Conference: Rethinking Cultures of Environmentalism in Eastern and Northern Europe

Dear cooperation partner, colleague, and community member!

We would like to invite you to the opening of the floating smoke sauna “Püha Viha” (Holy Anger/Holy Whisk) made by the students of Interior Architecture of the Estonian Academy of Arts, the Antsla municipality and the community on Tuesday, September 29 at 14:00 by the Tsooru lake in the Antsla municipality.

A bus leaves for the opening from Tallinn in front of the EKA building (Põhja pst 7) at 09:00 and returns to Tallinn at approximately 19:00.

Please let us know if you are coming or want to come to Antsla by bus ordered by EKA HERE. There are still some vacancies.

Department of Interior Architecture of the Estonian Academy of Arts

Antsla Municipal Government

*

Additional information:

Annamari Nael
Study assistant – project coordinator
annamari.nael@artun.ee
+372 53413970

The exhibition is curated by Mariliis Rebane (EKA New Media, MA) and includes sculptures by Touristes Tristes (Dylan Ray Arnold & Océane Bruel), series of postcards by Leena Kela video works by artists Kristoffer Ala-Ketola, and Mika Taanila and a lecture performance by Subhangi Singh.

Like a Windless Cloud remains open until September 4.

The exhibition forms a constellation in which artworks interlace through their shared reflections on the accumulation of time. The curator of the exhibition was interested in searching for possibilities while also acknowledging difficulties associated with emptiness, lingering, and putting up one’s feet. In the company of the artworks, she wanted to welcome rest, slowing down, and taking it easy, as well as watching clouds pass over a clear blue sky. Along the way, came up an inability or unwillingness to succeed in this, but also other expectations related to the fast pace of contemporary life.

On Friday, August 11 a lecture performance titled Rest/Unrest: Notes on Loitering was held by Shubhangi Singh.

As part of the exhibition, a column by journalist Anton Vanha-Majamaa is translated into English and Estonian.

On Friday, September 1, starting at 12:00, the opening ceremony of the 2023/24 academic year will be held. The ceremony lasts approximately 1.5 hours.

On Tuesday, 29th of August at 11.00 the peer review event of Jane Remm exhibition titled “Letters to My Neighbours. What Is It Like to Be a Door Snail?” will take place at Vaal Gallery (Telliskivi 60A/5, Tallinn).

Reviewers: Prof. Timo Maran, Prof. Linda Kaljundi
Supervisor: Dr. Urve Sinijärv

Peer review event is in Estonian.

The exhibition will remain open until 2nd of September, Tue–Fri 12–6 pm, Sat 12–4 pm.

More information

On 18 August at 7 p.m., the group exhibition “To mold, To hold. Currents in Estonian ceramics” will open at the ARS project space in Tallinn.

amicably and unapologetically sharing space
(so much has been shattered into pieces
it’s nowhere to be found – a shame)
youthful
youthful crocheters interact with the mountain
in big 3D light
in the light of the dome
friendly and equitable
in fact, they are a family
delicate sensitive fingers see the bonds
the gaze connects the distant and the remote in the present day
storehouse of fired clay wants to be put on the table
along with young relatives
see this table there is no such thing as time here after all
strangely square and rounded meet
angular and smooth
the crackle and the lava glaze
white and dark black and shining
In the hot kiln the clay bird has made a nest for itself
lays eggs in wondrous shapes or egg-shapes
but more in other shapes
a discreet feminine wave has exploded from the kiln
captures the eye and sets it free again
paper and pencil have watched it all
and the camera has admired it
captured moments are sprinkled on trays
with a delicate and sensitive hand
in the shadows of the twists and turns is the hard heart of the clay bird
that explodes again and again into fragments

On 31 August at 14.00 (EEST) 4th-year Art and Design PhD student Nesli Hazal Oktay will present her third design experiment study titled “Dissolving Distances”. Public peer-review event will take place in the Zoom, please find the link to participate HERE.

Reviewers:
Dr. Oscar Tomico, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands
Dr. Verena Fuchsberger, University of Salzburg, Austria

Supervisors:
Dr. Kristi Kuusk, Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonia
Prof. Danielle Wilde, Umeå University, Sweden and University of Southern Denmark, Denmark

Nesli Hazal Oktay aims to offer embodied intimacy for people who are close by heart but physically apart. Specifically, she explores designing close-to-body experiences at a distance through remote bio-rings, rings made of natural ingredients. Remote bio-rings are highly customizable, can be biodegraded, and start dissolving when exposed to humidity e.g.: water, or sweat. The idea of creating a non-lasting object to be worn on the body—that required care, that was ambiguous and tangible—was a result of her prior user study of cultural probing and embodied design ideation. She further experimented with remote bio-rings by making the ring and wearing it in everyday life together with her father at a distance.

In her third and last peer review event, she showcases a user study with 3 pairs (6 participants) that made remote bio-rings at their homes while self-reported and self-documented their personal experiences. They then further shared their meaning-makings with Nesli through a semi-structured interview. Overall, participants found remote bio-rings to be supporting new understandings about intimacy at a distance. As a result, their perception of “distance” alters slightly or changes completely by i) embarking on a journey, ii) creating time and space to be together, and iii) carrying each other through a tangible object.

Taavet Jansen, Liis Vares „Held in Human“
21.08–13.09.2023, Tue-Sat, at 12.00–18.00
Opening: 21.08, at 18.00
EKA Gallery, Kotzebue 1

Join us for the exhibition “Held in Human” opening on August 21 at 18.00! The exhibition and accompanying events are part of SAAL Biennaal programme.

“Held in Human” is a performative installation where one tiny idea is made to sprout and can be fed with everything that one freshly born should know and experience. This growing idea is safe and warm in the gallery, like in a mother’s womb. The audience can manipulate the concept during its growing period, visit it at EKA Gallery, participate in the tours and virtual ultrasound examinations, and see traces of other people’s interventions.

The authors delve into how meaning is created, and responsibilities are assumed within a transient community, exemplified by a collective art project. The team constructs a metaphorical tunnel, likened to an umbilical cord, bridging the gap between the virtual and the tangible realms. Once the mist of artistic creation clears, this conduit enables everyone, irrespective of their geographic position or connection to ‘reality,’ to interact and connect with each other.

“You enter the exhibition hall like a body cave; the actions only express treachery. One and all-determining meaning is sought in the entrails.” – Ene Mihkelson

Events:
21.08, at 18.00 – exhibition opening
24.08, at 18.00 – exhibition tour
25.08, at 22.00 – Liisbeth Kala, Germo Toonikus “Making Sense”
30.08, at 16.00 – “Bodystorming”

Language is not a problem. More information: https://saal.ee/en/performance/held-in-human-1823/

Liis Vares is a choreographer and artist. At the center of her practice is the contemporary body. Attention is her ‘dancer’ with whom she dances in the black box, white cube, and on the grayscale online platform. She plays with borderlines between physical and mental, between personal and social. By following her research question: how does it feel/what does it mean to be in a body, she is diving more and more into transmedial spheres of art and being.

Taavet Jansen is an innovative artist and creative researcher specializing in digital and experimental performing arts. He co-founded the art collective e⁻lektron, is a lecturer at the UT Viljandi Culture Academy, and is a doctoral student at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Traditionally working within the confines of black box theater, Jansen’s recent work has expanded into diverse digital platforms, reflecting his evolving interest in the intersection of art and technology.

Authors, directors: Taavet Jansen, Liis Vares
Light designer: Jari Matsi
Sound and video designer: Taavet Jansen
Dramaturgs, choreographers: Liis Vares, AI
Performers: Germo Toonikus, Liisbeth Kala
Software developer, web designer: Kristjan Jansen
Producer: Kati Saarits
Co-producers: EKA, e⁻lektron, ACuTe (co-funded by the European Union)

Persuading Hard Matter

Sophia Hallmann, Loora Kaubi, Mattias Veller, Oliver Wellmann

15.07–10.08.2023

Opening 14.07 at 6 pm

Join us for the exhibition Persuading Hard Matter opening on 14.07, 6 pm at EKA Gallery! The entrance to the exhibition is via Kotzebue street.

The metaphor of “softening stones” (kive pehmeks rääkida) conveys the idea that a person is able to affect or manipulate even the most resistant and solid objects, much like speaking can lead to an emotional breakthrough or change.

In this exhibition, the artists found common ground in dealing with what is larger than themselves: be it phenomena that go far back in time or those that are situated in the minds of groups. Stones can be viewed as the embodiments of still-enduring old ideas. Some of them have since eroded into the dust of prehistory, others still stand like monuments. As time has passed, many have become burdens, but they are often too heavy to cast off of our collective shoulders. Systems of belief have learned to resist change by cultivating delusions in the minds of their believers.

In Sophia Hallmann’s work “Hyperstimuli”, sugar has been transformed into glass-like thorns. Her installation juxtaposes the fragility and sweetness of the material with the prickliness of the thorn shape. These contrasting aspects evoke the concept of sweet pain. Appealing also to the senses of taste and touch, the work deals with the complex relationship between pleasure and discomfort. Isomalt sugar has been transformed into a seemingly luxurious glass-like object. Because both the branches and sugar are organic, they will eventually decompose, breaking the illusion of eternal security that luxury creates.

Persuasion is a tool for shaping reality. It can be used to create an illusion of safety, which is a delusive contentment. Loora Kaubi’s work addresses the domination of a patriarchal system through violent architecture. In her installation, Kaubi performs a contorted body walking in bridge position towards the viewer, suggesting the mental damage done by conforming to oppression. In “Mind and hand follow an evil path” objects combined with choreography are used to reflect on feelings of hostility and discomfort. Is it the outside world that one must be protected from or should we protect the outside from the world within? The fences come across as material representations of the fear that is omnipresent for anyone not standing safely at the top of the power hierarchy.

On the topic of domination, the practice of storytelling can be seen as a tool that liberates from the burden of having no voice. It encourages us to claim the right to be heard and express things as we desire them to be, under the guise of objectivity. Oliver Wellmann’s work circulates around mythic traditions, exploring their controversiality. The work „Raunen (Fires)“ stems from the ongoing performance cycle “Raunen” (ger. ‘whispering the truth’), in which dark rural worlds blend with elements of the auto-fictional. Hay is a material that often self-ignites, eventually causing major fires.

Another grand story is the mythic narrative of the nation, which looms over the individual like a massive rock. Mattias Veller expresses frustration at having to accept it and all of its inconsistencies. Individually, he is unable to coax the rigid national mythos to soften, so he decides to turn the tables. In “The Donkey in Estonia” he demonstrates the absurdity of the ways in which collective identity is shaped. He is interested in how belief works and how to fool the gullible.

The works in “Persuading Hard Matter” can be seen as the artists’ interpretations of the tensions between themselves and overwhelming forces. Be it acceptance, toleration, protest or domination, some kind of persuasion always occurs. Its effectiveness can never be known in advance.

​​Sophia Hallmann (b. 1995) lives and works in Berlin, where she studies sculpture and installation at the Berlin University of Arts. In her work she deals with different moulding techniques and casting processes, where the relationship between the depicted object and the material used plays an important role. Often her works evoke a sense of tension with the human body. During her Erasmus exchange at the Estonian Academy of Arts, Sophia Hallmann participated in the Young Sculptor Award Exhibition 2023 at the ARS Project Space and won the 3rd prize. In addition, she has participated in several group exhibitions in Berlin and received a scholarship from the Tutsek Foundation.

Oliver Wellmann (b. 1991) is an artist living and working in Berlin who is currently studying at the University of Arts Berlin. His artistic practice interlocks internal sources with external ones or those that have frequently been abandoned. The imagery in his work distinctly revolves around rural areas, folkloric traditions and spiritual empowerment such as witchcraft. Oliver’s artistic exploration of witchcraft in a contemporary context raises questions in a society that thirsts for meaning and spirituality, but where both are simultaneously classified as vanishing phenomena. In 2023 he exhibited extracts of the performance cycle „Raunen“ in Iceland and will continue to do so in Estonia, followed by Denmark in the fall.

Loora Kaubi (b. 1998) is an artist working in Tallinn. She holds a BA degree from the Estonian Academy of Arts’ Fine Arts department and did part of her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. She has also attended Casa Lü residency in Mexico City. Kaubi’s practice revolves around the (female) body and the societal relations and power structures that are involved with it. Wandering between the real and the imaginary, in her work she approaches life as a spectacle and focuses on creating a scene through which to perform intense emotions. Kaubi has been awarded the Artist of the Week Award of the Estonian Young Contemporary Art Union and has participated in exhibitions and performances in Tallinn, Narva, Haapsalu, Valga, Põlva, Vienna and Mexico City.

The recurring topics in Mattias Veller’s (b. 1998) artistic practices are physical labour and the relationship between human and material. Conceptually, he is rather minimalistic and technically he is precise, often applying time-consuming manual approaches. Veller is currently most interested in collective consciousness and history. He has been awarded the Artist of the Week Award of the Estonian Young Contemporary Art Union. His works have been shown in group projects in the ARS Project Space and Uus Rada Gallery (2023), EKA Gallery (2022) and in a duo exhibition in Infinite Life Gallery (2021).

Supported by: Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Student Council of UdK Berlin, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany Tallinn

The artists would like to thank: Ulvar Kaubi, Saara Liis Jõerand, Elss Raidmets, Patrick Zavadskis, Mirje Veller, Riina Veller, Karl Linnasmägi (OÜ NovaElement), Valge Kuup OÜ

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 author(s) of the best project are awarded 1000€. If numerous outstanding works are submitted for the competition, additional work(s) will be awarded.

The competition is open for EKA’s students, whose course or graduation project has reached the stage of developing an applied output, i.e. the results of the work can be applied in businesses or other organisations. The competition welcomes applied research or projects by all employees and researchers.

The works must be completed between 01.09.2022–31.08.2023.
To submit a project to the competition a completed form together with additional materials must be sent to koostoo@artun.ee no later than 14 September 2023. The e-mail addresses of all authors of the work must be included among the e-mail recipients.

See last year’s winners HERE.

Materials for applying:

Procedure for Competition of Applied Research and Development Works

Submission form