Presentation of Paul Kuimet’s book “Crystal Grid”

“How to give structure to something that itself is lacking one? How to present something like that? This is a question of visibility and making visible. What are the means for making visible something that always remains invisible? More precisely: the thing that remains invisible in real life, but of which we can get a glimpse in Crystal Grid, is the structure of capitalism. But how to display something like that?”

Neeme Lopp Paul Kuimet’s Analytical Photography
Essay from artist’s book Crystal Grid (Lugemik, 2023)

The exhibition features 25 new works from the Crystal Grid series. The series, commenced in 2020, consists of collages composed of photos taken in palm houses of various botanical gardens around the world. The collages are arranged in sets of two, three or four, juxtaposing plant fragments, which in reality are located hundreds or even thousands of kilometers apart.

For the collages, a pattern is used, derived from the structure of the ceiling of the central transept of the Crystal Palace, erected for the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. For each work, a new pattern is designed within the existing framework, based on the internal composition of each photo – part of the image is cut according to the pattern, and part is left uncut.

Public programme:

23.11, Draakoni Gallery and Kanuti Gildi SAAL

18.00 Guided tour with the artist (in English) and book launch (in Estonian)

Please join us for the launch of Crystal Grid – a new artists’ book by Paul Kuimet – on Thursday, November 23 at 6 pm. The event will begin at Draakoni Gallery with a guided tour by the artist. The tour will be held in English. After the tour the book launch will take place at Kanuti Gildi SAAL. At the launch the artist will be in conversation with the art critic Hanno Soans. Discussion is held in Estonian. During the launch the publication will be sold at a special price of 20 euros. On the evening of the launch Paul Kuimet’s exhibition at Draakoni Gallery will be open until 8 pm.

Paul Kuimet’s new book presents two series by the artist – “Crystal Grid” (2020–2023) and an ensuing series of assemblages “What It Is to Be What You Are Not” (2022).

The works are connected by a set of geometric shapes from a grid that is based on the roof structure of the central transept of the Crystal Palace, erected for the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. While the photographic material of the “Crystal Grid” collages has been photographed in different botanical gardens around the world, the assemblages of the “What It Is to Be What You Are Not” series use images exposed to light-sensitive paper in the darkness of a photo lab together with leaves collected in the Tallinn Botanic Garden. Juxtaposed, the works raise different questions about the notions of place, form and representation in photography.

The book includes an essay by Neeme Lopp and was designed by Indrek Sirkel. The book is published by Lugemik and supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

Paul Kuimet (1984) is an artist who works with photography, 16 mm film, and installation comprising of these media. Although his work is often described by a technological way of seeing, his practice places emphasis on the movement and presence of the beholder in the exhibition space. Since 2013, his work has been interested in modernist forms. In his latest works he has concentrated not so much on the forms of modernism, but on its materials, such as steel and glass, and their relationship to the development of modern capitalism since the mid-nineteenth century. He received an MA degree from the Estonian Academy of Arts (2014). In 2018, he participated in residency programmes at WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels, and at the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York City. Since 2022, Kuimet is the Associate Professor at the Estonian Academy of Arts, Department of Photography.

Draakoni Gallery (Pikk 18, Tallinn)
Open: Mon–Fri 11.00–18.00, Sat 11.00–17.00
Opening 1.11.2023 at 18.00
Free entrance
Limited wheelchair accessibility

Exhibition “Crystal Grid”

You are invited to the opening of the exhibition LET’S GET PHYGITAL and a guest talk, where the organisers Anneleen Swillen, Mala Siamptani and Darja Popolitova will discuss contemporary jewellery practices through the prism of digital technologies.

The exhibition opening and a guest talk is on the 30th of November, 17:00–18:30.

The exhibition is open from 30.11 to 18.12.2023.

If you can’t join IRL, sign up for a Zoom guest talk via this link

Meeting ID: 912 0263 6427
Passcode: 202810
Topic: Let’s Get Phygital vestlusõhtu
Time: Nov 30, 2023 05:00 PM Helsinki 

Exhibition Information:

LET’S GET PHYGITAL is a students’ exhibition celebrating the 3rd edition of a collaborative project between the jewellery departments of the London College of Fashion (LCF), the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) and the PXL-MAD School Of Arts.

The exhibition acknowledges how digital experiences advance artistic thinking and practice by creating an IRL space for digital adornment. By using Augmented Reality filters as tools, the students investigated how contemporary adornment can exist in non-physical forms, be wearable and interact with their audience.

Information About Speakers:

• Anneleen Swillen is a postdoctoral researcher and tutor at PXL-MAD School of Arts Hasselt and Hasselt University, located in Belgium. She explores jewellery in a phygital culture through research in the arts, education, curation, and writing. In 2020, she co-founded Artificial Intelligems in collaboration with composer Greg Scheirlinckx. As a fluid and interdisciplinary collective, currently working on the intersection of jewellery, graphic design, music, XR-performance, dance, and data science, they aim to explore more-than-human co-creation.
• Mala Siamptani is a design practitioner with substantial experience in the research, development and delivery of creative projects in Fashion, Design and Art sector. After obtaining two Masters degrees and currently conducting a PhD research, Mala runs her studio in east London specializing in the design and manufacture of products and sculptural objects. Mala has designed and manufactured jewellery and object collections which have been exhibited in Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Italy, Australia, Germany and the UK. Following extensive material research, Mala’s work attempts to connect traditional craft with digital technology. She has recently presented her research projects at the Global fashion Conference (Leon), the Creativity Researchers Conference (UK) and the 1st World Symposium for Fashion, Jewellery and Accessories (Shanghai). Through her design work and research, Mala demonstrates both the use and need for material research and its acknowledgment of experiential knowledge to advance craft thinking and practice.
• Darja Popolitova is a contemporary jewellery artist, curator, lecturer and PhD student at the Estonian Academy of Arts; born in 1989 in Sillamäe and based in Tallinn. An ironical view of nowadays drives her process, which fuels her to blend digital craft and video performances with fiction. She finds jewellery’s haptic and symbolic nature a generous medium that allows her to conceptualise ideas. For her artistic practice, she was honoured with numerous awards and scholarships such as Annual Award of Estonian Cultural Endowment (2020), the EAA Research Publication Award (2020), Adamson-Eric Scholarship (2018) and the Artist Laureate Salary (2022). She took part in the shows at the Smack Mellon Gallery in New York (2022), the Arnhem Museum in the Netherlands (2020) and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York (2019).

On 19 December Arife Dila Demir, a PhD candidate of the Estonian Academy of Arts, curriculum of Art and Design, will defend her practice-based thesis “Extended [Textile] Soma: Somaesthetics of Bodily Discomforts” („(Tekstiilist) laiendatud soma: kehalise ebamugavuse somaesteetika“).

Public defence will be held on 19th of December 2023 at 11.00 at EKA (Põhja pst 7), room A501.

Supervisors: Prof. Nithikul Nimkulrat (OCAD University), Dr. Kristi Kuusk (Estonian Academy of Arts)
External reviewers: Prof. Kristina Höök (KTH Royal Institute of Technology), Dr. Vasiliki Tsaknaki (IT University of Copenhagen)
Opponent: Dr. Claudia Núñez-Pacheco (Umeå University)

Human existence in the world is an embodied one; it is through our moving and sensing bodies – our somas – that we live and be in the world. Our somas, through the sensory capacities, are in constant engagement with internal and external stimuli that shape our understanding of our environment and ourselves. These stimuli may appear as pleasant or discomforting or beyond. For some unfortunate ones, internal discomforting sensations become persistent inhabitants of their bodies defining their embodied existence. This dissertation refers to these persistent discomforting events ‘bodily discomfort’ that disrupt the everyday flow of the body such as migraine, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, chronic pain, etc.
Extended [Textile] Soma: Somaesthetics of Bodily Discomforts specifically focuses on chronic musculoskeletal pain acknowledging the hardship of removal of this phenomenon. It discusses that such a phenomenon requires a more-than-symptom-relieving approach that focuses on enhancing the lived experience of bodily discomfort. Thus, it focuses on supporting transformative becomings with our bodies in discomfort to learn new ways of living and being that is the somaesthetics of bodily discomforts.
Respectively, the main research question of this practice-based dissertation is: how may movement-based interactive textile wearables as soma extensions be designed to facilitate somaesthetic awareness of chronic musculoskeletal pain? In other words, this dissertation explores the ways of designing with/for/through discomfort aiming to facilitate somaesthetics awareness through breaking the habitual ways of engaging with discomfort. It uses soma extensions that mediate movement-based interactions and externalize the felt qualities of chronic pain to provide unhabitual engagements of it. The main research question is explored through three creative case studies that provide methodological and theoretical insights on how to design with/for/through discomfort and form the design program called designing with discomfort.
Designing with discomfort is the main contribution of this dissertation which is exemplified by three case studies. In offering this design programme, this dissertation calls on designer researchers to imagine other ways of being with discomforting experiences and provide a space to closely engage with such sensations to become anew.

The thesis is available HERE.

Members of the Defence Committee: dr Jaana Päeva (Head of the Committee), Dr. Anu Allas, Prof. Kirke Kangro, Dr. Kärt Ojavee, Dr. Liina Unt, Dr. Kristina Jõekalda, Prof. Danielle Wilde, Prof. Indrek Ibrus.

NB! Viewing/listening to festival installations during the day is free, tickets are available only for evening concerts.

Video games

The Estonian Academy of Arts and Videogames in Arts Lab presents:
Experimental Art Landscapes

Discover the experimental world envisioned by students from the Estonian Academy of Arts — an immersive blend of visual and sound art that offers a unique interactive experience. The Showcase is a new project from EKA that experiments with video games as a medium for artistic expression. It is a unique opportunity to see how the next wave of artists blurs the lines between game design and art.

Course supervisors:
Taavi Varm, Camille Laurelli and Sten Saarits

Students:
Anette Jaaniso, Caroline Pajusaar, Daria Luchinina Gregor Ojaveer, Hans Ermast, Kadi Rebane, Kirke Mari Päll, Léo Mourey, Mariia Koloskova, Ramas Ramales, Sander Klein

Video Mapping 

The Estonian Academy of Arts and “Spatial Motion Design” course presents: 

EKA’s fourth-year Visual Communication students are creating a unique video mapping installation in the basement of the Vene Theater. A unique feature of the installation is that the architectural details of the room – be it wall ornaments or window arches – have become part of the artwork’s narrative. The video is not simply projected onto the surface, but it follows and interacts with the specific features of the space, giving the viewer the impression that the moving video image and the physical space merge seamlessly. This guides and inspires the students’ creative process and provides an extraordinary experience for the audience.

Course supervisor:
Taavi Varm

Students:
Mariliis Haljasorg, Anita Juga, Hedy Lehtmets, Kristin Made, Eva Pogoretski, Annaliisa Roots, Rait Sohkin, Anna Maria Toss, Silver Tõnisson, Artjom Šõšov, Karolina Kapinus

Music:
Stonefromthesky albumilt Zero Origin – Ground Zero (Ukraine)

Varm & Correia “Natural Frequencies: A Sonic Symbiosis” conceet at festival Composter on November 24 at Vene Teater

Varm & Correia are a duo composed of Taavi Varm (Estonia) and Nuno Correia (Portugal). They aim to combine natural and synthetic sounds into a coherent sonic ambience, evoking places and their stories. Additionally, they aim to stimulate a reflection on the relationship between humans, technology and nature. Their music style can be classified as ambient, in the tradition of artists such as Brian Eno, Alva Noto and The KLF.

In their performance at Composter festival, they will premiere new material alongside tracks from their recent debut EP, “Live at Purekkari Cape”. The new tracks were composed last Summer in Hiiumaa, taking as starting point field recordings from the island. These new compositions will take the audience on a journey through selected locations, atmospheres and stories of Hiiumaa.

Taavi Varm is a media artist and researcher from Tallinn (Estonian Academy of Arts), with a background in performing arts and video art. Nuno Correia is an academic in the field of interaction design (Tallinn University), and a media artist specialising in audiovisual performance.

“Why should artificially generated sounds, created with the help of human technology, be in conflict with nature? According to Varm and Correia, they shouldn’t – they can coexist in harmony. Not synthesis, but symbiosis.” – Sirp review of Varm & Correia performance at Biotoopia 2022 by Valdek Laur.

Varm & Correia: https://varmandcorreia.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-purekkari-cape

Taavi Varm: http://www.varmstudio.com/

Nuno Correia: https://nunocorreia.com/

On 14 December Britta Benno, a PhD candidate of the Estonian Academy of Arts, curriculum of Art and Design, will defend her thesis “Thinking in Layers, Worlding in Layers: Posthuman Landscapes in Expanded Field of Printmaking and Drawing” (“Mõtlemine kihtides, kujutlemine kihtides. Posthumanistlikud maastikud laiendatud joonistus- ja graafikaväljal”).

Public defence will be held on 14th of December 2023 at 15.00 at EKA (Põhja pst 7), room A501.

Supervisor: Dr. Elnara Taidre

External reviewers: Dr. Elo-Hanna Seljamaa (University of Tartu), Prof. Linda Kaljundi (Estonian Academy of Arts).
Opponent: Dr. Elo-Hanna Seljamaa

The defense will be held in Estonian.

The goal of my creative research “Thinking in Layers, Worlding in Layers: Posthuman Landscapes in Expanded Field of Printmaking and Drawing” is, first of all, to search for new art forms; to develop the fields of drawing and printmaking – by embracing the expansion of their vocabulary, exhaustively describing the work methods and conceptualising various activities.
Printmaking is doing very well today, especially due to the vast possibilities of such expansions and working methods, in all kinds of forms and concepts, whether as a posthumanist or nostalgic resistance. What is needed in my opinion, however, is a broader and more meaningful interpretation and opening up of the exact printing technologies chosen, not only the technical accomplishment – one could even say that there is a demand for a revelation of inherent tacit knowledge. I find this openness to be conceptually very characteristic of drawing. I can place all of my creative activity under the expanded drawing field, because everything starts with a simple drawing and continues depending on the conceptual and formal decisions in subsequent layers of materials and art media. The openness, permeability and permissiveness of drawing has been an essential part of all my creative research, on top of which the following layers of media, thoughts and materials have grown: animation, installation, etc.
This research is based on my three solo exhibitions – “Dystopic Tallinn” (Tallinn Art Hall Gallery, 2019), “Ruinenlust: Lasnamägi” (Hobusepea Gallery, 2020) and “Of Becoming a Land(Scape)” (Tartu Art House, 2022) – on the discussions that accompanied the creation of their concepts and artworks, exemplifying my approach to layered thinking and worlding, and to the expanded media in different variations. The thesis could be read as a travelogue in the layers of the concepts of the exhibited works.
The creative research allows me to conclude that the expanded fields of printmaking and drawing are areas full of potential, which function as subjects and methods of creative research, when used in tandem with other media – either as independent art forms, or together, as a hybrid. My exhibition practice demonstrates that prints and drawings are able to relate to new discourses and address current issues. These processes provide for endless techniques and qualities to constantly explore and disassemble.
More broadly, the dissertation contributes to the internal observation and treatment of creative processes from the artist’s position.The written part is primarily intended for other artists to conceptualise and discuss their own creative processes, including in processes of teaching and learning.

The thesis is available HERE.

Members of the Defence Committee: dr Jaana Päeva (Head of the Committee), Dr. Anu Allas, Prof. Kirke Kangro, Dr. Kärt Ojavee, Dr. Liina Unt, Dr. Kristina Jõekalda, Prof. Indrek Ibrus.

Open Mon-Sat at 15.00-18.00

December brings an opportunity to experience, in an exhibition format, works produced by students in the Faculty of Fine Arts as their term projects: every day there will be a fresh crop of university students’ works on display in the gallery.

Works in contemporary art, prints, installation, sculpture and painting curricula will be on display. On each morning of the marathon, a new exhibition will be installed and in the evening the exhibit will give way to the next one. Hopefully, viewers will be able to keep up with the pace of the young artists.

SCHEDULE

01—02.12 Scenography, supervisor Mark Raidpere

04.12 Photography, supervisor Paul Kuimet

05.12 Drawing, supervisor Eero Alev

06.12 Painting, supervisors Tõnis Saadoja, Karl-Kristjan Nagel

07.12 Painting, supervisors Tõnis Saadoja, Anna Škodenko

08.12 Sculpture, supervisor Taavi Talve, Laura Põld

09.12 Drawing, supervisor Britta Benno

11.12 Graphic Art, supervisors Charlotte Biszewski, Heta Jäälinoja, Viktor Gurov, Katrin Kaev, Caroline Pajusaar, Liina Siib, Taavi Suisalu

12.12 Graphic Art, supervisors Kadi Kurema, Mark Antonius Puhkan, Charlotte Biszewski, Maria Izabella Lehtsaar, Eve Kaaret

13.12 Scenography, supervisor Tomo Stanič

14—15.12 Contemporary Art, supervisors Charlotte Emma Biszewski, Paul Kuimet, Camille Antoine Laurelli, Holger Loodus, Laura Põld, David Ross, Taavi Talve, Jaan Toomik, Anu Vahtra, Reimo Võsa-Tangsoo

16.12 Painting, supervisors Sirja-Liisa Eelma, Vladimir Dubossarsky, Mart Vainre

18—19.12 Contemporary Art, supervisors Charlotte Emma Biszewski, Sirja-Liisa Eelma, Maris Karjatse, Camille Antoine Laurelli, Laura Põld, David Ross, Sten Saarits, Liina Siib, Taavi Talve, Jaan Toomik, Anu Vahtra

20.12 Photography, supervisor Anna Mari Liivrand

Exhibition ”Narratives from Prolonged Engagements”
Marta Konovalov

The exhibition ”Narratives from Prolonged Engagements” investigates our relationships with clothing and textiles from the perspective of mending with the aim to widen the boundaries of a garment’s use time and aesthetics.
Here the creative practice of Marta Konovalov is being displayed alongside narratives embodied in wear and repair. This act of repair contributes to a system for the clothes to live their own life in the hands of the user or multiple users, each adding up a new layer. There is more than sustaining the physical form – repairing something is also an act of love, care and personal healing.
This exhibition explores how layers of repair can increase the emotional durability of fashion and textiles. It is a part of doctoral research on the topic of “Repair and Regenerative textile Design” at Estonian Academy of Art.

Marta Konovalov is a designer, researcher and an educator in the field of regenerative design. She is a PhD student at the Estonian Academy of Arts. She currently makes mending visible in her creative practice with the aim to remind repair as a philosophy and inspire others towards the act of repair for prolonging the use phase of textile artefacts.

The exhibition takes place at the At Trash to Trend Stuudio, Müürivahe 17, Tallinn, Estonia from 14.11.-12.12.2023
A public textile repair workshop is being held with the exhibition on 9.12.2023
Peer review event: 20.11.2023 Info HERE.

Reviewers: Louise Ravnløkke PhD, Marium Durrani DA
Supervisors: Kristi Kuusk PhD, Julia Valle Noronha DA

Photo: Kärt Petser / Aurelia Minev
Exhibition design: Maarja Viiding & Marta Konovalov

Critic and film curator Genevieve Yue (USA) will give an open lecture “Girl head: Feminism and Film Materiality” at 17.30 on November 20 in auditorium A-101, EKA.

Genevieve Yue is one of the curators of the artist film programme “Polar Coordinates” by Tallinn Photomonth, screened at PÖFF Expanded 2023 in Tallinn.

Genevieve Yue’s recent book Girl Head: Feminism and Film Materiality (Fordham University Press, 2020) explores how gender and sexual difference have been deeply embedded within film materiality. In rich archival and technical detail, Yue examines three sites of technical film production: the film laboratory, editing practices and the film archive. Within each site, she locates a common motif, the vanishing female body, which is transformed into material to be used in the making of a film. This talk will explore the book’s theory of gender and film materiality through readings of narrative film, early cinema, experimental film and moving image art.

Genevieve Yue is an associate professor of culture and media and director of the Screen Studies program at the New School.
She has programmed films at Anthology Film Archives, Metrograph, MassArt, and other venues.
Her essays and criticism have appeared in Mubi, Film Comment, Film Quarterly, and Reverse Shot, and she is author of Girl Head: Feminism and Film Materiality (Fordham University Press, 2021). She is based in New York City.

The lecture is organised in collaboration of Tallinn Photomonth and Contemporary Art MA program, EKA.

Additional information on Tallinn Photomonth’s film program: https://mailchi.mp/fotokuu/tallinn-photomonth-23-film-programme

On 20 November at 13.00 the peer review event of Marta Konovalov’s  exhibition “Narratives from Prolonged Engagements” will take place. Marta is a third year PhD student in Art and Design, exhibition is part of her artistic doctoral thesis.

Peer review event will be held in zoom: https://zoom.us/j/98954931902?pwd=K0RZWm1YcFhaR2tUcG50UHRuMFZvQT09

Meeting ID: 989 5493 1902 Passcode: 389968

Reviewers: Dr. Louise Ravnløkke (Kolding Design School), Dr. Marium Durrani
Supervisors: Dr. Kristi Kuusk (EKA), Dr. Julia Valle Noronha (Aalto University)

Exhibition design: Maarja Viiding & Marta Konovalov

The exhibition takes place at the At Trash to Trend Stuudio, Müürivahe 17, Tallinn, Estonia
from 14.11.-12.12.2023
A public textile repair workshop is being held with the exhibition on 9.12.2023

The exhibition ”Narratives from Prolonged Engagements” investigates our relationships with clothing and textiles from the perspective of mending with the aim to widen the boundaries of a garment’s use time and aesthetics.
Here the creative practice of Marta Konovalov is being displayed alongside narratives embodied in wear and repair. This act of repair contributes to a system for the clothes to live their own life in the hands of the user or multiple users, each adding up a new layer. There is more than sustaining the physical form – repairing something is also an act of love, care and personal healing.
This exhibition explores how layers of repair can increase the emotional durability of fashion and textiles. It is a part of doctoral research on the topic of “Repair and Regenerative textile Design” at Estonian Academy of Art.

Marta Konovalov is a designer, researcher and an educator in the field of regenerative design. She is a PhD student at the Estonian Academy of Arts. She currently makes mending visible in her creative practice with the aim to remind repair as a philosophy and inspire others towards the act of repair for prolonging the use phase of textile artefacts.