Category: Photography

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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.

On Friday, 20 June at 5:00, the exhibition of artists’ films “Once More I Would Like To Return” * will open in the large gallery of the Tartu Art House. The exhibition is being curated by Marge Monko and designed by Karel Koplimets.

The exhibition features five films by artists that deal with home and the memories, longing and melancholy associated with it in various psychological and aesthetic registers.

The motifs of leaving home and longing for home are as old as human history. On a personal level, fleeing or being forcibly displaced is a tragic event that leaves a mark on the rest of our lives, even if we manage to adapt well. “They don’t know that they will never really fit in. No, never. Some part of them can´t be fully present, something left behind in the old country that won’t allow them to really settle in elsewhere, to put down roots,” writes the Lithuanian-American avant-garde film-maker Jonas Mekas in his memoir I had nowhere to go. Mekas has captured his experiences as a refugee and his search for self in a new homeland through his experimental film-making.

“Artistic film is a phenomenon that situates itself outside film industry formats but uses the (audio)visual means of expression offered by the moving image. In her book War is not a woman’s face, Svetlana Alexeyevich uses the term “luminous force” from optics to describe the difference in experience of war between women and men. The more luminous a lens is, the greater its ability to record an image in poor lighting conditions. Hopefully, the films selected for the exhibition will help to illuminate those layers of homesickness and longing that are overshadowed by the great narratives of history,” explains Marge Monko.  

*The title of the exhibition is borrowed from Marie Under’s poem “The Refugee”, written while she was in exile in Sweden.

Participating artists: Noor Abed, Paul Kuimet, Jonas Mekas, Marge Monko and Anna Scherbyna.

Thank you: Kaisa Maasik, Brigita Reinert, Eesti Kunstimuuseum, AS GoProperty, Valge Kuup OÜ

The exhibition is being produced in collaboration with the Photography Department of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

The exhibition will be open until 20 July.

www.kunstimaja.ee

facebook.com/kunstimaja

The Tartu Art House (Vanemuise 26) is open Wed–Mon 12.00–18.00. All exhibitions are free of charge.

The exhibition activities in the Tartu Art House are supported by the Tartu city government and the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

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

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)

The Last Spring at the Central Market and the Exhibition in Keskpuur

A new exhibition is now open at the Keskpuur gallery on the second floor of the Central Market building in Tallinn. The artist Jana Mätas’ “Oli siis siin nagu midagi. Või siis ei ole” (There Was Something Here, or Maybe Not) invites viewers to reflect on the past, present, and future of the Central Market through materials, while contemplating the ever-present change in everything. The exhibition will remain open until April 6.

“When preparing for the exhibition, I visited the market quite often. I have always enjoyed environments that are a bit neglected and untidy, but right now, I enjoy it even more the more I think about neatly arranged cobblestones, aesthetically pleasing sales counters, and high-gloss white furniture. The people in these places are different, too.

And then one day, I remembered that the gravel roads leading to my childhood country house came from all directions. The cars passing by always drove with a white cloud behind them. All the plants by the roadside were covered with a thick layer of dust. I remember walking barefoot on the gravel road, the dust thick between my toes, and my calves were gray up to my knees. One had to walk very carefully so that it wouldn’t hurt too much on the soles. Sometimes, among the dusty stones, you could find ones that sparkled.”

Jana Mätas is an artist living and working in Tallinn, whose works are rooted in the physical world surrounding humans. Her pieces often begin with found objects, materials considered of little value, or abandoned items. The artist works largely intuitively to create surreal, worlds that exist outside of words. She has studied Estonian language and literature at the University of Tartu, dance at the Viljandi Culture Academy, and graduated with a BA in photography from the Estonian Academy of Arts (2021). Since 2023, she has been studying contemporary art at the same institution (MA). *Oli siis siin nagu midagi. Või siis ei ole* is her first solo exhibition.

In her works, Jana Mätas combines various material arts, craft techniques, light, space, literature, photography, and moving images.

Keskpuur is a gallery located on the second floor of the Central Market building in Tallinn. The new construction of the Central Market will begin this coming summer, and the market, along with the gallery, will disappear.

Graphic design: Jana Mätas, Grete Kangro

Artist talk by Tris Vonna-Michell at 17:30 on March 4th in EKA, A-501

The artist is visiting EKA to run a workshop in the department of photography on March 24-26, 2025 together with Henrik Follesø Egeland.

Tris Vonna-Michell (1982) is an artist, publisher and guest professor in Expanded Performance and Installation at the Royal College of Art in Stockholm.

Recent works can be found in public collections such as Serralves Museum, Porto, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Tate Modern, London, and Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg.

Vonna-Michell has exhibited widely, most recently at the Badischer Kunstverein in Karlsruhe.

Vonna-Michell’s work utilises a plethora of technical devices, modes of presentation and installational approaches, encompassing performance, audio recordings, slide projections, poetry, sound poetry, printed matter, photography and film. Since 2010 he has been co-running the publishing space and analogue studio Mount Analogue.

https://www.vonna-michell.com

EKA Department of Photography invites everybody to the screening of the film “Failed Emptiness” on March 5th at 18.00.
Duration: 66”
Location: A-101
A discussion with the film’s director Mika Taanila will follow after the screening.
______

“Failed emptiness” (2024) describes a three-week vacation in the middle of a heatwave. The protagonist prepares reports that begin to bother her more. The deeper she sinks into the report, the deeper she gets into herself.
______

Mika Taanila (1965) is a filmmaker and visual artist based in Helsinki. Taanila’s works have been shown at major international group shows, such as La Biennale di Venezia (2017), Aichi Triennale (2013), Documenta (2012), Shanghai Biennale (2006), Berlin Biennale (2004), Manifesta (2002) and Istanbul Biennial (2001). Solo shows include Padiglione de l’Esprit Nouveau in Bologna (2020), EMMA Espoo (2018), Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki (2013–14), Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (2013), TENT, Rotterdam (2013), Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe (2008), Dazibao, Montréal (2007) and Migrosmuseum, Zurich (2005).

Taanila’s films have been screened at several international film festivals and special events including TIFF Toronto International Film Festival, IFFR Rotterdam, International Short Film Festival Clermont-Ferrand, Karlovy-Vary Film Festival, Midnight Sun Film Festival, CPH:DOX, IDFA Amsterdam, Oberhausen Kurzfilmtage, Austrian Filmmuseum, Cork Film Festival, ICA and Whitechapel Gallery in London. Ars Fennica Award 2015 was presented to Mika Taanila.

Facebook event

You are invited to the opening of Karlotta Lainväe’s exhibition “Where do I go when I follow the thread?” on February 20th at 18:00 at Uus Rada Gallery.

In the exhibition “Where do I go when I follow the thread?” I invite you to join me on my journey to unravel the secrets of the place I call home. The sea, the forest, the fields and the rocks, they all hold mystery and knowledge deep within. What parts of my family and ancestors are woven into this place and what do I carry forward? The sense of security shining from there is always with me, yet it is fragile and comes with the weight of responsibility to protect it all.

Karlotta Lainväe is an artist studying photography in EKA, in her work she focuses on the human search for security and belonging. She also examines how connections to history, nature, and rituals create a sense of safety that protects us yet remains fragile and easily lost. To bring her ideas to life, she uses photography, handcrafts and installations to create a visual world where viewers can reflect on their own internal and external sense of security.

Opening: 20.02 at 18:00

Exhibition open: 21.02 – 27.02 at 16:00 – 19:00

Uus Rada Gallery