Peer reviews: Arife Dila Demir and Nesli Hazal Oktay

Peer-reviewing of Art and Design PhD students Arife Dila Demir and Nesli Hazal Oktay will take place on Monday, February 20, at 10.00-15.30 (GMT+2) in the Estonian Academy of Arts, auditorium A501.
The peer review events will be in a hybrid format. Please find the Zoom link to participate HERE (Passcode: 054867).

Schedule
10.00–10.15 Coffee
10.15–10.30 Welcoming words
10.30–12.00 Arife Dila Demir’s Peer Review
Peer reviewers: Dr. Claudia Núñez-Pacheco & Dr. Michaela Honauer
12.00–14.00 Break for Lunch
14.00–15.30 Nesli Hazal Oktay’s Peer Review
Peer reviewers: Dr. Oscar Tomico & Dr. Verena Fuchsber

4th year PhD student Arife Dila Demir will present her third design case study titled Pain Creature.

Dila is working in the fields of interactive textiles, somaesthetics, soma design and embodied engagements. In her doctoral studies, she explores how interactive wearable textiles can facilitate the somaesthetic awareness (bodily sensory awareness) of bodily discomforts. She defines bodily discomforts as embodied events that disrupt the everyday flow of the bodies such as migraine, fibromyalgia, depression or chronic pain and in her project she specifically works with musculoskeletal chronic pain. In her third case study titled Pain Creature she explores how may soma extensions (interactive wearables that mediate sound-motion-touch interactions) be designed to address the changing needs of the bodies in chronic pain? In doing so, Dila designed Pain Creature informed by the different reflections of her chronic pain experience. The artifact consists of five components that represent the five qualities of chronic pain with different visual, sonic and touch expressions. In her third case study, she lived with Pain Creature interacting with it whenever she needed without any time restrictions. As a result, three notions emerged to be considered when designing for temporal bodily experiences. These are 1) moving through pains, 2) listening to pains and 3) thinking with pains. In her third peer review event, Dila will present the design and making process of Pain Creature as well as the results of her study.

Reviewers:
Dr. Claudia Nuñez-Pacheco, KTH, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
Dr. Michaela Honauer, Universiteit Twente, the Netherlands
Supervisors:
Dr. Nithikul Nimkulrat, OCAD University, Canada
Dr. Kristi Kuusk, Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonia

3rd year PhD student Nesli Hazal Oktay will present her second design case study titled Intimacy with Far-away Bodies.

Nesli is working in the fields of interaction design, intimacy, and embodied engagements. In her doctoral studies, she designs close-to-body engagements for people who are close by heart but physically apart. Our bodies can play a significant role in maintaining and nourishing intimacy. In remote connections, the bodies are geographically separated, so intimacy is experienced remotely without shared physicality of the bodies. In this light, Nesli’s explores in which ways close-to-body engagements extend the sense of intimacy in remote connections. More specifically in her second design case study titled Intimacy with Far-away Bodies, Nesli supports the access to the felt experiences of people who experience remote intimacy. She illustrates her design research exploration from her remote intimacy experiences that are grounded within her-sense making attempts as a daughter and a designer. Intimacy with Far-away Bodies unfolds in three phases: i) transforming agar, glycerin, and water into rings with her father; ii) wearing the ring in their everyday lives; and iii) stumbling upon data. Stumbling upon data is the result of eliciting their first-and-second person felt experiences of phases one (i) and two (ii) through photography, self-reporting and interview. In her second peer review event, Nesli will present the design process and findings of Intimacy with Far-away Bodies as well as the plans for her third case.

Reviewers:
Dr. Oscar Tomico, ELISAVA School of Design and Engineering, Spain & 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

The Video Works Screening is a new programming initiative to bridge student artists from all EKA departments and create community-based social events. 

We value experimentation, works-in-progress, finished work, documentary, and animations. Any ideas that encourage new techniques and perspectives are welcomed. 

We are accepting films that are under 5 minutes in duration*. Deadline for submissions is no later than Wednesday, February 22. Submissions will not be juried and we hope all videos that fit within the submission guidelines will be screened. Screening time will be given to the earliest received submissions so please apply as soon as possible!

Link to application Open Call – Video Works Screening: Uus Rada Open Call Application: Video Works Screening

You can email us for more details or questions at uusrada@artun.ee or on our instagram @uusrada 

Group exhibition “CONTACT LINE” at Stockmann Gallery, 5th floor
16.02.–16.04.2023

Exhibition opening February 16, 6 p.m.

“CONTACT—LINE” is a group exhibition that combines the latest works of painting, ceramics, fashion and blacksmithing students of the Estonian Academy of Arts, as well as their artistic practices and techniques. On the gallery space on the fifth floor of Stockmann, students’ works that have not been widely exhibited before will visually come into contact with each other. The exhibition features works inspired by nature, the urban environment, as well as the memories and feelings of each artist.

Paint and canvas are materials with which one deals with feeling and interpreting one’s inner world and the world around one. The personal narratives, emotional experiences and states of mind that provided the material for the paintings leave enough room for interpretation for the viewer. Serene by nature, ceramic works and utensils give one of the oldest art forms a modern presentation opportunity. In the core of the Stockmann Gallery, you can find sets assembled from different collections of the fashion student who creates parallels with nature and the works of two metal artists add vigor to the exhibition.

Exhibition curators:
Cristopher Siniväli, Santa Zukker

EKA artists participating in the exhibition:
Karola Ainsar, Margus Elizarov, Maria Hindreko, Sander Karjus, Paavo Kuldkepp, Daria Kylm, Lilian Maasik, Rebecca Norman, Visa Eino Eduard Nurmi, Valerija Oja, Valeria Poljakova, Karl-Christoph Rebane, Maria Elise Remme, Marion Saarik, Siret Schutting, Cristopher Siniväli, Helena Tääker, Marta Vikentjeva, Anna-Liisa Villmann, Elisa Margot Winters, Santa Zukker

Thank you:
Stockmann, ceramics department, painting department and textile department of the Estonian Academy of Arts, Põhjala Brewery 

The works at the exhibition can also be purchased if desired. More detailed information can be requested by writing an email to taakerhelena@gmail.com

Beyond the Blue Yonder

Denisa Štefanigová in collaboration with Johanna Ruukholm and Marleen Suvi, curated by Yilin Ma.

16.02–16.03.2023
Opening: 16.02, 5 pm

In Štefanigová’s Beyond the Blue Yonder exhibition, humans are melting, becoming tides into other creatures to coexist together, in the same body. Culture historian Astrida Neimanis writes on ”Hydrofeminism; Or, On Becoming a Body of Water”, how the space between ourselves and our others are at once as distant as the primaeval sea, yet also closer than our skin. 

Current in Štefanigová’s practice, is the fluidity between human and nonhuman subjects, where no living being is separated nor untouched from others. Like water connecting us all and ensuring we are always in a state of becoming as it travels in our bodies, in Beyond the Blue Yonder Štefanigová’s works are blending into new boundaries. Through works especially made for the exhibition, Beyond the Blue Yonder studies the possibilities of fluidity and fusing into each other, very much like boundless water crashing into itself in our bodies. 

When looking at Štefanigová’s work through connections, you can see how they are formed and how unavoidably they reach out to every corner of our own private lives in good or in bad. Neimanis writes how “Despite the fact that we are all watery bodies, leaking into and sponging off of one another, we resist total dissolution, material annihilation. Or more aptly, we postpone it: ashes to ashes, water to water”; this is evident in Štefanigová’s work where water, air, or anything that bounds us together, works as a communicator between our bodies, connecting us and facilitates bodies into being. Doing so, it shows all the things from the past to the present. Our bodies are holding the past, and simultaneously are on the verge of the future. The space of constant becoming that is trying to find its own, but without the naivety of being born again. 

There is also something queer about the way Štefanigová’s approach to challenge boundaries between human and nonhuman, and everything that sets them apart socially and environmentally. As bell hooks writes ”queer as not who you’re having sex with, that can be a dimension of it, but queer as being about the self that is at odds with everything around it and has to invent and create and find a place to speak and to thrive and to love”. 

Štefanigová’s technique holds water in an important role — from working with acrylics that water controls from how the water dries to the canvas, Štefanigová’s one line technique awakes something watery in the paintings; a reflection, that’s on a constant move. Installing these 31 pieces of paintings next to each other, Štefanigová is creating a wave that flows through the space. 

The exhibition consists of paintings and an installation by Denisa Štefanigová, as well as sculptures by Marleen Suvi. A limited amount of catalogues that examine the exhibition through a dialogue between the artists Denisa Štefanigová and the curator Yilin Ma is designed by Johanna Ruukholm. 

Denisa Štefanigová (she/her) (b.1995) is a Czech artist who mainly works in painting. She recently graduated from the Master’s Program in Contemporary Art at the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA). She also holds a bachelor’s degree from the Technical University, Faculty of Fine Arts (FaVU), during her studies she also attended the Faculty de Bellas Artes in Bilbao. In 2021, Štefanigová was one of the 15 finalists for the Young Painter Award for the Baltic countries. Her recent exhibitions include MO Museum, Vilnius, and Hobusepea, and Hoib Gallery, both in Tallinn. Her works are represented in the KogArt collection based in Hungary and in SYNLAB based in Tallinn. This year, she will have a solo exhibition in Tallinn, Prague, and then one group show with the Hungarian artist Asztrid Csatlós in Brno. 

Marleen Suvi (b. 1998) (she/her)has graduated from the department of painting in the faculty of fine art at the Estonian Academy of Arts (2020) and is currently acquiring a MA degree in the contemporary art program at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Marleen Suvi is examining the interwovenness between the body and the human soul. At the moment she is working with ideas such as whether it is possible to meet yourself, how to let go of your selfishness and what it means to depict yourself in a sexual way. Most of her works are autoportraits. While writing haikus, the artist contemplates empty phrases, which arise from subconsciousness that sometimes seems to belong to someone else. She prefers to work with oil on canvas and glass. Among her recently held exhibitions are ‘‘A Visitor’’ (Hobusepea Gallery, 2022) and ‘‘So That the Body Does not Forget’’ (Vent Space Project Room, 2021). 

Johanna Ruukholm (she/her) (b. 1996) is a graphic designer and artist. She is part of a design duo Jojo&me. Her graphic works vary from websites to illustrated visuals and she enjoys telling stories through characters in colourful and enigmatic worlds. Besides working with a computer and pencils, she creates ceramic sculptures and everyday objects under a brand called Nestworkers. She is also one of the curators of the club event series HoneyCombat, which takes place in Tallinn. 

Yilin Ma (they/them) (b.1995) is a Helsinki based curator and writer, who works in intersections of literature and visual culture with a focus on East-Asian queer diaspora narratives and queer- feminist way of understanding the spaces in between lyrical and material. Currently they are attending The Praxis Master’s Programme in Exhibition Studies at The University of Arts in Helsinki. 

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and the Estonian Academy of Arts

Opening drinks by Punch

The international sound-art festival, held every two years at the ARS Art Factory, will showcase sonic creations by various artists. The festival aims to introduce and promote sonic culture through a variety of exhibitions and live performances. The exhibitions, held in three spaces simultaneously, will feature interactive, participatory, perceptual, site-specific, and conceptual pieces.

Artists

Participants in the sound art exhibition of 2023:
Therese Frisk (SE), Kaisa Maasik & Gerda Nurk (EE), Kat Austen (DE/GB), Katrin Enni (EE), Madlen Hirtentreu (EE), Mari-Liis Rebane, Jaanika Arum & Helen Västrik (EE), Taavi Suisalu (EE)

Performing artists:
Sabotanic Garden (FI), Yuri Landmann (NL), Simonas Nekrošius (LT), THRVS (Matthias Kampf, AT), Sister Clara (IT), Katrin Enni (EE), SSSS (Sten Saarits ja Sven Sosnitski, EE), Mari-Liis Rebane, Jaanika Arum & Helen Västrik (EE), Erik Alalooga (EE), Janno Bergmann (EE)

Programme

Sound Art Exhibition 11 – 18.02.2023. Every day 13:00 – 19:00

Friday 10.02
Sound Art Exhibition opening at 18:00 (Exhibition will remain open 10 – 18.02.2023)
Opening performance/installation at studio 98 by Erik Alalooga & Janno Bergmann

Tuesday 15.02 / Performance night vol. 1
Sister Clara (PT/DE) – ARS Project Space

Friday 17.02 / Performance night vol. 2
SSSS (EE) – Studio 98
Helen Västrik (EE), Jaanika Arum (EE), Mari-Liis Rebane (EE) – ARS Project Space
Katrin Enni (EE) – Studio 53
Simonas Nekrošius (LT) – Studio 98
After event at Burgerbox: Katja Adrikova (EE)

Saturday 18.02 / Performance night vol. 3
Yuri Landmann (NL) – Studio 98
THRVS (Matthias Kampf, AT) – Studio 98
Erik Alalooga (EE) – Studio 53
Sabotanic Garden (FI) – Studio 98
After event at Burgerbox

Organisers: Erik Alalooga, Sten Saarits
Graphic design: Kert Viiart
Installation assist: Ian Simon Märjama

The Festival is supported by Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Artists’ Association, ARS Art Factory

On February 9 at 15:00 EKA, the Latvian Academy of Arts and the University of Lapland joint curriculum Service Design Strategies and Innovations (SDSI) online information session.

Event on Facebook

You’ll meet representatives from Latvia, Estonia and Finland who will be answering your questions.

Admission is open until February 28.

Online applications are submitted through Dreamapply: https://apply.sdsi.ma/

More information on the program and admission is on our webpage: https://www.sdsi.ma/

For any urgent matters, you are welcome to contact us via email at info@sdsi.ma or messenger chat.

Berit Kaschan will lead a thematic writing course for three times at Maret Sarapu’s exhibition ‘Free and Held’.

The workshop is available for preregistration and will take place on three consecutive Tuesdays – 14.02, 21.02. ja 28.02. kell 18.00–20.00.

Please register for the course by filling the form on the previous Sunday prior to the course at the latest. The participation fee is 10 euros. The group size is limited to 10 participants. The workshop is held in Estonian.

Berit Kaschan will lead a thematic writing course for three times at Maret Sarapu’s exhibition ‘Free and Held’.

The workshop is available for preregistration and will take place on three consecutive Tuesdays – 14.02, 21.02. ja 28.02. kell 18.00–20.00.

Please register for the course by filling the form on the previous Sunday prior to the course at the latest. The participation fee is 10 euros. The group size is limited to 10 participants. The workshop is held in Estonian.

Berit Kaschan will lead a thematic writing course for three times at Maret Sarapu’s exhibition ‘Free and Held’.

The workshop is available for preregistration and will take place on three consecutive Tuesdays – 14.02, 21.02. ja 28.02. kell 18.00–20.00.

Please register for the course by filling the form on the previous Sunday prior to the course at the latest. The participation fee is 10 euros. The group size is limited to 10 participants. The workshop is held in Estonian.