Category: Gallery

30.11.–18.12.2020
Open Monday–Saturday, 15:00–18:00
Entrance from Kotzebue street. Please wear a mask!

December brings an opportunity to experience, in an exhibition format, works produced by the students of the Faculty of Fine Arts: every day there will be a fresh crop of university students’ works on display at the gallery. Works of the students studying contemporary art, graphic art, installation, sculpture, photography, and painting will be on display. Each morning, an exhibition will be installed, and each evening it will give way to the next one. We hope that viewers will be able to keep up with the pace of the young artists.

30.11   Drawing: supervisor Eero Alev

01.12   Drawing: supervisor Tõnis Kenkmaa

02.12   Animation: semester overview

03.12   Scenography: supervisor Ene-Liis Semper

04.12   Scenography: supervisor Ene-Liis Semper

05.12   Installation and Sculpture: supervisors Kirke Kangro, Taavi Piibemann

07.12   Contemporary Art: supervisors Mark Dunhill, Kristaps Ancans

08.12   Contemporary Art: supervisors Mark Dunhill, Kristaps Ancans

09.12   Contemporary Art: supervisors Mark Dunhill, Kristaps Ancans

10.12 – Contemporary Art, supervisors Mark Dunhill & Kristaps Ancans

10.12 – Photography, supervisor Holger Kilumets

11.12   Painting: supervisors Mihkel Maripuu, Kristi Kongi, Merike Estna

12.12   Installation and Sculpture: supervisors Jaanus Samma, Deneš Farkas

14.12   Graphic Art: supervisors Kadi Kurema, Eve Kask

15.12   Graphic Art: supervisors John Grzinich, Jan Kaus, Urmas Lüüs

16.12   Graphic Art: supervisors Ann Pajuväli, Oliver Laas, Martiinus Daane Klemet

17.12   Painting: supervisors Holger Loodus, Raul Rajangu, Liisa Kruusmägi, Tõnis Saadoja

18.12   Painting: supervisors Jaan Toomik, Mihkel Maripuu, Mihkel Ilus, Heldur Lassi

Al₂Si₂O₅(OH)₄
Juss Heinsalu

Al₂Si₂O₅(OH)₄ is a simplified formula representing the chemical composition of clay. This exhibit of the same name is a continuation to the exhibition “Surface View” in the monumental gallery of the Tartu Art House (June 2020). It gathers together a wide range of artistic applications of clay in ceramics, glass, printmaking and in new material combinations. Heinsalu deals with clay as a source, medium and environment. In his material-based research and creation practice, he looks at the properties of clay while combining them with mythological derivations, scientific hypotheses and speculative solutions. EKA Gallery displays prints made with clay pigments, fused clay-glass samples, ceramic elements, formed clay-skin from bioplastic and wool mixture, micro-macro scales of clay through video format and much more.

Heinsalu adds: “My studio practice merges materials with invented tools, mythological narratives and folklore with contemporary technology. I often lean on fiction to playfully observe and (re)define the surrounding world. In this exhibition, clay is simultaneously a base material, form, language, metaphor and a reflection.”

Juss Heinsalu studied ceramics at the Estonian Academy of Arts and received his MFA at NSCAD University in Nova Scotia, Canada. Heinsalu deals daily with material-based research and creation, and in Fall 2020 began additional studies in the field of interior architecture at EAA. Previously, he has actively participated in various projects and exhibitions across Europe and North America.

Thanks from the artist for the support of this exhibition and his practice: Estonian Artists’ Association, Arts Nova Scotia, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, the departments of Glass Art, Ceramics, and Jewellery and Blacksmithing at Estonian Academy of Arts, Printmaking department at NSCAD University, Valge Kuup, and artist’s family and friends.

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Ceramic Dimension
10–28.11.2020
Lauri Kilusk, Martin Melioranski and Urmas Puhkan.

The international workshop-exhibit “Ceramic Dimension“ introduces the possibilities of clay 3D printing in EKA. The project is organized by Urmas Puhkan and Lauri Kilusk from the Department of Ceramics and Martin Melioranski from the Department of Architecture. Huge assistive support from Kaiko Kivi as a system architect and Madis Kaasik from Prototyping Lab.

During the period of almost five years, the professionals and students of different disciplines from EKA and elsewhere in the World, have been engaged in an experimental process, that has taken the knowledge and sensibility gathered through centuries of this specific materiality and combined it with current technological outputs, initiating novel outcomes from a well tested material.

The exhibit “Ceramic Dimension“ gives an overview of the wide spectrum of morphological and space-making topics led by design, art and architectural agendas, that have been brought to the physical environment by stratifying refined clay mass with digital tools and specially designed 3D printers and an advanced collaborative robot.

When compared to the now common plastic filament 3D printing, it brings forth contrasting results – clay is much more “alive”, even after going through the stages of digital-mechanical treatments. Clay, due to its substantiate internal properties, keeps on moving even after receiving its numerically driven exact shape. This in turn gives it a certain character, and avoids the easily attainable repetitive numbness and dryness when compared to regular digital prints from established industrial materials.

This has in some cases been integrated with properties of other materials in order to gain specific composite mixtures. Leftovers of Rockwool, waste paper, sand etc, has introduced a recycling and up-cycling perspective to the process, at the same time improving the printing properties of the base-material.

With our workshop-exhibit we wish to start a broader discussion on the possibilities of 3D clay printing. During this exhibition, the EKA Gallery will transform into a kind of laboratory, where new objects become alive during a continuous experiment. The viewer is expected to ask questions and express opinions, thereby becoming more akin to a participant in this process. We plan to make web-mediated meetings with several internationally recognized and established practitioners of this craft.

Next to the finished works shown and done prior to the opening, the exhibit will gain additional performative layers of integrating machinic intelligence to the joy of human discovery by making new results – showing both successes and mistakes.

Participants: Elize Hiiop, Madis Kaasik, Lauri Kilusk, Kaiko Kivi, Martin Melioranski, Urmas Puhkan Laura Põld, Oksana Teder, Katri Jürimäe, Sanna Lova, Jekaterina Burlakova, Aleksandra Kazanina, Kristel Ojasuu, Helena Tuudelepp.

Exhibition of the EKA Museum
INVISIBLE MONUMENTAL PAINTING
Monumental art by students at the Painting Department of EKA 1962–1995

8.10.–5.11.2020 at the EKA Gallery

The opening of the exhibition and presentation of the catalogue will take place at 5pm on the 7th October at the EKA Gallery. Entrance from Kotzebue Street. Please wear a mask!

The exhibition introduces the fascinating collection of monumental painting designs from 1962–1995 stored in EKA Museum including design proposals for various works in all classical techniques of monumental painting: fresco, sgraffito, mosaic, and stained glass. In order to highlight the technical singularity of monumental painting, 12 completed works are displayed at the exhibition, including stained glasses and mosaics made as student works (and graduation projects) as well as two works removed from the former EKA building on Tartu Road before its demolition: a circus-themed fresco by Valentin Vaher and fragments from Urve Dzidzaria’s remarkable sgraffito which covered the walls of the canteen. Screened at the exhibition will be a video by Kai Kaljo, introducing the fate and stories of destruction of monumental paintings through interviews with artists.

The exhibition features 46 artists (and also a few anonymous authors) totalling 138 works. Most of the works at the exhibition come from the collection of the Museum of EKA, with added works from the private collections of the artists themselves. The oldest exhibit is a fragment of the fresco mural by Dolores Hoffmann removed from Rahu Cinema before its demolition (1962–1963); the most recent work displayed is a part of Ivika Luisk’s graduation project in mosaic technique (1995).

The exhibition is accompanied by a 160-page catalogue which provides an overview to the teaching of monumental painting at the EKA in 1962–1995 illustrated with documentary photographs and reproductions. It also sheds light on the fortunate occasions when students were able to realise their ideas in buildings. Worth mentioning here is Dolores Hoffmann’s collaboration with Aate-Heli Õun, lecturer of interior architecture. The catalogue also includes the list of artists who graduated in the specialty of monumental painting, and their graduation works, and provides information on student works which cannot be brought to the exhibition hall. Monumental paintings finished as integral part of architecture are introduced through photographs. During our research we managed to identify 44 works of which only half are available today. The catalogue and its lists of monumental paintings are compiled by Reeli Kõiv. She is also the author of the overview article printed the catalogue.

The catalogue also addresses the fate and status of monumental painting today. In addition to the essay based on Kai Kaljo’s memories, various opinions emerge in a discussion group of painters moderated by Gregor Taul, where artists from different generations talk about monumental painting, its possibilities and future place, drawing on their personal experience.The catalogue is designed by Tiina Sildre, edited by Kristi Metste and translated into English by Epp Aareleid.

Curator of the exhibition: Reeli Kõiv

Exhibition design: Kristi Kongi

Graphic design: Pärtel Eelmere

Exhibition team: Heldur Lassi, Mihkel Ilus, Karmo Migur, Hilkka Hiiop, Taavi Tiidor

Many thanks to: Cultural Endowment of Estonia, OÜ JÄRSI, OÜ Grano Digital, EAA Gallery, Dolores Hoffmann, Kai Kaljo, Epp Kubu, Gregor Taul, Tiina Sildre, Kristi Metste, Epp Aareleid, Enn Põldroos, Tiit Pääsuke, Urve Dzidzaria, Eva Jänes, Mari Roosvalt, Uno Roosvalt, Kaarel Kurismaa, Jüri Kask, Heldur Lassi, Hilja Nairis-Piliste, Saima Vaitmaa, Robert Suvi, Üüve Vahur, Heli Tuksam, Valentin Vaher, Andrei Lobanov, Valev Sein, Kalli Sein, Tiina Tammetalu, Inga Aru, Ivika Luisk, Rene Aua, Kaido Ole, Kai Kallas, Heinart Puhkim, Ilmar Köök, Tiina Meeri, Heie Marie Treier, Aate-Heli Õun, Epp Maria Kokamägi, Iris Uuk, Reet Reidak, Hilkka Hiiop, Solveig Jahnke, Sirli Aavik, Pire Sova, Pärtel Eelmere

The exhibition focuses on printmaking as a process that is cultivated through contacts between forms and counterforms (negative space), and by the tension produced by these interactions. We are not so much interested in specific images, proofs, shapes or manners as in printed matter’s ability to introduce the new space that emerges between matrix and multiplicity. We focus on forms, and their dissemination through various statements and manifestations of printmaking in the post-disciplinary era. We define material as a subject, while the predicate denotes what the material does. We wish to return to the beginning of the functions of imprint and investigate its points of contacts with other disciplines. The exhibition takes its name from Georges Didi-Huberman’s book La ressemblance par contact: archéologie, anachronisme et modernité de l’empreinte, 2008.

The exhibition curated by Liina Siib and Maria Erikson from the Department of Graphic Art at the Estonian Academy of Arts features artists from Europe and the Americas and is accompanied by a film program.

Artists: Ann Pajuväli (EE), Ari Pelkonen (FI), Augustas Serapinas (LT), Cecilia Mandrile (US/UK), Claire Hannicq (FR), Elena Loson (AR), Dénes Kalev Farkas (EE/HU), Inka Bell (FI), Inma Herrera (ES/FI), Liis-Marleen Verilaskja (EE), Lina Nordenström (SE), Maria Erikson (EE/FI), Maria Izabella Lehtsaar (EE), Maria Valkeavuolle (FI), Riin Maide (EE), Tatu Tuominen (FI), Viktor Gurov (EE).

Curators: Liina Siib, Maria Erikson (Department of Graphic Art, EKA)
Exhibition design: Kaire Rannik
Graphic design: Viktor Gurov
Translators: Tiina Randviir, Richard Adang
Risograph printing: Pärtel Eelmere

We thank: Estonian Academy of Arts, Department of Graphic Art and Department of Graphic Design; Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Tartu Art House, EKA Gallery, Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Tanel Asmer, Pire Sova, Kaido Kruusamets, Mart Saarepuu, Hans-Gunter Lock.

On 19 June at 6 pm, Estonian Academy of Arts will open the graduation show TASE for the first time as an online exhibition.  The opening will be broadcast on ERR Cultural News portal, on EKA TV at live.artun.ee as well as Facebook Live channel.  Instead of a regular gallery space, the works of the fresh graduating architects, artists, designers, and researchers will be exhibited online at tase.artun.ee

Live TV show will begin here June 19 at 6PM

“The decision to hold the exhibition online stemmed from the special situation of the coronavirus.  The graduates had to adjust to the changes quickly and in many cases rethink their physical works or ideas,” explains the head organiser, gallery manager Pire Sova and adds:

“In a normal situation, most of the fine arts and many graduation works from other specialties are created considering the meeting of the audience and the work in a physical space.  In this case, they have tried to solve the task of how to relay their ideas with immediacy and optimally in the internet space.  Exhibiting works online brings many new questions: what type of documentation media to use, how to combine and support them with text etc?”

TASE’20 online exhibition will show more than two hundred graduation works from the graduates of the architecture, design, fine arts, and art culture faculties.  The exhibition gives a complete overview of master’s theses from all EKA specialties as well as most of the bachelor graduation works and portfolios.

According to the Dean of Fine Arts, Kirke Kangro, the isolation period was an especially big challenge for the graduating young artists:
“There was no access to studios and workshops, the works had to be completed in hallways and kitchens.  I am certain that this year’s graduates carry the footprint of the global moment more than ever before – either knowingly or through the creative process itself.  The audience, who otherwise was able to attend the defences in a physically limited space, are able to hear the young artists via their theses defences through an internet link.

The topics of the 46 diploma works are broad and as custom to artists, both empathetic and critical.  Introspection and the yearning for forest, the connection between local and expat Estonians with Australia – or even Siberia, the reflections of the world of justice, questions of the body and status,” says Kangro.

The largest faculty of EKA, the Design Faculty will bring 87 student works to the TASE web exhibition.

“We are proud of our graduates who despite the difficult situation were able to complete their Bachelor and Master’s works.  The projects in all our specialties are dense, the topics immensely wide: from clay musical instruments to the innovation of structural building, from board games to theoretical research that questions the core principles of design,” rejoices the Dean of Design, Kristjan Mändmaa.

The Faculty of Architecture is represented by 43 architecture Master’s and interior architecture Bachelor students.  The young architects engaged in the most serious and painful aspects of society: the space around the deathbed, prison, rehabilitation for juvenile delinquents, a more effective educational space for high school and so on.

In previous TASE exhibitions, the Art Culture master theses have remained a bit hidden among the creative objects, but the Dean Lilian Hansar hopes that the web exhibition will give a wonderful opportunity to find out more about the written theoretical works from art history, heritage and conservation, as well as art education.  44 graduates present their works at the show.

In August, 45 more graduation works will be added to the exhibition and on 17 August the regular TASE show will open in the EKA gallery and other spaces, but the online TASE will remain open as long as the internet lasts.

This year’s graduates have the advantage, compared to all previous years, to show and share their creations regardless of physical distances – to their relatives in the countryside or outside of the capital city, to the families of international graduates and potential colleagues at the other side of the world.

Come see TASE’20 on tase.artun.ee and join the opening ceremony on 19 June at 6 pm at live.artun.ee !

TASE Team
Head Organiser: Pire Sova
Communications: Solveig Jahnke, Mart Vainre
Graphic Design: Robin Siimann, Elisabeth Juusu, Kersti Heile; adviser Associate Professor Indrek Sirkel
TASE.artun.ee Web: WWW Stuudio

TASE is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia

You are invited to the opening of the exhibition “This is not a labyrinth” on 11 March at 5 PM at the EKA Billboard Gallery. The gallery is located outside on the EKA building on Kotzebue street. The exhibition will remain open until 8 April.

Walking through the cities, they change into something else: it’s impossible to walk along the same street twice, the shadows and light are growing and shrinking on their own. We are lost since morning. Don’t let go. Don’t get lost. This is not anymore the place you came to.
Like in “Invisible Cities” by Italo Calvino, we show one city we visited together, but more so one city, we visited in our imaginations. “This is not a labyrinth” is a photo album about on day in a foggy dreamy place.

Graphic Art 3rd year students: Mark Hiir, Hanneleele Kaldmaa, Brit Kikas, Maria Izabella Lehtsaar, Riin Maide, Liis-Marleen Verilaskja

Supervisor: Liina Siib

Join us for the opening of the exhibition “Pretence” by Brenda Purtsak and Eero Alev on Tuesday, February 11 at 6 PM. The exhibition is curated by Holger Loodus.

With this exhibition, two young painters, Brenda Purtsak and Eero Alev portray a person through body and space. Right at the start of the project, the artists reached an agreement that they would not show the face of the person being portrayed. The challenge is to create tension – whether the viewer is able to follow the mystery put together by Purtsak and Alev. We get to know that the person being portrayed is a real human with his or her virtues and flaws. He or she has given artists permission to experiment, allowed them close and opened himself or herself up, as it is generally usual in a portrayal.
The viewers’ task is to be a detective and rebuild the whole from the pieces, so they invited to participate in the Hitchcock-like mystery of painting. The exhibition will remain open until March 7.

Brenda Purtsak (b. 1994) and Eero Alev (b. 1983) are studying painting at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Purtsak has participated in various joint exhibitions – “Let Me Breathe in My Own Way” (2018), “Common Dimension” (2019) and others.
Eero Alev has participated in several group exhibitions, at the Haapsalu City Gallery (“Common Dimension”, 2019) and the Estonian Art Museum (“Open Collections. The Artist Gets the Floor”, 2019). 

Holger Loodus (b. 1970) has graduated from the Department of Cultural Heritage and Conservation (BA, 2008) and the Department of Painting (MA, 2012) at the Estonian Academy of Arts. In 2012 Loodus was awarded the Young Artist Award. In 2018 he received the People’s Choice Award of the Köler Prize and the annual Award of the Estonian Cultural Endowment.

Supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and A. Le Coq.

Join us for the opening of the exhibition “Maintenance Is a Drag (It Takes All the Fucking Time)” on Tuesday, 28 January at 6 pm. The exhibition will remain open until 8 February, Tue-Sat 12-6 pm.

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.