Public lecture: Dan Dubowitz: Cultural Masterplanning

The Estonian Academy of Arts will organize its 2026 workshop “Abandoned Landscapes” in Tallinn from 19 to 22 January, with the City Hall as the focus.

The aim of the workshop, which is already being held for the 14th time, is to practice international cooperation between students of architecture, heritage conservation and interior architecture, and to understand the needs and opportunities for preserving and using local heritage. This year, the workshop will be held in collaboration with lecturers and students of the Manchester School of Architecture (MSA).

On Tuesday, January 20 at 5 pm, Dan Dubowitz will give a public lecture in the EKA auditorium: Cultural Masterplanning.

Dan Dubowitz, Visiting Professor from Manchester School of Architecture, will introduce his celebrated work on Cultural Masterplanning, which has been developing new methods for engaging people earlier and better in the transformation of their city across the UK. He will introduce his current research project, Megalomania, which includes sites in Estonia (Naissaare and Hiiumaa), the Helsinki Archipelago, Latvia (Karosta) and Lithuania (Visiginas).

This lecture is the inaugural event of a new research and public pedagogy collaboration between MSA and EKA to investigate how mobile architectural methods, such as walking and talking after dark, choreographic things and slow photography can give voice and awaken a building with narcolepsy.

Several events open to the public will also take place as part of the workshop. All interested parties are welcome to attend for free.

• Wednesday, January 21st at 5 pm, Ingel Vaikla’s documentary “The Housekeeper” (2015) will be screened in the EKA auditorium.
• On Thursday, January 22nd at 5 pm at lobby stairs, student groups will present their short films about Linnahall made during the week.

You are warmly invited to the opening of the exhibition Imprint of Vulnerability on Friday, 16 January at 6 pm at Tallinn City Gallery.
 
The joint exhibition by Mari Männa and Maria Erikson approaches material as an active participant. Fragility and delicacy operate here as working methods: form emerges through cracking, breaking, and acts of care. Drying, deformation, and the formation of imprints are not deviations or failures, but part of a process through which material remembers, transforms, and shapes its own rhythm. The exhibition is curated by Madli Ljutjuk.
 
“Imprint of Vulnerability approaches fertility beyond biological or gender-defined terms. Here, fertility is understood as an existential condition: the capacity to change, to be receptive, and to remain within uncertainty. The exhibition invites viewers to experience fragility and delicacy not as weakness, but as sources of vitality and renewal, fostering a sense of connection to a bodily, cyclical understanding of life,” explains curator Madli Ljutjuk.
Working together for the first time, the artists approach the same question from different angles. In Männa’s works, a logic of emergence unfolds: the world is born from disintegration and transitional states in which life has not yet settled into its final form. Erikson begins with the wound – the moment when a surface is opened and forced to remember. For both artists, form is not an end point but a temporary condition, something still in the process of becoming.
 
Through sculptural and printmaking processes, the exhibition reveals how form emerges where something is broken or unfinished. Cracking, drying, imprinting, and deformation do not signify rupture, but a generative dynamic. The exhibition speaks of two modes of becoming – emergence and the wound – as different manifestations of the same process.
 
The exhibition is set against a world in which fixed boundaries are dissolving. The human no longer stands at the centre, but exists as one participant among bodies and materials in an entangled network. In such a world, fertility becomes receptivity – the ability to remain open even when the outcome is uncertain. Imprint of Vulnerability invites us to slow down and notice how life emerges precisely through interruption.
 
The exhibition will remain open until 5 April 2026.

12 Jan – 28 Feb 2026

In the exhibition “Gouaches and Other Graphic Notes,” animator-trained artist Francesco Rosso translates the technological world into a dreamlike, deeply self-reflective inner universe. The world he depicts is guided by disciplined meditation, manual control, and a far-reaching perspective that traces paths laid down by both his predecessors and future generations.

The Estonian Academy of Arts Library, with its atmosphere dense with thought, provides a safe and fitting environment for materials that are intimate by nature. The exhibition’s miniature format is introduced by an electromechanics study cheat sheet from the artist’s personal archive, dating back to his secondary school years. As a coping mechanism while obtaining the field of study, Rosso cultivated meticulous graphic models and writings to break through the curriculum.

Building on this experience, he developed a refined visual handwriting which, across twenty years of diary entries, forms a kind of knitted fabric. Alongside drawings depicting metaphysical matter on the pages of his diaries, he transforms the mental and physical notes of everyday life into visual material that becomes the seed for new techniques.

The gouache paintings in this exhibition serve as a means of testing ideas and developing seriality. Working with material for an animation film currently in progress, Rosso depicts environments gathered during expeditions through human-shaped landscapes. In these paintings, he addresses the accountability in transforming our living environment, the new sensations that accompany it, and its impact on our perception of the world.

Francesco Rosso’s solo exhibition “Gouaches and Other Graphic Notes” at the Estonian Academy of Arts Library presents works created since 2023 that have not previously been publicly exhibited. It is an exhibition that places time-resistant manual skills at its centre, within a context increasingly saturated with automated means of production. The exhibition is curated by Marika Agu from the Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art.

More information:


Rene Mäe


EKA Library

Francesco Rosso (b. 1987) is an animator and artist living and working in Tallinn. His practice explores the mental and physical aspects of everyday life, transforming them into visual material. Rosso devotes a great deal of time to hand-made animation and detailed drawing. He merges animated material with filmed footage collected during exploratory journeys in urban and natural environments. Over the past decade, Rosso has worked across numerous artistic fields, including illustration, film, analogue photography, painting, printmaking, poetry, video art, and various animation techniques. His short animated films have been shown to international audiences, including at festivals in Clermont-Ferrand, Hiroshima, L’Étrange, Hamburg, Seoul, Interfilm, and the Encounters Short Film Festival.

Marika Agu (b. 1989) is a curator and archive project manager at the Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art. Having studied semiotics, art theory, and library and information science, her curatorial practice focuses on creative work with archives, emphasising site- and time-specificity, interdisciplinarity, and symbolic as well as material shifts in the creation and perception of contemporary art. In addition to her curatorial work, Agu publishes articles in both Estonian and international outlets and works as a lecturer at the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Liisa Nurklik
WANDERING
Second floor of EKA Gallery 9.01.–15.02.2026
Open Tue–Sat 12–6 pm Sun 12–4 pm, free entry
Opening: Thursday, January 8 at 6 pm

Liisa Nurklik’s solo exhibition “Wandering” reflects on abstract painting and the accompanying desire to wander over a prolonged period of time. Explorations of color and surface allow one tone to smoothly shift into another; directions moving one way meet those moving oppositely. Playing with the boring of simplicity evokes a possibility for the painting to be longer looked at, lost and gradually rediscovered.

Liisa Nurklik is currently a third-year student of painting at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Her first solo exhibition “If I Were-a-Person” took place in the Showcase Gallery of the EKA library in the fall of 2025 and presented the viewer with a series of drawings made with charcoal, pastel and pencil, depicting various creatures and objects, skin and hair, and focused primarily on evoking a sense of the uncanny.

Exhibition texts by: Kirke Kits
Graphic design by: Sunny Lei
Technical support by: Ats Kruusing
The exhibitions at EKA Gallery are supported by the Sadolin Estonia.
Opening drinks from mirai™ and Põhjala Brewery.

WE NEED MORE INDOOR SPACES
Ground floor of EKA Gallery 9.01.–15.02.2026
Open Tue–Sat 12–6 pm Sun 12–4 pm, free entry
Opening: Thursday, January 8 at 6 pm

The group exhibition “We Need More Indoor Spaces” is catalysed by the moving process of Krulli Skate Hall, bringing together local and international artists from Tallinn’s skateboard scene, framing skateboarding as an art form. The makers of the exhibition want to draw attention to the availability of indoor skate parks in the inner city, in the hopes of opening more spaces for skaters.

Jaagup Mägi and Éric-Olivier Thériault, two artists studying installation and sculpture at the Estonian Academy of Arts, came together with the idea of temporarily transforming the gallery space into a gathering hub in honour of the perseverant local skateboarding culture. Working within the constraints of the gallery, their aim is to demonstrate how skateboarding, as an artistic practice, parallels contemporary art in many ways: through experimentation, resilience, and a strong DIY ethos. The exhibition seeks to channel that energy into a broader conversation: What could happen if greater awareness of indoor skateparks was fostered? If these creative environments built by skateboarders for skateboarders were more actively supported?

As part of the exhibition, in collaboration with the interactive video game museum LVLup! and Camille Laurelli, there will be an opportunity to play skateboarding-themed video games in the video box area of ​​the EKA Gallery during the opening times of the gallery.

You are welcome to ride the course with your personal skateboard at your own risk until February 11 on Wednesdays from 6 to 9 pm and Sundays from 4 to 8 pm.

Artists: Frank Abner, Nicolas Bouvy, Maik Grüner, Daniil Južaninov, Andrew Kuus-Hill, Kaisa Maasik, Jaagup Mägi, Reigo Nahksepp, Éric-Olivier Thériault, Raul Ulberg
Curators: Jaagup Mägi & Éric-Olivier Thériault
Graphic design: Sunny Lei
Technical support: Ats Kruusing
The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and Sadolin Estonia.
Opening drinks from mirai™ and Põhjala Brewery.

On 9 January, from 15:30 to 17:00, Kadri Liis Rääk will have her third peer-reviewed event as a part of her doctoral studies with the creative project “The artist’s body as a sensory threshold” at the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA), in room A202.

The peer-reviewers of the exhibition are Laura Põld and prof Esa Kirkkopelto.

The doctoral supervisor is dr Liina Unt.

Kadri Liis Rääk’s research is situated at the intersection of expanded scenography and speculative practices, offering an in-depth exploration of touch, affective attunement, and body–space relations. The third creative project, “The artist’s body as a sensory threshold”, focuses on embodied and sensory experience as a means of knowledge production within artistic practice.

The creative project unfolds the artist-researcher’s process through a heuristic unpacking presented in the form of a video journey. Rather than documenting a finished artwork, the video makes the movement of the research visible: introspective thought processes, forms of attunement shaped by neurodivergence, and the dynamic interplay between discovery and failure. At the core of the project is the artist’s performative withdrawal into a natural environment. The collapse of initial plans shifted the focus from expectation to the investigative activity itself, transforming the artist’s body into a sensory threshold where material-based making and spatial engagement converge. This approach places the creative process at the methodological centre, where negotiation with materials and sustained presence in a liminal in-between state give rise to unique, immediate forms of embodied knowledge.

On 9 January at 13.00 the peer-review event of Aman Asif’s exhibition Algal Phycosphere, will take place in EKA Valge maja, material lab. Exhibition is part of Asif’s practice-based doctoral thesis.

Supervisor. Kärt Ojavee
Reviewers: Marie Vihmar and Julia Lohmann

Aman Asif is an interdisciplinary designer and PhD-researcher interested in sustainable design practices that cultivate ecological wellbeing. The exhibition Algal Phycosphere marks the first peer review of her doctoral research.

Phycosphere frames the event as an inquiry into algal-centred relations. Asif’s research explores creative design practice as sites for attuning to microbial others. The works presented here emerge from her practice-led research, developed through ongoing encounters with algal in her home, the laboratory, and coastal environments in Tallinn. The exhibition includes material-led experiments and hand-crafted artifacts, as well as sensory probes developed in relation to algal.

Through this research, Asif traces a process in which meeting another living microbial presence reshapes how design is practised, and how relational negotiations at this scale can inform the values and conditions of designing amid concerns for ecological wellbeing.

Acknowledgements

Aman Asif would like to thank the many human and more-than-human collaborators who made this work possible.

She would like to thank Kärt Ojavee and Valentina Guccini for their guidance and sustained support.

She is grateful to Rameez Husnain, Pia Lindberg, Kim Janssen, Jaakko Kokko, Anjali VIjayan, Nashwa Attallah, Ero Kontturi and Sarvin Sefatyar for their collaboration and generosity at various stages of the work. Special thanks to Rando Tuvikene and his team at Tallinn University (TLU) for providing space, access, and support during the early stages of this research.

She would also like to acknowledge her colleagues Maria Kapajeva, Joanna Kalm, and the members of the EKA PhD cohort for feedback and shared thinking.

Finally, she would like to thank her family: Asif Latif Lone, Saima Asif, Shehryar Asif, and Danish Lone for always supporting her wellbeing and endless curiosities.

Photo credits: Sarvin Sefatyar

Exhibition “Where u at? We in the know”

Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM)

Kursi 5, Tallinn

Mon – Sun 12.01. – 18.01.
13:00 – 19:00

Starting Monday, January 12th, the exhibition “Where u at? We in the know.” will open in the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM). The opening ceremony will take place a day later on Tuesday the 13th of January at 18:00

“Where u at? We in the know.” Meaning we’ve been allowed access to EKKM with it’s three floors. We’ve been offered help and benefits. Enough but not too much. Just enough to ward off fear in these spacious cold rooms.

And we in the know in the sense that we know what’s up. But are we IN the know? We would like to think we are. But who even is IN the know? A contemporary artist should be (by all rights). The president too. And the prime minister. But they have advisors. We don’t. We only have each other and this big cold building. And lots of thoughts. Concerning gender, taboos, underwear, the economy, childhood, hockey and refusal.

Participating artists:

Mari Karjus

Mikk Keis

August Kilmi

Olesja Prants

Rasmus Puksmann

Gen-Horret Rand

Katarina Kuningas

Greta Sauter

Grete Tuiken

Kaur Tõra

Gleb Volodtšenko

Viktoria Weiszova

The EKA Institute of Art History and Visual Culture is part of the Visual Arts in Europe: An Open History (EVA) project that brings together more than 150 art and heritage historians representing the 46 member countries of the Council of Europe. The project is led by an Editorial Board, composed of six European specialists, and supported by the International Association of Research Institutes in the History of Art (RIHA). Its scientific and operational coordination is provided by the Institut national d’histoire de l’art (INHA) in Paris.

Launched in 2019, this scientific and editorial project results in the publication of a digital platform, documenting the history of the visual arts on the European continent, from prehistory to the present day. This platform will be structured around a collection of 475 objects and images, selected in consultation with all of its institutional partners. It is developed within the framework of an international dialogue, remaining attentive to the plurality and richness of scholarly traditions, accessible to all audiences, and providing an account of current research in the discipline of art history.

This seminar will examine the principles that inspired the launch of this project, the methodology used both for the selection of objects and the attribution of associated texts, as well as the challenges encountered during the development of the digital platform. The presentation of the project and platform prototype will be followed by an open discussion with colleagues from the EKA Institute of Art History and Visual Culture, host of this seminar and Estonian project partner. With INHA director Anne-Solène Rolland and project coordinator Margot Sanitas present, the seminar will be an opportunity for all the Estonian representatives to share their reflections on the selection of objects and how the project contributes to reshaping our common history of European visual culture.

Students of EVA Lab, the Experimental Video Games in Art laboratory of the Estonian Academy of Arts New Media Department, present their exhibition in a new gallery space inside the National Library of Estonia. Although the National Library or RaRa building itself will only reopen to the general public in 2027, this exhibition offers an early glimpse into a yet unnamed art space that has not previously existed and is being opened temporarily for this occasion.

*Important! Visits are only possible with a guide. Gathering takes place at the main entrance of RARA at the following times:

17.12 at 17:00, 17:30, 18:00 and 18:30

During the autumn semester, EVA Lab students explore video game and interactive art theory, engaged in conversations with artists and game makers, and were given an optional workshop for learning a game engine to support their development. Through these encounters, students were questioning how video games occupy an enormous role in global popular culture, yet discussions of “games” can still meet a complicated reception within the field of visual arts.

Within art education, students are expected to devote themselves to understanding and critically navigating visual culture. Meanwhile, their personal experiences with gaming often belong to the realms of leisure, hobbies, and everyday play. Activities not always granted the same artistic legitimacy. This tension informs the exhibition’s title, “I’m not playing games, I swear”, a statement that is both slightly defensive and quietly humorous, acknowledging how the vocabulary of games can feel out of place in certain art discourse.

For this exhibition, the supervisors invited students to articulate their own relationships with gaming and game culture. The works on display, spanning interactive and non-interactive formats, transform personal memories, play habits, aesthetic intuitions, and critical reflections into artistic responses that reimagine what games can mean within contemporary art. From introspective narratives to speculative systems, the exhibition presents a variery of approaches to thinking through games as more than pastime.

Rather than insisting that we are not playing, the exhibition asks what becomes possible when play, experimentation, and game culture are allowed to enter artistic practice on their own terms.

Participating artists: Lotta Karoliina Räsänen, Maria Cecilie Wrang-Rasmussen, Irmak Semiz, Sarah Riley, Robert Kapanen, Kimathi Agbanu, Filémon Aufort, Paul Rannik, Triin Mänd, Edward Mcgeorge Allport-Bryson, Rover Indigo Bertels

Supervisors: Camille Laurelli, Sten Saarits

Exhibition is supported by RaRa, EKA, EVA Lab, LVLup! Museum