Institute of Art History and Visual Culture

The Institute of Art History and Visual Culture (in Estonian KVI) is the only research institute in art history (Kunstwissenschaft) in Estonia, and a leading one in the Baltic States, covering a wide range of fields of study, from the medieval period to contemporary art.  KVI is a member of the International Association of Research Institutes in the History of Art, RIHA. The Institute was founded in 1992 as the Institute of Art History of the Tallinn Art University.

The Institute of Art History and Visual Culture serves both as a research and teaching institution, conducting major research projects in art history and providing education in all three academic levels.

The professors and faculty members in our Institute are top specialists in their fields and recognized experts; our graduates include Estonia’s leading younger generation curators, critics and art theoreticians. The Institute’s curriculum combines historical and object-centred approaches to art with excellent knowledge of theoretical viewpoints. Visual culture studies explore the pictorial and spatial environment, the connections between them, and their functioning society. The curriculum is supplemented by study trips and practical training.

The Institute’s MA programme offers three areas of specialization: Art History and Visual Culture Studies, Museology or Curatorial Studies. The goal of the doctoral programme is to prepare high-level professionals who are able to work both as teaching or research staff members in the academic sphere and as top-level specialists outside it.

The aim of the Institute of Art History and Visual Culture is to offer a diverse, innovative and inspirational environment for study and research. Training in the speciality is supported by research conducted in the Institute, our research projects, conferences and publications.

History of the KVI

1992 – an art history programme was opened at the Tallinn Art University (established in 1914 as the Estonian Art Society’s Tallinn School of Arts and Crafts). The first entrance examinations were held that summer. The art history department was renamed the Institute of Art History.

1995 – the first doctoral dissertations were defended (Juhan Maiste and Rein Zobel).

1996 – the first graduates in the BA programme.

1998 – the first state-funded research grant was received for beginning the compilation of the series of volumes “Eesti kunsti ajalugu” (The History of Estonian Art).

29 March 2016 – the Institute of Art History was renamed the Institute of Art History and Visual Culture.

In 2019, KVI became a member of the International Association of Research Institutes in the History of Art (RIHA).

See also about the prehistory and formation:

Jaak Kangilaski, The Teaching of Social Sciences and Art History at the State Art Institute of the Estonian SSR 1944–1989. –  Kunsttööstuskoolist Kunstiakadeemiaks. 100 aastat kunstiharidust Tallinnas / From the School of Arts and Crafts to the Academy of Arts. 100 Years of Art Education in Tallinn. Toim Mart Kalm. Tallinn: Eesti Kunstiakadeemia Kirjastus, 2014, lk 396–411 [pdf]

 

Heads of KVI:

1992-1994 associate prof. Helli Sisask

1994-2007 prof. Mart Kalm

2007-2012 prof. Katrin Kivimaa

2012-2017 prof. Andres Kurg

2017-2023 prof. Virve Sarapik

since 2023. senior researcher dr. Epp Lankots.

 

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News and events

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KVI Open Lecture Inga Lāce – Making a Museum, Being a Guest

Inga Lāce’s research specialises in modern and contemporary art across Soviet and Post-Soviet Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia as well as its diaspora, with a particular focus on migration and transnational connections. She was C-MAP Central and Eastern Europe Fellow at MoMA, New York (2020-2023) and has an extensive history of curating internationally, with previous projects ...
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Symposium on postmodernism “Lost in Time Like Tears in the Rain”

On Friday, December 6th at 11:00, a symposium on postmodernism “Lost in Time Like Tears in the Rain” will take place at the Tartu Elektriteater. The transition period from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the rise of independence Estonia can be considered in many ways an unique and exceptional period. It was a time of historical openness, where one way of doing things had ceased to exist, ...
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Conference “Ghosts, wolves, diseases and plague. Andrus Kivirähk’s “November””

A conference from the series “Studies in Contemporary Culture”, dedicated to Andrus Kivirähk’s novel from 2000 with the Estonian title “Rehepapp ehk November” and its multiple adaptations in various media, will be taking place on November 25th at Tallinn’s Writers’ Building (Harju 1). The conference is organized by the Research Group of Contemporary Estonian Culture in collaboration with the ...
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Curating practice trip to the Venice Biennale

At the beginning of October, MA students from the Department of Art History and Visual culture, with specialisation on curating visited the 60th Venice Biennale. The main focus was on the Arsenale and Giardini exhibitions, while the rest of the time was dedicated to visiting museums and city pavilions. Students also took part in a conference at the University of Ca’Foscar: doctoral students ...
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Expedition: Estonians and Indigeneity

This project will examine Estonia’s relationships with Indigenous peoples and the influence of these relationships on Estonian self-identity, focusing on visual culture, artworks and museum collections. The transdisciplinary project is being carried out in collaboration between the Art Museum of Estonia and the Estonian Academy of Arts. The exhibition and research project Expedition: ...
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KVI festive research seminar: Kai Lobjakas and Kadi Polli

In the frame of the EAA 110th anniversary celebrations, the Institute of Art History  and Visual culture is organising a festive research seminar with alumni Kai Lobjakas. Kai Lobjakas. Inventing and institutionalising design. Bruno Tomberg and the museum’s collections A one-man view of the development of the field of design in Estonia and the links with museum collections.
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Public lecture – Klara Kemp-Welch

14th October at 17:30 in the room A-501 Klara Kemp-Welch will give an open lecture Free Movement? Tracking Migration and Mobility in Eastern Europe since the early 2000s Klara Kemp-Welch is Reader in 20th Century Modernism at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. She works on modern and contemporary art from Eastern Europe. She was educated at the School of Slavonic and East ...
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Curating study trip to Lithuania

In the end of August, students from the Institute  of Art History and Visual culture with specialisation on Curatorial Studies visited the diverse art scene in Vilnius. In addition to a meeting with the host, Kestutis Kuizinas, Director of the Centre for Contemporary Art (CAC), they visited several museums and private galleries. Among other things, the legendary Lithuanian curator Laima ...

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