Martyn Roberts Open Lecture

On Friday, the 16th of June, at 17:30, MARTYN ROBERTS, the founder of Fashion Scout, will be giving a lecture at EKA (room A 501). The lecture is part of the Transform4Europe Week program.

Over the past 17 years, Martyn has developed Fashion Scout into one of the world’s most recognised and acclaimed independent platforms for international fashion designers, and the largest independent platform at London Fashion week under Martyn’s direction, Fashion Scout has also delivered showcasing events and Business Accelerator Programmes in UK, France, Estonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey, Armenia, Kenya, Sri Lanka and China.

The masterclass, titled BRAND POSITIONING AND IDENTITY, BUILDING VALUE AND BRAND COMMUNICATIONS, will explore how emerging fashion and accessories brands can build their brand identity, creating value for their clients and communicating this in crowded media scene. Martyn will delve into how emerging brands have successfully developed their brand positioning, how to identify target markets and how to price their designs. This is a subject he has delivered and discussed at leading universities and fashion weeks around the world.

The panel discussion “Reflections on the Act of Improvement in the Context of Sustainability” within the Transform4Europe week will be conducted by Marta Konovalov, Maris Taul and Anna-Maria Saar.

The open discussion focuses on how remediation can promote sustainability and circularity.

In the discussion round, the audience is invited to discuss their role in the relationship with textiles and clothing — are we consumers, owners and wearers or are we in a nurturing relationship?

The discussion round will take place in EKA room B511, on June 15 from 15:00 to 17:00.

Human-centred design alone is no longer enough. To deal with the wicked problems of the 21st century and beyond, we need to explore new ways of building empathy and igniting creativity. 

Join us for our graduation project showcase and witness the outcomes of twelve designers’ half-a-year journeys as they explored various challenges and addressed sustainable development goals by pushing the limits of what interaction design can be.

SHOWCASE

At Yanu Robot Bar, Rotermanni 14

Open daily 7–10 June

Opening party 7. June at 19:00

Join the talented students behind the work and their mentors, play around with the prototypes and enjoy drinks, music and a night full of inspiration!

PROJECT PRESENTATIONS

At EKA Main Auditorium, Põhja pst 7

Thursday, 8 June

Interactions within Ourselves

9:10 Alma Yareny Duriez Urías: Fiction of our dreams as a tool for collective imaginarium

10:00 Katrin Kirsikka Janelle Koskela: Wear my anger

10:50 Pietro Ercolino Vizzadelli Barcucci: A monkey in a spaceship

Interactions with People and Services

12:30 Natsumi Nonaka: Discursive Design for Critically Embodying Gendered Experiences in Japan’s New Graduate Recruitment Practices

13:20 Quinn Darby Feller: Mending Relationships: Repairing garments through playfulness and collaboration

14:10 Helen Staak: Supporting cardiology patients to be active participants in their communication and treatment process at the II Cardiology Department in North Estonia Medical Centre

Friday, 9 June

Interactions with Products

9:10 Görkem Bozkurt: Trinteract—an Open-source 3D Input Device for Navigating Digital Spaces

10:00 Thomas Hartnell: HempCentric—From Hemp Fields to Green Builds

10:50 Jakob Päll: Ordinary drives in extraordinary ways—How to enhance the experience of a daily commute drive with a smart scenario for a Volvo car?

Interactions with Systems

12:30 Külliki Kesa: Estonian Packaging Design Guide—Creating Meaningful Interventions with the Help of Systemic Design

13:20 Paulina Juárez Badillo Chávez: The paradox of online identity verification

14:10 Sigmund Abou Chrouch: Uncovering biases in design research through Experiential Narratives

Come, join us in Yanu Robot Bar for the showcase, and in EKA for two days of inspiring presentations and discussions and learn about the latest trends in interaction design. 

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On June 3, artist Britta Benno’s fictive space installation “Polar Wonder” will open in the Ice Age Center.

At Benno’s personal exhibition, it opens as an arctic oasis, with ice and landscape as the main characters, and the artist plays with forms and lines. The author’s drawing language expands into a multi-layered landscape abstraction in the exhibition.

The exhibition complements the so-called future floor of the Ice Age Center, which focuses on climate change and the environmental impact of human activity.

Britta Benno herself has described her exhibition as follows: “Drawings and graphics with a coolly glowing color palette wander in the plastic forms of ice, the openness of the image gives space for reflections and dreams. Mountains and landscapes are alive, mountains are the Inuit language. The North Pole belongs to dreams and creatures that flutter in all the layers of the earth. Ice in the form of our bouldery land, the weight of the mountains is still felt when walking on the ironed earth, the promises are still in the air.”

For the Ice Age Center, this exhibition has two meanings: through the artist, the beauty of the frozen landscapes unfolds, but at the same time, in terms of the environment, it is also important to point out that the melting of the ice fields has accelerated exponentially in recent years. The earth is changing and this is a big danger sign.

Although the exhibition called “Polar Dream” has traveled to Viljandi and Tallinn, the author prepared new works site-specifically for the Ice Age Center.

The artist thanks the animation director, Ragnar Neljandi, and the sculpture maker, Mai Eerik.

The exhibition is complemented by Juhan Vihterpal’s sound installation.

“Polar Wonder” will remain open until September 24.

Britta Benno (b. 1984) is a drawing and graphic artist. He is interested in different techniques and materials, and when they are juxtaposed and combined, new perspectives open up.

Benno graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts with a master’s degree in graphic arts and furthered his education at the Vienna Academy of Arts. Benno is studying art and design in the doctoral program of the Estonian Academy of Arts, her artist research is called  “Thinking in Layers, Worlding in Layers: Posthumanist Landscapes in the Extended Drawing and Printmaking” Artist website: www.brittabenno.com

Dear everyone,

we invite you to “Passing Tensators”, an exhibition created by a group of Erasmus students from EKA during the spring semester, supervised by  Johannes Luik.

The exhibition is the result of a continuous discourse and collection of ideas surrounding the specificity and underlying ideological contents of spaces. Due to the absence of a common mediality and functionality in
the practice among the individual students, the space itself generates the content and the formal aspects of the works.

Opening on Monday, 5. June at 18 h.
Open from 6. – 10. June 16 – 20 h.
Location: Manufaktuuri 5

We are looking forward to seeing you there!

On 12 June at 15.00, the peer review of the exhibitions “Dreaming of Babylon” and “A Practice for Surrender” by Tõnis Jürgens, PhD student in Art and Design, will take place at the EKA, room A202.

Peer review event is in Estonian.

The event will be preceded by a screening of the video work “A Practice for Surrender” (2022, 12’49”) at 14.30, also in room A202. The film is in English.

The exhibitions are part of Tõnis Jürgens’ creative doctoral thesis. The thesis is about the digital measurement of sleep and the inevitable emergence of meaning in noise and patterns.

Supervisor of the thesis is Prof. Rolf Hughes (KU Leuven, Belgium).
The reviewers are Dr. Eva Näripea and Andrus Laansalu.

The exhibition “Dreaming of Babylon” was open at the Tartu Art Museum from 18.03.–14.05.2023, “The Exercise in Serenity” was open in the Vent Space project room from 20.–30.09.2022.

Defence presentations of Master’s theses in Contemporary Art and Animation curricula
June 5–6, starting 10.00 at the TASE ‘23 exhibition at Tallinn Art Hall, Vabaduse väljak 8

5. juuni / June 5

10.00 – 10.45, VI floor
Heli Haav – master’s thesis: artistic component “Lilith” and written component ”Looking into the invisible: Attempts to find unspoken connections between the health of the Earth and the well-being of humankind”, supervisor Anu Vahtra (MA). Reviewer Elnara Taidre (PhD).

10.45 – 11.30, V floor
Jonathan Stavleu – master’s thesis entitled ”Museum of the 20th Century Archeology”, supervisor Anu Vahtra (MA). Reviewer Camille Laurelli (PhD).

11.30 – 12.15, IV floor
Samuel Lehikoinen – master’s thesis: artistic component “Unemployment Simulator 2018” and written component ”Everyday is Sunday”, supervisor John Grzinich (MA). Reviewer Taavi Varm (MA).

Lunch 12.15 – 13.15

13.15 – 14.00, III floor
M. Mojtaba H. Davijani – master’s thesis: artistic component “The Little Goldfish” and written component ”Shoot for Freedom”, supervisors John Grzinich (MA) and Kersti Uibo (MA). Reviewer David Ross (MA).

14.00 – 14.45, II floor, elevator
Stina Isabel Gavrilin – master’s thesis: artistic component “Break out. Give in.” and written component ”Seele Brennt”, supervisors John Grzinich (MA) and David Ross (MA). Reviewer Camille Laurelli (PhD).

15.45 – 16.30 ZOOM in EKA
Keawalee Warutkomain (Animation MA) – master’s thesis “Being-in-Between: A Journey to Contemplate the Notion of ‘Life/Death’ via an Improvisational Animation Approach”, supervisor Michael Croft (MA). Reviewer Mari-Liis Rebane (MA).

Assessment committee: Kristi Kongi, Sten Ojavee, Kristina Õllek, Agnė Jokšė, Rebecca Duclos.

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6. juuni / June 6

10.00 – 10.45, Kunstihoone
Triin Türnpuu – magistritöö koondpealkirjaga „Kunst on sinu ümber. Pea meeles – võid katsuda, mitte vaadata!”, juhendajad Ingrid Allik (MA) ja Else Lagerspetz (MA). Retsensent Tamara Luuk (MA).

10.45 – 11.30, Kunstihoone
Marleen Suvi – magistritöö koondpealkirjaga „18:25”, juhendajad Merike Estna (MA) ja Eik Hermann (MA). Retsensent Kaarin Kivirähk (MA).

11.30 – 12.15, Kunstihoone
Lisann Lillevere – magistritöö loominguline osa „Sulav tõde” ja kirjalik osa „Ma ei tea, mis on reaalsus, aga ma tean, mis mulle meeldib”, juhendajad Marge Monko (MA) ja Helen Sirp (MA). Retsensent Elnara Taidre (PhD).

12.15 – 13.00, I korrus
Anselm Oja – magistritöö koondpealkirjaga „Tuunitud eneseotsingud pimedatel sisetänavatel”, juhendajad Reimo Võsa-Tangsoo (MA) ja Anu Vahtra (MA). Retsensent Elo Liiv (MA).

Paus 13.00 – 14.00

14.00 – 14.45, III korrus
Kristiina Aarna – magistritöö loominguline osa „518 päeva” ja kirjalik osa „Nähtamatu hääl ja hool naiskunstnike loomingus”, juhendaja Marge Monko (MA). Retsensent Brit Pavelson (MA).

14.45 – 15.30, III korrus
Heleliis Hõim – magistritöö koondpealkirjaga „Täitumatus (Unfulfilled)”, juhendaja Reimo Võsa-Tangsoo (MA). Retsensent Holger Loodus (MA).

15.30 – 16.15, VI korrus
Annika Hint – magistritöö loominguline osa “Recreate.betterlife.jpg” ja kirjalik osa “Trying to grasp a rainbow is the surest way to make it vanish”, juhendaja Taavi Talve (MA). Retsensent Hanno Soans (MA).

16.15 – 17.00, VI korrus
Liis-Marleen Verilaskja – magistritöö loominguline osa „Jumaliku surm: Apokalüptiline unenägu” ja kirjalik osa „Jõudmine unenäost usuni ja kunsti”, juhendajad Eve Kask (MA) ja Andrus Laansalu (MA). Retsensent Lilli-Krõõt Repnau (MA).

Hindamiskomisjon: Kristi Kongi, Sten Ojavee, Kristina Õllek, Sandra Kosorotova, Tõnis Saadoja. 

This year’s Graduation Ceremonies will be held on June 21th in the EKA gallery and main hall (room A101, Põhja puiestee 7, Tallinn).

11am – graduates of Faculties of Design

3pm – graduates of Faculties of Architecture, Art Culture, Fine Arts and Doctoral School

NB! Dear graduate, please come to the EKA gallery 15 minutes earlier, so we can lead you to your place. Guests can sit in the hall or watch the ceremonies in the lobby on the screens or online on EKA TV.

The conference “Artistic Originality in the Age of AI” will take place at the Estonian Academy of Arts on June 15, from 9.30am till 4.30pm.

The conference discusses historical and contemporary issues of originality and artistic innovation in the age of artificial intelligence. The main topic is to explore originality and novelty in art in a situation where creators are surrounded by a visually oversaturated environment; where creators have technology at their disposal that allows them to easily copy, modify and distribute their art; where professional (art-educated) creators have to compete with visually untrained creators; where digital technology participates not only as an aid and instrument of creation, but with the example of artificial intelligence programs tend to question the author’s visual ability. 

Since digital technology has been involved in artistic creation and visual design for the past twenty or more years and has penetrated various creative fields, it is interesting to explore the influence of technology in art innovation in both traditional and new art forms: visual arts, design, architecture, ceramics, media art, art research.

Conference will be held in English and live streamed in EKA TV – tv.artun.ee. For registration please fill this FORM.

The event is part of the Transform4Europe Week program.

PROGRAMME

09.30 – 10.00 Welcome and Opening Remarks: Kirke Kangro, Dean of Fine Arts, Professor

10:00 – 10.45  Keynote presentation by Pau Waelder “Art in the Latent Space. Machine Learning as a Tool, a Co-Author and an Other”

10.45 – 11.00 Paco Ulman “Accidental Projections”

11.00 – 11.15  Zeynep Aksoez  “Artificial Narratives”

11.15 – 11.30 Hasso Krull   “Creative Ritual and Ritual Creativity”

11.30 – 11.45  Taavi Piibemann “Don’t be afraid, HAL.”

11:45 – 12:45  conversation, moderated by prof. Kirke Kangro

12:45 – 13:45 lunch

13.45 – 14.00 Andres Karjus “The human-technology continuum in text and image”

14.00 – 14.15  Oliver Laas “Norms in AI Systems”

14.15 – 14.30  Taavi Suisalu “AI in the mirror”

14.30 – 14.45  Varvara Guljajeva “AI-aided Ceramic Sculptures: Bridging Deep Learning with Materiality”

14.45 – 15.30 Keynote presentation by Lev Manovich “Artificial Aesthetics? Looking at AI Media Through the Lens of Art History”

15.30 – 16.30  – conversation, moderated by dr Raivo Kelomees

SPEAKERS

Pau Waelder “Art in the Latent Space. Machine Learning as a Tool, a Co-Author and an Other”

Senior Curator at Niio. Writer and researcher specialized in art and digital media. PhD in Information and Knowledge Society from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). Adjunct lecturer at the UOC, as well as in postgraduate courses. Editor and advisor at DAM Digital Art Museum. His work explores the different aspects of the interaction between art, technology and society, as well as the relationship between digital art and the art market. He is the author of the book on contemporary and digital art collecting You Can Be A Wealthy/ Cash-Strapped Art Collector In The Digital Age (Printer Fault Press, 2020).

Abstract

Since the dawn of algorithmic art, computers have entered the creative process as an active agent, engaging in a somewhat dialogical relationship with the artist. Machine learning programs have enabled computers to produce more sophisticated outputs, to the point of surpassing artists’ expectations. The precise instructions inscribed in a few lines of code have become prompts in natural language, with the final outcome emerging from an inscrutable latent space. As a field of uncharted possibilities, the latent space expands artists’ creativity and enables the perception of the program as an Other, an entity that is felt as alien while also deeply embedded in the artist’s self. This talk will address the latent space in connection with the notion of an Other and its implications in artistic creativity and originality.

Paco Ulman “Accidental Projections”

Since 2001 has worked as an architect in various offices (Ars Projekt, AB Kosmos, Arhitektuuriagentuur, Alianss Arhitektid). In 2013 he co-founded Mudel Architects studio. 2018-2020 worked at Tallinn Urban Planning Department and since 2021 works as an architect at the Tallinn Strategic Management Office.

Selection of projects in which he participated as co-author: Hotel Lydia in Tartu (2016), Hotel Lydia (2014), Pärnu Mud Baths hotel Hedon spa, Niine tn 11 office building extension project in Tallinn (2012).

In his artistic practice he is mainly focused on spatial issues and its representations using various different mediums. He has made exhibition and installation works, designed graphics, directed short films and animations, graphic novels, etc. Selection of solo exhibitions:„Heitmaa“ 2018a, „Tallinnas“ 2009a ja „Mememe“ 2014a. Since 2011 he has supervised various studios at Estonian Art Academy. From 2021 he is a PhD student in Architecture and Art at EKA Architecture and Urban Planning department.

Zeynep Aksöz “Artificial Narratives”

Zeynep Aksöz is an architect and a creative coder. She is one of two partners of Vienna-based design and research collective Open Fields. Currently she is a Research Associate and a lecturer at University of AppliedArtsVienna, an Assistant Professor at TU Vienna in Department for Structural Design, Faculty in IAACBarcelona.Through her ongoing research, teaching, and practice Zeynep explores generative design and the implementation of AI based processes into design, architecture, and urbanism. Her focus lies in developing emergent design approaches through the collaboration of human and artificial intelligence.

Zeynep is the recipient ofResearch Prize for Architecture from the National Chamber of Architects, Austria and a former Marie Curie fellow. Together with Mark Balzar, BernhardSommer,and Galo Moncayo she is the recipient of FWF PEEK funding for their Project Vibrant Fields.In collaboration with Nicolaj Kirisits she received INTRA funding for the project titled Morphology of Sound. Her creative and scientific work has been published in books such as Fabricate, Design Transactions, in conference proceedings including Design Modeling Symposium, Acadia as well as in the architecture magazineManege. Zeynep has exhibited her work at the Vienna Design Week, Bratislava Design Week, inKADKCopenhagen, Salona di Mobile in Milan, London Design Festival, Daniels School of Architecture in Toronto, andArchitecture Biennale die Venezia. Zeynep received her Doctoral degree from the University of Applied Arts Vienna at the Institute of Architecture under the supervision of Klaus Bollinger. She was a Marie Curie Fellow and an early-stage researcher in the international training network Innochain. She holds a MArch degree from the Architectural Association of London’s Emergent Technologies and Design Program and an MSc degree from TU Wien.

Hasso Krull “Creative Ritual and Ritual Creativity”

Hasso Krull (b. 1964) is an Estonian poet who has published sixteen books of poetry and nine collections of essays that include literary criticism as well as writings concerning art, cinema and society. During 1990-2017 he was teaching cultural theory at the Estonian Institute of Humanities (special courses on creation myths, oral tradition, continental philosophy and psychoanalysis). In 2001 Krull founded a poetry translation review Ninniku with Kalju Kruusa (www.eki.ee/ninniku/), in 2003 there followed a book series Ninniku Raamatukogu. Lately Krull has been concerned with ecological issues and the ongoing devastation of the Estonian forests.

Taavi Piibemann “Don’t be afraid, HAL.”

Taavi Piibemann started his stint as a carpenter,  taught art at the Estonian Academy of Arts and Pallas in Tartu. Choose to do that after three years of copywriting, what back then seemed like a logical application of his study of photography at Tartu Art College and English language and literature at Tartu University. Beyond that there’s idyllic rural childhood in Viinistu, a small seaside village at the Gulf of Finland.

Andres Karjus “The human-technology continuum in text and image”

Andres Karjus is a research fellow in cultural data analytics at Tallinn University, and also operates in the private sector as an instructor on digital skills and AI. He has a background in the humanities (PhD in linguistics) and computer science (MSc in AI), and regularly engages with both in his teaching and research practice.

Oliver Laas “Norms in AI Systems”

Oliver Laas is a philosopher whose work focuses on philosophy of technology, philosophy of language, logic and metaphysics. He has written about artificial intelligence, arguments from analogy, definitions, truthlikeness in history, video games, and virtual reality.

Taavi Suisalu “AI in the mirror”

Taavi Suisalu is an artist who blends traditional and contemporary sensibilities and activates peripheral spaces for imaginative encounters. He has recorded volcanoes and malfunctioning satellites, composed for lawnmowers, intertwined living and digital ecosystems, explored datafictions and how developments in technologies shape our environments and influence behavior, perception and thinking of social beings. Suisalu has studied sociology and computer science in University of Tartu, contemporary art practices in Geneva University of Art and Design and earned his MA degree from Estonian Academy of Arts. He has participated in residency programmes in Nida Art Colony, WRO Art Center and International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) amongst others.

Varvara Guljajeva “AI-aided Ceramic Sculptures: Bridging Deep Learning with Materiality”

Dr Varvara Guljajeva is an Assistant Professor in Computational Media and Arts at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou). Previously, she held positions at the Estonian Academy of Arts and Elisava Design School in Barcelona. Her PhD thesis “From Interaction to Post-Participation: The Disappearing Role of the Active Participant” was selected as the highest-ranking abstracts by Leonardo Labs in 2020. As an artist, she works together with Mar Canet forming an artist duo Varvara & Mar. Often the duo’s work is inspired by the information age. Their works were shown at MAD, Barbican, Ars Electronica, ZKM, etc. www.var-mar.info

Lev Manovich “Artificial Aesthetics? Looking at AI Media Through the Lens of Art History”

Lev Manovich is a visual artist, writer, and one of the world’s most influential digital culture theorists. He was included in the lists of “25 People Shaping the Future of Design” (Complex, 2013) and “50 Most Interesting People Building the Future” (Verge, 2014). Manovich is a Presidential Professor at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, and a Director of the Cultural Analytics Lab. He has published 180 articles and 15 books that include AI Aesthetics, Cultural Analytics, Instagram and Contemporary Image, and The Language of New Media described as “the most suggestive and broad-ranging media history since Marshall McLuhan.” His digital art projects were shown in eight personal and 120 international groups exhibitions in Centre Pompidou, ICA London, ZKM, KIASMA, and other leading venues.