Category: International Office

Dear EKA members!

I invite you all to the celebrations of the 107th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia on Friday, February 21st at 13.00 on the lobby steps.

The keynote speaker will be Signe Kivi, EKA’s Rector Emerita, textile artist and member of the Riigikogu. Among many other activities, Signe Kivi has a solo exhibition “Signature” running until the first Sunday in March at the Estonian Museum of Applied Arts and Design.

The event will end as tradition dictates with a shot of vodka, kissel and sprat sandwich.

Long live Estonia!

Mart Kalm
Rector

Léan Hötzel, Nils Geffre, Louisa Seidl, Tomasz Jarosz, Anna Broučková, Lucille Gonzalez, Katariina Kesküla, Halyna Yaroshenko, Clara-Marlen Wilke, Charlotte Gisèle Chapuis, Martí Castillo, Marína Gerða Bjarnadóttir, Asmus Soodla

Opening: 14.05.2024 18:00

Open: 15.05–16.05.2024 10:00 – 18:00

That old village, the sun in August, a European desert. A flock of birds moving South. Nobody’s around, except the warm noise of bugs, sunshine, and water, pool water, pool water really far away.

Splashes, wetting the sandstone. The warm limestone of the house, the coldness of the granite kitchen countertop. Splashes of memories come from time to time. I guess it’s part of running away, or just running. Poor Doe is still afraid.

The train was still at high speed when it suddenly stopped. You can go by train from Beijing to Madrid. Doe was just going back home. Europe is a good place to be a nomad, like the Tartars that helped Beuys in Crimea. Doe wished to be buried, like Beuys, at least for a few days.

Doe looked through the window. It was dark outside, train rails, the horizon really far, and the first green traces in the wheat fields. Doe thought about the suburbs, the small window in the bedroom, blocks as far as the eye can see. Why did the train stop?  Doe woke up from the seat, and the train was empty. Almost, not really, but Doe remembers the train being empty.  The doors opened when Doe started to walk. A cold breeze entered the train. Some pages of the book Doe left behind on the seat started to move. Doe remembers it was a green-covered book. Doe couldn’t give me more details.

Involved:

Curators: Léan Hötzel, Clio Pavlidis Andersson

Exhibition manager: Katariina Kesküla, Joost Jansohn

Exhibition writer: Martí Castillo; translation into Estonian by Triinu Ojala + Emma Johanson

Exhibition designer: Lin Puype, Martí Castillo, Emma Johansohn, Asmus Soodla

Communication: Emilia Santaella, Lucille Gonzalez 

Internal communication: Louisa Seidl

Photodocumentation Exhibition: Clio Pavlidis Andersson, Diána Rakonczai, Tomasz Jarosz

Graphic designer: Charlotte Gisèle Chapuis, Joost Jansohn

Venue liaison: Laura De Jaeger

Publics: Clara

Co-producers: Tobias Laborie

We’d like to thank everybody who took part in realising this exhibition. Without their help this wonderful event would not have been possible. Special thanks to Laura De Jaeger, who initiated this whole project. She energised us with her weekly input and helped everyone find their specific role. We also want to thank our guest artists, Alex Webber and Siebert Mispelon, for their fun and interesting exercises. Moreover we want to thank the international department of EKA and Erasmus+ for their financial support. We are grateful to Krulli for supporting us with this space. And last but not least we want to thank everyone who came to our exhibition.

The exhibition is supported by Erasmus+ and the International office of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

David K. Ross and Rebecca Duclos (EKA Visiting Lecturers, MACA, Museum Studies) recently travelled across northern Ukraine to visit 8 arts schools in Lviv, Kharkiv and Kyiv. 

David will be showing images from this trip and discussing some of the pressing issues facing arts eduction in Ukraine at this moment.

The panel discussion “Reflections on the Act of Improvement in the Context of Sustainability” within the Transform4Europe week will be conducted by Marta Konovalov, Maris Taul and Anna-Maria Saar.

The open discussion focuses on how remediation can promote sustainability and circularity.

In the discussion round, the audience is invited to discuss their role in the relationship with textiles and clothing — are we consumers, owners and wearers or are we in a nurturing relationship?

The discussion round will take place in EKA room B511, on June 15 from 15:00 to 17:00.

On June 13 at 1:00 p.m., ELIA UAx program partner Taras Lesiv, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs and Research of the Lviv Academy of Arts, will give an open lecture at EKA. 

The lecture is part of the Transform4Europe Week program.

After the lecture, Kristiina Krabi-Klanberg will moderate the Q&A.

Taras Lesiv has been teaching art and art history at Lviv National Academy of Arts (Ukraine) since 2007. He received both BA and MA degrees in Fine and Applied Arts, specializing in sacred art. Since 2005, he has been employed as an artist and project manager on various interior design projects for Christian churches. During 2017–2018 he was a Fulbright fellow at Georgia State University (USA). He defended his dissertation “Icon Painting in Galicia from the late 19th – early 21 centuries: Artistic Imagery and Theoretical Discourse” in 2021, receiving the Candidate of Sciences degree (PhD). Taras Lesiv was appointed Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs and Research of the Lviv National Academy of Arts in September 2021. His research interests embrace history, theory, and practice of Christian sacred arts, visual arts and national/ethnic identity building.

During the war, the Lviv National Academy of Arts was faced with the critical challenge of safeguarding the safety and education of its students. This presentation provides a narrative account that highlights the diverse challenges our art institution encountered at the onset of the conflict, offering insights into our management strategies under trying circumstances. These challenges, including the mass departure of teachers and students to foreign countries, the transformation of educational settings, and financial constraints, all occurred alongside ongoing higher education reforms. Through partnerships with other art institutions and thanks to the dedication of our faculty, staff, and students, we established a resilient framework to maintain classes during the chaotic wartime conditions. While overcoming numerous obstacles, we are prioritizing the quality of education during and after the war. Recognizing the importance of support from both within and outside Ukraine, our goal is to prevent brain drain and preserve the vibrancy of art education.

Supported by: ERASMUS programme

The Estonian Academy of Arts organizes the Transform4Europe (T4EU) European Universities’ study week “Design & Sustainability” in June 13–17. Students and support staff from ten European universities are invited to the week full of the best lectures and workshops, and students’ works also presented at the TASE ’23 Grad Show exhibition and at the ERKI Fashion Show.

The theme of the study week is “design and sustainability”. Sustainability is one of EKA’s core values – in its development, it is based on the environmental friendliness of the art academy, which is the sustainable way of thinking. Design and the design process are an important part of the solution to the ecological crisis.  

As part of the week, creative research will be introduced, students can participate in a creative research writing workshop and workshops on clothing repair, documenting cultural heritage, etc. 

EKA students are also invited to take part in the T4EU week, which has three options:

1. The main program (June 13-17) includes mandatory general subjects and workshops and seminars with a limited number of participants. (Program link HERE)

2. Weekly seminar “Care, community and colonialism in the art museum” (June 12-15).

In addition, core program courses may also be taken if the schedule allows. (Introduction to the seminar is HERE)

3. Weekly workshop “Cultural heritage documentation solutions workshop” (June 12-16).

In addition, core program courses may also be taken if the schedule allows. (Introduction to the workshop is HERE)

Before the course, it is possible to watch pre-recorded video interviews with experts (20-30 minute interviews, 7 interviews in total) on different aspects of sustainability.

Those who complete the course receive 3 credit points, which can be transferred to a free subject.

NB! The courses are in English. 

The student can register HERE until June 4th or until the semester continues.

Detailed information about the study week in English can be found on the EKA website: 

T4EU Week in EKA “Design & Sustainability”

Tõnis Saadoja’s exhibition “September, October, … ” opens in the WIELS Project Room, Brussels. The exhibition opening takes place on December 1 at 18.

In the painting series “September, October, …” the artist’s focus lies equally on two aspects – how to portray an unfunctional environment and how to paint a picture that is primarily about painting?

“I’m interested in the poetic dimension of an image and the conditionality inherent in the painting process provides one possibility to amplify this,” says Saadoja. “Painting is, first and foremost, a potential that may lead to new connections and meanings. It can also lead back to old routes and there’s nothing wrong with that either. But inside every repetition lies something new and gradually everything drifts away from its initial course.”

The exhibition in the WIELS will be open until December 19.

Tõnis Saadoja participated in the WIELS residency programme in 2019. Every year two Estonian artists are selected via open call to take part in the programme as part of the WIELS and the Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art’s collaboration project. Right now Ingel Vaikla is working in Brussels. In 2022 Krista Mölder and Sandra Kosorotova will take part.

On November 26.–28., the undergraduate 3rd-year students of product design and EKA staff visited Transform4Europe’s partner, the University of Silesia, in Katowice, Poland. 

In the workshop, the students mapped the journey of the University of Silesia in Katowice Erasmus students. Both university staff and students participated in the workshop. Together, they drew the route, noted the main issues, and discussed possible solutions. 

In addition, EKA employees Piret-Klea Velleste, Marilyn Riisimäe, Merilin Kuklas, Argo Tamm and visiting lecturer Eva Liisa Kubinyi participated. They visited various departments of the University of Silesia and met with its staff. In addition to EKA staff and students also visited Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Film School and watched two excellent student films. 

On the last day of the trip, they also visited the Warsaw Academy of Arts and explored the city.

This Friday, 30 April there will be an online symposium “Crafting Situations – Conversations exploring public private boundaries in the (present pandemic impacted) city” in four sessions 13:00–17:00. 

Join the symposium here or on the Crafting Conversations platform here.

“Crafting Situations – Conversations exploring public private boundaries in the (present pandemic impacted) city” is an experimental symposium conducted and developed through a collaboration between the projects Crafting Situations of Knowledge Exchange at HDK Valand Academy of Art and Design Gothenburg, SE, and curation of conversations that investigate the different public private boundaries in the city at Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA), EE.

Schedule of the symposium:

13:00–13:45 EET

“weaving urban intersections on the crossroads of nature connections” – A Game of Associations moderated through the “Polledge” format

Guest speaker: Ott Kagovere

“weaving urban intersections on the crossroads of nature connections” – A Game of Associations curated by Louise Borinski, Björn Giesecke, Malin Hilding

Format “Polledge” crafted by Hanna Peterson, Emil Söderberg, Fanny Däldborg, Bekhar Azimov, Malene Valentin

14:00–14:45 EET

“Surveillance: Losing Control” discussed “in the Dark”

Guest speaker: Damiano Cerrone

“Surveillance: Losing Control” curated by Nursultan Barun and Bruce Shujun Wang

Format “In the Dark” crafted by Anna Roth, Daniela Kaiser, Shirun Zheng

15:00–15:45 EET

“Outsiders” negotiated via “Bread for the Table”

Guest speaker: Marge Monko & Margit Säde

“Outsiders” curated by Francesca Keaveney

Format “Bread for the table” crafted by Lea Wilhelm, Julia Tienvieri, Daniel Palatz, Hannah Simann Ax, Lucrezia Sterrantino, Victor Nilsson

16:00–16:45 EET

“A Wish to Meet” via “The Pace”

Guest speakers: Marek Glow & Uku Sepsivart

“A Wish to Meet” curated by Paula Buskevica and Katarina Sarap

Format “The Pace” crafted by Julia Niklasson, John Wattström, Ellen Solding, Katarina Frisö, Gabriella Di Feola

About Crafting Conversations

Crafting Conversations is a platform and approach to investigate situations of knowledge exchange as a matter for design. This means, to shift focus from WHAT to HOW knowledge is exchanged, transferred, created and thus shapes/influences WHAT content can be said, perceived, shared and created.

The Symposium “Crafting Situations – Conversations exploring public boundaries in the (present pandemic impacted) city” is the result of a collaboration between the Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn and HDK Valand – Academy of Art and Design, Gothenburg. It is conceived and mentored by Sandra Nuut, and Prof. Judith Seng, Berlin/Gothenburg. HDK Valand MFA Design students have developed scores and formats of knowledge exchange and the students of Estonian Academy of Arts have curated topics through the provided formats. The final contributions for the Symposium have been developed through a collaborative rehearsing week in which the relation between HOW and WHAT has been explored by the students.

The Symposium “Crafting Situations – Conversations exploring public boundaries in the (present pandemic impacted) city” takes place as part of the public programme of the exhibition Acting Things VIII – Silent Conversations by Judith Seng and curated by Sandra Nuut at the Tallinn Art Hall, 5 June–1 August, 2021.

Symposium is supported by CIRRUS/Nordplus

On Wednesday, August 19th at 15:00, pre-reviewing of Art and Design programme PhD student Ulvi Haagensen’s exhibition „From the Archive: a Collection of Funny Things” will take place at Tartu Art House Small gallery. Exhibition is part of the artistic (practice-based) doctoral thesis of Ulvi Haagensen.

Supervisors: Dr Liina Unt, Jan Guy (The University of Sidney).

Pre-reviewers of the exhibition: Villu Plink and Ester Bardone

The exhibition is open from 30 July to 23 August 2020.

This exhibition is by imaginary artist, Olive Puuvill, who creates work in the manner of a bricoleuse, cobbling, tinkering and using whatever is close at hand. In her latest work she combines patterns, lines, textures and light to create an installation where objects, situations, materials and ideas are juxtaposed in a slightly chaotic arrangement, but one that nonetheless has a logic of its own. All this bears the traces of her intentions, aims and ideas as physical evidence of the working processes where Olive’s everyday life clashes, meets and melds with her art practice.

Ulvi Haagensen’s doctoral research is about the line between art and everyday life. By merging a multi-disciplinary art practice that combines installation, sculpture, drawing, performance and video with everyday experiences – mainly cleaning, one of the more mundane aspects of everyday life – she works across and along the lines between everyday life and art to discover the lines, overlaps and boundaries between art and the everyday.

Together with three imaginary characters and using an autoethnographic approach that includes the methods, tools and attitudes of an artist who uses ‘what is at hand’ and ‘makes do’she uses the everyday, not only for inspiration, but also materials, tools and techniques.

As her characters move between their roles and various places of work and everyday life, they explore notions of the everyday and the specialness of art, especially from the viewpoint of an artist for whom art and art making are very much a part of the everyday and therefore quite un-special.