THE WELL
Maria Metsalu (EST), Jaakko Pallasvuo (FI) & Tarvo Porroson (EST)
19.12.2021—25.05.2022
Opening: 19.12 at 5.30—7 pm
EKA Gallery Billboard, Kotzebue 1, open 24/h

Join us for the “The Well” exhibition opening at EKA Gallery Billboard on December 19 at 5.30 pm. The billboard is located on the EKA building at Kotzebue street 1. Opening is at EKA cafeteria, and the entrance is via a glass door next to the billboard.

Part of the performance “The Well” at Kanuti Gildi SAAL, three artists are exhibiting a pseudo-archaic photo series of the same name at EKA Gallery Billboard. Eighteen metal sheets etched with text and illustrations make up two books that are part of the performance. 

In “The Well” the preconceived notions regarding the structure and meaning of the protagonist’s reality have disappeared into the abyss and the anxiety in which she has become aware of her finitude, an ontological insecurity has taken effect. She has no family, no friends, no connections. The world has become overwhelming in its complexity so she is being lowered into the well by her four psychoanalysts – AJ, Brian, Kevin and Nick. Her job while lying on her leather couch in the bottom of the well is to write and give the world a structure. She is a composer. She is a magician and an alchemist.

Metsalu and Pallasvuo have been having writing sessions from the beginning of 2021 and have created the text in the project. With the help of the blacksmith Tarvo Porroson, a selection of these texts has found their place on different objects of which two books form this exhibition.

“The psychoanalysts send down a notebook and tell me it would be good for me to keep a journal. I draw flowers in the notebook. I draw horses. I draw medieval weapons. I draw pictures of what I think the psychoanalysts look like. I draw their humors: blood, yellow bile, phlegm and black bile. All of my psychoanalysts fall in love with me. I send my notebook back to them, the one with all the drawings, and they fight over the book, they tear pages out and hang them on the walls of the cottages where they’ve settled. They have to live here, in isolation with me, until the treatment is complete. They love me so much, and they don’t want to let me go. I sleep in the well. I wake up in the middle of the night and the psychoanalysts are gone, they are inside the house, maybe sleeping, maybe fucking each other.”

Thanks to: Kanuti Gildi SAAL, Taavi Teevet, Paul Klooren, Robin Siimann, Pire Sova
Supported by Kanuti Gildi SAAL

ASSESSMENT MARATHON
02.–22.12.2021
Mon-Sat 3-6 pm
Entrance with Covid pass from Kotzebue street

December brings an opportunity to experience, in an exhibition format, works produced by students in the Faculty of Fine Arts as their term projects: every day there will be a fresh crop of university students’ works on display in the gallery.
Works in contemporary art, prints, installation, sculpture and painting curricula will be on display. On each morning of the marathon, a new exhibition will be installed and in the 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.

02.12 – Art project, supervisor Paul Kuimet
03.12 – Sculpture, supervisors Taavi Talve, Taavi Piibemann
04.12 – Sculpture, supervisors Taavi Talve, Taavi Piibemann
06.12 – Drawing, supervisors Maiu Rõõmus, Matti Pärk
07.12 – Drawing, supervisor Eero Alev
08.12 – Drawing, supervisor Britta Benno
09.12 – Drawing, supervisor Tõnis Saadoja
10.12 – Art project, supervisor Kristina Õllek
11.12 – Painting, supervisors Mihkel Maripuu, Tõnis Saadoja
13.12 – Department project, supervisor Ene-Liis Semper
14.12 – Department project, supervisor Ene-Liis Semper
15.12 – Contemporary Art, supervisors Kristaps Ancans, Taavi Piibemann
16.12 – Contemporary Art, supervisors Kristaps Ancans, Taavi Piibemann
17.12 – Contemporary Art, supervisors Kristaps Ancans, Taavi Piibemann
18.12 – Painting, supervisors Sirja-Liisa Eelma, Mihkel Maripuu, Jaan Toomik
20.12 – Graphic art, supervisors Kadi Kurema, Eve Kask
21.12 – Graphic art, supervisors Viktor Gurov, Martinus Daane Klemet, Oliver Laas
22.12 – Graphic art, supervisors Kadri Toom, Lilli-Krõõt Repnau, Mark Raidpere, Maria Erikson, Liina Siib

Participants: Johhan Rosenberg, Bosa Mina, Laima Jaunzema, Iris Lillemägi, Sveta Grigorjeva
Sound: Mihkel Kleis
Gallerist: Pire Sova

Join us for the “Kõdu” gallery visit on November 26, 27 and 28 at 8—10pm at EKA Gallery. The guests can move around in the space to meet “Kõdu”.

The age-old phantom Kõdu is living in all organisms while decomposing them from inside. The constant resistance with apparent subjugation will end with the inevitable surrendering.

The performance takes over the gallery space with an installation that changes over time. Johhan works together with the participants based on their artistic practice. Through sensing the body movements the utterer and the uttering become one while provoking the obscure new creatures are brought to life.

:they have not managed to conceive you
and you have already occurred
please be such a hag and tell me
who is it that imagined you;

Johhan Rosenberg (EST) has graduated Choreography at the School For New Dance Development with a background in music and dance studies. In his practice, the functionalities of language and identities become embodied contexts for the process of creating surroundings. Performances become technologies of tearing apart what is already known to develop new autonomies. Through raw vocabulary and playfulness, he layers body, visuals and sound to meet the viewer in the collective consciousness. He’s currently studying Chinese Medicine and is working as a freelance choreographer in Berlin and Tallinn.

Thanks to: Johannes Luik, Hans Gunter Lock,Tener Ilirstrom, Ando Naulainen, Kanuti Gildi Saal, Eesti Tantsuagentuur, Eventech, Kaarli Hambakliinik, Margus Laksberg 

Supported by: School for New Dance Development

Strobe lights are used at the event.

Ticket 5€.
Buy at the door with cash or here: https://fienta.com/et/galeriikulastus-kodu-hag

Free for EKA students!

Entrance from the EKA main door with Covid pass

Soft Negotiations
Exhibition of the Department of Textile Design of EKA in the EKA Gallery.

Exhibition is opened 16.10–13.11.202. Põhja puiestee 7, Tallinn. Opening hours Tue–Sat, 12–18
Opening of the exhibition on the 15th of October at 4 p.m.
The performance of Inês Rodrigues Neves “Drawing the Line” will take place at the exhibition opening. Entrance with covid pass.

Just as the warp threads connect the weft, serving as a bridge for each other, this exhibition by the Department of Textile Design invites audiences to ponder the role of textile in today’s and future society. At the exhibition, the department presents contemporary trends that often straddle or meld with the boundaries of other disciplines. That in turn creates a new, multidisciplinary approach where textile can take very different forms: it can convey structure, idea, protest, message, self-expression, pattern or simply colour combination.

The exhibition presents works by students and teaching staff of the Estonian Academy of Arts that investigate the all-encompassing role of textile design. Besides conventional roles, new hybrid forms emerge, presenting new knowledge in the context of artistic research. Emerging technological approaches are demonstrated, in which textile, interwoven with digital properties or technology at different levels, mediates collaborative processes in design of social interaction.

The exhibition has three conceptual threads, which intersect each other:

Textile as STATE(MENT)

#critical and conceptual practices

Textile as LAB

#experimental practice #flirting with science #biotextiles #new materials and structures

Textile as WELLBEING

#design that values the environment and well-being #sustainability #recycling #healthcare #social responsibility #therapy

Participants:

Frank Abner, Arife Dila Demir, Katrin Kabun, Liisbet, Karjel, Kadi Kibbermann, Mari-Triin Kirs, Kristi Kuusk + Ana Tajadura-Jiménez (Madriidi Carlos III Ülikool) + Aleksander Väljamäe (Tartu Ülikool), Krista Leesi, Kille- Ingeri Liivoja + Juulia Aleksandra Mikson, Greth-Ann Loog + Riina Samelselg + Anete Vihm, Inês Rodrigues Neves, Nithikul Nimkulrat (OCAD UNIVERSITY), Marin Nooni, Kärt Ojavee + Johanna Ulfsak, Ingrid Helena Pajo, Maria Kristiin Peterson, Piret Roos + Liisa Torsus, Zane Shumeiko, Marie Vihmar + Sirje Sasi (TLU), Piret Valk, Varvara & Mar + Sebastian Mealla, Carl-Rasmus Õunaste

Curators: Varvara Guljajeva (HKUST(GZ)), Kristel Laurits, EKA Department of Textile Design

Exhibition design: Varvara Guljajeva
Exhibition technical support: Tehniline Direktor
Graphic design: Jesus Rodriguez Santos
Translation and proofreading: Gepard OÜ
Exhibition team: Kristi Kuusk, Varvara Guljajeva, Krista Leesi, Kadi Kibbermann, Eelike Virve, Frank Abner, Juulia Aleksandra Mikson, Johannes Luik, Piret Valk

Supporter: Cultural Endowment of Estonia

Exhibition Catalogue: https://issuu.com/artun/docs/softnegotiations_catalogue_lowres

Join us for the opening of “Glass Struggle”, a solo exhibition by Sten Eltermaa on September 28, at 5.30 PM at EKA Gallery! 

Glass Struggle is an ongoing artistic research project based on glass as material, paradoxically fragile and extremely resilient at the same time. Glass is used in high-security buildings, and even the Pope drives around in a vehicle protected by bulletproof glass. The semantic field of glass plays an increasingly pervasive role: these days, we are all transparent, constantly looking at our own reflections on our screens, while having virtually no access to our own delicate data, which in many ways is used to control and even enslave us.

In the context of institutions and corporations we can also talk about glass as a symbol of democracy – a reference to open and equal dialogue between the people and those in power. Likewise, it refers to corporate totalitarianism and divergence of social strata. Glass Struggle is based on the semiosis of the viewer and the seen. 

The exhibition is accompanied by the online publication www.struggle.glass, which is also seen as part of one of the sculptures (“A Satellite Deviated from the Orbit”, in collaboration with Maria Lee).

Texts: Maria Lee, Sten Eltermaa

Exhibition design: Arvi Anderson, Sten Eltermaa

Graphic design: Maria Muuk

Website: Maria Muuk, Patrick Zavadskis

Translation: Madis Kuuse (ENG), Olesja Semenkova (RUS)

Thanks: Maria Lee, Arvi Anderson, Krista Loorits, Lauri Eltermaa, Sten-Erik Toos, Tõnis Vassar, Urmo Mets, Madli Ehasalu, Roman-Sten Tõnissoo, Pire Sova & EKA gallery, b210 architects, Kauss Architecture, KUU architects, Kolm Koma Architects, Ilmamaa Publishing House

Special thanks: Karmo Migur, Maria Muuk, Kadi Meriluht, Mary Magdalene

Supporters: Cultural Endowment of Estonia, MEISTRI, Salibar, Klaasissepa, joogipood.ee, nanoPruul, ÕIE, 3DLaser

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

Young Artist MA award
07.09.–23.09.2021
opening: 07.09, 5 PM

At the exhibition Hopscotch Aksel Haagensen and Triin Kerge will present elements from their respective childhoods. Both artists approach a broader analysis of memory through their own personal memories.

As a young child in Australia, Aksel drew a lot of birds. There were many birds in Australia and they were all so interesting and colourful and different. Recently, Aksel asked his mother which bird had been his favourite and his mother said there was no such thing, “… you liked them all!” He wasn’t simply fascinated by the common popular birds, instead drawing every bird he could, constantly. Haagensen is interested in the subtle otherness of being an Australian-Estonian.

As a young child, Triin visited her great aunt at Voka, Ida-Viru County. Her great aunt lived in an apartment building and from the window all one could see were prefabricated buildings, sandpits and climbing frames. From Voka, Triin remembers picking chamomile, a machine for walnut-shaped waffles and a dating show on television, which made everyone laugh. Recently Triin visited Voka and while walking towards the shop, she remembered that it was from that very shop that to her great delight a roly poly toy was bought for her. At the exhibiton Kerge looks at the nature and materiality of memories.

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

Thanks to  Marika Alver, Saskia Lillepuu, Katarina Meister, Irmeli Terras, Marcin Teterycz, Tallinn University of Technology, Valge Kuup

You are invited to the solo exhibition “Presence of People Absent” by Katariin Mudist at EKA Gallery. The exhibition is curated by Maria Helen Känd.

8.07.–12.08.
Tue-Sat 12–6 PM

With her solo exhibition “Presence of People Absent”, Katariin Mudist explores the nature of cleaning work and the corresponding attitudes in society in a multi-layered and playful way. The series of photos and videos completed in the course of working as a cleaner for Airbnb apartments (in 2019 and 2020) expose how we perceive the closeness of strangers and the discomfort of encountering signs of people who have left a space they have used.

The exhibition asks: to what extent is it possible to overcome one’s discomfort of being in close contact with strangers through the mess and objects left behind. Further, it addresses the prejudices against cleaning work as a cultural phenomenon and follows Mudist as she tries to approach cleaning as a mindful activity or more philosophically – the constant alternation of order and chaos as a manifestation of eternity and cyclicality in everyday life.

“Simply cleaning the apartments seemed dull and monotonous, so the idea arose to look for opportunities to get to know the people I clean after and to imagine them based on the state of things left behind,” Mudist describes. By gathering as much information about the guests as possible and documenting the items that carried information, Mudist identified patterns in the guests’ behavior. This was facilitated by the fact that the interior design of the apartments had elements to meet the stereotypical expectations of certain travellers, while remaining universal and clinical, typical for a rental apartment. Later, based on the presumption, hypotheses began to emerge about their reasons for visiting Tallinn, lifestyle, gender, number, relationships, hair color and values.

The exhibition – opening at the time when people are highly aware of the nearest disinfectant and the location of other people in a space – strives to offer ways to overcome the fear of the invisible other and uncertainty that a stranger’s presence evokes.

Katariin Mudist is a second-year master’s student in contemporary art at the Estonian Art Academy, who is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK) in Ghnet, Belgium. She graduated from the Tartu High School of Art in media and advertising design and has studied animation at Moholy-Nagy University. Mudist mostly works in mediums like graphic drawings, animation and installation. Her works have been exhibited both in Estonia and at international festivals. Mudist’s most recent exhibition “Festival of Disbelief” took place in the Gallery of the Artists’ House of Pärnu City Gallery in cooperation with Maria Elise Remme.

Maria Helen Känd has studied film, theatre and media science at the University of Vienna, cultural theory and comparative literature at Tallinn University and is currently in her second year of master’s in curatorial studies at EKA. Her most recent curatorial projects include the group exhibition “Outside of Oneself” at ARS project space, the group exhibition “east end(s)?” at Põhjala tehas and the joint media project of EKA curators “EKA reality”.

Photography course exhibition “Still life” at EKA Billboard Gallery is open from April 6.

This exhibition presents a selection of works completed during the studio photography course of the 2nd year students of the Photography Department of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Artists: Elo Vahtrik, Micaela Dunne, Andra Junalainen, Joosep Kivimäe, Laura Maala, Imbi Sõber, Ivor Lõõbas, Meel Paliale 

The course was supervised by Holger Kilumets

EKA Billboard gallery is located outside on EKa’s building at Kotzebue street.