KVI research seminar: Rahul Sharma “POST-CINEMA IN GALLERY SPACES: FILMS OF AMIT DUTTA”

Rahul Sharma is currently working as a junior-researcher doctoral student in the Department of Art History and Visual Culture at Estonian Academy of Arts. His research is focused on identities in film, migration as well as gallery films. The seminar is a presentation of certain key aspects derived from his upcoming book titled The Phantasmagorical and Ethnographic World of Amit Dutta.

Amit Dutta (b. 1977) is one of the most significant contemporary practitioners of avant-garde Indian cinema. Over the course of his oeuvre, he has created a large body of cinematic works, which number over sixty. With an inherent non-narrative structure, Several of Dutta’s films arguably fall under the category of gallery films and post-cinema. This seminar will begin by looking at the concepts of post-cinema and what has been broadly described as “gallery films” (Fowler, 2004), “new cinematic aesthetic in video” (Iles, 2003) or “cinema of the exhibition” (Royoux, 2000). In particular, it will analyse how Dutta’s cinematic works re-define the contemporary gallery space through his practices. His films such as Chitrashala (2015) and A Game of Shifting Mirrors (2021) look at gallery spaces in different ways. While Chitrashala lingers onto a spectatorless gallery space only to then let loose its depiction of pahari miniatures with animated techniques, Games of Shifting Mirrors (2021) questions the role of the gallery and brings to light the displacement of art over the time-space continuum. The seminar will also briefly discuss his four part 240-minute art-installation cum cinema project Finished/Unfinished (2015). The work circumambulates around the 8th century Shaivite Masrur complex located in Kangra Valley, Himachal Pradesh, much like an old Buddhist monk lost in a religious trance. The work lets the viewers engage in a thorough 360-degree survey of the complex: part-by-part, following each detail as it circumambulates the temple from the forest paths and roads up until the sacred womb.
Dutta’s film Nainsukh (2010), which was named as the Top 30 best-biopics ever made by the New Yorker, will also be a key focal point of the discussion, in how it enlivened recreations of miniature pahari paintings, endemic to the region of Himachal Pradesh in India. Dutta’s employment of the tableaux-vivant style as well as painterly approaches to cinematic techniques will be discussed.
The seminar will look at certain aspects of the aforementioned works in close detail.
Several of Dutta’s films are available online through paid-Vimeo services, while Nainsukh can be viewed for free on Museum Rietberg’s website.

14th October at 17:30 in the room A-501 Klara Kemp-Welch will give an open lecture Free Movement? Tracking Migration and Mobility in Eastern Europe since the early 2000s

Klara Kemp-Welch is Reader in 20th Century Modernism at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. She works on modern and contemporary art from Eastern Europe. She was educated at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies and University College London and is the author of Antipolitics in Central European Art. Reticence as Dissidence under Post-Totalitarian Rule 1956-1989 (IB Tauris, 2014), Networking the Bloc. Experimental Art in Eastern Europe 1965-1981 (MIT Press, 2019) and co-editor of A Reader in East-Central European Modernism 1918-1956 with Beata Hock and Jonathan Owen (Courtauld Books Online, 2019). She is currently completing a monograph entitled “Free Movement? Documenting Migration and Mobility in Eastern Europe”.

This lecture introduces her current research project, “Free Movement?”, which is structured around three core themes: labour mobility, displacement, and border politics. With reference to a selection of lens-based case studies, I examine how contemporary artists have represented Eastern European experiences of migration and mobility since the early 2000s.

Lecture will be held in cooperation of Institute of Art History and Visual Culture and  Estonian Doctoral School for Humanities and Arts

Project “Cooperation between universities to promote doctoral studies” (2021-2027.4.04.24-0003) is co-funded by the European Union.

There is a lunchtime opening this Saturday at Vent Space, 05. October 13.30 – 15.30. The exhibition will then be open until 13.10 – by appointment, DM @ventspace.project on instagram or email yvette.bathgate@artun.ee to meet at the space.

“Transmissions” by Caitlyn Holly Main

Caitlyn Holly Main is an interdisplinary artist, working with and between text, drawing, moving image, sculptural artefact and printmaking. She is concerned with care and intimacy, notions of emotional labour, consumption and desire. Her recent work is focused around modes of communication – the physical embodiment or remnants of connection.

Expect things like… Mating dances & traffic signals. A medium translating words and sentences and histories from a distant spirit and a Whatsapp message that reads ‘omg NO way!!!!’. A post-it with a lopsided smiling face, echolocations, an act of transcribing, and a sign held above a head during a protest. An enthusiastic gesture, my friends hands point and turn and twist, & the movements punctuate the story that they’re telling me.
Morse code, smoke signals, a phone number written on a napkin with a lipstick kiss. People like echos because they want to hear a familiar voice rippling back to them from the void or the cavern or the tunnel. A lighthouse, a radio antenna, first words and ironic slogan t-shirts. Clicking fingers, waving through the window of a moving vehicle. A kiss blown, a salute, a postcard pinned to the fridge.

Vent Space project space

6/8 Vabaduse Square, Tallinn

Vent Space is an experimental project space of EKA, which offers EKA students a public exhibition space and collaboration opportunities. Many students have had their first solo exhibition at Vent Space, as well as numerous group exhibitions, discussion groups, workshops, concerts and other events.
The international team brings together different disciplines, media, practices and skills, encouraging collaboration, spontaneity, courage and experimentation. 

FB:

https://www.facebook.com/ventspace.project

The exhibition “What happened to all the water in Venus” by Iohan Figueroa, opens at Uus Rada Gallerii (Raja 11a) At 17:00 Hrs
on 05.10.2024, The exhibition will remain open from Wednesdays to Saturdays,
from 13:00 to 19:00 until 19.10.2024

Liquid ideas that disappear fast,
slipping through the gaps of gaze,
almost impossible to grasp,
escaping in between my hands like drops of rain on a surface of glass.
They come and go, leaving behind a sensation —evaporating—
as if my mind has been drenched in something vast and unknowable.
Fluids dripping, never landing, never settling into a form,
always in motion, elusive, impossible to hold on.
The reflection reveals a distorted image, a dissolving glimpse,

reality is a blur, the lines between what is real and imagined
Always fade into a haze.
I stand in the unseen room of this and that but never fully one or the other, never
complete, never completely understood.
Nothing is solid. Everything is in constant change, a perpetual state of circularity.
Moments loop back on themselves, thoughts spiral – I lose track of beginnings and
ends.
I choose the softness of being, I am fluid, like the ideas slipping through my fingers,
like the water that shapes itself to whatever it finds.
What would be left if everything were fixed,
if every thought, every feeling, were permanent?

Iohan Figueroa 1989
Oaxaca, Mexico

Iohan Figueroa is a multidisciplinary artist from Oaxaca, Mexico, they seamlessly integrate sculpture, movement, and environmental elements into their practice. Drawing inspiration from the natural world and its wildlife, they explore the profound connections and interactions between nature and humanity. Utilizing tactile memories as a creative conduit, Figueroa translates these sensory experiences into tangible materials, viewing the body as both canvas and instrument for artistic expression. Their work reflects a deep engagement with the environment, capturing the essence of nature and its relationship with the world at large. Their research focuses on socio-spatial relations, recognizing the ephemeral nature of movement and seeking to preserve it through various means. This exploration reflects a profound understanding of the dynamic interplay between the body, space, gender and society.

Text: Iohan Figueroa, Keithy Kuuspu
Advisor: Keithy Kuuspu
Graphic Design: Seppe-Hazel Laeremans
Exhibitions is supported by: Eka Craft Studies

Wednesday, October 9 th 2024, at 5 pm

Restart. Transformations in Modern Housing Estates

Seminar and exhibition opening

Estonian Academy of Arts, Põhja pst 7, Tallinn

What are the opportunities and challenges for the renewal of post-WWII housing estates? What has been the shift from collective to total private ownership? Young practitioners from across Europe will look at the innovative housing estates of the past from today’s perspective, revealing their architectural background, current uses and the personal stories behind the facades.

Speakers include Elspeth Lee (Superposition), Rajna Avramova, Hedwig van der Linden and Kevin Westerveld (Dérive), Ena Kukić and Dinko Jelečević (E+D) and the Spolka collective. Students from the Faculty of Architecture of the Estonian Academy of Arts present their renovation ideas using the example of typical khrushchevkas in Narva.

The event is organised by the Museum of Estonian Architecture and Architectuul in collaboration with the Estonian Academy of Arts under the European Architecture Platform LINA programme.

The seminar will be accompanied by the presentation of a book on the same topic, edited by Christian Burkhard and Triin Ojari and designed by Indrek Sirkel.
The seminar will be followed by an exhibition opening, designed by Indrek Sirkel and Diana Drobot.

The exhibition will run until October 20, 2024.

The opening of the exhibition A Matter of Scale: Tallinn will take place on Friday, October 11 at 18:00 on the staircase of the EKA lobby.

This exhibition presents the results of the TU Delft graduation studio A Matter of Scale – Architecture for the European City: Tallinn, Estonia. Over the course of two semesters, TU Delft students developed projects for Tallinn, based upon a two-fold analysis: contextual analysis on a series of sites along Tallinn’s coastline, and disciplinary analysis, in the form of a precedent study, investigating Tallinn’s architecture. This analysis translates in a strong anchoring of the projects in the local conditions in Tallinn, in several ways: in establishing a relationship with the historical fabric of the medieval town, with industrial heritage, or the residential neighborhoods such as Lasnamäe; in engaging with local materiality and building practices, or with the local political context. Some of the designs can be seen as “counterprojects”, proposing alternatives to ongoing spatial developments.

With the presentation of the results of the studio at the Tallinn Architecture Biennial 2024, we hope to bring new perspectives to the local architectural debate.

Initiative: TU Delft Chair Methods of Analysis & Imagination: Jorge Mejía, Willemijn Wilms Floet, Klaske Havik

EKA celebrates its 110th anniversary with a birthday week. 

From November 4th to 8th exhibition tours, lectures and film screenings will take place. The week will end on Friday with the opening of the EKA’s new building, the White House and a birthday party. Departments’ alumni parties will take place on Friday. 

Monday

15.30 Defense of Ulvi Haagensen’s doctoral thesis | Auditorium A-501

17.30 Curator’s tour and model drawing at the EKA museum exhibition “EKA 110 Clothed and Nude. 110 Years of Figure Studies at the Estonian Academy of Arts” | EKA Gallery

18:00 New Media 30: Laura Schmidt (DE) – ZKM_Gameplay. The Next Level (Paul Galloway will be joining us from New York city via screen. In English) | Main hall A-101

Tuesday

17.30 Curator’s tour and model drawing at the EKA museum exhibition “EKA 110 Clothed and Nude. 110 Years of Figure Studies at the Estonian Academy of Arts” | EKA Gallery

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

Wednesday

16.00 Open Lecture by honorary doctor Linda van Deursen | Main hall A-101

17.30 Curator’s tour and model drawing at the EKA museum exhibition “EKA 110 Clothed and Nude. 110 Years of Figure Studies at the Estonian Academy of Arts” | EKA Gallery

17.30 Awarding of inners of applied research and development work | The Hole

18.00 Open Lecture by honorary doctor Antoine Picon | Main hall A-101

Thursday

17.30 Curator’s tour and model drawing at the EKA museum exhibition “EKA 110 Clothed and Nude. 110 Years of Figure Studies at the Estonian Academy of Arts” | EKA Gallery

19.00 Cinema: The best of by the Animation Department | Main hall A-101

Friday – PARTY!

16.00 Anniversary assembly and conferment ceremony | Main hall A-101

18.00 Departments’ parties for alumni | EKA Main Building

19.00 Opening of the EKA White House | EKA White House

19.30 Musical performers until the end of the party | Both houses:

• 19.30 – EKA Students Queer Association | EKA white house
• 20:00 – DJ Vaatab jooksvalt | EKA main building
• 21.00 – Karameel | EKA white house
• 21.30 – EKA Chamber Choir | EKA main building
• 21.45 – karaoke with Helina Risti | EKA main building
• 22.30 – Motonormal | EKA white house
• 00.00 – Avemaria | EKA white house

20.30 Auction | Main hall A-101

22.00 EKA 110 gift opening

The programme of events will be updated on a rolling basis.

EKA Birthday Week events are free of charge and open to all.  

Events of EKA Departments as part of the EKA 110 Celebration

Monday, November 4th

• 18:00-21:00 – EKA Open Academy Open Lecture: “EKA 110 | How to Collect Art?” (in Estonian)
• 18:00 – EKA New Media 30: Paul Galloway (US) – Video Games at MoMA

Tuesday, November 5th

• 16:30 – EKA Graphic Design + Product Design present: Open Archive of the Design Faculty 1966-1994 (open area on the 2nd floor, A300)
• 17:00 – EKA Graphic Design + Product Design panel discussion: Design Thinking – Establishing Design in Times of Change (EKA lobby)
• 18:00 – EKA New Media 30: Ava Imogen Grayson (CA/FI) & John Grzinich (US/EE) – Discussing Sound Art (room B305)
• 19:15 – EKA New Media 30: Jaime Lobato (MX/EE) – The Right to Forget: Artificial Intelligences in Contemporary Art
• 17:00 – EKA Graphic Art: Exhibition of Nominees for the Edmund Valtman Young Graphic Artist Scholarship (EKA glass gallery)

Thursday, November 7th

• 18:00 – EKA New Media 30: Raivo Kelomees – Metamorphoses of Media Art (room A101)

Friday, November 8th

• 16:00-00:00 – EKA Textile 110: Installation Textile in 110 Squares (room D504)
• 10:00-17:00 – EKA Interaction Design and Animation Departments’ installation Godseed (Kotzebue 10 basement)
• 17:00 – Opening of EKA New Media 30th Anniversary Outdoor Exhibition: Video Installations
• 18:00 – Formal Research Seminar of the Institute of Art History and Visual Culture (room A501)
• 18:00 – EKA Glass Department Book Launch Glass Painting – Painting with Light (room B604)
• 22:00 – EKA Architecture / PAKK – Opening of EKA’s Gift (Kotzebue 2)

Alumni Gatherings on Friday, November 8th

• 17:30 – Ceramic Department Gathering: Viewing of Past Works and Identifying Authors (room B602)
• 17:30 – Fashion Design Alumni and Faculty Gathering, Tour of Workspaces and Works (room D507)
• 18:00 – Formal Research Seminar and Gathering of the Institute of Art History and Visual Culture (room A501)
• 18:00 – Design and Innovation (formerly known as Applied Art) Room Open! Welcoming future and current alumni, instructors, and friends! (room D404)
• 18:00 – Product Design Alumni and Student Gathering and “Cafe” (room C301)
• 18:00 – Interaction Design Alumni and Student Party (room D306)
• 18:00 – Textile Design Alumni and Student Reunion (room D505)
• 18:00 – Photography Department Gathering at Maitselabor. Opportunity to tour department spaces and studios. Wide Angle Gallery Exhibition (room B407)
• 18:00 – Faculty of Architecture Introduction and Social Space (room A400)
• 18:00 – Glass Department Book Launch, Formal Gathering, and Studio Tour (room B604)
• 18:00 – Accessory and Bookbinding Department open! Welcoming future and current alumni, instructors, and friends. Showcasing the accessory and bookbinding studio; recent student work exhibited in the glass display at the entrance. Leather drink bar by accessory artisans! (rooms B510 and B511)
• 18:00 – Jewellery and Blacksmithing Department open! Tour of department spaces and workshops (room B504)
• 18:00 – The Department of Heritage Protection and Conservation invites its alumni and friends to the sculpture conservation studio (room D308)

Art historian and curator Kai Lobjakas will give an open lecture, “Was there design in Eastern Europe? Retrotopia Case,” on Tuesday, 24 September, at 16:00 in room A501. In her lecture, she will discuss the research and exhibition project “Retrotopia. Design for Socialist Spaces” (2023).

“Retrotopia. Design for Socialist Spaces” was a project that led to a comprehensive exhibition during the summer of 2023 in Berlin at the Kunstgewerbemuseum, initiated by Claudia Banz. The aim was to search for the traces of the almost unknown visions, design practices and contexts both for the public and private spehre of the former Soviet bloc and Yugoslavia in order to add a layer to the prevailing Western perspective in design history and research.

The Design Open Lecture series 2024 is part of Sandra Nuut and Ruth-Helene Melioranski’s Design Issues course. It is public and open to all.

Kai Lobjakas is an art historian and curator, from 2014 head of the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design (ETDM). Her focus of interest lay both in the post-war and contemporary applied art and design practices, especially the intersections of these fields. Besides building the design collection at the museum, she has compiled and edited catalogues with a focus on Estonian design phenomena, including the Between Art and Industry. Art Products’ Factory in Tallinn (2013), Local Beauty. Tarbeklaas (2016). She has initiated and curated exhibitions, such as Design as Experiment. Tõnis Käo (2014), Kitchen. Changing Space, Design and Applied Art in Estonia (2016). A permanent exhibition of Estonian design curated by her was opened at ETDM in 2022. She was the chair of ICOM ICDAD, the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Decorative Arts and Design during 2019-2022 and is chairing the national committee ICOM Estonia.

28.09.–20.10.2024

Dear colleague,

I am Marta Konovalov – designer, researcher, craftivist, mender and a gardener by heart, lecturer and a doctoral student at Estonian Academy of Arts. I act like a forager in my garden. I sow confusion to forage knowledge. The garden is a place for mundane practices and my practice-based research. I see a plot of land the same way I see a hole or a stain in a garment – as an opportunity to add layers and to engage. The survival of us, the gardeners, on this planet relies on our response-ability, resilience, care and adaptability, the ability to rethink the garden and our relationships with the garden. 

I invite you to the periphery and to my garden at Viljandimaa. With the aim to investigate, entangle, respond, slow down, decompose patterns, regenerate, repair and shift the aesthetics. I will exhibit my practice of textile repair and the research artefacts.

28th of September from 14–18 the opening, walkabout with soilshifter Markus Pau, co-creating and delivering findings to textile design

3rd and 5th of October from 14–18 exhibiting the research artefacts in dialogue with Viljandi Heritage Festival

13th of October from 12–18 exhibiting the research artefacts and the possibility to attend a textile repair workshop

20th of October from 14–17 exhibiting the research artefacts, walkabout with artist Jane Remm and the possibility to attend a textile repair workshop

We will meet at Saarde talu, Veisjärve küla, Viljandimaa
58,0815866, 25,7876976

Attending the events is for free.

Please let us know when you wish attend:

https://forms.gle/kSHitYeaa8v3FDHC8

FB: https://fb.me/e/2im0227Fl

https://www.artun.ee/et/kalender/disainer-edasihoidlik-aednik-marta-konovalov/

https://www.instagram.com/repair_and_regeneration/

This exhibition is part of the project PR02049 ”Artists and designers as researchers, rethinkers and partners of nature in the context of degrowth”  funded by Estonian Ministry of Culture, where we, together with artist Jane Remm, develop creative research methods with the aim to engage with nature.

The Viljandi Heritage Festival introduces the phenomena of intangible cultural heritage and opens various perspectives of folk culture knowledge that help find economical solutions to economic and environmental problems; shares tips on how to bring changes to your own life and of course also brings various entertainment.

https://sisu.ut.ee/parandusfestival2024/?lang=en

See you soon,

Marta