Liisa Kruusmägi, Liisi Küla, JHP – Journey at Vaal gallery

January 30-February 28 at Vaal gallery

The Square of Dolls
Jass Kaselaan (Estonia), winner of the Köler Prize 2014
Solo exhibition
14 February – 22 March 2015
The Arsenāls Exhibition Hall / Creative Studio
The Latvian National Museum of Art
2nd floor, 1 Torņa Street, Riga, LV-1050, Latvia
Opening of the exhibition on 13 February 2015 at 17.00.
The solo exhibition The Square of Dolls by Estonian sculptor and 2014 Köler Prize winner, Jass Kaselaan, will be held in the Creative Studio of the Arsenāls Exhibition Hall of the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga (1 Torņa Street, 2nd floor). The exhibition will be open from 14 February until 22 March 2015.
Jass Kaselaan (b.1981) can be described as the flagship of a very strong and distinct generation of sculptors including about five artists that graduated from Tartu Art College in the second half of the 00s and continued their MA studies at Estonian Academy of Arts in Tallinn. Their work is characterised by a narrative approach to themes that range from death, science fiction and paranoia to fairy tales, homophobia and the cold war.
It is rather characteristic for the entire new generation of Estonian sculptors that they don’t participate in group shows, but like to fill the whole space themselves. This has led critics to describe them as monumentalists who lack the ambition to create monuments. There is no other that this claim could be more true of than Kaselaan. Whatever size the gallery, it will be too small for him.
Kaselaan’s acclaimed work The Square of Dolls is a good example of monumentality squeezed into the gallery, as it consists of 16 huge doll heads cast in concrete accompanied by the series of photographs. The parallels with monumental art are triggered not only by the material and object to space ratio, but also by the fact that monuments are erected to tell and, more to the point, remind us of a story. In this case a story of dolls found next to a rubbish bin in the middle of a Soviet residential area, that itself is one of the last functioning monuments of an era.
The Köler Prize was established in 2011 and named after the 19th century Estonian painter Johann Köler (1826–1899). It was created to popularise Estonian contemporary art and to support powerful local artists and artist groups. Every year, five authors are nominated for their work over the last three years while invited international jury selects the winner. In 2014 an exhibition by the nominees was on show at the Contemporary Art Museum Estonia (Eesti Kaasaegse Kunsti Muuseum).
Both, the Köler Prize and the Purvitis Prize present the best artists currently active. So the decision, to present the fourth Köler Prize winner next to the nominees for the fourth Purvitis Prize, is no coincidence. Jass Kaselaan’s Square of Dolls provides an insight into the work of the talented artist indirectly showing the similarities and differences between the visual art prizes of two Baltic countries.
The exhibition is the result of collaboration between the Latvian National Museum of Art and the Tartu Artists’ Union. The project is supported financially by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Estonia and the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
Text by Indrek Grigor
EXHIBITION CURATOR:
Indrek Grigor, Gallery manager of the Tartu Artists’ Union, Tartu, Estonia
EXHIBITION CO-ORDINATOR:
Šelda Puķīte, Head of the Creative Studio of the Arsenāls Exhibition Hall,
Latvian National Museum of Art
T: (+371) 67 357527, E: Selda.Pukite@lnmm.lv
INTERNET SOURCES:
www.lnmm.lv
#Kaselans
#Lellu laukums
#Kelera balva
The Creative Studio of the Arsenāls Exhibition Hall of the LNMA (1 Torņa Street, Riga, Latvia)
OPENING HOURS:
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays 12.00–18.00, ticket office 12.00–17.45
Thursdays 12.00–20.00, ticket office 12.00–19.45
Saturdays, Sundays 12.00–17.00, ticket office 12.00–16.45
Closed on Mondays
The museum is closed on all public holidays: 1 January, Good Friday, Easter, Midsummer Eve and Day (23–24 June), Christmas (25–26 December), 31 December.
ADMISSION:
Adults: EUR 1,42
Schoolchildren, students, senior citizens: EUR 0,71
PRESS IMAGES (please request if need in a larger resolution)
1-3. Jass Kaselaan. The Square of Dolls. 2014. Installation.
Property of the artist. Publicity photo
4-6. Jass Kaselaan. The Square of Dolls. 2014. Digital print.
Property of the artist. Publicity photo
7. Estonian artist Jass Kaselaan. 2014. Photo: Scanpix
Press release prepared by: Natalie Suyunshalieva
Head of Press
The Latvian National Museum of Art
P: (+371) 67 357527
F: (+371) 67 357520
E: pr.service@lnmm.lv
I: www.lnmm.lv
Twitter: www.twitter.com/lnmm_muzejs

Fabbrica del Vapore, Milan, Italy
Opening on June 6, 2015
Work submission by February 15, 2015
Organized by Cumulus International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art, Design and Media, Politecnico di Milano, Sapienza University of Rome.
CALL FOR EXHIBITS
Cumulus, the International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art, Design and Media will be pleased to receive proposals from students, graduated students, researchers, PhDs for the exhibition DESIGN to FEED the WORLD, which will be opening as the final event of Cumulus Milan 2015.
Key Topics
1. History of humankind. History of food.
2. Abundance of food. A paradox of contemporary time.
3. The future of food
4. Sustainable food=equitable world
5. Taste is knowledge
Dates
June 6 – June 30, 2015
Location
The exhibition will be hosted at Fabbrica del Vapore (Milano), opening on the closing day of the Cumulus Conference, June 6, 2015.
Exhibition Format
The exhibition will be displayed through three formats:
a. Mockup, scale model and prototype (maximum size 50x50x50cm)
b. Video (maximum 2 min, .mp4 or.avi)
c. Poster (see the OverallCaptionDFW.pdf)
Publication
All selected Products/Projects will be published in a special issue of the Scientific Journal DIID – Disegno Industriale Industrial Design (www.disegnoindustriale.net).
The full Call for Exhibits as well as application documents available at
www.cumulusmilan2015.org
Contact information to the conference host POLIMI: cumulusmi2015@easychair.org

Information Session on Japanese Government MEXT Scholarships
Date: Friday, January 30, 2015
Time: 17:00
Place: National Library of Estonia „Small Conference Hall“ (Tõnismägi 2, Tallinn)
Learn more about Japan’s MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) Scholarships!
You are welcome to attend this info session to find out scholarship opportunities for undergraduate and research students in Japan and get answers to your questions. A MEXT scholarship returnee will share her experiences of study and life in Japan.
Free admission

You may apply for a scholarship if you have special needs in case you have informed the university of them prior to the application process. You may find the information in English here

Electronic applications should be filled out by February 20th here: http://taotlused.archimedes.ee.

The East , a database documentary
Democratic cinema!
Every presentation is a premiere!
Estonian Parliament, 19-23 January 2015
“The East” is a database documentary, which we are presenting here in an
installation version.
The film shows the contrasts of Estonia: the industrial landscape of North-East
Estonia, picturesque nature, grim and beautiful indtustrial landscapes and the
stories of the people living there.
Our artistic vision has been to emphasise the visual point of view and to add
critical commentaries. Our main interest lies in the experimental and
innovative format, which allows us to show hidden and unexplored areas of the
topic.
The characters and locations portrayed in the film are real. We see people whose
lives are shaped by their work in the energy and oil shale companies, and whose
families are of mixed nationalities. We see the reality of people’s lives and
understand their everyday routine.
From the point of view of form, the film has two variations: linear and
interactive. The interactive format has four versions: cinematic, installative,
DVD-version and web-version. There have also been experiments with a multiuser
cinematic version, but for this exhibition we are presenting an installation
designed for a single user.
The audience can influence the duration of the film. There are four topics to
explore and to make choices: nature, industrial environment, machines, and
people. The aesthetics of the film are built on the multiscreen principle which
allows choices to be made between the active narrative and the narrative in
waiting.
Project authors Raivo Kelomees, Hille Karm
Hans Gunter Lock programming
Igor Ruus camera
Chris Hales consultation
Kaileen Mägi interviews
Meelis Salujärv music
Supporters: EAS, Estonian Academy of Arts, Tartu Art College, Estonian Cultural
Endowment, IVEK, Allfilm, Froid, Faun Studios, Eesti Kroonikafilm, Tallinn
Creative Hub Makerlab
NB! ID is required for visiting the exhibition.