Design Open Lecture: Triin Tint

11.11
Triin Tint – “Stitch by stitch – a journey from EKA to the H&M knitting design team (and who knows where to go)”

Triin Tint is a designer with a background at EKA and Aalto University, whose niche is knitwear. The designer, who has long been interested in conceptual (fashion) art and telling stories through clothes, ironically has been working for the last few years in one of the biggest fashion brands in Stockholm.

In the lecture on 11.11, Triin will talk about his own journey and its development.

The lecture will be held in English

On 9 December at 14:00 Hasso Krull will defend his thesis “Cosmic Trickster in Estonian Mythology” (“Kosmiline trikster eesti mütoloogias”).

The public defence will be held in EKA (Põhja pst 7), room A501.
The defence will be broadcast on EKA TV.
The defence is in Estonian.

Supervisors: Prof. Virve Sarapik, (Estonian Academy of Arts), Dr. Margus Ott (Estonian University of Life Sciences)
External reviewers: Prof. Ülo Valk (University of Tartu), Dr. Jaan Undusk (Member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, Under and Tuglas Literature Centre)
Opponents: Prof. Ülo Valk, Dr. Jaan Undusk

An Estonian mythology, does it really exist? Yes, but only on one condition: it exists, if the Estonian landscape equally exists. Cosmic trickster is the creator of the Estonian landscape. Therefore, the Estonian landscape is a mythical landscape, appearing and becoming visible to us after we have acquired the mythical narrative.

Until today, the Estonian mythology has been described either following a taxonomic or a concentric model. Neither of them should be underestimated. I propose a new concentric model focusing on the cosmic trickster. He often acts as one pole of a creator pair.

Trickster was already active in a primordial creation time, when everything was still in flux and even the stones were soft. Landscape carries many visual signes of his activity: rocks and stones, sources, rivers and lakes, mountains and valleys. This landscape is different from the modern landscape, that is dominated by a homogenuous space without any mythical dimension.

The treatise is divided into four parts. First part analyzes the concept of the trickster. Second part describes the course of mythologial studies in the 19th Century. Third part explores the creation myth, where the central protagonist is the trickster. Fourth part observes the return of the trickster in literature. Finally there is an exodus, outlining a project of a mythical ecology.

The thesis is available HERE.

Defence Committee: Prof. Andres Kurg, Dr. Anu Allas, Prof. Krista Kodres, Dr. Anneli Randla, Prof. Hilkka Hiiop, Prof. Aigi Rahi-Tamm, Prof. Eneken Laanes

Karolin Tampere: Curiosity led learning through curating, collaboration and care

Karolin Tampere will show and tell from her ongoing PhD research project Down in the Bog – Thinking with Peatlands. A project led by an ambition to create cross-pollinating meeting grounds for art, natural science, environmental issues and the public. The three chapters project emphasizes the sharing and embodying of knowledge and awareness to create attention towards the need for increased care for peatland areas, locally, nationally and internationally. Practically and conceptually, the topic of peatlands act as a guiding map and compass to learn about historical, cultural and contemporary and geopolitical changes in the environments in Sápmi / Northern Norway, Estonia and selected places internationally.

Throughout the two group exhibitions Down in the Bog: Hibernation (Tromsø Art Center) and Down in the Bog – Sporulation (EKKM, Tallinn) followed by Thinking with Peatlands symposium, artists, natural scientists, environmental activists, NGOs and the public have lent the ecosystem of peatlands as a prism for sharing, learning and collaboration. Together we have dived deep into the bog, listened, smelled, touched it and learnt from it.

Karolin Tampere is an artist and curator currently a PhD Research fellow in Curatorial practice at Tromsø Art Academy, UiT and KMD, Faculty of Fine Art, Bergen, Norway. She has a particular interest in collaborative, cross disciplinary, long term socially engaged art practices, sound, music and listening. Karolin´s curatorial practice has dealt with a wide range of topics fueled by her interests, including gentrification, city development, art in public space, rights of nature, socially engaged art and ecology and the other-than-human.

Since 2004 she has regularly contributed to the “forever lasting” art project Sørfinnset skole/the nord land initiated by artists Geir Tore Holm and Søssa Jørgensen. Together with Åse Løvgren their ongoing collaboration Rakett was initiated in 2003. In 2013 and partly 2014 she was serving as director of Konsthall C in Stockholm and collaboratively transformed the directorship of the institution into a collective named the Work Group/Arbetslaget. In 2017-2022 she served as curator at North Norwegian Art Centre, realizing context specific projects with artists across the whole region of Northern Norway. She co-curated Lofoten Sound Art Symposium (with Svein Ingvoll Pedersen) and LIAF2019 Lofoten International Art Festival (with Hilde Mehti, Torill Østby Håland and Neal Cahoon). Since 2011 she is part of ENSAYOS – a collective research practice that has developed distinct inquiries into extinction, human geography, and coastal and peatland health. The mission of Ensayos is to do eco-cultural conservation work in Tierra del Fuego and other archipelagos through collaborative art, science and community projects in partnership with existing decolonial, ecological, and cultural conservation initiatives. In 2022 ENSAYOS presented «The Gift» as part of «TURBA TOL HOL HOL TOL» – The Chilean Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale.

«Contemporary Art and Context» is a lecture series hosted by MA Contemporary Art.

The lecture will be held in English, everyone is welcome to join! 

The Open Lecture series of the EKA Faculty of Architecture will take place in the autumn of 2024 under the general title S*cial – Values in the built realm.

The lecturers will focus on the ongoing shift in planning practice, where considerations other than pure economic viability increasingly play a role in decision-making.

On November 28 Petra Marko will hold the lecture “Meanwhile City – The power of temporary interventions in long-term change”.

Petra Marko is an architect and placemaking expert dedicated to creating people-centric cities and public spaces. She serves as Chief executive of the Metropolitan Institute of Bratislava, driving strategic architecture, urban planning and participatory placemaking initiatives to enhance quality of life. She’s known for leading Marko&Placemakers, an urban design practice in London and campaigning to unlock London’s small sites. An advocate for greener cities and active travel, Petra has co-authored VeloCity and Meanwhile City – a best practice and how-to guide for temporary interventions.

Mattias Malk, curator of the autumn lecture series, PhD student and visiting lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture, describes the main theme of the lecture series as follows:

Inclusion, the valorisation of social space and the changing role of architects, especially in the public sector, are gaining ground in Europe’s spatial development, but things are still moving slowly in Estonia. So far, our economic growth has been based on environmental degradation and, despite rigid market-driven planning, we are among the weakest in the EU in resource use. However, the foundations of a smarter spatial policy, which is more profitable than profit, are still undefined and untested. 

One of the aims of the lecture series is to define and rehabilitate the word ‘social’ in Estonian spatial policy, including the social responsibility mentioned in the new planned public procurement. All the invited lecturers deal with the issues of space and sociality in their daily work and will share their experiences of the changing role of architects through examples. 

The lectures are intended for all disciplines, not only for students and professionals in the field of architecture. All lectures are in English and free of charge.

Within the framework of a series of open lectures, the Faculty of Architecture of EKA presents a dozen unique practitioners and valued theorists in the field in Tallinn every academic year. See all the lectures: www.avatudloengud.ee

The lecture series is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

New Media 30

EKA New Media department is celebrating 30th anniversary during the EKA 110 event. Our program includes a series of talks on media art, presentations of alumni work, a student exhibition and an evening for video games.

Birthday week program:

4.11
18:00 New Media 30: Paul Galloway (US) – Video Games at MoMA (Paul Galloway will be joining us from New York city via screen. In English, Main hall A-101)

5.11
18:00 New Media 30: Ava Imogen Grayson (CA/FI) & John Grzinich (US/EE) – Discussing Sound Art (Ava will be joining us from Helsinki via screen. In English, B-305)
19:15 New Media 30: Jaime Lobato (MX/EE) – The right to forget. Artificial intelligences humanly inspired in contemporary art (Jaime will be joining us from Mexico via screen. In English, B-305)

7.11
18:00 New Media 30: Raivo Kelomees – Metamorphoses in Media Art (In Estonian, Main hall A-101)
15:00 – 21:00 New Media 30: Video Art Screening Program (Works by graduates and students of the Department: Mari-Liis Rebane, Katrin Enni, Evi Pärn, Lauri Lest, Tõnis Jürgens, Sten Saarits, Taavi Suisalu, Martin Rästa and others) (B308)

8.11
15:00 – 22:00 New Media 30: Video Art Screening Program (Works by graduates and students of the Department: Mari-Liis Rebane, Katrin Enni, Evi Pärn, Lauri Lest, Tõnis Jürgens, Sten Saarits, Taavi Suisalu, Martin Rästa and others) (B308)
18:00 Opening of the exhibition “Lifetime of a Building” (Kotzebue 10 + Kotzebue street)
19:00 – 23:00 New Media 30: LVLup Video Games Chill Out Lounge (B307)

Exhibition of small-edition books dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the EKA graphic art print studio. 

In 1924, a printing workshop  was opened at the Tallinn Industrial Art School, where Leopold Triumph took up his post as master. Two years earlier (1922), a printmaking department had been established, under the direction of Günther Reindorff until 1943.

For half a century, the face of Estonian book design was shaped by Paul Luhtein, who, after graduating from the Tallinn Industrial Art School in 1930, and after a few years of further training in Leipzig, took up teaching commercial graphics and book design in 1932, a post he held until 1982. Enno Ootsing was then head of the Department and the book studies, with breaks until 2005 (in the meantime, the Department was headed by Aarne Mesikäpp from 1983 to 1988 and Heinz Valk from 1988 to 1989). From 1938 to 1971, typography was taught by the legendary book historian and typographer Hans Treumann. From 2005 to 2023, Aarne Mesikäpp, who taught at the ERKI and the EAA for 55 years, was a master printer and typography lecturer. In the field of book illustration, Vive Tolli, who taught from 1982 to 2005, was a major influence. Urmas Viik, head of the department from 2005 to 2015, gave priority to book illustration.

During the Soviet period, students studied for six years, specializing in either book designer, book illustrator, commercial artist (tarbegraafika), poster designer or printmaker in the third year, with book designer and illustrator being particularly sought after (competitive) The department had its own printing house, but all copies were invoiced and passed through the Glavlit (Glavnaya literatura, in Russian more precisely Главное управление по охране государственного тайн в печати) or censorship. Every evening the master sealed the door of the printing house. 

The division into departments began to disappear in the department in the late 1980s. With today’s curriculum and volumes, the focus of the graphics department is on contemporary art and graphic techniques, but letterpress printing is still popular, and typography and the basics of graphic design are taught. Since 2006, an artists’ book course has been taught by Eve Kask. The binding was taught for many years by Lennart Mänd, from 2023 by Eve Kaaret. With few exceptions, the artist’s books will be produced in one-off editions and in author’s binding based on the idea of the whole. 

This selection of small-edition publications includes examples from the years 1946-2004. The books were produced in the department’s printing house, mostly as coursework or theses by students. There are also group works. There are some books designed by tutors (P. Luhtein, E. Okas, H. Treuman, A. Mesikäpp). Among the teaching works there are works by later prominent artists such as Anu Kalm, Silvi Liiva, Naima Neidre, Enno Ootsing, Urmas Ploomipuu, Andres Tali, Marje Üksine and others.

The book editions in the exhibition range from five to fifty (125 in one case and 300 in another, in most cases between 15 and 25). The student has chosen the literature work, made type-setting, designed and illustrated it himself. In most cases, the illustrations are also printed by the author. The printing techniques used for the illustrations include relief printing (linocut and woodcut), intaglio printing (ofort, aquatint) and lithography. Since the 1950s, the edition has been printed by Mihkel Enn, a master printer, and bound by Elsa Oolma, a typesetter (or a letterpress master), who also taught hand-lettering to students and helped prepare the type-setting for printing. 

The selection was made by Marju Vahter, Head Specialist of the Library, Karin Oolu, Head of the Library, and complemented by Professor Liina Siib, Head of the Graphic Arts Department, and Associate Professor Eve Kask. Exhibition graphics is done by Markus Laanisto.

Text by Eve Kask

Graduated from the Department of Graphic Arts by the degree of Book Design, ERKI, 1984. 

The last student of Paul Luhtein and the first student of Vive Tolli 

The Sensorial Design group is hosting an event focused on design approaches centered around sensory experiences, addressing themes such as care, well-being, public engagement, and non-sexual intimacy. The event will begin with an open lecture on somatic well-being for individuals with chronic gut diseases by Dila Demir, followed by four Pecha Kucha presentations by sensorial design researchers Nesli Hazal Oktay, Azeem Hamid, Zaur Babayev, and Kristi Kuusk. Join us for an engaging exploration of sensory-driven design practices and insights.

Date: 

November 11

Time: 

16.00–17.50

Location: 

Estonian Academy of Arts, Room: A-101

Registration Link: 

https://forms.gle/HpxPEHL4x8Dz8FkY9

The workshop seeks to break this taboo by reconnecting poop with nature and fostering multi-sensory engagements with biomaterials to explore more-than-human connections.

November 9 – workshop only for people with chronic gut diseases

November 23 – workshop open to everyone

11.00–13.30

Registration Link

On Thursday, November 7th at 19:30-21:00 in EKA main hall A101, as part of the EKA 110 Birthday Week, we will showcase a selection of the best animated films created at the Academy over the past decade. 

Several of the filmmakers are now lecturers in the EKA animation department, making this a rare opportunity to see their student films. Come take a look!