Kertu Rannula “Snapchat dystoopia”

KERTU RANNULA
“SNAPCHAT DYSTOOPIA”
12/06/2022 – 16/07/2022

Kanal gallery

While analyzing the essence of social media’s beauty filters, the relation between the filter and the user is under observation – is a beauty filter a sticky parasite who is made to be a part of the system, which splits our self-image and profits from our insecurities, or is it a symbiosis, where a filter is soon becoming a part of our daily beauty routine?

When Photoshop or 3D-technologies are still mainly for the tech-savvy, beauty filters that circulate on all social media platforms, allow self-modification with only a single touch. From pure entertainment to a powerful tool, filters have made manipulating with our reality easier than ever before.

Filters, that distort faces and bodies, are widely spread in typical social media users but also within famous influencers. In China, even posting an unedited photo of a friend, is considered a violation of the social norm; and going to a plastic surgeon with an edited selfie has become so frequent that this state of mind has led to a new termin called “Snapchat dysmorphia”.

In the background of the blurred lines of real and virtual world, the exhibition addresses the affect that social media filters have on our daily lives and behaviour.

The centre that connects the installative works together is the artist’s own face. The face has become a moldable material which transforms through different mediums. Visitors are invited to step into an alternative reality, where the bodily roles of the human and the filter have been reversed in the exhibition room.

Kertu Rannula (b. 1997) lives and works in Tallinn. Through site specific photo- and video installations, she is researching the relationships, signs and symbols of the contemporary human and culture. Rannula holds a Bachelor’s degree in photography from the Estonian Academy of Arts. She has also studied liberal arts in Iceland University of the Arts and sculpture and installation in Belgium PXL University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Rannula has participated in shows in Estonia and abroad. In 2020, she took part of ISSP Riga Residency.

Graphic designer: Henri Kutsar

Supporters: Estonian Cultural Endowment, Võru city

Thanks: Alari Toomsalu, Siim Asmer, Ago Paabusk, Kairit Onno

KANAL GALLERY
Thu–Sat 12–18
www.liivaate.ee
Facebook, Instagram @kanalgalerii

More information:
Stella Mõttus
Kanal Gallery’s gallerist
stella.mottus@gmail.com
+372 55 999 609

VENT SPACE Art fair +  Summer Market 6-10 July, Tallinn. Register now!

The event is open for everyone, who wishes to participate. International applicants are also very welcome (works for the Art Fair can be received by post)!

Opportunity to participate in one or both events. Participation possible by registration and filling a form in Drive until June, 20, 2022.

Photos and works should be submitted by mail until July, 1st (details explained in the rules). No comission applied. All sales revert to the artists.

SCHEDULE

Art Fair 6-10 JULY – submit 2-10 works. All works with the price of 15 EUR per piece.

Summer market 9-10 JULY – Bring and sell your art/craft/design/creation.

Location: 
Vabaduse väljak 6-8, 10146 Tallinn.

Registration

More info

See you at the ART FAIR SUMMER MARKET!

Team Vent Space 

Performance “PROTOPOPO POFORMANCOEPOST“ by Gelatin
28.06 at 7 pm
EKA Gallery, Kotzebue 1

Join us for the event “PROTOPOPO POFORMANCOEPOST“ by the legendary performers of the contemporary artists’ group Gelatin! 

You are warmly welcome to witness live stage activities around the topics of physical, subliminal and abstract proximity; on nearness, warmth, propinquity, peculiar behaviour and distance in general. The performance is an outcome of a three-day workshop given by Gelatin with six EKA students.

The group comprises the artists Ali Janka, Florian Reither, Tobias Urban, and Wolfgang Gantner, who first met at summer camp in 1978. They formed Gelatin in the 1990s in Vienna, Austria, and began exhibiting internationally in 1993.

Characterized by disparate yet unifying backgrounds, Gelatin perform their practice at the fragile crossroads of humour, spontaneity, childlike naiveté, and blatant sexuality, which has given rise to their over-the-top performances and visually enticing work. Anticipating relational aesthetics, Gelatin plays with audience participation and collaboration as a central tenet of their oeuvre. Attitudes become form, and viewers are invited to join in, defying routine behaviour while enjoying art from a new perspective.

www.gelitin.net

Supported by Estonian Cultural Endowment, Erasmus

Riin Maide’s personal exhibition “It’s Like I Barely See” in Hobusepea gallery. Exhibition will be open until June 27, 2022.

Windows covered by transparent plastic and scaffolding are normally the signs of something new or fresh arriving soon in an urban environment. Similarly to curtains, these elements denote certain anticipation and will be forgotten when they open up new views.

“It’s Like I Barely See” is pays homage to forgotten architecture. While depicting fragile phenomena in urban space, such as framework and construction, the artist attempts to stretch the temporary into something endless.

Riin Maide (b. 1997) lives and works in Tallinn. Through playful installations and staged environments Maide studies the themes of memory and presence. In Riin Maide’s artwork, the emphasis lies on site-specific art, ephemerality and graphic image. As an artist, curator and performer, Maide has participated in exhibition and performance art projects both in Estonia and abroad. She has obtained BA degree in the department of graphic art at the Estonian Academy of Arts and taken additional courses in the department of scenography, faculty of alternative and puppet theatre in DAMU, Prague. In 2020, Maide received the Young Artist Award of the Estonian Academy of Arts and Edmund Valtman grant.

The artist expresses her gratitude to: Rain Kilkson, Cristo Madissoo, department of graphic art at the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

Exhibitions in Hobusepea gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Ministry of Culture and Liviko Ltd.

Cirrus Intensive on the coastline of Saaremaa Island 16-20 August, 2022 

Start your Autumn semester with a 5-day intensive on how to incorporate the principles of ecology and living system thinking into bio-integrated and -informed design processes. 

Coinciding with the season of seaweed foraging in Estonia, the intensive is embedded within the biosphere of Saaremaa Island, where algae and algae-derived materials can be explored in the broadest sense – from open-ended design speculation to hands-on craftsmanship. 

Upon completion of the intensive, you will: 

– have an overview of the emerging technologies in algae biology, biomass production, cultivation, harvesting, and extraction (on the example of a local seaweed industry and farm; 

– understand the impacts of their (design) decisions into the environment and the society; 

– be able to derive material-specific concepts and applications for algal biomasses. 

Part of a semester-long course originally developed as a MA-level studio at the Faculty of Design at Academy of Arts, Bio-integrated Design is co-led by the designers’ collective Studio Aine (Kärt Ojavee, Annika Kaldoja, Marie Vihmar), and equals to 3 ECTS. 

Applications to the intensive will be accepted on a rolling basis until 27 June 2022 (23:59 GMT+3). The number of IC participants is limited. 

No previous field knowledge is required. 

Participants´ travel and accommodation costs will be covered by the Nordic-Baltic network of Art and Design – Cirrus.

To apply for the intensive, please follow the link here

Opening of the exhibition Self-Portrait as a Dancer and a Revolutionary by Brit Pavelson and Cloe Jancis at Võru Showcase

The opening of the duo show entitled Self-Portrait as a Dancer and a Revolutionary by Brit Pavelson and Cloe Jancis will take place on 11 June at 5 pm at Võru Showcase. The exhibition playfully addresses topics such as women’s everyday roles and the spaces in which these roles are expressed. What are the roles that permeate through the definition of a parent, a partner and an artist? How can we best cope with the emotional states that different roles make us feel? Which domestic practices are considered “feminine” and what is their social or artistic value?

The title of the exhibition refers to a false citation by the anarchist activist, feminist, writer and teacher Emma Goldman (1869–1940), which has achieved mythical status today: “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” The sentence refers to Goldman’s reaction when she was criticised for dancing joyfully at parties, arguing that agitators should not engage in such frivolous activities. Goldman’s quote is eloquent because many phenomena or common practices are still today called “feminine,” which aims to deem them of lower value. Following Goldman’s example, contemporary women’s rights activists should not choose between dancing and revolution, everyday joys and political activism, but they should instead find individual ways to intertwine these worlds, empower themselves and others, and shift values.

Curators: Brigit Arop and Sigrid Liira
Graphic design: Elisabeth Juusu

A bus starting from Tallinn and stopping also in Tartu will come to Võru on 12th of June. More info here (only in Estonian unfortunately).

The exhibition takes place in three cities during 2022, starting at the Galerie Showcase (Place aux Herbes, 38000) in Grenoble, France. In summer, the exhibition will arrive in Tallinn and Võru, Estonia.

The exhibition is open 24/7 and will remain open until 7 July.v Event on Facebook

Sponsors: The Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Võru City, Võru rannabangalo
Special thanks: Camille Laurelli, Laura Kuusk, Koit Randmäe, Silver Marge

Contact for information:
Brigit Arop
curator
+372 5621 6259
brigit.arop@artun.ee

The ESA Conference 2022 is to be held on 28–30 June 2022 at Estonian Academy of Arts (Põhja puiestee 7) in Tallinn. 

The keynote speakers:

Professor Emmanuel Alloa (University of Fribourg)

Professor Pauline von Bonsdorff (University of Jyväskylä)

Professor Virve Sarapik (Estonian Academy of Arts)

Info

Silence After Early Hours
(first-ever) EKA GD MA Graduation Show
4–11 June 2022, 1–7pm

Do you know the feeling? The feeling you have after leaving a long and eventful party minutes after the sunrise? The feeling of sneaking to the door past drunken animals and sleeping unfortunates, the feeling of smoke-filled air and a sticky floor that by now looks almost glazed in a varnish of liquor. The feeling of opening the doors and getting slammed in the face by a blinding ray of sunshine, the feeling of the first lungful breath you take, and being almost surprised the air can smell so good. the feeling of guilt as you stumble and hobble, shuffle, and dodder your way home as others have just woken up and are in a fast-paced manner gracefully heading to work? That’s now, we are leaving and returning to the places and lives we left behind. An exhausting end before a new beginning or the silence after early hours.

Vernissage: June 3, 6:30–9 pm
Finissage: June 11, 9 pm–midnight

Class of 2022
Alejandro Bellón Ample, Louise Borinski, Aleksandrs Breže, Paula Buškevica, Björn Giesecke, Otso Peräsaari, Diandra Rebase, Katarina Sarap

Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn
MA in Graphic Design

The exhibition “The Seaweed Ceremony” will be opened on June 3 at 7 pm in Tallinn, at the Sepikoja Gallery of Põhjala Factory (Marati 5).

The exhibition “The Seaweed Ceremony” focuses on the aquatic environment and seaweed species, which are an integral part of this fragile ecosystem. Combining existing knowledge of aquatic organisms with design research, the exhibition treats seaweed caringly and respectfully, through ritual-like gestures. In this way, students from the universities of Iceland, Finland and Estonia show works based on the local context in the “The Seaweed Ceremony”, which reflect on the symbiotic interaction of man and the environment – the post-anthropocentric symbioscene.

“The Seaweed Ceremony” focuses on the conscious design approach that seaweed as an underused but highly economically exploited bioresource, with the aim of reaching both for the development of renewable bioresources and for their industrialization.

In the last decade, seaweed has been explored as a potential resource for new materials. Seaweed is also known as “green gold”, the biofuel of the future and an alternative to animal protein on the human food plate. In order for these high expectations to be realized in the long run, we need a radical change in our way of thinking, learning from the mysterious mechanisms of the water world and the combinations of different species, moving towards a restorative, supportive and nourishing model.

Julia Lohmann, professor and multidisciplinary designer at Aalto University, writes: “Seaweed becomes more than just a resource, but also our method and muse”.

Seaweed, a large heterogeneous group of organisms capable of photosynthetic activity in seawater, are considered to be the most untapped bioresource. The DiMa Sustainable Design Laboratory of the Estonian Academy of Arts has been dealing with local seaweed as one of its focus topics since 2015. The local seaweed has been tested as a raw material for the production of various bioplastics, as a nutrient-rich food as well as as a possible wastewater-draining biomass.

Rainforests of the North

Students from universities participating in the exhibition:

Aalto University

Aura Latva-Somppi, Élise Piquemal, Elsa Tölli, Nina Naveršnik, Zoë Robertson, Vihar Kotecha

Listaháskóli Íslands

Arngrímur Guðmundsson, Birna Sísí Jóhannsdóttir, Bryndís Magnúsdóttir, Elín Dagný Kristinsdóttir, Emma Kristina A. Herrera, Helgi Jóhannsson, Jón Sölvi Walderhaug Eiríksson, Marsibil Sól Þ. Blöndal, Mekkín Guðmundsdóttir, Salóme Bregt Hollanders

Estonian Academy of Arts

Cärol Ott, Indre Spitryte, Karl-Christoph Rebane, Karolin Kärm, Katarina Kruus, Kristiina Jeromans, Marion Laev

Supervisors:

Aalto University

Anna van der Lei, Julia Lohmann

ListahAskóli Íslands

Tinna Gunnarsdottir, Rúna Thors, Lee Lorenzo Lynch, Agnar Jón Egilsson, Johanna Seelemann

Estonian Academy of Arts

Annika Kaldoja, Kärt Ojavee

Elisabeth Perk and Roger Matthias Laas, 2nd year students of EKA Interior Architecture, designed the design of the exhibition and the complete solution of the space. The course was supervised by Kaisa Sööt and Adam Kaarma.

The exhibition is open from 04.06 to 15.06.2022

Mon-Fri 10.00–17.00; Sat-Sun 12.00–17-00

Põhjala Factory Sepikoja Gallery (Marati 5)

The exhibition is supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment’s Architecture Endowment and the Nordic Council of Ministers

post-gallery.online

Opening: 25/05/22 6pm (EET)
Open until: 26/07/22

First, find yourself a comfortable place to relax and close your eyes. Take a deep breath through your nose, hold it for a moment, and then exhale slowly through your mouth. As you relax, try to focus on easing the tension in your body. Feel it leaving as you breathe out. Now, try to allow yourself to imagine a safe space. What is it like? What is the first location that comes to your mind? Maybe it’s a quiet field or a room full of kittens. As you meditate, you can envision and move through it. This can be a little challenging at first, but once you perfect it, going to your safe space can become a calming routine. No one can enter without your permission. This is where you can feel protected. As you come back, you can perfect it to your taste and allow it to shape as you see fit. Picture the tiniest details. What can you hear? How do all the different textures feel? Do you notice any smells? Allow yourself to relax as you breathe in and out. Remember that you can leave any time. You are in control.

A mental safe space or mind sanctuary is a cerebral location that you envision to boost your meditation or to reduce stress. Generally, the term safe space refers to a space created for marginalized people to come together and share their experiences with oppression. It can also indicate that the space has zero tolerance for violence, hate speech and harassment.

“Your brain is a bedroom” is a project that explores the idea of a safe space. This space was first created in 2020 when, in the middle of the pandemic, the artist Maria Izabella Lehtsaar started questioning the safety of one’s home. How does one cope in an unsafe environment and how to make it as secure as possible? Lehtsaar found we can mostly create it through online spaces and the mental safe space exercise. In that sense, we can consider the closet metaphor a notional space to keep one’s identity hidden for safety reasons because of social condemnation. In this version of a safe space, you can relax and play dress up.

post-gallery.online exhibitions are supported by Cultural Endowment of Estonia

Maria Izabella Lehtsaar is an artist based in Tallinn, who works primarily with queer experience and mental health topics, often playing with the fine line between reality and fantasy. Their works and motifs are at times modest, loud and captivating. In their work they blend pop culture aesthetics and sensitive black-and-white graphics, combining them in practice with textiles, drawing and text.

Lehtsaar is currently studying for a Master’s degree in contemporary art at the Estonian Academy of Arts, and has graduated with a bachelor’s degree in printmaking in 2020. Their recent exhibitions include the The Youth Exhibition of 18th Tallinn Print Triennial “SLOW MANOEUVRES”, 2022 (EKKM, curated by Riin Maide and Brit Kikas) and “Resemblance Through Contact. Grammar of Imprint”, 2020 (Tartu Art House and EKA Gallery, curated by Liina Siib and Maria Erikson). Lehtsaar was awarded the Edmund Valtman Fund scholarship of 2021.