Category: Photography

Silvia Sosaar would like to request the honour of your presence at the opening of her exhibition “Unconscious Patient” on 31 May 2019 at EKKM at 5pm (Põhja pst 35, Tallinn). The exhibition is on view until August 30th 2019.

How to prepare, mobilise and attune a person to experience contemporary art?
Smells are the trigger of contextual memory. Smells are a central element of sensory processes, which are necessary for the development of a functioning memory and based on which the contextual memory is able to conjure up the past. The contextual memory functions when we associate a space with an event (because something once took place in that space) or associate a song with a special person, enabling us to be able to access a past reality once again – the same applies to the sense of smell. Smells affect moods and emotions. The aroma installation at the Showcase Gallery is open to visitors throughout the summer and will form the “basecamp” for the aroma-tours/performances that will take place in June, July and August in Tallinn’s urban space and in large shopping centres, Smell-O-Rama film screenings and a lecture on aroma marketing. Dates to be finalised.

In addition to the events at the Showcase Gallery, with the aroma installation in collaboration with EKKM café, the artist would like to direct visitors’ attention to the fact that many Estonian companies use aroma machines in their work environments daily – dentists, mini golf courses, spas, hotels, clothing stores, etc. across the whole of Estonia and the world, as well as the Estonian National Museum all implement the “scent marketing” service. Normally, people are not aware of this or don’t even notice that something is different; that their state of mind, desires and the most primary levels of their moods are being manipulated. This is also used in the military industries of various countries, where those entering war-zones are acclimatised with synthetic analogies to the smell of burning human flesh, spent gunpowder, sewage with the aim of softening the effects of the trauma awaiting them.

Silvia Sosaar (born 1979) is an interdisciplinary artist living in Tallinn. She works with photography, video, performance and installation. The main focus of her interest is the person – tackling the encounters between artist and subjects. Sosaar graduated from the photography department (BA) at the Estonian Academy of Arts in 2017. In the same year, she started her master’s studies in contemporary art, faculty of fine arts at EKA, where she is presently studying. Sosaar is a member of the Estonian Union of Photography Artists (FOKU).
In addition to Estonia, she has participated in group exhibitions in London, Milan and Madrid. Sosaar’s short film “Finding Elvis” participated at the “60 Second Intl. Film Festival” in Islamabad.
Her first solo exhibition “Shiny Shoe Salon” took place in 2017 at EKA Gallery in Tallinn.
She is one of the co-founders of ;paranoia publishing and has participated at numerous performances connected to presentations of publications.  She is a founding member of skaala publishing.

The artist would like to thank the department of photography at Estonian Academy of Arts, EKKM Café, Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia, aroomiturundus.ee, Marten Esko, Aksel Haagensen, Cloe Jancis, Marge Monko, Immanuel Poltimäe, Eve Roosna, Hanno Soans.

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.

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.

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.

Tuesday, 9th of April at 18.00 Finnish artist Tuukka Kaila will hold a public presentation of his work in room A202 at the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Tuukka Kaila (b. 1975) is a Helsinki-based artist working at the intersection of visual art, research and publishing. Since the late 90’s, Kaila has been actively involved in independent publishing, artist-run spaces and the cultivation of other forms of self-organized cultural production taking place outside of and occasionally overlapping with the institutional. Through various initiatives such as Numero Zine (1998-2004), Värinä darkroom co-op (2002-), Myymälä2 gallery (2003-), Bookies publishing event (2012-), Vallilan risopaja micro press (2017-) and Rooftop imprint (2017-), Kaila’s practice has consistently gravitated towards enabling a shared learning experience through participation and placing the means of artistic production and distribution at the hands of artists.

Kaila’s practice often materializes as photographs, texts and public events. Kaila’s recent works find their point of departure in questions concerning the production of knowledge. The works evolve organically through the use of a wide variety of artistic forms and epistemic strategies from dialogue to practice-based research to darkroom experimentation and printed matter.

Tukka Kaila was invited to Tallinn on behalf of the Department of Photography of Estonian Academy of Arts. During April 8–12, he is giving a workshop on analogue colour photography printing.

From 29th of January, Misa Asanuma’s new exhibition “enkei” will be visible in photography department vitrine gallery. Misa Asanuma’s new exhibition “enkei ” throw doubt on our desire to take photography in this image-saturated era; Why we want to archive some scenery as images, and how we treat captured images after that? Why, time to time, we automatically do so, even we might not cherish them that much afterward?

The unique mismatch of materials framed in the showcase is her imagined landscape, which emerged from her personal experience.

Misa Asanuma (b.1994) is an artist from Japan. She studied literature at Meiji University, Tokyo. She is currently in the middle of her MA studies in the department of Contemporary Art of the Estonian Academy of Arts and mainly working on photography.

The exhibition will stay open until 24th of March at the address Põhja pst 35, in front of the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia. The exhibition is open 24h/7 days.

On Wednesday, the 12th of December at 19 o’clock, we will open the exhibition “Dissemble” 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.

Evita Vasiljeva will open her exhibition “Unintentional and very particular” in the Showcase Gallery of the department of photography at the Estonian Academy of Arts (Põhja pst 35, Tallinn) at 6pm on Friday, October 19, 2018.

Evita Vasiljeva’s new exhibition is part of the 20th anniversary celebrations of the department of photography at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Different events including lectures are hosted by the Estonian Museum of Contemporary Art (Põhja pst 35). This fall the programme of the Gallery is curated by Kaisa Maasik. The Showcase Gallery has previously presented the works of Vít Havránek and Anna Mari Liivrand. Students of the Estonian Academy of Arts are welcome to apply at the Showcase Gallery until October 20th, results will be announced on November 1st.

Evita’s distorted abstract sculptural forms were created during her stay at the EKWC ceramics residency in the Netherlands. These unfamiliar forms were the result of 3D printing clay – a long process where the fragile surface of the formations cracked repeatedly. The final outcome is an intriguing contradiction of the new and the old – a futuristic shape using ancient materials, a technical method using natural resources.

Current exhibition can be viewed at any time and it will remain open until December 2nd.

Evita will also open her solo show “Still Stands and Resilient Nows” at Tallinn City Gallery on Thursday, October 18th. The exhibition will remain open until November 25th.

Graphic design: Mai Bauvald and Ran-Re Reimann

Evita Vasiļjeva (1985) is a Latvian artist based in Riga and Amsterdam. In 2012 she has graduated from the Fine Arts program at the Amsterdam Gerrit Rietveld Academie and in 2016 Evita finished the two-year residency program at De Ateliers in Amsterdam. She is mainly a sculptor, who is not limited to a physical material. Her latest exhibitions include “HYBRIDS” Lustwarande, Tillburg (2018) and “Manhours in Headquarters” P/////AKT, Amsterdam (2017).

Kaisa Maasik (1994) is an artist and curator based in Tallinn. She is currently in the middle of her MA studies in the department of photography of the Estonian Academy of Arts where she also finished her BA studies. Her first curatorial projects took place in 2017 and were Umbrella Group’s “Not Really” and Keiu Maasik’s solo exhibition “Lost Friends”. Her first solo exhibition “Green Room” took place at her home in 2015 and dealt with the topic of urban space and the anonymous relationships within it, her last solo show “Your Love Hurts” dealt with domestic violence.

More information:

Kaisa Maasik kaisa.maasik@artun.ee
FB event https://www.facebook.com/events/1090463464458203
Evita Vasiljeva’s Webpage evitavasiljeva.com

SUVA Type Foundry exhibition that opened last week at XIII Disainiöö on the occasion of a new web platform launch, moved today to the third floor at EKA, and will be open until October 1st. 

SUVA Type Foundry web platform (https://www.suvatypefoundry.ee), specimen as well as the exhibition present fonts designed 2010–2018, typographical experiments and archival materials created by EKA GD students, alumni and faculty. Fonts, available to download, will be added to the Type Foundry continuously.

Project team: Kersti Heile, Ott Kagovere, Elis Kitt, Anneli Kripsaar, Laura Merendi, Sandra Nuut, Anselm Oja, Johanna Ruukholm, and Indrek Sirkel.

EVENT IN FACEBOOK

PROGRAMME 29.09:
3pm Preview and curator’s tour with Nico Anklam and Paul Kuimet
4pm Film programme Night – Is it Time or Space? Curated by Ingel Vaikla
6pm Exhibition opening of Five Volumes
Music by DJ Endamisi Salamisi and Siim Karro

Registration for Tallinn – Narva – Tallinn bus
Registration for Tartu – Narva – Tartu bus

Paul Kuimet’s solo exhibition Five Volumes uses the entire 250 m2 ground floor of the Narva Art Residency main building. Three 16 mm film projections, one slide show, objects and photographs with three newly produced works make it the most extensive show of his yet.

In collaboration with Berlin based curator Nico Anklam, Five Volumes wants to underscore and expand Kuimet’s long relationship with the moving image and discourses around architectural modernisms found in and around Pärnu KEK Construction Company’s Housing unit “Kuldne Kodu” (Golden Home).

As a spatial experience, Five Volumes not only tries to think about transformations of the photographic and cinematographic image. But Kuimet’s camera eye also gently pierces into architectural formations of modernism reflected through the context of a border city in industrial decay between Estonia and Russia. As such, Five Volumes is also about utopian promises and its aesthetic manifestations as artistic material.

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.

Night – Is it Time or Space? is a film programme curated by Ingel Vaikla that serves as a substantive extension to Paul Kuimet’s solo exhibition Five Volumes. Programme will take place two times – first screening is on September 29th at 4pm at the cinema hall of Narva Art Residency. The main keywords among the artists’ films are: modernism, utopia, architecture and sculpturality. Chosen filmmakers’ focus is primarily on a close dialogue between form, space and camera. Five internationally recognized audiovisual works will be screened from the artists originally from Canada, Mexico, Estonia, Italy and The United Kingdom.

Supported by: Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonia 100 art program, The Gambling Tax Council (HMN), Estonian Contemporary Art Development Centre (ECADC), Photography Department of Estonian Academy of Arts, Goethe Institute in Estonia, High Voltage, GoBus, Muddis Brewery

Organizer: Narva Art Residency
Contact: ann.vaikla@artun.ee