Category: Vent Space Blog

BLACKOUT

Opening 17th January 2024 at 7pm (EET)
Running until January 26th 2024

Scattered around the world, Nua Collective are a group of professional visual artists that collaborate together to create, share and support one another in their journey as artists. Blackout marks their first physical exhibition and they are delighted to continue their international tour in Vent Space.

Presenting the works of 13 Nua Collective artists, the Blackout series looks at climate change through a particular lens—blackout. Or the loss of self security that comes from our reliance on unreliable energy. The works wrestle with our human responses to the insecurity inflicted by the anthropomorphic blackout. This exhibition of lino prints that are unique and in their creation and processing have already travelled the globe and will also feature the premiere of the Blackout Documentary screened at the space throughout the exhibition run.

Together Nua Collective artists make an inquiry about our climate catastrophe and the energy crisis that we continue to face.

The opening of the exhibition Hardcore Gentleness by Maria Izabella Lehtsaar and Sarah Nõmm will take place on 25 August at 18.00 at the Vent Space project room.

The first duo exhibition by Lehtsaar and Nõmm focuses on the intertwining of intimacy, mental health, sense of security, control and loss of control in a person’s life through common elements of both artists’ creative practice. In their artistic dialogue, Lehtsaar and Nõmm talk about the challenges of girlhood and coming of age. The artists explore the interdependent dynamics of security and intimacy in different relationships, everyday expressions of gender and sexuality, and the role of everyday rituals in coping with mental health issues.

The tension at the heart of the exhibition is the juxtaposition between categories – such as light and heavy, soft and harsh, safe and dangerous, and acceptable and unacceptable – which is characteristic of the work of Lehtsaar and Nõmm. The aim of the convened duo show is to manifest the role of sexual expression in art and life, emphasising the importance of a sense of personal security and belonging, shared joys and concerns, and the well-being of one’s mind and body.

Curators: Anita Kodanik and Brigit Arop

Graphic design: Michael Fowler

Maria Izabella Lehtsaar (1998) is an artist based in Tallinn who combines textiles, graphics, drawing, installation and text in their work. Their works deal mainly with the themes of queer experience and mental health, often playing on the fragile border between reality and fantasy. Lehtsaar graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts with a bachelor’s degree in Graphic Art and is currently studying in the Contemporary Art MA programme. In 2021, they were awarded the Edmund Valtman scholarship.

Sarah Nõmm (1998) is an artist based in Tallinn who works primarily with sculpture, installation, video and performance. Her work deals with the female body and the spaces surrounding it. Nõmm’s works are often based on personal experiences and look at themes of the body through popular beliefs, myths, taboos and everyday rituals. She has a bachelor’s degree in Sculpture and Installation from the Estonian Academy of Arts. In 2021, she was awarded the Young Sculptor Prize.

The exhibition is open every day at 13.00–19.00 from 26 August to 31 August.

Supported by: Cultural Endowment of Estonia

Special thanks: Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia, EKA Gallery, Johannes Luik, Maksim Bondartsuk, Julika Roos

Additional info:

Brigit Arop, curator

brigit.arop@artun.ee

Anita Kodanik, curator

anita.kodanik@artun.ee

DOKKING Station exhibition opening at Vent Space on Thursday, 21.10.21 at 6 pm

DOKKING Station functions as a hub for the exchange of ideas and inputs from a variety of sources; it is a conduit for transference. Taking inspiration from how a docking station [dokkimisjaam] acts as an all in one technological solution; this exhibition explores how an intermediary consisting of a series of antiquated ports that allow for multiple forms of communication and information relay, can be understood as a rhizome. As the docking station is permanently in an in-between state, it becomes rhizomatic in nature, with its cables acting like roots. 

DOKKING Station exhibition at VENT Space aims to demonstrate the potential of a creative and physical manifestation of a docking station, bringing together a variety of ideas and inputs which reflect the metaphorical use of docking station as a mode of critique for the contemporary art gallery, with a focus on the sensitive relationships between our surroundings, natural environment and new materialism. 

DOKKING Station is an open space for collaboration and co-learning, it invites people to both plug-in and unplug, whether to receive information and learning or contribute to the creative transference themselves. It acts as a keystone, as without it, inputs on either side fail to communicate entirely. At DOKKING station, you are invited to choose your port and plug into either side — as artist and/or audience through joining free workshops and talks. Welcome. 

Programme:
21.10, 6 pm – Exhibition opening
23.10, 1 pm–3 pm – Large format dichotomy: Photography Workshop by Will Britten (to participate write dokkartscentre@gmail.com)
22.10/24.10, 1 pm–6 pm – Performative workshop: Beginnings of weaving by Ingrid Helena Pajo
26.10, 4 pm–6 pm – Bioplastics workshop by Katarina Kruus (to participate write dokkartscentre@gmail.com) 

Participating artists: Will Britten (UK), Katarina Kruus (EST), Liina Leo (EST), Eugenio Marini (IT), Kristian Stapleton (UK), Ingrid Helena Pajo (EST) 

Facebook event

Graphic design: Liina Leo 

Exhibition is organized by DOKK Arts Centre. DOKK Arts Centre was founded in 2021 by Will Britten and Liina Leo as a temporary artist space in Baltic boatyard and metal workshop in Hiiumaa, Suuresadama. 

Supported by Cultural Endowment of Estonia 

Thanks to: Morris Eigi, Tanel Eigi, Maris Lukk, Jonathan Chatterton, Vent Space, Eesti Kunstiakadeemia. 

On December 17th at 5-7PM “Storytelling as a Survival Kit” will be opened at Vent Space. The project is a common ground for narratives derived from the Maria Kapajeva led course “Storytelling in Visual language” at the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Stories are passed on from generation to generation and have been so since the existence of humankind through various narrative methods. As a survival kit, ‘storytelling’ takes a different shape and is varied according to the situation it needs to struggle in. From a lichen’s or fox’s folktale, from a life of shadows to an inclusive conversation, one story leads to another. Any way, for any story to survive, it needs to be told. This exhibition presents the young artists’ attempts to find new approaches for seeking, developing, and narrating through their practice.

Exhibiting artists: Áron Tihanyi, Birna Sísí Jóhannsdóttir, Camilla Kulmala, Gregor Pankert, Janosh Heydorn, Jonas Morgenthaler, Julia Tyszka, Kamilé Vasiliauskaitė, Keawalee Warutkomain, Robin Isenmann, Stuti Bansal.

The opening of Vent Space’s new season was the party to bring about the fall of autumn. Two artworks displayed were a room installation consisting of dried up leaves filling the whole floor of the gallery and a printed work „Leftovers“ by Misa Asunama. The installation of autumn leaves collected by the Vent Space team really was a show stopping piece. It truly came into its own during the party. As people were crushing up the leaves underneath their boot heels and the DJ was playing, the situation grew into  something of a spontaneous happening or a ritualistic destruction of the fall.
„Leftovers“ by Misa Asunama was a more quiet piece. The four graphic prints gave a good counterbalance to the naturalistic glamour of the leaf covered floor. Depicting the seasons changing through the aesthetics of fragmentarity, momentarity and movement, the overall feeling walking away from the work was overwhelmingly refreshing. Here credit has to be given to both the artist and the curator Angela Ramirez. The artwork not losing its effect is truly a feat considering that, without clever placement of the different prints composing the piece, the artwork had to contend with both the party happening right besides it and the massive installation of leaves.
The party itself was wonderful. Speeches were given, dances were danced, good conversations were had and many drinks drunk. Overall the opening of the new season in Vent Space was a total success!