EKA Museum presents: Nature and Abstraction

Nature and Abstraction
Designs for Monumental Paintings from the 1970–1980s

Monumental painting emerged as a significant medium in Estonian art during the 1960s. However, formal instruction in this area gained momentum at the art academy over the subsequent two decades. During this period, the ideas of several painting students progressed from concept to completion in various materials. Examples include the stained glass works of Urve Dzidzaria and Heli Tuksam, which originated from their diploma projects. The preliminary work of these projects is also displayed at the current exhibition.

While Soviet official art typically featured propagandistic content in works intended for public spaces, neither our professional monumental painting nor the students’ works adhere to this approach. Guided by the enthusiastic mentorship of Dolores Hoffmann, students developed universally human and aesthetic solutions in monumental painting. One noticeable trend is the oscillation between nature-inspired, realistic design creation and the abstract style, where recognisable figures have been lost. This selection presents various personal approaches, ranging from a slightly stylised manner to completely abstract expression. In each case, the artists have carefully considered the future technique of execution, whether it be fresco, sgraffito, mosaic or stained glass.

Several artworks that were removed from the old EKA building on Tartu Road before its demolition have been subsequently reinstalled and showcased in the new academy building. Furthermore, contemporary pieces have been introduced, as instruction in monumental painting continues under the guidance of Heldur Lassi at the Estonian Academy of Arts, albeit on a more modest scale today. Present-day students are not constrained by traditional boundaries – they do employ classical techniques but boldly blend them together as dictated by the content. This exhibition provides viewers with the opportunity to establish conceptual links between different approaches from various periods, prompting them to seek out the completed monumental paintings, both old and new, within the public spaces of the EKA.

The artworks showcased in the exhibition were initially featured at the comprehensive exhibition Invisible Monumental Painting at the EKA Gallery in 2020, offering a vibrant display designed by Kristi Kongi.

Reeli Kõiv
curator of the exhibition

Passepartouts: Kristi Kongi
Graphic design: Pärtel Eelmere

Performance “What if there is no place called home” by Melina Unterhauser in Keskpuur on 20th of April from 12.00 to 15.30.

“This I will only tell myself in confidence because it comes from a little part where I don’t go often and there is still a place for you. Come and sit next to my kitchen to hear a story of our past. Follow the unheard story of my grandfather.”

The performance takes place at Keskpuur activating the installation of Inessa Saarits and Liisa-Lota Jõeleht. Melina Unterhauser transforms the installation by inviting audience to have a homemade meal together, the performance explores and questions the overlapping and contradictions of the culture heritage in different countries. Where are the intersections and what isolate us from each other? How to live as a nomad in a new country with a different cultural background?

Unterhauser is interested in involvements of the individuals and groups in society, specifically  in rituals, social movements and political systems. For that she works mostly in installation and performance to combine haptic materials with body movement.

Melina Unterhauser is a German artist based in Karlsruhe and Tallinn. She is currently studying in the installation and sculpture department at the Estonia Academy of Arts for an exchange semester. In Germany she is a student of Ulla von Brandenburg in the Fine Arts Academy of Karlsruhe. She has participated in several group exhibitions in Germany and Italy.

12:00-14:30 Sound installation and preparation of the meal
15:00 Eating together

Maria Erikson‘s solo exhibition Hazy Gardens opens in GÜ gallery at 5pm on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Exhibition is open until May 3, 2024.

You will find me if you want me in the garden.
Unless it’s pouring down with rain.(Einstürzende Neubauten, The Garden. Album Ende Neu, 1996.)

Trees stand for growth and life but also for stability and roots. People spend time amongst the trees to seek knowledge and integrity because this is where the spiritual and mundane are intertwined. I visit the trees to ask for advice or tell them about my grief.
(M. E.)

Hazy Gardens premises on an allegorical ambiguity of a garden as an archetypal image of the soul and happiness. A garden represents a spiritual headspace but also a physical space where to seek sanctuary and beauty. While it is an attempt to create nature in a constrained form, it can also be seen as an extension of a domestic space. It is a dimension that is purposefully cultivated in a need of comfort, freedom and escape. In a sense, nurturing a garden is nurturing oneself. It is an embodiment of human desire to care for and be cared for. The neglected, once lush garden becomes a symbol of decay and of a tenacious nature that eventually takes over the habitat.

With similar attentiveness and sensitivity, as if tending to a garden, gentle gestures are transferred to printing paper though the creative process of the artist, envisioning a dreamy garden space, and simultaneously representing the ephemeral nature of the dream itself. Artist’s attempt to grow and maintain both real and imaginary gardens becomes an allegory of the (human) nature, its permanence and impermanence.

Artist thanks: Association of Estonian Printmakers, Lembe Ruben-Kangur,
Liina Siib, Britta Benno, Kadri Toom, Naomi Nowak, Anna Viola Hallberg, Brynhild Seim, Jim Berggren, Marko Odar, Villem Säre, Mart Saarepuu,
Björkö Konstnod, EKA graafika

Exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

Maria Erikson (1985) lives and works in Tallinn and Oslo. Her body of work is an exploration of personal identity and cultural narrative through the methodology of craft and the process of artmaking, the representation of the body and the ephemeral nature of material itself. With the focus on materiality and materials as sets of relationships, she investigates visible and non-visible relations that are produced by the gestures between them. In new structural arrangements she investigates their jointness and indifferences, bodiliness and ability to inhabit shared space.

Maria Erikson teaches graphic art at the Estonian Academy of Arts and the Oslo National Academy of Arts in Norway, previously also at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki. Erikson holds a MFA degree in printmaking study area from the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki and a master printer certificate as a collaborative lithography printer from Tamarind Institute (NM, USA). Before that, she studied graphic arts in Sweden. Maria Erikson is a recipient of the Eduard Wiiralt grant (2021), The Swedish Printmakers´ Association Scholarship, (2017), Getfotsfonden Foundation Scholarship (2012), Eric Ericson Foundation Fellowship (2012), and has been on two occasions rewarded with Ann-Margret Lindell Grant for Printmaking (2021, 2008, Sweden). In 2023, Erikson was awarded the title of Printmaker of a Year by the Association of Estonian Printmakers.

Recent exhibitions: Perspektiv på trykk, Gallery Norske Grafikere, Norway (2024); Pindadest, piiridest, omaruumidest, The Rapla County Centre for Contemporary Art (2023). Solo exhibitions Soft Touch On The Deckle, The Museum of Lithography, Sweden; Gallery Ratamo, Finland; Gallery Draakon, Tallinn (2023) and Notes from Borderspace, ARS Project Space, Tallinn (2022).

On April 18, at 7:00 p.m., Denisa Štefanigová will open her personal exhibition “Look at the Clouds” at the Tütar gallery. The exhibition is designed by the artist Johannes Luik.

In the opening exhibition, Štefanigová’s recent works are on display, bringing to the viewers hybrid creatures and fantastic animals executed in an expressive-dynamic handwriting. It is an imaginative, dreamlike or subconscious world where creatures that have taken shape within a deeply personal and dynamic creative process have become the artist’s imaginary companions.

According to art historian Katrin Kivimaa, the hybrid imagery of Štefanigová’s works and the painting technique that emphasizes fluidity symbolize a way of seeing and interpreting the world, in which autonomous self-existence and placing the human being higher than the non-human (other living beings, nature) gives way to the ethics of coexistence and interdependence. “The field of meaning of the works connects with the problems of our world today. Reuse of old painting canvases in the creation of new works; the elimination of the boundaries between craft and so-called high art; the merging of human beings and other living beings – all these elements speak of the author’s ecological awareness and social nerve,” writes Kivimaa in the accompanying text of the exhibition.

Denisa Štefanigová (1995) is a Czech artist specializing mainly in painting. The artist graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts with a major in contemporary art and from the Faculty of Fine Arts of Brno University of Technology (FaVU). In 2023, personal exhibitions of Štefanigová took place in Prague gallery SVĚTOVA 1 and EKA Gallery in Tallinn. The artist has participated in group exhibitions at the Kadriorg Art Museum, the Brno Art House, the MO Museum in Vilnius and Hobusepea Gallery in Tallinn.

Denisa Štefanigová’s exhibition at the Tütar gallery will be open until June 2 and is free to the public.
The gallery is located in Noblessner harbor campus at Vesilennuki 24 and is open from Thursday to Friday 13:00-19:00, Saturday to Sunday 14:00-18:00.

Accompanying text of the exhibition: Katrin Kivimaa
Designer: Johannes Luik
Graphic design: Kert Viiart

The exhibition is supported by the Estonian Cultural Foundation, DSV Estonia and the Czech Embassy in Tallinn.

Maria Kapajeva’s solo exhibition “Listen To My Scream, Hear Their Dreams” at Draakon Gallery

Opening on Wednesday, April 17th at 18:00. The exhibition will be open until May 11, 2024.

Maria Kapajeva’s exhibition, “Listen To My Scream, Hear Their Dreams,” is profoundly influenced by Draakon Gallery’s location directly across from the Russian Embassy in Tallinn’s Old Town. Positioned in this manner, Kapajeva aims to foster a more nuanced dialogue regarding the ongoing war in Ukraine, which has led to a continual exposure to harrowing imagery. Consequently, a process of desensitization has transpired, rendering us less able to empathize with the enduring violence faced by real individuals still fighting for their lives in Ukraine. The intricate details, nuances, and personal narratives have been reduced to easily shareable content that briefly crosses our screens before fading into obscurity.

The artworks selected and created for this exhibition stem from the necessity to provide a platform for the personal accounts of those who have fled Ukraine, as well as the artist’s own imperative to express and scrutinize her suppressed anger regarding the ongoing conflict. In this exhibition, there are no images of war; instead, viewers are presented with works that demand time to engage with— to be read, listened to, and truly heard. These artworks compel us to scrutinize the language of the oppressor, where imperialist ambitions lurk behind ostensibly positive rhetoric. We encounter intimate tales of despair and devastation, yet also of hope and compassion. We are invited into a tumult of emotions, ultimately finding catharsis in releasing the anger buried deep within us.

Born in the Soviet Union, raised in independent Estonia, and educated in the UK, Maria Kapajeva has found herself in an involuntary position of ‘the other’. This position, which she has embraced and incorporated as a cornerstone of her artistic practice, propels her to investigate a diverse spectrum of cultural identity and gender issues within historical and contemporary contexts. Utilizing various mediums—including video, photography, textiles, and installations—she brings to the forefront elements that are frequently overlooked or relegated to the periphery of our vision. www.mariakapajeva.com

Designer: Kersti Heile
Installation: Hans-Otto Ojaste and Valge Kuup

The artist expresses her gratitude to Lena, Sasha and the whole their family, Polina Kuznietsova, Alena Kapajeva, Inese Strupule, Kateryna Popkova, Hilda Vaike, Gulya Sultanova, Nastassia, Alia, Elizaveta Klepikova, Aditi S Sharma, Jacobina de Rivera, Annika von Hausswolff, Redi Koobak, Irina Andrushko, Aljona Tubaleva, Mari Volens, Valge Kuup and Aksel Haagensen, Kersit Heile, Jake Sheperd and the team of Draakoni gallery

The 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 AS Liviko.

We welcome you at the presentation of the book “History of Estonian Urban Planning 1918–2020” on Thursday, April 25 at 4 p.m. in the lobby of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

The voluminous and richly illustrated book provides an overview of the last hundred years of Estonian urban planning. At that time, cities became the main residences of the population living here, and rapid urbanization made it necessary to start systematically planning cities. During the politically volatile century, land ownership and land use, the organization and financing of urban construction were shaped several times, the principles of urban construction as well as the role of the architect-planner changed.

The authors of the book deal with these changes primarily in an architectural-historical, but also in a broader cultural framework, presenting the plans that were realized as well as those left on paper, the ideas that shaped them, and the social and economic factors. Housing construction, i.e. the need to provide decent housing for an ever-increasing population, and post-war reconstruction, which was supposed to make cities better than ever, stand out as the most important topics. The book helps to understand the reasons for urban planning changes that have shaped Estonian cities in the past century into what we know them as today.

The book was compiled by Epp Lankots and Triin Ojari. Authors: Mart Kalm, Karin Hallas-Murula, Lilian Hansar, Henry Kuningas, Epp Lankots, Madis Tuuder, Triin Ojari, Riin Alatalu, Kaja Pae, Toomas Tammis, Keiti Kljavin, Maroš Krivý, Kaija-Luisa Kurik. The book was designed by Andres Tali.

Publisher: Estonian Academy of Arts
Supporters: Estonian Cultural Capital, Ministry of Education and Research, Estonian Language Institute, Estonian Association of Art Scientists and Curators, Estonian Architecture Museum, Estonian Science Agency (research grant no. PSG530).

At the presentation, the book can be purchased at a discounted price of 35 EUR.

Pille-Riin Valk’s new work “Scent of Moments” will be installed on the facade of the Estonian Academy of Arts. You are invited to the opening of the work on Thursday, April 18 at 6 pm on Kotzebue Street.

The author has described her work as follows: “My goal is to create a feeling of warmth, sincerity, freshness and modernity at the same time, to offer the joy of recognition and to give an opportunity to feel nostalgic. The new work is inspired by details that I have noticed and drawn from the environment around me and interpreted into my own language. The work focuses on holding each other and the rhythm of being.”

Pille Riin Valk is a graphic designer and artist working in Tallinn. Since 2020, she is studying at the graphic design department of the Estonian Academy of Arts. In addition, she has studied integrated art, music and multimedia at the Baltic Film and Media School and furthered her education at the School of Media Art and Design (ESMAD) in Portugal. Pille-Riin Valk is interested in nature, self-generated details and patterns, which she commonly turns into something digital first, after which she turns it into a physical object. Since 2021, Pille-Riin Valk has created several designs for contemporary art exhibitions. She has participated in art exhibitions since 2022, and in 2023 she did an internship at WWW stuudio.

Opening drinks from Punch Club.

The Open Lecture series of the EKA Faculty of Architecture will take place in the spring of 2024 under the general title Unlearning.

The lecture series aims to engage with values, imaginaries and systems of knowledge that shape the contemporary fields of architecture and urbanism. Unlearning is coordinated by Maroš Krivý, professor of Urban Studies.

According to Gayatri Spivak, for example, unlearning concerns not only what is said, but also what is not said as part of an ideological formation. There is now a broad push to transform design from a practice subservient to elite interests to a comprehensive, interdisciplinary practice capable of responding to a range of social and environmental urgencies. As part of this transformation, the four lectures engage with existing architectural imaginaries while proposing alternative ones.

On April 18, Henriette Steiner will present in the EKA hall a lecture “Before Copenhagen was “Livable”: Postmodernist Urban Development in a Time of Economic Downturn”

Henriette introduces her lecture: “Despite its limited appearances, stylistic and planning oddities, poor building quality, and current pariah status in terms of building heritage, Copenhagen’s postmodern architecture is an intrinsic part of Danish welfare architecture. With this talk, I wish to show that Copenhagen’s postmodernist development has been criticized largely for the wrong reasons, and that the period can offer alternative visions. I do this to give us a more differentiated understanding of the architecture that emerged at the turning point when Copenhagen went from being deprived and anonymous to become the image of a prosperous yet livable urban center we know today.”

Henriette Steiner is Associate Professor and Head of Section at the University of Copenhagen. She holds a PhD in history and philosophy of architecture (University of Cambridge) and works on diversity and justice in architecture and urban history often through feminist writing collectives. Recent books include Tower to Tower (with Kristin Veel, MIT Press, 2020), Touch in the Time of Corona (with Kristin Veel, De Gruyter, 2021) and Untold Stories (with Jannie Bendsen and Svava Riesto, Strandberg Publishing, 2023).

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

 All lectures are held on Thursdays at 6 pm in the EKA main auditorium. All lectures are in English and free of charge.

Schedule of the spring lectures:

March 14 at 6 pm Jess Myers

April 4 at 6 pm Oulimata Gueye

April 18 at 6 pm Henriette Steiner

May 2 at 6 pm Lara Almárcegui

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.

In April, the public lectures of the Venia legend of the candidates for the 2024 academic staff competition will begin.

NB! The password for the videos is Faw1!.ec

April 15 in room A-501

Associate professor of Glass Design, head of BA specialty, head of department (1.0 positions)
at 11:30 Andra Jõgi lecture “Half empty & fully full”

Associate professor of theory and history of Product Design (0.75 positions)
at 12.30 Triin Jerlei lecture “Shared and personal (time) stories in design”
April 29 in room A-501

Associate Professor of the Department of Animation (1.0 positions)
at 13.30 p.m. Lilli-Krõõt Repnau lecture “We tell ourselves stories in order to live…”
April 29 in room A-501

Professor of Textile Design (1.0 positions)
at 3 p.m. Kärt Ojavee lecture “Textiles in interludes”
April 30 in room A-501

Associate Professor of Graphic Design (0.5 positions)
at 11 Kert Viiart lecture “Research in graphic design education and practice”

Associate professor of Fashion Design (0.5 positions)

at 12 Anu Samarüütel-Long lecture “Without or with thought, in silence or in noise. The path of creation”

May 3 in room A-501

Associate Professor of Interaction Design (0.75 positions)

at 10:30 Nesli Hazal Oktay lecture “Interaction Design of Our Future(s)”

at 11.30 Emrecan Gülay lecture “Empowering Human Creativity: Bridging the Physical and Digital Worlds in Interaction Design and Education”

at 12.30 Velvet Spors lecture “Inter-Personal, Inter-Connected, Inter-Faced: Exploring Technology as a Tool for Relationality”

Lectures for candidates for the Associate Professor of Interaction Design are in English

You are all welcome to listen!