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.

Portfolio Café is structured around one-on-one meetings that take place between local and international fine arts and design professionals and graduate students. Each meeting takes place about 50 minutes. During Portfolio Café sessions students introduce themselves and their work, and experts share their observations, provide recommendations ask, questions etc. After the first scheduled conversation student moves on to the next selected expert they have signed up for.
All Portfolio Café meetings are in English.

Portfolio Café is a collaborative project between the Faculty of Fine Arts and Faculty of Design.

Registration:
Portfolio Café invites all fine art and design students from the MA level to participate. The spots are limited and participants will be chosen according to the provided portfolios. The reviews are considered as part of the studies and you may receive credits for participating (3 ECTS).

To apply, please fill our this registration form before April 12, 2021 and upload your portfolio.

Find detailed information about our experts in the registration form.

Portfolio Café is supported by the European Regional Development Fund.

Jette Loona Hermanis “Torque Vulnerati”
26.02, 8 PM
27.02, 7 PM
The number of guests is limited, please register at pire.sova@artun.ee

“Torque Vulnerati” is an emotional and expressive fairy tale mystifying transcendence and longing to express an affect. Strongly influenced by the digital age, the material carries a screaming obsession with self-centralization and online persona-portrayal, exhibiting emotional narratives of self in relation to existence and suffering of the soul. Storytelling as a concept from which ambiguous attitudes and ideas emerge. Emo Fairytale drenched in mythological symbolism, the frame – post-internet dark romanticism.

Jette Loona Hermanis, born in1997, is pulsing Baltic blood, Estonian and Latvian. Performance “Torque Vulnerati” is Hermanis’ Bachelor thesis at the School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam, in Art-Coreography curricula.

The performance lasts about 60 minutes. The entrance is for free and from Kotzebue street. Please wear a mask and keep a safe distance!

Kristel Zimmer, Linda Mai Kari, Liisamari Viik, Estookin, Anita Kremm
Curator: Ene-Liis Semper

The project is a result of one and a half year studies of EKA Scenography department students. Dassemperdepot consists of five investigators of metaphorical thought: “We sense, create meaning and space, reflect the world and search for poetry. Our mentors are wise and creative people, including Ene-Liis Semper. Study of Deconstruction is a presentation of creative research about metaphorical thought through deconstruction, body, and space.”.

Durational performances: 10–14.02 at 4–8 PM
Exhibition: 16–20.02 at 12–6 PM
The entrance is from Kotzebue street! Please wear a mask and keep a safe distance!

ELEMENTerial — materialisation of the metagrid
EKA algorithmic timber architecture research group exhibition
Authors: dr Sille Pihlak, dr Siim Tuksam

The exhibition “ELEMENTerial” looks at the elements of architecture. What does a house consist of? In an increasingly digital world, a list of materials alone is not enough. In addition to materials and construction methods, the principles of building construction are increasingly influenced by digital tools and sustainability.

With the exhibition we draw parallels between physical and virtual modularity. The digital world is also built from puzzle pieces – algorithms. Algorithms are rule sets that control digital processes. There are also rules in construction, where, what,t and how something can be built – plans and standards. Different materials and technologies, in turn, set geometric constraints. Looking at all these components as algorithmic modules, creates parallels that are easier to understand.

The exhibition describes alternative creative solutions in factory-produced modular wooden architecture developed in collaboration with engineers and wooden house manufacturers over four years of research, and introduces the ideas and methods behind them.

Dr Sille Pihlak is practicing architect, researcher, tutor and co-founder of the algorithmic timber architecture research group in Estonian Academy of Arts, Faculty of Architecture. Sille has studied interior architecture in Estonian Academy of Arts, architecture in Southern California Institute of Architecture and completed her masters in the University of Applied Arts Vienna. After her studies she practiced as design architect in Morphosis Architects in Los Angeles and in Coophimmelb(l)au Vienna. In 2015, together with Siim Tuksam, they started their own office PART–Practice for Architecture, Research and Theory. PART constructed designs have been awarded for their innovative construction techniques, methods of designing and geometry studies, with latest recognition on high voltage electricity pylon Bog Fox. In past five years, Sille has been an active participant in forestry and timber architecture related discussions, as a believer of inevitable sustainability in construction, her work deals with combining algorithmic techniques with local timber industry.

Dr Siim Tuksam is a practicing architect, co-founder of PART – Practice for Architecture, Research and Theory, and a researcher at EKA faculty of architecture, co-founder of the algorithmic timber architecture research group. Siim completed his master studies at the University of Applied Arts Vienna in 2013 having spent a visiting semester at the Southern California Institute of Architecture. During his studies he gained experience at various architecture offices, most notably Gehry Technologies in Paris and Coop Himmelb(l)au in Vienna. Since graduation he has been developing his own practice through exhibitions, installations, writings, and architectural projects. Together with Johanna Jõekalda and Johan Tali, he was the curator of the Estonian pavilion Interspace at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2014. In 2015, together with Sille Pihlak, he founded PART to curate the Tallinn Architecture Biennale 2015 main exhibition Body Building. As a researcher and partner at PART he’s been devoted to developing algorithmic tools for the design and delivery of pre-fabricated architecture and the critical discourse of digital architecture.

Graphic design: Robi Jõeleht (Polaar)

Support by: Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Ministry of Culture, Estonian Academy of Arts Faculty of Architecture, Union of Estonian Architects, Arcwood, Rothoblaas.