Peer-review of Jane Remm’s exhibition

On Thursday, February 12 at 16:00–17:30, a public review and opening of the third exhibition of the doctoral project of Jane Remm “Moths are chewing the uneven fabric of life,” will take place at the Terra Gallery of Tallinn University.
The doctoral thesis is supervised by Dr. Urve Sinijärv (Tallinn Botanical Garden), the exhibition reviewers are Prof. Linda Kaljundi (Estonian Academy of Arts) and Dr. Nelly Mäekivi (University of Tartu).

The first signs of spring are out there – the sky is higher, tits are singing of spring, icicles and noses are dripping like birches sap. How did our ancestors, who spent the long dark autumn and winter in the dirty and cold farm houses, perceived the arrival of new light? Jane Remm’s exhibition “Moths chew the neven fabric of life” focuses on the everyday and experiential connection of traditional human culture with other species and local nature. Through mutual interdepence, people have been connected to plants and animals, forests and waters. This connection is expressed in metaphors and symbols used in language and images to this day, such as plant and animal-named patterns and the transcriptons of bird songs, as well as conventions when communicating with nature. Jane Remm is interested in the bodily and everyday interweaving with other life forms, (women’s) connection with local nature and its symbolic expression in traditional culture, patterns, food, healing – in the fabric of life. Through art, she creates a dialogue between the traditional ecological knowledge of our ancestors and contemporary ecology and environmental humanities and explores how we can learn from other lfe forms. The more diverse life, the more connections, vitality and love.

The exhibition “Moths chew the neven fabric of life” is the third peer-reviewed event of Jane Remm’s doctoral project “Art’s (artist’s) possibilities for relating to nature from representation to co-creation and ecological art interventions”. The exhibition “Moths chew the neven fabric of life” is open from January 19 to March 8 at the Terra Gallery of Tallinn University (Terra House, 2nd floor).

Jane Remm is an artist and art educator, lecturer at the BFM at Tallinn University and doctoral student at Estonian Academy of Art. Jane Remm’s work focuses on the representation of experience of nature, co-creation and communication with different life forms. In her artistic practice, she seeks ways to act more locally, more sustainably and meaningfully in collaboration with humans and nonhumans. As a visual artist with a background in painting, a teacher, and a artistic researcher, she finds that art’s way of creating knowledge about the world is special, valuing manual work and collaboration as an opportunity to perceive oneself as part of nature.

DANCING WITH THE STARS!
EKA Billboard Gallery 16.02.–17.05.2026
Open 24/7, free admission

The exhibition “Dancing with the Stars!” by the 1st year students of graphic design showcases the designed letters and the process of the class Typography I. During 14 weeks, several exercises and experimentations were carried out, drawing was done both by hand and on the computer, using things like stencils, feathers, rocks, nail polish or even keys.

While the first seven weeks were dedicated to experimentation and playing, the last seven focused on creating an entire alphabet and going through the whole letter design process. Vectorised letters were created which in turn were made into working font files during a week-long workshop.

Students: Johannes Adrik, Art Allik, Helen Forsel, Mia Klooren, Art Kruus, Adele Markova, Ischa Mestdagh, Jaako Lauri Puudist, Ann Aotäht Sarv, Mia Greta Sepp,Ariana Sigin, Linnea Süvari, Jakob Tüür, Karol Henrik Vana, Rei Helin Varres
Supervisor: Agnes Isabelle Veevo
Supervisor of the workshop: Patrick Zavadskis

The fonts can be downloaded for free from the SUVA Type Foundry website: suvatypefoundry.ee

SUVA Type Foundry makes the typefaces designed by EKA GD students public.

On February 9, 14.30-16.00 the public peer-review of Taavi Varm’s doctoral project “The Plant Walker” will take place in Zoom.
Zoom LINK  (Meeting ID: 616 6458 4084, Passcode: 182273).

Reviewers of the project: Dr. Liina Unt, PhD (University of Tartu), Dr. Steinunn Hildigunnur Knúts-Önnudóttir.
Supervisors: Dr. Varvara Guljajeva (Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar), Dr. Helen Uusberg (University of Tartu).

The Plant Walker is the third part of Taavi Varm’s doctoral thesis, “Designing Video Games as Experiential Practice: Co-Creation and Sustainable Psychological Well-Being.” Game was created during the 2024/25 academic year as part of the EVA Lab’s ‘Small Lives’ course and research project at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Project reflects on the video game’s creation process and outcome through a video essay as a Work Story.

The Plant Walker became a turning point in the research, where the researcher turned back to being a creator and artist.  The creative process consciously used theories of mindfulness and flow theory, later enriched by ecological, societal, and political valuation through practical analysis. Therefore the project views creation as a process that supports the artist’s mental health and creative sustainability.

Creating slow, ecologically sensitive game meant deliberately rejecting patterns based on competition, optimization, and constant performance. The Plant Walker offers a playful space for slowing down, being present, and ways of being in harmony with nature.

The video essay is available via a YouTube link. Headphones and viewing on a smartphone are recommended.
Youtube link (english version): https://youtu.be/zw6Cfy6PNpc
Small lives games:
Apple App Store / Google Play

Jakobson’s solo exhibition Downloads Folder creates a personal digital archive from random, hastily taken screenshots by preserving them on canvas.

The exhibition approaches painting as a way of remaining in continuous dialogue with a personal digital archive that was not originally intended for display. Through rapid circulation, the original purpose of downloaded files disappears; they persist more out of habit than meaning. The exhibition is concerned less with the images themselves than with their unsystematic accumulation and their slowing down through the act of being fixed in paint.

In a late-capitalist world oriented towards economic growth, productivity has become a sacred cow. Living within a constant flow of information, an ever-increasing pace of work, and social pressure demand more and more from us, without allowing time for reflection or interpretation. Transferring casually taken screenshots onto canvas is a conscious choice to slow down rather than rush, offering the possibility to organise what has been produced so far in a meaningful way and to take a pause.

The randomly selected images that form the basis of the paintings function as source material that is reworked through the artist’s process. The repetition of anonymous and temporary images through multiple layers of irony and subjectivity creates new images that no longer carry their former meaning and have lost their original, quickly consumable function.

Curator: Adrian Abner
Design: @gertworld

Anu Jakobson (b. 2005) is an Estonian visual artist currently in her second year of studies at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Her practice focuses on exploring online culture and its visual language, which she approaches through experimental painting methods, primarily using an airbrush. This technique allows her to capture the haziness and ephemerality characteristic of internet imagery. She works with images saved as screenshots from the internet and edits them according to her vision, in a way similar to how memes circulate, transferring this process onto the canvas. This method situates her work within the context of collective culture, as the circulation of memes reflects current events and broader value systems.

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

On February 3rd, 2026 at 19:00 Azeem Hamid’s doctoral study second peer-review “Participation as Relation: Designing Relations of Care” will take place online on zoom.
Peer-review zoom LINK (Meeting ID: 660 0113 5320, Passcode: 807935).

The peer-reviewers are Dr. Oscar Tomico Plasencia (Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands) and Dr. Jesper Falck Legaard (Designskolen Kolding, Denmark).
The thesis supervisors are Dr. Kristi Kuusk (EKA, Estonia) and Dr. Nithikul Nimkulrat (OCAD U, Canada).

Azeem Hamid invites attendees to engage with analysis and reflections from the Remote Grandparents project, the second case study of his ongoing doctoral research. The study explores participation as a relational and care-led design practice in remote, intergenerational contexts, focusing on sensorial play co-designed by children and their geographically distant grandparents.
Grounded in research-through-design, relational sensitivities, and autoethnographic practice, the inquiry challenges participation as co-presence by attending to distance, domestic settings, and family relations. The research identifies affective distance, sensory touchpoints, and improvised mutual shaping as key constructs through which relations are formed across people, materials, and places.
The research contributes to ethical and reflexive approaches to participatory and intergenerational design, by proposing vocabulary and methods for sensorial co-presence in distributed, care-centred contexts.
Azeem Hamid, originally from Lahore, Pakistan and now based in Tallinn, is a design researcher, educator, and facilitator focusing on transition design, placemaking, and design pedagogy. He is a doctoral student at the Estonian Academy of Arts, and holds a MSc. in Design and Technology Futures alongwith MPhil. in Art & Design Education (Research).

On Thursday, 29 January at 6 PM, we will open the exhibition Greetings from Kanepi! Wish u were here by Birgit Kaleva, Keiu Maasik and Mark Raidpere at FOKU gallery.

A father’s diary from the 60s, postcards from Kanepi, Colin McRae Rally 2.0. Abstracted movements, run down household appliances, a ghost car. Driftwood Songs, a spider plant, a life stored in virtuality.

The works of Birgit Kaleva, Keiu Maasik and Mark Raidpere open up insights into the stories of family lines, or rather into fragments or excerpts of these stories. The (auto)biographical is intertwined with fiction, perhaps we cannot know for certain what is based on real life and what is imaginary – and maybe it doesn’t matter either.

In Birgit Kaleva’s photo series Weizenbergi 51 (2025), we see views of the artist’s birthplace in Kanepi – a parish in South Estonia – where she still lives with her parents. To work through the shame that stems from living with her parents, Kaleva directs her gaze to the space around her instead of hanging her head in embarassment. Keiu Maasik’s video work A Ghost Story (2022) tells the story of a son and father that took place in an old rally game. A story where after his father’s death, the son at some point found his father’s ghost car in the game – a seemingly living part of his father stored in virtuality. Mark Raidpere’s video Lachrimae/Driftwood Songs (2017) combines abstracted movements with the longing diaries of a young man written in the 1960s, Tõnu Kõrvits’s arrangement Driftwood Songs and seven tears, e.g John Dowland’s Lachrimae from the late 16th century.

The title of the exhibition is borrowed from the accompanying text of Birgit Kaleva’s work Weizenbergi 51 (2025).

The exhibition will remain open until 28 March 2026.


Birgit Kaleva (b. 1996), working under the artist name motoerotica, uses herself and her immediate surroundings as the basis of her artistic practice. Through a spontaneous and angular approach, she reframes autobiographical material, creating distance from personal experience and offering a clearer perspective on its underlying structures. Her work is informed by an interest in visual rawness and awkwardness in unexpected compositions. Kaleva graduated from the Pallas University of Applied Sciences with a degree in Photography (2024).

Keiu Maasik (b. 1992) has degrees in Photography (BA) and Contemporary Art (MA) from the Estonian Academy of Arts. In her work, she has explored themes such as the impact of documentation on memory, identity and interpersonal relationships. In her recent projects, Maasik has focused on the virtual world, using computer game recordings or similar aesthetics in her video works and installations to reveal the different aspects of virtual life. She is one of the nominees of the Köler Prize 2026. 

Mark Raidpere (b. 1975) is a photographer and video artist, exploring the dilemmas and fears of the human soul, insurmountable loneliness and the tragedy of fate with great sensitivity and insight. Raidpere’s research often draws on his family’s universe, but sometimes takes on a social dimension, focusing on the marginalized, urban violence and street life. In 2005, Raidpere represented Estonia at the 51st Venice Biennale. His works have been exhibited in numerous international group and solo exhibitions and he has received several prestigious awards both in Estonia and abroad.

FOKU Gallery is a gallery-showroom focused on contemporary lens-based art. FOKU Gallery is run by the Estonian Union of Photography Artists (FOKU).


Supporters:
Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Peenjoogivabrik Nudist

Partner:
Rüki galerii

Technical support:
Reigo Nahksepp

Thanks to:
Artproof, EKA Gallery, Estonian Artists’ Association, Karel Koplimets, Kaisa Maasik-Koplimets, Madis Kurss, Tõnu Kõrvits

Lisette Lepik’s solo exhibition “Firm & soft. Soft & firm” will open at Haapsalu City Gallery on 5th of February at 7pm.

Inspired by autobiographical material the exhibition deals with themes of gender roles in intimate relationships. Visitors will see emotionally charged paintings accompanied by a soundscape created for the exhibition, representing Lepik’s personal reflections and conversations with her mother and grandmother about their experiences within relationships and general family life.

The paintings are supported floor to ceiling by iron chains handcrafted by Lepik, representing the strongly held cultural and social baggage passed down between generations. The artworks within the exhibition act as a time machine through which one can observe the atmosphere of a 1990s city home in Mustamäe district or perhaps smell freshly cut grass from a recently mowed 1970s lawn in Rapla city.

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“When you think about that era, showing your feelings wasn’t a normal thing to do. Especially for men. My mother showed her feelings more and respected her husband deeply.”

“He had to be obeyed at all times. When getting older, he became very strict.”

“We always had to do everything together with our parents. My mother knew how to properly preserve edibles for the winter. Those who did not have land to tend for lived a different life.”

“It was so nice to live together with my family.”

“I was impressed that he paid attention to me. He brought me flowers.”

“I had come to realize that I could only rely on myself.”

*

Gender roles in post-Soviet Estonia were heavily influenced by the Soviet era, where women were expected to be responsible for and maintain their household’s psychological and physical space. Men tended to fulfill active and successful roles outside of the home. However, thought and behavioural patterns within a society transform over time. In response to the rather narrow range of gender roles that were common during the Soviet era, new, more contemporary and free forms have emerged in today’s Estonia, such as the BDSM community. Within this framework individuals can choose a role with a specific character for themselves in a curated context.

Lisette Lepik: “I explore changes in gender roles and power dynamics through personal stories and photos of my family. Throughout the exhibition process I was inspired by BDSM communities. They provide an opportunity to reverse the roles and rethink expectations on different genders. Within this context power relations happen by mutual agreement. Roles — dominant or submissive, firm or soft — are chosen consciously and voluntarily, with prior communication regarding boundaries and desires being the norm. Power, control and submission does not mean oppression here, but rather trust.”

Lisette Lepik (b. 1999, Tallinn, EE) is an artist who creates paintings and installations. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Contemporary Art at the Estonian Academy of Arts and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Painting at the same university in 2022. She has also studied installation and sculpture at the Iceland Academy of the Arts (2019). Her work focuses on topics related to being a woman within contemporary society.

Lisette Lepik has actively participated in group exhibitions in Estonia, Iceland, Austria, and Lithuania. In 2025 she co-organised a duo exhibition with artist Kristina Kuzemko and curator Kaidi Ojasoo at Club Virgin, a strip club in Tallinn. In 2024 she held two duo exhibitions with painter Brenda Purtsak at the Monumental Gallery of Tartu Art House in Tartu and Hobusepea Gallery in Tallinn. She received the Estonian Academy of Arts’ “Õpi ja sära” scholarship in 2024 and the Helju Rossmann scholarship in 2025.

The exhibition team

Location: Haapsalu City Gallery, Posti street 3

Opening: 5.02.2026 at 7pm

Open: 6.02.2026–01.03.2026,Wed-Sun 12am–6pm

Curator: Liisi Kõuhkna

Soundscape for the exhibition: Rene Manivald Tamm

Graphic design: Cristopher Siniväli

Tech support: Agur Kruusing, Mattias Veller

Special thanks to: Virve Lepik, Liana Lepik, Nora Schmelter, Gerda Hansen, Bob Bicknell-Knight, Estonian Academy of Arts metalworking shop, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Põhjala Brewery

From 3rd to 27th of February contemporary painter Brenda Purtsak’s solo exhibition “One day I shall be an abstract” will open for visit at ARS Art Factory showroom.

The self-portrait exhibition combines fragments of the artists selected family photos and and images of humans biological body collected into her mobile phone over the past years.

The artist and the concept of the exhibition has been influenced by the anatomical wax Venuses created by an Italian neurologist and wax artist Clemente Susini and Brenda’s personal complex challenges in recent years related to her physical health. The beautiful and adorned females internal organs created in the 18th century have been “cut open” in detail layer by layer for educational purposes. Ian Shank has written that such Venuses at the time were viewed as a microcosm of the Universe.

J. L. Borges has pointed out that the labyrinth is a metaphor for man and the universe, associated on a macro level with the center of the world and on a micro level with the human heart. The better you know the anatomy of the human body, the better you understand God’s own thoughts and his world. As if the eternity has been written into the human soul – every atom of oxygen in our lungs, carbon in our muscles, calcium in our bones, and iron in our blood was created in the stars before Mother Earth was born.

The main piece of the exhibition is a large-scale fragmented painting showing parts of the artist’s body, which describe the processes of healing and decay of the human body. The theme was born after years of battling physical illness and thoughts that arose after several operations. The paintings in the exhibition encourage viewers to think about what is the essence of a soul and what remains of us in the physical world after we pass. Within the paintings the environmental and physical landscapes that have surrounded us and will continue to do so will be at display. This provides input for creating connections between the two that are inevitable in our lives.

Brenda Purtsak (1994) has graduated her Master of Contemporary Art program in 2022 and a Bachelor’s degree in Painting (2020) both at the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA).

The central point of her creation is human and playfulness between the borders of abstraction and reality. Purtsak mainly uses painting as a medium of self-expression, and in this exhibition also uses oil pastels.

At the end of 2023, a large-scale personal exhibition “Birth” was held in the Project Room of the ARS Art Factory and an overview exhibition of of works in four years called “Incision” in Haapsalu City Gallery (2024). The last major solo exhibition took place in September 2025 at Artrovert gallery under the title “Distant veils”. Purtsak’s works have been featured in various exhibitions abroad, and her paintings and stained glass windows have been exhibited in the premises of the Estonian Embassy in Hague several times.

The exhibition team

Location: ARS Art Factory showroom, Pärnu mnt. 154

Open for visit 3.02-27.02.2026, Mon-Fri from 12am–6pm

Curator: Liisi Kõuhkna

Graphic design: Rainer Kasekivi

Support and thanks to: Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Artists Association, Indrek Köster, Ian Simon Märjama

Doctoral School invites candidates interested in applying to the creative research PhD at EKA to participate in a preparatory course.
Creative research (artistic and practice-based research) is rooted in the professional practice of artists, designers, and/or architects, generating new knowledge that takes shape both in creative practice (artwork, creative process, product, service, etc.) and in a written dissertation.
The course focuses on designing and developing a creative research project, introducing completed and ongoing doctoral dissertations. It also helps participants clarify how to connect their research problem, methods, and creative practice.

The course consists of four seminars and consultations. Seminars are led by Dr. Jaana Päeva, head of the art and design PhD program, and Dr. Liina Unt. In addition to the theoretical part, doctoral students with a background in art and design will present their ongoing research. In the consultation, applicants will receive individual feedback on their research project proposal.

NB! The course takes place on-site at EKA.

Preparatory course schedule:

17.02   17:45-19:15 A-302
Introduction to artistic and practice-based research.

18.02   17:45-19:15 A-403
Research problem and framework. Example of a practice-based research (Katrin Kabun).

25.02   17:45-19:15 A-403
Integrating theory and practice through research question and methods. Example of a practice-based research (Sofja Hallik).

26.02   17:45-19:15 A-202
Example of a practice-based research. Practitioner´s viewpoint (Jane Remm).

08.03   Deadline 08:00
Submitting research proposal drafts for consultations.

12.03   Individual consultations (Jaana Päeva, Liina Unt, Kristi Kuusk).

To participate, please send a short introduction (max 1.5 pages) to irene.hutsi@artun.ee by 12.02.2026. The text should address your motivation, previous experience and the potential topic of your research. The number of places is limited, the acceptance will be confirmed by 13.02.2026.

The course will be held in English.

Starting from the first week of January 2026, an exhibition of ideas for renewing standard school buildings will be on display in the lobby of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

The exhibition features works completed by 2nd and 3rd year architecture and urban design students in the 2025 autumn semester, illustrated by school models.

“The studio looked for ways to design an H-shaped Soviet-era standard school building into a modern school space. Five H-type school buildings were considered, located in locations with different population densities, environments, and spatial needs.
All solutions are diverse, but they also share similar features, which, when compared, can be used to establish more general architectural principles to modernize H-type school buildings.”

Supervisors of the “School Studio”: Kertu Johanna Jõeste, Tristan Krevald, Ra Martin Puhkan, Siim Tanel Tõnisson (studio TÄNA); Mart Kalm (theory, history)