VARES “Material Purgatory” Residency Finishing

23.-24. August in Valga

Yet another residency is coming to an end and we invite everyone to participate in the closing event of “Material Purgatory” residency and together with us celebrate the last weekends of summer in VARES.

In the beginning of July, four architects and artists – Beate Zavadska, Aivar Tõnso, Mia Maripuu and Stephanie Cellier – gathered in VARES to rummage through the sheds, attics and garages of our house and Valga, searching for poetry, potential and creative application of materials that are spending their retirement in forgotten storage spaces. Materials piles, where there is not enough stuff for starting a new project, but enough to not be thrown out. The quartet, who spent six weeks in Valga, have dissected this topic from different perspectives, have been exploring the installations of local material collectors-self-builders, playing with the peculiar sounds of found materials and mapping the nature of material storage spaces.

Now we invite you to come and participate in the residency’s public event for the weekend, where the program will include presentations of the residents’ thoughts and installations, lectures by guest speakers, VARES tour of Valga on bikes and the cozy VARESE pop-up bar in the Supibasiilika.

PROGRAM:

SATURDAY 23.08:
15:00 Introduction of the residents works
17:00 Lecture / presentation by stuudio Kollektiir (Mari Uibo and Rait Lõhmus)
21:00 Concert and VARES bar (Riia 5, Kreisihoone courtyard)

SUNDAY 24.08
11:00 VARES bunch in the residency courtyard, Uus 35. Bring something for the table!
13:00 VARES bike tour of Valga (max 10 people due to limit of bikes, more can join with their own bicycles)

A more detailed program will be gradually published on our website and social media channels. Registration form for guests wishing to stay overnight HERE.

Residency partners and supporters: European Culture Capital Tartu 2024, Estonian Culture Ministry, Estonian Culture Endowment, Valga county.

See you on August 23-24 in Valga! All friends and family are welcome!

This year’s public defenses of the Bachelor’s thesis/portfolio of the Department of Interior Architecture will take place on Monday and Tuesday, June 2 and 3, from 10:00 to 14:30 in the auditorium of the Designers’ House (Rävala 8).

Within the framework of the thesis, topics arising from individual creative interest are developed in parallel with the preparation of a portfolio. An exhibition will be put together of the developed projects.

June 2

10:00-10:30 Hanna Maria Kruusma “Unfolding space. The concept of Mari Makarov’s solo exhibition at the Viimsi Artium Contemporary Art Gallery”

10:35-11:05 Lotta Meet “Space, culture and communication: cultural influence on the use of space and the formation of conversations”

11:10-11:40 Anni Kärmik “Walking in the water with feet”

11:45-12:45 BREAK

12:45-13:15 Nelelis Tasa “Using textile waste in interiors”

13:20-13:50 Christine Rõõm “A relief map for the visually impaired”

13:55-14:25 Susann Vahe “The interior of Estonian summer houses in the 1960s-1990s.”

June 3

10:00-10:30 Caitlyn Kesa “Spatial planning in focus WINDOW. Interior architect’s proposals – a view from the inside out”

10:35-11:05 Simona Aleksandra Porta “Dialogue”

11:10-11:40 Katarina Ild “Memory”

11:45-12:45 BREAK

12:45-13:15 Arnold Zagurski “Tardkiri”

13:20-13:50 Villem Reimann “Community enclosure”

13:55-14:25 Kairi Mändla “How to identify the core of a space?”

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Supervisors: Anna Kaarma (portfolio), Ville Lausmäe (project development), Veiko Liis (project development).

The Bachelor’s Thesis/Portfolio Committee consists of Maria Helena Luiga (chair of the committee), Peeter Klaas, Mari Põld, Gregor Taul and Merilin Tee. The secretary of the committee is Marie-Katharine Maksim.

The interior architecture thesis can be viewed at the TASE exhibition at the House of Designers. The exhibition is open until June 19th every day from 13:00 to 19:00. Stop by!

Estonian Academy of Arts Science Cafe is hosting a roundtable talk on the changing roles of religious and industrial buildings in contemporary Europe on the 4th of September from 1 to 3 pm at the Narva Art Residency (NART, Joala 18) as part of the Station Narva festival.

The event will be held both onsite and online from HERE.

Estonian Academy of Arts Science Cafe focuses on the shifting roles of religious and industrial buildings in contemporary Europe. As congregations shrink and industries relocate, churches and factories alike are increasingly left vacant, raising complex questions about reuse, heritage, and identity. The discussion will address how these spaces are being reimagined—as museums, cultural centres, or residential developments—and what this reveals about broader societal transformations in both secular and post-industrial contexts.

The discussion will feature musicologist and journalist Brigitta Davidjants, associate professor of social innovation at the University of Tartu Marko Uibu, Auxiliary Bishop of the Patriarchate of Lisbon (Portugal) and Associate Professor at the Portuguese Catholic University – Faculty of Theology Alexandre Palma. The talk will be moderated by art historian and semiotician Gregor Taul. 

The event requires pre-registration by August 29. A free bus service is provided from Tallinn to Narva and back, departing from EKA. More information is available upon pre-registration.

After the Science Café, you are welcome to attend the Station Narva opening concert featuring Estonian Voices at 5:30 PM in the Rugodivi Culture House, Grand Hall. Admission is free, and doors open at 5:00 PM.

More information: triin.kao@artun.ee
Facebook event.

The event will take place under the auspices of the Transform4Europe Alliance — a collaborative network of 11 European universities focused on climate change, digitalisation, and social challenges — and is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.

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The English saying “keep the church in the village” means “do not cause an uproar.” There are similar sayings in German, French and many other European languages. With some differences, they denote that the church forms the centre of community, the basis of identity, but also, in a figurative sense, the embodiment of common sense. Despite the geographical scope and cultural differences in Catholic, Orthodox and Lutheran countries this has been the case in all of Europe. However, recent times have brought changes. Industrialisation, secular modernisation and large-scale urban planning schemes have shifted the principles of how communities are formed. This was especially so in the fundamentally atheist Soviet Union. For example in Soviet Estonia only a few religious edifices were erected between 1944 and 1991. 

The number of church-goers has also declined. As a result some churches have lost their congregations. This has raised the question of how to treat the disused churches? The situation resembles that of the post-industrial shift. Starting from the 1970s European manufacturers have left the continent in search of cheaper labour and thus the abandoned factories have made way for the birth of ‘creative cities’ – we have seen empty factories first used as squats and informal project spaces, then as gentrified creative quarters and eventually becoming expensive lofts. As for the repurposed religious buildings there are more thought-provoking examples where former religious buildings have been turned into museums, bookshops, concert halls or even swimming pools. As adaptive reuse of spaces and materials is becoming a legislative requirement in Europe, we will see more such examples in the near future. 

At the backdrop of a contemporary music festival, Narva’s fabled industrial legacy and the crossroads of divergent (religious) identities this roundtable will look at both historic case studies and current disputes concerning religious and industrial heritage in Europe.

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Brigitta Davidjants is a journalist and researcher at Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, Estonia. In her academic research, she looks at national identity constructions and the marginalities of subcultures.

Marko Uibu is an Estonian social scientist and Associate Professor of Social Innovation at the Institute of Social Studies, University of Tartu. His 2016 doctoral dissertation in University of Tartu was called “Religiosity as Cultural Toolbox: a Study of Estonian New Spirituality”.

Alexandre Palma is a theologian, Auxiliary Bishop and university professor. He is an assistant professor at the Catholic University (courses: Mystery of God; Christology; and Theology of Religions) and a researcher at the CITER – Research Center for Theology and Religion Studies. He also serves as Auxiliary Bishop of the Patriarchate of Lisbon (Portugal) and is a member of the European Society for Catholic Theology and of the Seminar of young scientists of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences.

Gregor Taul is a teacher, critic, and curator based in Tallinn, working as an associate professor in the Departments of Interior Architecture and General Theory Classes at the Estonian Academy of Arts. In his academic research, he focuses on art in public space, with a particular interest in Soviet-era monuments and murals as well as contemporary public art commissions.

Kvadraat exhibition “Naabriga sama kena” at Lootsi 17, Kuressaare.

The focus of the exhibition is on collaboration, which is undeniably embedded in all artistic practices. Eight young artists have gathered under one roof, leaning on each other, both in this old weighhouse and outside it, for example, during their studies, as part of unions and collectives. All these intertwinings and encounters, growths and developments form the core of the exhibition.

The curators are members of the art collective Kvadraat: Elise Marie Olesk, Marten Prei, Paul Rannik, Sandra Puusepp, Triin Mänd. This is a continuation of their exhibition series, which explores the characteristics and expressiveness of graphic art in the field of contemporary art.

Participating artists: Asmus Soodla, Elo Vahtrik, Irma Holm, Kail Timusk, Liisa-Lota Jõeleht, Margarita Feofanova, Maria Izabella Lehtsaar and Sonja Sutt.

The exhibition will be open daily until August 18 between 12:00-18:00.

Liisa Chrislin Saleh’s & Hansel Tai’s duo exhibition “Dance of Resistance”
Second floor of EKA Gallery 1.–24.08.2025
Open Tue–Sat 12–6 pm Sun 12–4 pm
NB! EKA Gallery is closed during Wednesday, August 20.
Opening: Thursday, July 31 at 6 pm

Estonian-Yemeni artist Liisa Chrislin Saleh and Tallinn-based, Chinese-born artist Hansel Tai join forces for the first time in their duo exhibition “Dance of Resistance”. With a shared appreciation for each other’s artistic practices, Saleh and Tai engage in a powerful dialogue that confronts their rich cultural heritages through the lens of feminist and queer ideologies. By intertwining their personal narratives, they explore the intersections of identity, culture, and resistance.

Liisa Chrislin Saleh was born into an Estonian-Yemeni family and raised mainly in Estonia. Her perspective is shaped by this Northern European context, but she is increasingly engaging with her Yemeni background, navigating what it means to hold both identities. With this project she explores the connections and disconnections between historical resistance movements across different regions. The work examines how solidarity is formed—and where it breaks down—across cultural and political lines. Drawing on humanist values and intersectional feminist thought the artist considers how resistance is remembered, represented, and reinterpreted today. Rather than aiming to present a unified narrative, the project opens space for complexity, contradiction, and critical reflection.

Hansel Tai, born in Mainland China and now based in Tallinn, has long focused on queer culture in the Post-Internet era. His award-winning project, “Nude Jade Pierced”, explored Chinese cultural identity through a queer lense, blending traditional symbols with subcultural aesthetic. In “Dance of Resistance”, Tai re-contextualizes traditional Chinese calligraphy and incense—both of which have found resonance in Western culture, from tattoo parlors to metaphysical shops. His work aims to challenge the appropriation of these cultural symbols, while reclaiming their significance from a queer perspective.

This multifaceted installation brings together objects, jewelry, and immersive elements to examine how cultural identity and ideological resistance are experienced and expressed by the two artists. Saleh and Tai draw from their own positions to explore themes of cultural disconnection, feminism, and queer identity. The installation does not aim to present a unified message but instead opens space for critical engagement with the complexities and contradictions of identity, belonging, and resistance
Together, “Dance of Resistance” offers a poignant reflection on the fluidity of identity and the power of art as a form of resistance in the face of cultural and societal challenges.

Graphic design: Daria Titova
Technical support: Ats Kruusing and Karel Koplimets
The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Sadolin Estonia and Tallinn City.
Opening drinks from Pühaste Brewery.

HIDDEN RIVERS
Ground floor of EKA Gallery 1.–24.08.2025
Open Tue–Sat 12–6 pm Sun 12–4 pm
NB! EKA Gallery is closed on Wednesday, August 20
Opening: Thursday, July 31 at 6 pm

The body is a porous system in constant exchange with its environment – it excretes matter, absorbs substances, and is shaped by its surroundings as much as it shapes them. Digestion is not merely a linear passage but a generative process: the body organizes itself around the intestine, whose intricate folds allow for immense spatial capacity, concealed within the torso.

This principle of folding extends beyond the body to architecture and the subterranean infrastructure of cities. The digestive tract, building pipework and sewer systems form a continuous, obscured network of movement and transformation. At the thresholds where this flows cross – mouth, anus, toilet – conflicts arise. These are culturally charged, ritualized zones where the body meets architecture: highly coded, regulated, contested. The fold, with its spatial density and ambiguity, becomes a central motif for grasping these borderline structures of transition and control. The group exhibition “Hidden Rivers” is a site of excavation. Bodies are opened and buried systems are lifted to the surface. Infrastructures are disrupted and rerouted, landscapes reshaped, rivers diverted.

Over the course of ten months, artists Bob Bicknell-Knight, Giulio Cusinato, Fausta Noreikaitė, Rosa-Maria Nuutinen, Teresa RA and Denis Kudrjašov worked with curator and exhibition designer Theresa Roth in a collective process of uncovering and reflecting upon the organism of digestion. Their artistic positions – manifested in sculpture, installation, embroidery, text, sound, and video – trace the flows and frictions between body, space, and system.

The exhibition architecture, merging curatorial and artistic practice, acts as both mediator and memory. It holds the sediment of the shared process, an organic archive, and unfolds the sealed terrain of the EKA Gallery.

Participating artists: Bob Bicknell-Knight, Giulio Cusinato, Fausta Noreikaitė, Rosa-Maria Nuutinen, Teresa RA, Denis Kudrjašov
Curator and exhibition designer: Theresa Roth
Graphic design: Lukas Milkereit
Technical support: Ats Kruusing & Karel Koplimets
The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Sadolin Estonia and Tallinn City.
Opening drinks from Pühaste Brewery.

Kuressaare Castle, Lossihoov 1, Kuressaare, Saaremaa
13.07.-04.08.2025; entrance with museum ticket
Opening: July 12 2PM; free entrance during the opening
The Exhibition is part of Saarte Art Fest program.

WALKTHROUGH is a group exhibition showcasing media art installations by students of EVA Lab, part of the Estonian Academy of Arts’ New Media programme. The lab focuses on experimental approaches to video games within contemporary art practice.

Bob Bicknell-Knight, Alisa Butenko, Rosa-Maria Nuutinen and Yiyang Sun explore video games as an artistic medium, examining how material culture, time, and the environment are perceived and constructed across both physical and digital realms.The exhibition itself is a liminal manifestation of the two worlds, where the viewers are invited to explore the many spaces that the exhibition occupies. Looting is a fundamental part of video games, where the player has an opportunity to upgrade or increase their powers through exploring the digital environment, much of the time in minute detail. Many of these found items are worthless, and the chance of finding the most valuable loot is limited. Like in games, we invite the viewer to explore the different spaces and discover the separate artworks.

Artists: Bob Bicknell-Knight, Alisa Butenko, Rosa-Maria Nuutinen, Yiyang Sun

Supervisors: Camille Laurelli, Sten Saarits

Production assistance: Sava Plukhooii, Taavi Varm, Hans-Gunter Lock

Supported by Estonian Academy of Arts, EVA Lab, Saaremaa vald, Kuressaare Kultuurivara, Kuressaare Castle

Each year, the Estonian Academy of Arts Research and Development Office, in conjunction with the Tallinn Strategic Management Office, holds an applied research and development projects competition to motivate the Academy’s members to apply to a greater extent the results of their academic and research work in the public, business and third sectors; to increase the quality and extent of knowledge services provided by the Academy to society and businesses and to raise public awareness of the application of the Academy’s know-how in the economy and society.

The main prize of the competition, provided by the City of Tallinn, is 1000€. The total prize fund is up to 3600€, and at least two prizes will be awarded. If numerous outstanding works are submitted for the competition, additional work(s) will be awarded.

The competition welcomes submissions from:
– Course or graduation projects by EKA students that have a practical application, for example if the results could potentially be used by a company or another organization.
– Research or project work by EKA staff and researchers that has practical applicability beyond the academic environment.

The works must be completed between 01.09.2024–31.08.2025.

To submit a project to the competition a completed form together with additional materials must be sent to koostoo@artun.ee no later than 15 September 2025. The e-mail addresses of all authors of the work must be included among the e-mail recipients.

The competition is co-funded by the City of Tallinn.

See last year’s winners HERE (short clips).

Materials for applying:

Procedure for Competition of Applied Research and Development Works

Submission form

Tallinn Print Triennial’s youth exhibition “Print Muscle”
EKA Gallery 5.–27.07.2025
Open Tue–Sat 12–6 pm Sun 12–4 pm
Opening: Friday, July 4 at 6 pm
Curatorial tour: Thursday, July 10 at 6 pm (in Estonian)

NB! The exhibition can only be accessed through EKA Gallery’s Kotzebue Street door. On July 9 and 10, between 12 and 3.30 pm, there may be power outages due to the maintenance of electrical systems, which may interfere with experiencing the exhibition. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience!

“Print Muscle” is the 2025 youth exhibition of the Tallinn Print Triennial, highlighting the role of trace-based visual practices through the work of young artists.

The exhibition introduces viewers to “methods of leaving a trace” through works in which artists imprint their presence in the current moment through gestures borrowed from printmaking – though not necessarily confined to its traditional techniques. In an age where digital repetition has become commonplace, manual repetition still holds lasting significance. Whether the repetition functions according to object-based, bodily, ritualistic, or traditional principles, it often becomes a form of playing at being – a training of the print muscle.

While disciplinary boundaries in contemporary art have long since become arbitrary, print-based thinking often stands out through persistent, process-oriented engagement – ritualistic repetition, close observation, and the materialization of time. Through such practices, artists trace their daily rituals, reflect on autobiographical elements, or give tangible form to our time. Though printmaking techniques are sometimes considered delicate – perhaps even feminized – this exhibition emphasizes the physicality and force inherent in printmakers’ way of thinking. The exhibition brings together artists from Estonia, Lithuania and Ukraine.

An additional focus of the exhibition is the increasing popularity of artist books, zines, and self-publishing. While bookmaking has traditionally been part of both printmaking and graphic design curricula, recent years have seen a notable rise in its cultural and artistic relevance. To reflect this, we’ve invited Agnes Isabelle Veevo to curate a reading corner dedicated to artist books on the second floor of EKA Gallery. This curated space includes works by participating artists as well as other artists from fields like printmaking, graphic design, and beyond, offering visitors the opportunity to engage with these publications in a tactile and intended way, i.e. by physically holding and looking at them.

Curators: Anita Kodanik & Maria Izabella Lehtsaar
Participating artists: Mindaugas Aniūnas, Loora Kaubi, Elise Marie Olesk, Paul Rannik, Nils Joonatan Rammo, Gintaute Siniakovaitė, Aidas Stončius, Daria Titova
Book corner curator: Agnes Isabelle Veevo
Artists participating in the book corner: Rokas Bokus, Eline Cremers, Fatima-Ezzahra el Khammas, Laura Merendi, Helena Pass, Eleri Porroson, Julia Syrzistie, Ljubov Terukova, Laura Tursk, Mirjam Varik
Technical support: Erik Hõim
Graphic design: Daria Titova

Exhibition supported by: Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania, Sadolin Estonia and Tallinn City.
Thank you: Liis Aleksejeva, EKA graphic art department, EKKM, Johannes Luik
Opening drinks from Põhjala Brewery.

Rebecca Green
“LA BABY”
EKA Gallery 25.–28.06.2025

Open Wed 2–6 pm, Thu–Fri 12–6 pm
Performance event: Sat, 28.06. at 6–10 pm
Free entry

Welcome to “LA BABY”, your own personal window into the exotic fantasy of Los Angeles, right here in Eesti. Money? Check. Sunshine? Check. The Kardshian’s secret serums? You’ll just have to see for yourself…

Part exhibition, part soft investigation and part sun-kissed performance experiment, LA BABY puts forward the question, what does Los Angeles promise us?

Observing the surreal migration of symbols globally and following the subtle mutations of representations as they travel 1000’s of kilometers from California to Estonia, we wonder, does everyone want to be an LA BABY?

Created by Rebecca Green
Supported by Kirte Jõesaar, William Primett, Liisamari Viik,
Javier Cárcel Hildalgo-Saavedra, Ksenia Verbeštšuk
Graphic design by Fatima-Ezzahra Khammas

Projects at EKA Gallery are supported by Sadolin Estonia and
Tallinn City.
Drinks at the performance event from Põhjala Brewery.