Common Futures

The Dirt Road, Vent Space Exhibition by Masters of Contemporary Art student Sarah Noonan opens May 2 at 18.00.

Exhibition Opening times are 2–7 May from 15.00–19.00.

02.05–07.05 The Dirt Road by Sarah Noonan

On September 24th, 2022 a small hurricane in Atlantic Canada destroyed an abandoned tree farm on a dirt road. The exhibition The Dirt Road symbolizes how the attachment to a specific location and the origin of home can turn a place into somewhere that is precious. Materials and memory teleport familiarity while roaming unnaturally through structures and color. To explore the ethereal desolation of nature, textile sculptures create an abstract representation of the dirt road. This installation environment recollects sensitive traits from this cherished place. It reveals how the roots of our upbringing are abandoned by abstract forms and imagining memories; But ground feelings of regret with youthful honesty.

Sarah Noonan uses her own discarded clothes and belongings to transform worn and renewed fabrics into hand-sewn, mixed media sculptures. Through indiscriminate uses of craft and textile materials they investigate material qualities of durability and softness. Their art reveals fragile layers of sentiment around us that navigate connections to inhabiting places. Changes in time, place, and acceptance encourages us to identify feelings of intrinsic worth.

Anu Vahtra will open her solo exhibition along the wall, down the stairs, outside in Hobusepea gallery at 17:00 on Thursday, May 4th, 2023. Exhibition will be open until May 29, 2023.

The exhibition along the wall, down the stairs, outside is a new installation by Anu Vahtra, consisting of works created since 2020. The process of observing and documenting situations, solutions and decisions in a city that is constantly under construction is reflected in photographs, videos and found objects. These works were originally created for exhibitions in Amsterdam, Athens and Brussels.

The title of the exhibition is borrowed from Anne Carson’s essay Chez l’Oxymoron (1988). The exhibition is accompanied by a text contribution by artist Lieven Lahaye and a film contribution by artist and filmmaker Ingel Vaikla. Graphic design by Elisabeth Klement.

Anu Vahtra (1982, Tallinn) is an artist working primarily with photography, video and installation. Initiated by the architectural characteristics as well as historical and contextual background of a certain site, Vahtra’s works often focus on the exhibition format and specifics of an exhibition space but also tackle issues of urban space. Vahtra has participated in numerous group exhibitions and has had solo exhibitions in Estonia and abroad. In 2017, she was an artist in residence at ISCP in New York and in 2020 at the WIELS Contemporary Art Centre in Brussels. Since February 2022, Vahtra works as the head of MA Contemporary Art program at the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Thank you: Maris Karjatse, Lieven Lahaye, Tanja Muravskaja, Ingel Vaikla, Johannes Säre & Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM), Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

Exhibitions in Hobusepea gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Ministry of Culture and Liviko Ltd.

Roman-Sten Tõnissoo and Ellen Vene dive into the medieval darkness in Draakon gallery

Roman-Sten Tõnissoo & Ellen Vene will open their co-exhibition If This Is Light, Then Give Us Darkness in Draakon gallery at 17:00 on Thursday, May 4th, 2023.

Exhibition will be open until May 27th, 2023.

If This Is Light, Then Give Us Darkness, the co-exhibition of Roman-Sten Tõnissoo and Ellen Vene, serves as an ongoing collaboration between the two artists. Their distinctive styles exchange locations, reflect each other and create new forms of dialogue.

Through site-sensitive artwork, Tõnissoo and Vene attempt to disentangle and redefine visuals from fantasies that stem from one’s desire to escape into alternative environments from the restless quintessence of the world. Relying on technological development, the practice of referring and sampling has established itself even more firmly in visual culture – and therefore, the perception of contemporaneity is increasingly complemented by a collage of fragments from different eras. During pivotal times, one often yearns for magical archaism, a concept based on the imaginary, fragmented past. With their current exhibition in Draakon gallery, located in the heart of the old town of Tallinn, the artists observe the Middle Ages as a platform where all kinds of ideas and ideals can be projected. Examples of recycled medieval aesthetics, symbols and milieu are found in every field of culture – music, fashion, fiction, games and films. The darkness of the Middle Ages seems to be an alternation to the flickering light of screens reflecting modern despair.

Roman-Sten Tõnissoo (b. 1989) has graduated from the department of photography (BA) and contemporary art (MA) at the Estonian Academy of Arts, and has also studied at FAMU, Film and TV School in Prague. The focal point of his artistic practice lies in the quest for spirituality and purpose in contemporary society, and in the fragile connections between aggression and the sense of security. The artist’s cross-media work methods refer to and search for spatial moments of dialogue, including the potential to visualize new possible future perspectives. Among his recent exhibition projects are “Your Afterlife Is Cancelled” together with Ellen Vene in ARS Project Space (2022), “Out of Sight Is Out of Mind” together with Ellen Vene in ROAM Project Space in Berlin (2022) and “Dreams in Unfreedom” together with Sven Parker in the Monumental Gallery of Tartu Art House (2022).

Ellen Vene (b. 1990) has obtained BA in the department of sculpture and installation and MA in contemporary art at the Estonian Academy of Arts, and additionally studied at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and Central Saint Martins College in London. The core of her installative artistic practice includes strategies based on cultural and art history while illustrating the ways how historical systems and roles are reflected in the present. Among her recent exhibition projects are “Exercises for Dreamkeeping” in TYPA gallery (2022), “Your Afterlife Is Cancelled” together with Roman-Sten Tõnissoo in ARS Project Space (2022), “Out of Sight Is Out of Mind” together with Roman-Sten Tõnissoo in Roam Project Space in Berlin (2022).

Exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia

Exhibitions in Draakon gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Ministry of Culture and Liviko Ltd.

Introducing the “Etiquette of digital collaboration: Designers Speak Up” – A showcase of emerging design students’ creative synergy in different design practices.

Periods of uncertainty and the ongoing transition towards a more sustainable future have normalised remote work and the concept of “alone together”, greatly affecting how designers, artists, architects, and other creatives collaborate. This exhibition is a testament to the power of such collaboration, bringing together the learnings from courses held in Tallinn (EKA), Saint-Étienne (ESADSE), and Schwäbisch Gmünd (HfG) for a project called “Digital Tools for Creative Collaboration”.

During the project, the students of the three schools explored the impact of the trend towards digital collaboration. We took their learnings and used ChatGPT 4.0 and other AI tools to turn them into a vivid twister experience. The twister features eight themes, each of which delves into a different aspect of teamwork, communication, and the design process:

1. Stay Human

2. Design with Intent

3. Use Cyber Manners

4. Embracing Differences

5. Improving Workflows

6. Teaming Up

7. Practice Effective Communication

8. Exercise Discipline

Each theme encompasses a range of concepts and ideas, with the students offering their unique insights and experiences. As a whole, the exhibition highlights the importance of empathy, openness, and effective communication in fostering a productive and creative team environment. It showcases the students’ commitment to personal growth, pushing the boundaries of traditional design methodologies, and embracing the challenges of working across disciplines and cultures.

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The expo will be open in the EKA ground floor lobby every day on 2–7 May.

On display:

200 tenets of effective digital collaboration, analysed with the help of ChatGPT 4.0 from the produced course materials and reflections by participating students and mentors.

22 interviews with students and mentors participating in the project.

Participating students:

Maëlys Bard, Max Becht, Sarah Boutière, Paulina Juárez Badillo Chávez, Sigmund Abou Chrouch, Artemiy Guslistov, Hugo Guyomard, Ludovic Hohl, Mathias Hû, Kristi Laanemäe, Tara Monheim, Alféa Morelli, Daisy Muntean, Natsumi Nonaka, Alina Remlinger, Marius Schairer, Viki Schmidt, Kaisa Uik, Yaren Duriez Urías, Mark Uustalu.

Participating mentors:

Cléa Di Fabio (Esadse), Jérémie Nuel (Esadse), Damien Baïs (Esadse), François Brument (Esadse), David-Olivier Lartigaud (Esadse), Lucile Schrenzel (Esadse), Marc Guntow (HfG Schwäbisch-Gmünd), Ludwig Kannicht (HfG Schwäbisch-Gmünd), Tanel Kärp (EKA), Jekaterina Suharenko (EKA, Jonn Galea (EKA).

Exhibition design:

Ottavio Cambieri, Jekaterina Suharenko, Anastasiia Grigoriadi, Tanel Kärp, Nesli Hazal Akbulut, Oliver Kanniste

Exhibition “Etiquette of digital collaboration: Designers speak up” is organised by IxD.ma.

On May 3rd from 6 pm to 7 pm on the first floor you can participate in the Game Experience created by the students of the Design for Play course.

During this event, you can play games made during the course and get a break from the stressful assessment period.

Everyone from EKA is welcome!

The department of Photography of EKA is welcoming you to the screening of two recently awarded Estonian films – “Hippodrome” by Vladimir Loginov and “Dear Passengers” by Madli Lääne.

The screenins are held in the EKA main lecture hall A-101 next Thursday, April 27th, at 6 p.m.

In Helsinki, Ene-Liis Semper’s (professor of EKA Scenography) project “Untitled” premiered with the theater graduates of the Theater Academy there in the Pasila black-box theater of the local City Theater Kaupunginteatteri.

It is an original play, which, according to Enel-Liis Semper, is to some extent a sequel to the play “72 days”. The similarity is that images were used and the material does not contain verbal dialogue.

EKA scenography students Anita Kremm and Liisamari Viik were assisting the director.

Ene-Liis’ long time collaborator Jakob Juhkam is the composer.

The performance “Untitled” lasts about 1 and 3/4 hours, which, according to the author, guarantees the return from Helsinki to Tallinn on the last ferry.

The play will not be played for long, because “Untitled” is a graduation play.

More information

Author’s text:

Over the course of the years, I have discovered I am mostly drawn to things that, for some reason, refuse to be given a name. These things are interesting to me because they refuse to be fully described or are too special or abstract or obvious to be captured by words. As an artist, I aim to bring these unnamed moments to the stage as they are, without any explanation, so that people can experience them as I did. I am curious to see if and how others will receive and interpret these moments.

To me, the performance composition needs to escape linearity and the feeling of a natural flow of time. That´s why I collect the material working from photography, paintings and frozen poses, and then I assemble them together in different weird ways, that somehow despite being strange, remind me of life in its rawness. These unnamed moments I create are a reminder for me of our actual condition as human beings. I as a subject exist among infinite stories that happen simultaneously in the present moment. Beyond my subjective limited perspectives, and my constant effort to reduce life to something I can hope to make sense of, all moments of existence manifest themselves in extremely weird, absurd deeply touching shapes.

The reality I seek is often overwhelming and incomprehensible, yet provokes in me (and hopefully in the audience) an unconditional empathy that can transport me to a meditative state where reality and its impressions somehow become available.

On Thursday, April 27, exhibition “On the other side, from other things” by Riin Maide will open in Tallinn Art Hall Gallery. Exhibited installations focus on the potential of absent spaces and the temporary beauty.

“On other sides and other things” is a visual exploration of places that don’t actually exist. Using materials such as paper and fabric, for four days Maide creates (and recreates) an environment through which spatial footnotes can be experienced.

“With every good spectacle, I have almost always been more fascinated by what lies behind it. The romantic in me finds the nostalgia and sad beauty of abandonment in empty storefronts, despite the cruelty of capitalism. A disappearing moment that I would like to capture.”

Riin Maide (1997) is an artist and scenographer who lives and works in Tallinn. In her practice, she deals with memory and presence through playful installations and staged environments. Her work can be often characterised as site-specific, ephemeral and reliant on graphic imagery. In addition to exhibitions, she also works as a curator, performer. She has also participated as stage designer in several performances, both in Estonia and abroad. Maide graduated in 2020 with a degree in graphics at the Estonian Academy of Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts (BA) and is currently studying scenography (MA). In addition, she has studied at the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theater at DAMU in Prague. Riin has received the Edmund Valtman and the Eduard Wiiralt scholarships, as well as the EKA Young Artist Award in 2020 and the title of Newcomer in Graphics in 2022.

Artist would like to thank:
Estonian Cultural Endowment,
Estonian Academy of Arts, specially Department of Scenography,
Christo and even more Cristo
Friends who help make things happen and of course Tallinn Art Hall

The exhibition is open:
27.04-30.04.2023
14:00 – 19:00
Tallinn Art Hall Gallery
6 Vabaduse Square, Tallinn

The display is part of a series of art events “Porno” taking place at the Tallinn Art Hall Gallery.

Additional information on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ornokevad

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p.o.r.n.o_k.e.v.a.d/

riin.maide@artun.ee
+372 5343 7533

Benjamin Moua is a NYC-based designer and creative making his return to EKA on April 25th, 2023 to share his insights on the current state, and future, of product design highlighted by topics in innovation, artificial intelligence, streamlined 3-D manufacturing, the global economy, sustainability, and consumer demand.