Category: Photography

Carl-Robert Kagge
Four-Grain Image
Vitriingalerii, Tallinn, Põhja pst 35
14 August 2020 – 7 September 2020
Curator: Lilian Hiob

Carl-Robert Kagge’s exhibition “Four-Grain Image” is open from August 14 in Vitriingalerii, the showcase gallery of the Photography Department of Estonian Academy of Arts.

Carl-Robert Kagge’s solo exhibition “Four-Grain Image” is a site-specific work inspired by the location of Vitriingalerii, displaying a hauntological image of Instagram’s infinite database. Replacing the glass walls of the gallery with a canvas of bent plastic, Kagge continues developing his original artistic technique.

The title of the show refers to the manual technique the artist uses to apply the motifs onto plastic, silkscreen printing. On the other hand, this marks the process an image uploaded to the internet goes through before reaching the viewer: mutations on the screen used to view the image.

Carl-Robert Kagge is a painter, focusing on images found on social media and their materialisations in physical space. The artist’s original technique consists of silkscreen printing and applying the images on heat-shaped plastic. Gathering his visual material on various online platforms, Kagge creates a subjective archive of past and present that has not much to do with collectively perceived space of reality. Using already existing visual material, the artist composes a unique field of images that do not always comply with straightforward categorisation. Kagge skilfully navigates multiple fields: painting, printing, design, internet culture, technology, and graffiti. Looking at Kagge’s work on a computer screen, it may resemble Photoshop comps, however, exhibited in physical space we see painting-hybrids, blurred photos abstracted until they become unrecognisable. A similar effect occurs when phones fail to load Instagram photos in full resolution due to slow internet connection. All of this leads the viewer to be confronted with hyper-physicality: a mix of virtual and material shaped into something almost haunting. Kagge’s work skilfully reflects a state increasingly taking hold of people – time and space, where technology has become a permanent artificial limb and where it has become almost impossible to distinguish between the real and the simulated.

The exhibition is on view until 7 September and can be viewed on 24 hours basis.

For more info check the event on Facebook.

Contact: Lilian Hiob, lilian.hiob@artun.ee, +3725272556

Eliis Laul’s exhibition ”NIVEA FOTODOSE” is opened from the 16th of July, 2020, in Vitriingalerii, the showcase gallery of the Photography Department of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

The title of the exhibition refers to Nivea campaign of the same name currently held in Germany – the legendary Nivea cream can be purchased with the personified appearance and get one’s own photo printed on the top of the lid. This well-known and functional everyday item can thus acquire a certain sentimental value for the owner.

The artist aims at interpreting the borderlines between a piece of art and commodity item. While having the possibility to combine their own ways to shape the result, the piece’s intrinsic value might differ greatly depending on each person’s ideas and backgrounds.

Current artwork was originally exhibited in the exhibition “We all arrived with art” in Zollamt Gallery, Offenbach, February 2020. The artist is now exhibiting the piece in Estonia, accommodating the work for the format of Vitriingalerii.

The exhibition can be viewed 24/7 and it will be open until August 10, 2020.

Location: Facade wall of the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM), Põhja pst. 35.

Graphic design of the Showcase Gallery is done by Mai Bauvald and Ran-Re Reimann.

The event on Facebook.

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The exhibition Cat Show is opened in the Showcase Gallery of the Photography Department of the Estonian Academy of Arts from June 16, 2020. The artist Janne Lias explored in her work the Master Al feature added to her smartphone, which analyzes a scene in real-time, recognizes more than 500 objects and offers 19 different photo modes accordingly. A photo-distant person might find the modes offered to them confusing. Should wet acrylic painting be photographed in the same way as food? Or what is the difference between capturing a cat and a dog that these categories are highlighted separately? If the algorithm makes an error, it is amusing and reassuring – AI will not threaten human existence soon. Or should we be worried about the possibility of something that is at a rudimentary level can take power?

Cat show can be viewed 24/7 and it will be open until July 13, 2020.

Location: facade wall of the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM), Põhja pst. 35.

Graphic design of the Showcase Gallery is done by Mai Bauvald and Ran-Re Reimann.

As our lives are more and more digitally controlled, our bodies’ relationship to the environment has also changed in profound ways. Laura Kuusk’s solo exhibition “Dear Algorithm,” curated by Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk, explores the productive tension between our desire to adapt and survive on the one hand, and our resistance to the logic of codes, on the other. 

The exhibition will be open from February 20 at the Tallinn Art Hall Gallery. 

The exhibition Dear Algorithm, will be staged as a choreography of everyday movements: the window display becomes a shop front for hybrid-organic clothing sculptures, the gallery attendant simultaneously serves as perception manager, a library section will give further instructions on subverting social expectations, conditioning principles and behavioral patterns, a video installation presents three nonhuman actors that aim to grapple with and relate to human working environments, and lastly one may encounter some other-than-human entities that are in no one’s pockets.

The exhibition opening will take place on Wednesday, February 19th, at 18:00 and the show will remain open until March 29th.

On 27. February we invite you to experience the performance Catch Error Throw Exception by Laura Cemin that reflects upon the role of computational thinking and algorithms in our daily life. As a supplement to the exhibition, the artist invites viewers to visit reading sessions and kombucha tastings that will take place in the library section.

Laura Kuusk lives and works in Tallinn. Kuusk mainly uses photography, video and installation in her artistic practice. Most of her works have to do with recycling anthropological visual (found) materials. Kuusk is interested in the decision-making mechanisms within the collective consciousness. Over the last years, she has worked with the experience of the human body in the surrounding environment — in homes, in clothes, in relation to technology. In her work, Kuusk experiments with the visual traces of bodily experiences and their connection to larger socio-political processes. She studied at the Annecy Higher Art School (DSRA, 2014), the Estonian Academy of Arts (MA in Photography, 2008), and Tartu University (BA in Semiotics and Cultural Theory, 2005). Kuusk is a member of the ARS art factory in Tallinn (since 2015) and was a member of the art center OUI in Grenoble (2009-2015).

Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk works as a curator and writer for The Office for Curating and is director of A Tale of a Tub, a not-for-profit art space in Rotterdam. Central to Lekkerkerk’s work are social and political discourses revolving around daily living and working practices, cultural norms, and ideologies. He particularly focuses on debates concerning the Anthropocene, ecology and climate, post-humanism, and the increasing entanglement between nature and culture. Lekkerkerk recently published The Standard Book of Noun-Verb Exhibition Grammar (Onomatopee, 2018) that analyses exhibition as an ecological assemblage. In 2012, he received the inaugural Demergon Curatorial Award, and in 2014 he was the beneficiary winner of the Akbank Sanat International Curator Competition.

Art Hall Gallery (Vabaduse väljak 6) is open Wednesday till Sunday 12–7pm. Entrance is free.

The Art Hall Foundation fund is a contemporary art establishment that presents exhibitions in three galleries on the central square of Tallinn – at Tallinn Art Hall and nearby at Tallinn City Gallery and the Art Hall Gallery. 

Call for applications: Showcase Gallery of the Department of Photography at the Estonian Academy of Arts is looking for projects to showcase from April 2020 until October 2020. Current students of the Estonian Academy of Arts are welcome to apply. The application deadline is March 10th, 2020. The Projects will be chosen by jury and the results will be announced on 13th of March.

The application must contain:

• A description of the project. Visual materials if possible.
• The artist’s portfolio or examples of previous works.

The outer dimensions of the Showcase Gallery: W 580 x H 755 x S 160 mm.

The internal dimensions are (approximately): W 560 x H 740 x S 140 mm.

We are accepting projects according to the dimensions of the showcase.

Please send the application to cloe.jancis@artun.ee

Join us for the opening of the solo exhibition “Five Volumes” by Paul Kuimet on Friday, January 3 at 6 PM. The exhibition will remain open until January 25.

The exhibition, consisting of film projections, a slideshow, photos and an installation, was first exhibited at Narva Art Residency in 2018. In the accompanying catalogue, curator of the exhibition, Nico Anklam, explores the different meanings of the word volume – it can be a part of a series, the amplitude of sound, and, above all, a property of three-dimensional space: its capacity. The various meanings of the title and its subtleties open the contents of the works at a slow and meditative pace, similar to film projections.
Three 16 mm film projections depict the Pärnu KEK building complex, built in 1969. Golden Home (2017) deals with a block of flats forming part of the KEK complex, which according to Anklam “conjures two different eras and styles of architecture – Socialist and Capitalist – with their specific hopes and promises of advancement. Both seem, again, to be stuck in constant return. This motif slumbers already in the title of the exhibition: volume as a word derives from the Latin volvere – to roll or fold, and its recurrence, re-volvere informs the term revolution.”
Kuimet has been working with space since 2013. He is interested in the connection of architectural space to photography and film, and, in turn, their relationship to the architecture of exhibition space. He also pays great attention to the scenography and choreography of both the visitors and the artworks in the gallery. For Kuimet, the relocation of the exhibition content to a new space and context is important when presenting the works at EKA Gallery: “These five volumes or units, which were laid out in separate rooms in Narva and projected onto double-sided screens have been presented as a single volume at EKA Gallery. In Narva, Display for Optical C-Prints hosted two photographs, but at the current exhibition, it will be used as a kind of pavilion that contains all four projectors.”

Paul Kuimet (b. 1984) is an artist based in Tallinn, Estonia. His work has recently been exhibited and screened at Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt; European Central Bank, Frankfurt; KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn; WNTRP, Berlin and BOZAR Center for Fine Arts, Brussels. In 2018 he participated in the residency programme at WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels and will take part in the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York City.

www.paulkuimet.ee

Supported by Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Muddis Brewery, A. Le Coq.

What the mid-twenties pretend to think about?

This Friday 6th of December at 20 the students of Estonian Academy of Arts photography department open the exhibition “Mid-twenties pretend they got it” at Vent Space gallery (Vabaduse väljak 6 back yard).

The exhibition is a conclusion of the working period that was marked by searching visual expression to the perception of one’s environment. The shared experiences and values in social space are interwined into several questions that the authors solve in the gallery space through the works in photographic, video and installative media.

How do we feel in the mental and physical space? What is individual and collective perception? What are the rules settled in this space? Are these rules functional? How can we change them? What is the information space we are located in? Which are the possibilities to use this space of exhibition?

Participating artists: Kristiina Aarna, Mark Cavanagh, Levent Efe, Stina Isabel Gavrilin, Inger-Liis Heinsoo, Zoe Komkommer, Kristina Kuzemko, Una Laurencic, Jana Mätas, Anna Tamm, Kertu Rannula, Diana Olesjuk, Laura Ruuder, Carolin Saage, Hans Jakob Väär.

Curators/guides: Kristiina Hansen, Sigrid Viir, Johannes Säre ja Laura Kuusk.

Vent Space gallery is located at Vabaduse väljak 6 yard in Tallinn.

The exhibition is open from 7.12-19.12 every day 12-19. Opening on 6.12 at 20.00.

On Friday, December 13th as part of the exhibition “Mid-twenties pretend they got it”, Kristiina Aarna will show her work ”Akadeemia tee 4” in the city space. Photo projection will be exhibited on December 13 at 5 pm – 7 pm at the rear wall of Akadeemia road 4 building.

Kristiina Aarna
”Akadeemia tee 4”

Art creates the public sphere, but what exactly does this mean? The first micro-district of Mustamäe was built in 1963. Thousands of people became fortunate enough to have access to warm water and a private kitchen. The plan for modernisation envisaged the creation of a residential environment, which people would not have to leave and where they would spend all of their free time. The 1960s also brought with them a great era for monumental painting in Estonia during which the first prefabricated residential buildings were decorated with pictures. These pictures represented both the synthesis of various Soviet art forms as well as an attempt by local artists to add diversity and variegation to the disjointed humdrum houses. The end walls of the prefabricated buildings on Akadeemia received optimistic sgraffitos by Valli Lember-Bogatkina, Margareta Fuks and Enn Põldroos, two of which are now hidden under a layer of insulation. The aim of my work is to produce a one-time photo-projection on the end wall of Akadeemia 4, thus making the hidden art visible again.

Event on facebook 

The exhibition “Mid-twenties pretend they got it” is open from 7.12.19–19.12.19 every day at 12-19.

Tuesday, 22nd of October at 17.00 the artist Anne Pöhlmann will hold a public presentation of her artistic practice in room A501 at the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Anne Pöhlmann (b.1978) is a Düsselforf based contemporary artist, who’s work reflects the ever-changing conditions of the medium of digital photography.

She researches, among other things, the influence of software formulating photographic images, as well as the way we see photographs on monitors. The material translation of digital images into photo prints is a conceptual matter in Anne Pöhlmann’s practice. Her photographs range from urban architecture and natural landscapes to portraits and abstract compositions. They manifest as architecture-related installations of posters or banners that she prints on textiles. In these installations, the architectural space functions both as a spatial screen and layout location.

More recently, Pöhlmann prints her photos on various materials, like silk or cotton. The prints are subsequently sewn together with other prints into photo-fabrics and often combined with vintage textiles from the artist collection.

In works such as Japan Room (2019), Anne Pöhlmann presents folded photographs and photo-fabrics as fluid architectural formations, where the printed image merges with its carrier. Parallel Anne Pöhlmann has developed photographic works that represent an artistically subjective approach to the documentation of works of art and exhibition architecture. The artist published the resulting photographic series or sequences in the form of photo essays. In 2012 together with Diango Hernández, she founded the artist platform Lonelyfingers. Her work has received several awards and has been shown internationally in solo and group exhibitions. From 2018 to 2019, she has held a position as a visiting professor for photography at Art Academy (HBK) Braunschweig, Germany. Before that, she worked as a visiting lecturer at Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany. She regularly participates in workshops, lectures, and conferences at various international institutions.

Anne Pöhlmann was invited to Tallinn on behalf of the Department of Photography of Estonian Academy of Arts. During 21.–25th of October, she is giving a workshop in the Photography Department.

The lecture is in English.

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/681705208987400/
For more info about Anne Pöhlmann: http://www.annepoehlmann.net/

The opening of the photography student group exhibition “I can’t be fucked” will take place on Monday, 21 October, at Vent Space project space at 6 pm. Two performances by Hans Jakob Väär will take place as part of the exhibition on 31.10 (in Estonian) and 01.11 (in English) at 6.30 pm. The exhibition will be open 21.10-03.11.2019, every day 1-6 pm.

Participating artists: Kristiina Aarna, Lisann Lillevere, Gerda Nurk, Ania Pażucha, Anna Tamm, Pille-Riin Vihtre, Hans Jakob Väär

Curators: Kati Ots and Aksel Haagensen
Graphic designer: Moonika Maidre

“I can’t be fucked” is a collaboration between students from the photography department, the contemporary art programme and the curatorial studies programme at the Estonian Academy of Arts. In preparation for the exhibition, an exchange of ideas between students was of central importance. The students from the photography department developed their studio projects into what has become a new collective body of work, which expresses the individual practice of each artist while contributing to new thematic directions.

Vent Space is a student project space run by curatorial studies and fine art students from the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA), the aim of which is to offer EKA students a public platform for their creative practice.

The exhibition is part of the satellite programme of the Tallinn Photomonth 2019 biennial of contemporary art.

Supported by the Photography Department of the Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn Photomonth, EKA Student Council, EKA Gallery, Vaba Kunst MTÜ, Nudist, Õllenaut

Anna Tamm’s solo exhibition “Puppet Warp” will be opened in the Showcase Gallery of the department of photography at the Estonian Academy of Arts since September 4, 2019. 

“Puppet Warp” is an artwork inspired by the today’s situation in domestic policy, illustrating the simple method used for influencing the appearance and form of freely selected object/subject, thus transforming its purpose according to the artist’s needs. However, the radical use of the Puppet Warp tool may turn the original image into something new and unrecognizable.

The title of the exhibition is a direct reference to the digital image manipulation tool in Adobe Photoshop.

Exhibition can be viewed 24/7 and it will be open until October 26th.

Location: facade wall of the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM), Põhja pst. 35.