Category: Photography

Koht: A-403 

Aeg: N 17.9. kell 12:00-13:00

Emma Sarpaniemi is a visual artist based between Helsinki and Reykjavík. Sarpaniemi received a BA in photography from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK) in 2019. In her practice, Sarpaniemi explores womanhood and definitions of femininity through performative self-portraits. For her, self-portraiture is a playground, a realm for exploring representation and resisting conventions of the gaze. The portrayed characters offer the possibility to continuously reconstruct oneself. The shutter release cable, often clearly visible in her photographs, serves as a symbol of the subject being in control of their own image. The characters she creates are fictional, but they are not alter egos. For her it’s inevitable that she regoznised herself in the images, where identity, reality and imagination intertwine. 

For Sarpaniemi, photography is a medium of joy and playfulness, empowering to dream of new possibilities of femininity, gender roles and the gaze. Collaboration and collectivity also hold important roles in her work. Traces of friends’ presence appear in individual portraits through elements such as a painted house, wooden frames, or a friend focusing behind the camera. Her works have been extensively exhibited in galleries, museums, and festivals throughout Europe and are included in notable public art collections as well as numerous private collections.

Emma Sarpaniemi will participate in the Foto Tallinn art fair on September 18-20, where she will be represented by the Helsinki Contemporary Gallery.

website

One of the starting points for the exhibition is Karel Čapek’s The Gardener’s Year. Čapek’s sharp and humorous observations on a (city) gardener’s desires, joys, disappointments and endless need to care for something immediately struck a chord.

Having spent an increasing amount of time at a summer cottage in recent years, I have also begun to develop my own, still rather vague understanding of rural life and the rhythms of nature. These rhythms can be calming and abundant, but at the same time ruthless and starkly indifferent.

Autumn evenings and nights in the countryside are dark, unless the moon is shining. If wearing a reflector in the city is recommended, in the countryside making yourself visible can be a necessity.

A beautiful summer is pleasant and abundant, but already in August the creatures that have kept their distance from the house begin pushing their way back in through cracks and openings. All it takes is a single day away for birds to devour all the berries ripening on the bushes, or for the last apples fallen beneath the trees to disappear overnight.

It is uncomfortably sobering to realise how fragile life is, and how much care is required to maintain this small part of our surroundings that we try to “domesticate” or cultivate. Even if one somehow manages to avoid disease, fungi and frost, a vole suddenly moving into the garden can be enough to throw the entire order of things into question.

In the countryside, humans are not necessarily the masters. Everyone is competing for food, light and space. If humans imagine they have an advantage in this struggle, it is only for as long as they remain vigilant and keep things “in order”. In the end, everything is food for someone or something.

Of course, one can take an arrogant position – scatter poison left and right, put up deterrents, or concrete over every available patch of ground. But at least I don’t want the countryside to become too orderly and controlled. That would take away one of the reasons for being there in the first place.

The ant, the wasp and the snail all have their place. So does the frog.

With thanks to: Estonian Artists’ Association, ARS Art Factory, EKA Foto, EVA Lab, Katrin Koit, Lipuvabrik OÜ, Taavi Varm, my wife, and my mother.

Open Mon-Fri 12-18, Sat 12-16

Finissage: 28 September, 18:00

* This plea has stayed with me from a period I once spent in Kütiorg, which significantly reshaped my understanding of living alongside nature and of nature conservation as an alternative worldview – one in which slogans and radicalism do not take centre stage, but rather common sense and an understanding of what is and is not possible.

The duo exhibition “Something That Should Be Felt” by artists Hilla Kurki & Taavi Rekkaro opened at the FOKU Gallery.

In the exhibition, the artists engage in a shared exploration about memory, personal history, touch, and how we relate to images. Both artists are searching for new ways within their practices, moving perhaps towards a greater spatiality and material presence. Together, the works create a dialogue between distance and intimacy, presence and remembrance.

In the series Clay Diaries, Hilla Kurki approaches memory through her family’s history, seeking alternative modes of relating with tradition and heritage. In Kurki’s images human form is shown together with plants and creatures, things that are reborn every season seemingly unchanged. By inviting a range of fellow artists to visit her great-grandparents’ house she creates a living archive through shared moments where friendship can become the main outcome of the work, not just its subject.

Taavi Rekkaro presents photos and objects that rethink photography as something to be touched, where closeness becomes part of the experience. The images capture fleeting moments, inner uncertainties, and attempts to understand oneself and one’s relationships with others. Exploring the connections between memory, body and self-perception, the artist asks: how can we be sure that we were truly there, that these moments really happened? On the gallery wall unfolds a melting moment composed of works created since 2023. Rather than telling a single, fixed story, the works invite viewers to slow down and build their own narratives.

The exhibition will remain open until 26 September 2026.

Hilla Kurki (FI, b. 1985) has exhibited in various international venues and art fairs since 2016. Her first book Almost All the Flowers in My Mother’s Garden was published in 2022 (Khaos Publishing), and has two sold out editions. Exhibition adaptations of the book have been shown recently in for example the Institut finlandais in Paris, Foto Arsenal Wien and in the Centre de la Photographie Genève. Kurki was one of the headliners of the Copenhagen Photo Festival in 2023. Her work was selected for Elles X Paris Photo in 2018, showcasing the history and future of female photographers. She was awarded the Still Life Prize in the 34th edition of Festival d´Hyeres in 2019. She is a part of the FUTURES Photography Platform.
Kurki has graduated with a Master’s in Art from the Aalto University School of Art, Design and Architecture in 2018. She lives and works in Helsinki, Finland.
https://www.hillakurki.com/

Taavi Rekkaro (EE, b. 1988) is a mixed media artist whose work reflects an intuitive dialogue between visual art and photography. Combining images with physical materials, he seeks to capture the energy of fleeting moments, blurring the lines between memory and self-discovery. Rekkaro has shown his work internationally both at exhibitions and artfairs, and his work has been published in international publications.
https://taavirekkaro.com/

FOKU Gallery is a gallery-showroom focused on contemporary lens-based art. FOKU Gallery is run by the Estonian Union of Photography Artists (FOKU).

Supporters:
Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Finnish Cultural Foundation’s Kymeenlaakso regional fund, Artproof

Opening drinks provided by:
Nudist Drinks, Põhjala Brewery

Technical support:
Karmo Migur, Paul Kobert

Calligraphy:
Adèle Zabé

Thank you:
Albane, Alexis, Anne, Artproof team, Celine, Daniel, EKA Gallery, Elio, Ferdinand, Hikari, Hubert, Jack, Joosep, Kaisa Maasik, Margot, Mari-Leen Kiipli, Olari, Olivia, Oscar, Raphaël, Rasmus, Risako, Sheung, Thomas, Tor, Valter, Viivi, Woosung

FOKU Gallery
Väike-Karja 10, Tallinn
Thu–Sat 12–18
Free entrance

Locations: EKA Gallery (Kotzebue 1) and the EKA Monumental Studio (Kotzebue 10)
28.04.–17.05.2026
Open Mon–Sat 2–6 pm Sun 12–4 pm (NB! Closed on May 1st!)

Fine Arts Assessment Marathon

The spring assessment marathon is here! For three weeks, visitors can once again visit the Assessment Marathon of the Faculty of Fine Arts and view the student projects finalized for the end of semester: almost every day, new artwork will be on display.

Visitors can see the final works of the students from the curricula of animation, photography, graphic design, installation and sculpture, contemporary art, painting and scenography.

A new exhibition is installed almost every evening of the marathon, and the previous evening’s display is replaced by a new one the following evening.

SCHEDULE

Tue, Apr 28. Drawing, Art BA II, supervisor Tõnis Saadoja (EKA Gallery)

Wed, Apr 29. Anatomical Drawing, Art BA I, supervisor Maiu Rõõmus (EKA Gallery)

Thu, Apr 30 – Sun, May 3. Photography, BA I, supervisor Tuukka Kaila (EKA Gallery)

Mon, May 4. Abstract Drawing, Art BA I and II, supervisor Tõnis Saadoja (EKA Gallery)

Tue, May 5. Studio Photography, Photography BA I, supervisor Madis Kurss (EKA Gallery)

Wed, May 6. Drawing, Art BA III, supervisor Britta Benno (EKA Gallery)

Thu, May 7 – Sun, May 10. Contemporary Art, MA I and II, supervisors: Merike Estna, Karel Koplimets, Camille Laurelli, Sten Saarits, Anna Skodenko, Kristi Kongi, Liina Siib, Viktor Gurov, Laura Põld, Tuukka Kaila, Reimo Võsa-Tangsoo (EKA

Gallery and Kotzebue 10 Monumental Studio)

Mon, May 11. Graphic Art, BA I, supervisors Kadi Kurema, Charlotte Biszewski, Mark Antonius Puhkan, Mirjam Varik (EKA Gallery)

Tue, May 12. Painting, BA I, supervisors Kristi Kongi, Jaan Toomik, Eero Alev, Holger Loodus (EKA Gallery)

Wed, May 13. Graphic Art, BA II, supervisors Viktor Gurov, Eve Kask, Maria Erikson, Liina Siib (EKA Gallery)

Thu, May 14. Installation and Sculpture, BA I, supervisor Laura Põld (Kotzebue 10)

Fri, May 15. Animation, MA I, supervisors Lilli-Krõõt Repnau, Bruno Quast (EKA Gallery)

Fri, May 15. Art Project, Scenography BA II, supervisor Liina Keevallik (Kotzebue 10)

Sat, May 16 – Sun, May 17. Drawing, Scenography BA II, Animation BA II, Photography BA I, supervisors Lilli-Krõõt Repnau, Eleri Porrison, Mark Antonius Puhkan (EKA Gallery, the exhibition is also part of the programme of the festival Kalamaja Days).

EKA FOTO presents:
Screening of films by Ingel Vaikla

“Double Exposure” (2020)

“EUR42” (2022)

“Moi aussi, je regarde” (2024)

February 12 at 6 p.m.

EKA Auditorium A-101

The screening will be followed by a conversation with Ingel Vaikla.

Ingel Vaikla (b. 1992, Tallinn) is a Brussels-based visual artist and filmmaker who works primarily with video, 16 mm film, and found footage. Her artistic practice explores the representation of architecture through its relationship with communities, seeking a visual language that goes beyond viewing architecture as a sculptural form. Instead, she attempts to convey the existential, conceptual, and ideological nature of spaces. Ingel has been a resident at HISK in Ghent (2018-2019) and at the WIELS Contemporary Art Center in Brussels (2021), and is pursuing a PhD at PXL-MAD/UHasselt University (2025). Her audiovisual works, including “The House Guard”, “Roosenberg”, “Double Exposure”, “Papagalo”, “What’s the Time?”, “EUR42”, and “Moi aussi, je regarde” have been shown internationally at film festivals and art institutions, including IDFA in Amsterdam, Kunsthalle Wien, Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia and Tallinn Art Hall, Beursschouwburg and Bozar in Brussels, Manifesta 13 in Marseille, Videonale in Bonn, Tramway in Glasgow, European Media Art Festival in Osnabrück, Busan International Video Art Festival, etc.

Exhibition “Where u at? We in the know”

Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM)

Kursi 5, Tallinn

Mon – Sun 12.01. – 18.01.
13:00 – 19:00

Starting Monday, January 12th, the exhibition “Where u at? We in the know.” will open in the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM). The opening ceremony will take place a day later on Tuesday the 13th of January at 18:00

“Where u at? We in the know.” Meaning we’ve been allowed access to EKKM with it’s three floors. We’ve been offered help and benefits. Enough but not too much. Just enough to ward off fear in these spacious cold rooms.

And we in the know in the sense that we know what’s up. But are we IN the know? We would like to think we are. But who even is IN the know? A contemporary artist should be (by all rights). The president too. And the prime minister. But they have advisors. We don’t. We only have each other and this big cold building. And lots of thoughts. Concerning gender, taboos, underwear, the economy, childhood, hockey and refusal.

Participating artists:

Mari Karjus

Mikk Keis

August Kilmi

Olesja Prants

Rasmus Puksmann

Gen-Horret Rand

Katarina Kuningas

Greta Sauter

Grete Tuiken

Kaur Tõra

Gleb Volodtšenko

Viktoria Weiszova

This exhibition features handmade books by EKA students as the culmination of a course in which they worked with photographs in book format. They explored the similarities and differences between artist books, self-publishing, and book dummies. In addition to creating and editing visual materials, students tried their hand at design, pre-press, and binding by hand. 

The books contain both analog and digital photos in the form of collages, typologies, narratives, and archival materials. The subjects explored include personal themes such as hometown, friendship, family, and childhood, as well as everyday life, the inexpressibility of feelings and perceptions, and mundane architecture.

Artists participating in the exhibition: Mikk Keis, Olesja Prants, Gleb Volodtšenko, Mari Karjus, Viktoria Weiszova, Tobias Tikenberg, Jana Mätas (MACA), Kristiina Aarna (DKT).

Supervisor Mirjam Varik.

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Artist talks with James Prevett and Maarit Bau Mustonen on October 22 at 5:45 p.m. in room A501 at EKA

On October 22, 2025, at 5:45 p.m., artist talks with James Prevetti and Maarit Bau Mustonen will take place in room A-501 at EKA. The artists have been invited to conduct a master class for students in the EKA photography department. All interested parties are welcome to attend the talks!

James Prevett is a British artist and teacher living in Helsinki since 2013. His practice involves studio based making and social sculpture. Both explore the idea and experience of bodies, personal and/or collective, physical and/or metaphorical. He often works with other people to bring an open-ended poly-vocal approach to art making. This includes projects like the Nomadic Sculptures, Out of Office (OOO) Radio and The Organic Sound Society. His sees his teaching is a part of this process exploring practice-based and collective inquiries. He is a Lecturer in Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts of Uniarts Helsinki and spends his free time in radio, books and walking his dog Lulu.

https://jamesprevett.com/

Maarit Bau Mustonen is a visual artist and independent publisher based in Helsinki. Her practice encompasses text, installation, lens-based media, and performance, presented in the form of exhibitions and artist publications. With a background in literature and communication, she often explores themes of language, publishing and translation. By engaging with the materiality of text and its relation to image and body, her work enters into dialogue with poetry. Collaborations with other artists lead to multidisciplinary and polyphonic projects. She is the co-founder, together with graphic designer Arja Karhumaa, of Multipöly (2021–), a collective focused on experimental publishing.

https://maaritbaumustonen.com/

Gardens: Tanja Muravskaja and Light
05.09 – 31.10.2025
Open:
Wed–Sat 13:00–19:00
Free entrance
Limited wheelchair access

Public Programme:
13.09, 14:00 Guided tour (in Estonian)
20.09, 14:00 Artist talk (in Estonian)

The exhibition is part of the main programme of the 8th Tallinn Photomonth

Tanja Muravskaja’s new work Gardens explores the boundaries between reality and image, as she gives the organic and living a fixed form, materialised through photography. Working with water as a real (source) material serves as a strategy for slowing down and so offering a counterpoint to the automated visual flows of the digital age. The individual photographs in the series are not mere visual images but events captured at the moment of their occurrence, when light and time turn into physical matter.

The display immerses the viewer in an experience of phenomenological presence, as their attention moves from recognition of the form to the sensual and sensory perception of the material. The series is an invite for “slow contemplation”, through which it explores the liminal areas between the visible and the invisible before guiding the viewer back to a

heightened state of physical presence and perception of the world.

The project was born from professional memory and developed into an independent statement on the intersection of institutional conditions, architecture and the artist’s perspective. All the photographs in the exhibition were printed by the artist herself, a process that allowed her to take full control of the paper’s nuances of texture and colour while also becoming an inherent extension of the artist’s observations and their results captured on camera.

Tanja Muravskaja (b. 1978 in Pärnu, lives and works in Tallinn) is an esteemed Estonian artist whose work focuses on questions of identity, collective and personal memory, and social boundaries.

Muravskaja graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts with a BA and, later, a Master’s in photography. She also studied photography at the University of Westminster in London, where she spent an exchange year. Her analytical and psychological approach sheds light on themes related to internal tensions and a sense of belonging, both on an individual and a social level.

Muravskaja’s works – including her principal photographic series Positions, Estonian Race, They Who Sang Together, Self-portrait with the Estonian Flag and various video works – are part of the collections of the Art Museum of Estonia, Tartu Art Museum and multiple private collections, reflecting the significant place she has in Estonian art history. She has had solo exhibitions at Tensta Konsthall (Stockholm), WIELS (Brussels) and Tartu Art Museum. She has also participated in various international exhibitions, including at EMST at the National Museum of Contemporary Art (Athens), MOCAK (Kraków), the Art Encounters Biennial (Timișoara), the GIBCA Biennial (Gothenburg), Ludwig Museum (Budapest), MACRO  (Rome), and Kiasma (Helsinki). She has received various accolades, including the Köler Prize Grand Prix (2018) and the Order of the White Star, 5th class, bestowed by the President of the Republic of Estonia (2019).

Exhibition designer: Jevgeni Zolotko Consultant: Elnara Taidre
Installation: Mihkel Lember
Graphic designer: Kert Viiart-Õllek

Thanks to:
Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonian Artists’ Association, Hedi Jaansoo, Kai Art Center, Laur Kivistik, Anna Loginov, Vladimir Loginov, Taavi Rekkaro, Sirje Runge, Mėta Valiušaitytė, Ellington Printing & Production, Veiko Illiste

As part of Tallinn Photomonth, FOKU gallery hosts the presentation of And Then It Fades (Away), a new bilingual (Lithuanian-English) book on contemporary Lithuanian photography. The publication brings together twelve artists whose works explore themes from placelessness and archives to instability and identity, weaving personal, cultural, and ecological narratives into a vivid map of the present.

Editors Geistė Marija Kinčinaitytė and Paulius Petraitis will discuss the book with moderator Annika Toots, touching on its themes as well as broader questions of contemporary photography. Published by Six Chairs Books, the volume highlights photography as a medium of inquiry and experimentation.

The presentation will be preceded by an introduction of the new MA in Photography programme at Vilnius Academy of Arts, Kaunas Faculty. MA in Photography is a unique programme in the Baltic states, dedicated to exploring photography as a critical, experimental practice that responds to and questions contemporary realities.

The presentation and discussion will be held in English.