.se

The second guest is internationally recognized Norwegian artist Jan Christensen (Copenhagen, 1977), who lives and works in Oslo and Berlin. He has exhibited internationally since 2001. Institutional solo-exhibitions and projects include Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel; Artsonje Art Center, Seoul; Stenersenmuseet, Oslo; Galleri F15, Jeløya; Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Kristiansand; Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent; Viborg Kunsthalle, Viborg; Kubus Lenbachhaus, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau München, Munich.

He has been an artist in resident at institutions such as IASPIS, Stockholm (2003); Villa Arson, Nice (2004); The International Studio Program of Changdong/The National Art Studio, Seoul (2004), The Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin (2005); FRAC  des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou/Nantes (2005); The Yeonhee-Dong 195 Residency Project, The Art Council of Korea, Seoul (2007); Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA (2010); SIM, Reykjavik, Iceland; Seoul Art Space Geumcheon (SASG), Seoul (2012) and Viborg Kunsthal, Viborg, Denmark (2014).

In addition to the rich trajectory of exhibitions, Jan has completed over 30 public art commissions in Norway, and other countries. His work is found in private collections internationally, from Seoul to New York and San Diego, and in the collections of the National Museum of Art and the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo.

Jan Christensen is a Board Member and advisory board member of several art institutions, like Ingerid Fegerstens Stiftelse, Oslo; Fellesverkstedet, Oslo; Tromsø Kunstforening, Tromsø; Prosjektrom Normanns, Stavanger; Billedkunst, Oslo; Sparebankstiftelsen DNB Art Award;

http://www.janchristensen.org/

Since 1998, the Tallinn Print Triennial has been accompanied by young artists’ exhibitions. Spheres is the youth exhibition of the 17th Tallinn Print Triennial. Its aim is to study the contemporary human condition through the conceptual metaphor of a sphere. Philosopher and cultural theorist Peter Sloterdijk claims that spheres are hybrid and symbolic realities created by humans from whatever is ready to hand. They are spaces of coexistence that enable humans to exist as humans. All human life proceeds within membranes that provide meaning and immunity.

There are three types of spheres. Bubbles are microspheres and the smallest units of social existence. They are constituted by dyadic relationships between two entities. Globes are all encompassing macrospheres that seek to unite all individual differences. Foam is the fragile and layered aggregate of vertically and horizontally contiguous bubbles that are characterized by co fragility—if one bubble bursts, it affects all its neighbors.

The youth exhibition will take place in two parts. The second part will open at the Corridor Club of Kultuurikatel on the 31 st of May at 6 PM and will remain open until the 16 th of July. Participating artists— Valentin Alizer, Ann Pajuväli, Mark Antonius Puhkan, Irma Isabella Raabe, Kadi Reintamm, Elina Saat, Kristina Mirjam Villand and S3+A1 (Delija Thakur, Helga Aliis Saarlen, Elise Roos ja Patrik Olejňák). The exhibition is curated by Eve Kask and Oliver Laas. The exhibition designer is Delija Thakur.

Vít Havránek’s “Display Case: Enjoy the Mirror” is the opening exhibition of the Showcase Gallery of the EKA Department of Photography. The gallery is connected to the Lembitu 10 building and the exhibition will open with a performance on 4 June at 14:00.

The exhibition “Display Case: Enjoy the Mirror” reflects on the usage of latin verb reflexio (reflection) that from early middle ages as description of a body that is repulsed by a mechanical obstacle. In this sense Descartes develops the reflections as a process of thinking when the thought is returned as a subject of thought about itself and its conditions. In this connection mirror image in absence of thinking is a bare image.

Vít Havránek is an art theoretician and curator living in Prague. He has been working since 2002 as director of the contemporary art initiative Tranzit.org. He has previously worked as a curator at Prague City Gallery and National Gallery in Prague. Havránek is a lecturer of contemporary art at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague and he co-curated Manifesta 8 and the 15th Jakarta Biennale. In 1999, Vít Havránek was one of the founders of the PAS collective. The group was created as a unit for organizing and producing events that promote new models of mediation between the public and art. In 2000, as one of the first projects, PAS set up showcase galleries in various Czech cities.  The showcase galleries were based on the example of the Communist showcase galleries that were used in the 1980s by the Communist regime and local authorities for disseminating political propaganda.

Premiere at cinema Sõprus
Monday, 2nd of April, 6.30 pm
Free entrance!

The film “Screen Tests for Köler Prize 2018” accompanies the 7th Köler Prize exhibition of the nominees at EKKM, open during 31.03.–20.05.2018.
The nominees for Köler Prize 2018 are: ANNA ŠKODENKO, HOLGER LOODUS, TAAVI TALVE, TANJA MURAVSKAJA and TARVO VARRES.

Idea: EKKM & Nora Särak
Cinematographer: Nora Särak
Editing: Raul Tõnurist, Epp Kubu, Nora Särak
Sound recording: Antti Mäss, Dmitry Natalevich, Siim Skepast, Tanel Kadalipp
Sound design: Jevgeni Berezovski
Colour correction: Epp Kubu
Graphic design: Ott Kagovere

Thank you:
Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Ministry of Culture, AS Smarten Logistics, family Kruuse, Baltic Film and Media School, Estonian Artists’ Association, Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center, Tõnu Talpsep

Köler Prize is an art award established in 2011 by the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM). Its main objective throughout the years has been to give recognition to important artists and art collectives that are active in Estonia and to popularise contemporary art in general. Five artists or art collectives of Estonian origin or who reside permanently in Estonia are nominated for the Köler Prize on the basis of their creative work over the past three years.

More information:
info@ekkm.ee
www.ekkm.ee/en
+372 53305449

“100 aastat liikuvaid pilte” is an exhibition about the history of moving images at Valga Museum. There will be a retrospective programme of animations from the animation department and films by Priit and Olga Pärn.

Find more information here.

System & Error

Exhibition: 23rd February / 4th March

Off-season Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM),

Opening Party: 18:00 / Friday 23rd

Ordinary life is made of eventful junctures, constant surprises and adjustments that go beyond all attempts to rigorously plan and design things. Infrastructures crack, smart phones make errors, printers print funny stuff, states fail and the financial market fall into cyclical crises; Also our body can react strangely. All these failures have an aura though: they do not occur twice in the same way and produce the adrenaline of edges. Paraphrasing Tolstoy, all the families are successful alike, but failed in their own unique way.

The artworks of this exhibition have been produced honouring the meaning of collaboration, since the groups of artists are composed with MA students from Aalto University and from the Estonian Academy of Arts, which adds to the exhibition a reflection about the risks, potentials and failures of cooperation between artists and between institutions. For the exhibition, students have engaged with how misbehaviours and things out of place constitute a terrain of experimentation, addressing different meanings of systems, randomness and dead ends, and facing questions such as:

• Do failures need an excuse?
• What does an error look like?
• What is the benefit of being part of a system?
• How much tolerance for the non-perfect do our societies have?
• Is a list of failures more revealing than a list of successes?
• Are gaps, holes, tricksters and hackers part of the system or the error?
• In which ways systems are organised by defining some practices as normal and some others as deviant (noise, dirt, queer…)?
• And does anything right might come from pursuing wrong practices?

Curator: Francisco Martínez

Graphic designer Heleliis Hõim

Artists:

• Madis Kurss & Martha Jessen
• Mirka Sulander & Elina Saat
• Hanna Perälä & Heleliis Hõim
• Sandra Schneider, Anu Jalas & Kadi Reintamm
• Uzair Amjad, Aman Askarizad & Aap Jaapan
• Ana Fernandes & Mark Antonious Puhkan
• Solveig Lill & Tuomas Lehtomaa
• Elham Rahmati, Danai Anagnostou & Heidi Paju

Varvara & Mar. Surveillance Capitalism

19 February at 5 pm, graphic art department, Lembitu 10B, room 144

On Monday, 19 February at 5 pm there will be an open lecture by Varvara & Mar. During the lecture Varvara & Mar will explore the influences of technological age on society and how it resonates in their artistic practice.

The notion of surveillance capitalism is borrowed from Shoshana Zuboff, who underlines ongoing and expanding monetisation of big data. In her word this is a new form of information capitalism aims to predict and modify human behaviour as a means to produce revenue and market control.

The lecture will take place at EKA Lembitu 10B building in room no 144.

Varvara & Mar. The Big Other. 360-degree video, VR (virtual reality). 2017-2018.

Varvara & Mar is an artist duo formed by Varvara Guljajeva and Mar Canet in 2009. Often duo’s work is inspired by the digital age. In their practice they confront social changes and impact of technological era. In addition to that, Varvara & Mar are fascinated by kinetics and participation, which are integral parts of their work.

Artist duo has exhibited their art pieces in a number of international shows and festivals. In 2014 duo has been commission by Google and Barbican for creating a new art piece for Digital Revolution exhibition. In 2015 their public art proposal for Green Square Library and Plaza in Sydney was nominated for the final stage. This year they have completed public art commission in Tallinn and have won 2nd and 3rd prizes for public art in Estonia. Varvara & Mar has exhibited at MAD in New York, FACT in Liverpool, Santa Monica in Barcelona, Barbican in London, Onassis Cultural Centre in Athens, Ars Electronica museum in Linz, Maribor City Gallery in Slovenia, etc.

Varvara (born in Tartu, Estonia), gained her bachelor’s degree in IT from Estonian IT College, master’s degree in digital media from ISNM in Germany and currently is a PhD candidate at the Estonian Academy of Arts in the department of Art and Design.

Mar (born in Barcelona) has two degrees: in art and design from ESDI in Barcelona and in computer game development from University Central Lancashire in UK. He also has gain a master’s degree from Interface Cultures at the University of Art and Design Linz. In addition to that, Mar is a co-founder of Derivart and Lummo.

More info: http://var-mar.info

EKA vabade kunstide teaduskonna 2017/2018 kevadsemestri Seminari sari alapealkirjaga „SFÄÄRID“ hõlmab kümmekond loengut ja kunstnikuvestlust erinevatest valdkondadest. Seminari sari on vabaaine, mis annab 3 ainepunkti. Registreerimine toimub kohapeal.

Seminar series SPHERES in the spring semester 2017/2018 consists of 11 lectures and talks from different fields. Seminar series is a free elective that gives 3 ECTS.

You are warmly welcome!

13 November at 4 pm,
graphic art department,
Lembitu 10B, room 144

On Monday, 13 November at 4 pm there will be an artist talk #postprintshop by Patrick Wagner from Stockholm. He will make an overview over works and collaborations in recent years, the possibilities of social media presence and how to deal (or not deal) with the loss of all artwork and printmaking workshop. Uplifting and hopefully inspiring despite the gloomy connotations, and involving lots of chine-collé. 

The artist talk will be in English.

Patrick Wagner (b 1980, Germany) is an artist and printmaking educator from Stockholm, Sweden. Since 2014 he teaches stone lithography at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, having previously worked as a contract intaglio printer in the studio of Tuula Lehtinen in Tampere, Finland.

More info 
@blackheartpress on instagram / tumblr

Seminar series Non Aura in the autumn semester 2017/2018 consists of 10 lectures and talks from different fields, which take place mostly on Mondays from 4 pm. Seminar series is a free elective that gives 3 ECTS. Registration at the seminar place.

You are warmly welcome!