The Estonian Academy of Arts recognised the authors of outstanding scholarly and practice-based research publications that were published in 2025 – across three award categories, the Academy highlighted the diverse and high-level contributions of its researchers and creative scholars to the study of the humanities, design, architecture, and the arts. From among the nominees put forward by the faculties, the selection was made by those members of the Academy’s Research Council who were not themselves among the nominees this year.
We invite everyone to browse and read the newly awarded publications: most texts are available at the EKA Library.
Monograph Award
The monograph prize was awarded to senior researcher at the Institute of Art History and Visual Culture (KVI) and associate professor at the EKA Doctoral School Kristina Jõekalda, and to Vice-Rector for Research Linda Kaljundi, for editing the volume “The Manor Phenomenon in Baltic Cultural History: Perspectives Across Research Fields” The editorial team also included Ulrika Plath (Tallinn University). Published in spring 2025 in Tallinn University Press’s series Acta Universitatis Tallinnensis. Artes, this extensive volume examines the manor as a key phenomenon in Baltic history and culture, arguing that new perspectives should be sought through interdisciplinary collaboration. Articles open up new angles on the earlier history of manors, the role of material culture and art as historical sources, the contribution of research and restoration activities to reshaping the meanings of manors, and the Baltic Germans’ ambivalent relationship with the manor. Several Art Academy staff members are also among the contributors.
Research Paper Category Award to two authors
One of the two research article prizes this year was awarded to Kristi Kuusk, senior researcher in the Faculty of Design, who published a number scholarly articles in 2025 both locally and internationally. Among them is “Layers of Repair – On Mending, Care, and Aesthetics of Affect,” written in collaboration with Marta Konovalov and Julia Valle-Noronha and published in Fashion Theory. The article discusses textile repair as an activity promoting sustainability and analyses how the repair process shapes the repairers’ value judgements, sense of self, and environmental awareness. The committee highlighted Kuusk’s strength in collaborative creative research and her role as an inspirer of research groups and doctoral students. Her articles also contribute to the development and visibility of sensory design on the international design scene.
Other notable articles co-authored in 2025 by Kristi Kuusk include:
- “Imagining Together: Sensorial Play and Intergenerational Mental Well-being in Autoethnographic Design” (co-authors: A. Hamid, Z. Babayev, P. Veske-Lepp, N. H. Oktay);
- “Relational Design for Remote Intergenerational Sensorial Play Experiences,” in the proceedings of the 11th Nordic Design Research Society (NORDES), Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet) (co-authors: A. Hamid, Z. Babayev, P. Veske-Lepp, N. H. Oktay);
- “Remote Grandparents: Designing Relations, Not Things,” in Leida Issue 6: Travels in the Consumption Zone (co-authors: A. Hamid, Z. Babayev, P. Veske-Lepp, N. Hazal Oktay).
In the same category, the other research paper award went to Hanna-Liis Kont, doctoral student in Art History and Visual Culture Studies, for her article “How Does Art Support the Formation of Social-Emotional Competence? A Sound Journey Created with Families with Children,” published in the special issue of METHIS dedicated to mental well-being and the arts. Kont’s study is a true model of interdisciplinarity. Positioned at the intersection of curatorial practice, sound art, educational psychology, and transformative design, the case study reveals the potential of art to shape social-emotional competence by providing a safe space for self-expression, collaboration, and emotional reflection. The applied analysis of the sound journeys “Murrangu hinged” (“Spirits of the Break”) and “Viltuse maja mälestused” (“Memories of the Slanted House”), created in collaboration with artists Lundahl & Seitl and Jaakko Autio and conducted at the Tartu Art Museum, demonstrates how innovative sensory approaches and the creative process can foster relationship skills—trust, responsibility, confidence, emotional awareness, and the ability to make caring, considered decisions—in both children and adults.
Special Research Paper Prize
In 2025, the Science Council also awarded special recognition for a research article to Hannes Vinnal, visiting associate professor in the Faculty of Art and Culture, for his article “Colours in the Manor: Christina de la Barre’s Account Books (1732–1748) as a Source for the Social History of Colour,” published in the same volume “The Manor Phenomenon in Baltic Cultural History.” The committee highlighted the article’s engaging style and thorough archival research, which sheds light on 18th-century household practices and the use of colour in architecture and fashion. The study provides valuable support for interpreting historical buildings and identifying period-appropriate finishing solutions.
Practice-based Research Publication Award
The prize for a practice-based research publication was awarded to Elina Liiva, junior researcher in the Faculty of Architecture, for the creative research work “A Script of the Tragicomedy of an Apartment Building,” co-authored with Märten Rattasepp and published in the catalogue of the Estonian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, “Let me warm you” (2025). Liiva and Rattasepp’s creative research provides an overview of the issues surrounding the renovation of apartment buildings and forms part of the Estonian Pavilion’s exhibition at the Venice Biennale, which has received significant local and international attention and has thereby helped bring wider visibility to the topics addressed at the EKA Faculty of Architecture. The authors compiled a series of dialogues on the renovation of apartment buildings, underpinned by extensive prior research. The fictional dialogues, interwoven with evocative and contemplative images, are engaging and delicately attuned, enabling readers to empathise with various characters—from pensioners to developers.
The EKA Research Publication Awards highlight the Academy’s researchers’ and creative scholars’ ability to combine academic depth with socially resonant themes and innovative research formats.
We congratulate all award recipients and thank everyone who submitted nominations for the 2025 Awards!