Ott Kattel “196th Season”

The actors of Lunacharsky Drama Theatre have arrived in Tallinn! Let us introduce: The Christmas Boy, The Knight, Mr. Xavier and The Dog With a Man’s Body. The collage is composed of pictures taken in the 1970s which were found in a former military base.

Group exhibition “Ideations of the World”
Manufaktuuri 7, Uue Loomingu Maja (ULM)

Artists: Alyona Movko-Mägi, Ats Kruusing, Cloe Jancis, Kati Müüripeal, Lara Brener, Laura Liventaal, Maris Paal, Noah Emanuel Morrison, Samuel Lehikoinen, Zody Burke
Curator: Liisi Kõuhkna
Graphic design: Taylor Tex Tehan

Jaan Valsiner (2021) has written, that culture is a part of a person’s relationship with their self and the outside world. Due to psychological limitations, animals have to accept the fact of an experience as they are unable to enrich the experience with meaning. However, people cannot be satisfied with the fact that a bad experience has taken place. They feel the need to make sense of it – to give it meaning. If a car accident is explained as a coincidence, it does not sound too meaningful. By adding karma or sorcery as a justification for the event, one has enriched a personal experience with cultural significance. People are the creators of meanings, and the meanings they create frame their relationships with their surroundings. Art is a delusion, that speaks the truth (Picasso).

Open until 26.05
Sat-Thur 12 am–6 pm 

Installation and technical support: Estonian Fairs Centre, Valge Kuup Studio, Tallinn Art Hall

Artists: 

Laura Liventaal is an Estonian artist and filmmaker, who is interested in physicality, tactility, intimacy and uniqueness of an individual experience. Her work was last exhibited at the EKA Young Sculptor Award Exhibition at ARS Art Factory 17.02-05.03.2022.

Samuel Lehikoinen is on abstract and surreal painter from Finland. His last solo exhibition “Strange questions” took place in Helsinki, Malmitalo Center on 10.02-6.3.2022. His works are depicting dream states and obsessive thought patterns with repetition and sense of materiality.

Maris Paal is a painter, who has graduated from the Painting Department at Pallas University of Applied Sciences and received further education in Greece and Hungary. Her last exhibition with Brita Maripuu “Parallel Potentials” took place in Põhjala Tehas on 17.04-01.05.2022. 

Kati Müüripeal is an Estonian painter, who has participated in several group exhibitions since 2019. In her painting she depicts abstract magical realism. 

Cloe Jancis has studied photography at EKA. Her last exhibition took place at the Riga Photography Biennale on 21.05.2022 , where she represented Estonia with an artist Sigrid Viir.

Zody Burke is an American artist and musician. The last exhibition “Mousetrap. America eats it young ”took place at the DOM Gallery in Riga from 1.04-15.04.2022. In addition, on 17.02.2022 she participated in the EKA Young Sculptor Award Exhibition at the ARS Art Factory and won the silver medal.

Lara Brener is an artist and educator from São Paulo, Brazil. She is interested in building ambiguous narratives and spaces that could incite memories and projections. Her works are developed mostly by experimentations in text, photography, and graphic processes.

Noah Emanuel Morrison is an artist and a professional photographer from New York. The main art mediums used in his work are video, photography and text. He is interested in the topics of gender, nationality and origin, family and race.

Ats Kruusing is a master’s student at EKA, whose main art mediums are painting, photography and video. He participated in the EKA graduation festival TASE21. He is mostly interested in everyday rituals, relationships between space and the individual and modern masculinity and sexuality.

Alyona Movko-Mägi is an audiovisual and video artist studying at EKA. She creates installations and art with mixed media. The artist recreates her perception, revealing the inseparable connection between image and sound. She collaborates with directors, orchestras and theaters and works in the field of new media. 

The curator Liisi Kõuhkna is an art therapist and artist, who has graduated her BA (2014) and MA (2016) in art therapy at Tallinn University. She is currently studying jewellery and blacksmithing, curating in EKA.

Info:
Liisi Kõuhkna
liisi.kouhkna@artun.ee
+56665255 

Exhibition “Notes on Fashion and Gender” on the 4th floor of Estonian Academy of Arts on 14–16 May 2022.

Participants: Karl Martin Kelder, Hedy Kohv, Karolin Kärm, Maria Kristiin Peterson, Jentl Rietdij, Mairo Seire, Sanna Särekanno, Kirke Talu, Liis Tisler, Anni Vallsalu, Dana Lorên Vares

This Saturday, the exhibition Notes on Fashion and Gender, which is outcome of the course Fashion and Gender opens at the 4th floor of Estonian Academy of Arts. 11 students present their works that could be considered floating between the areas of fashion, design and contemporary art. The focus of the course was on fashion as visual communication and as embodied practice: how different embodied practises contribute to the creation and communication of gender and other identity-related categories (age, sexuality, ethnicity, social class), and how the prevailing notions of identity can be challenged. Shoes, a mask, a hat, bags, pants and other objects will be exhibited at the show.

Tutors of the course are Sten Ojavee from Estonian Center for Contemporary Art and Annamari Vänskä from Aalto University. Ojavee and Vänskä first collaboration took place in 2016 in the event VI Artishok biennale which was produced by CCA.

Tutors: Sten Ojavee, Annamari Vänskä (Aalto University)

Exhibition is open until 16 May 2022.

Estonian Academy of Arts, 4^th floor, Sat–Mon 08–23.

Seminar Likeness in Difference. Perspectives on Baltic Regional Art History 

Location: Estonian Academy of Arts, Kumu Art Museum
The working language at the seminar is English.

The seminar jointly organised by Estonian Academy of Arts and the Art Museum of Estonia brings together art researchers and curators from the three Baltic countries. The art history of the Soviet period serves as the point of departure for the seminar.

The regional, comparative, and international focus on an analysis of cultural practices and the respective institutional conditions establishes a basis for presentations on both shared and individual experiences, facilitates studying their causes and backgrounds, and helps to challenge the established narratives that we construct and reproduce about our own art histories and those of others.

The meanings and self-understanding of the Baltics as a geopolitical and cultural region have changed several times throughout history. In the field of culture, the frequent interaction between the three Baltic republics in the Soviet time was replaced by narratives of national independence in the 1990s. Because of the polarised world perception of the Cold War era, the three countries sought to define themselves through these narratives as part of either Eastern Europe or the West. Therefore, their interest in one another and the sense of shared regional characteristics remained in the background for quite some time. Nevertheless, the last few years have witnessed changes in several spheres (of culture), which have served as a launch pad for a more active and productive dialogue.

The two-day seminar has been divided into six panels. Topics vary from photography and studies of the heritage of women artists to analyses of Soviet exhibition activities and experimental art practices. Presentations will also deal with real and imaginary art collectives and pose future-oriented questions about potential trans-Baltic research topics, exhibition projects and new theoretical approaches that provide the necessary framework. The aim is to explore intersections between the participants’ research interests and activities, and to prepare a foundation for future cooperation projects.

‘Likeness in Difference – Perspectives on Baltic Regional Art History’
Digital Thesis PDF

More info + the programme

Event on Facebook

Public play event “Don´t lose, but let loose” will take place on 10th May 18-19 at EKA caffeteria hole (A100). 

And playground is open for the whole day.

This is part of course “Design for play”, which is led by Eva Liisa Kubinyi.

Until we play!

Difficult Pasts. Connected Worlds

With the beginning of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the past has returned in Eastern Europe, changing from something distant into a present-day disaster for millions of people. The invasion that started in 2014 with Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk was often dismissed by the international community, but it has now grown into a situation that is affecting the whole world. This war hits Eastern Europe most alarmingly, reviving many silences, unhealed wounds and unprocessed memories of the totalitarian past.

We are used to thinking about past times through the lens of national histories, with their selective, smoothed and linear narrations, instead of the plural, messy and nonlinear stories shared in daily life. The difficult sides of these histories have often been neglected; instead, comforting stories are told that stress positive narratives and ways of overcoming challenges. This exhibition brings together difficult and often-silenced aspects of pasts that include violent conflicts, traumatic losses and their long-term legacies. The difficult pasts addressed here involve nationalist and communist regimes, recent warfare and histories of colonialism, the uneasy balances between modes of survival and collaboration and the ongoing specificities of post-soviet societies coping with the shadows of the past.

 Difficult Pasts. Connected Worlds includes works by artists from the three Baltic countries, Ukraine, Poland, Finland and the Netherlands. The experiences the works evoke are ones that are often forgotten or ignored, excluded from official histories. Artists included in the exhibition narrate those experiences through individual stories, while evoking broader layers of cultural memory. What is the place of these stories in the present? How could we integrate them in our understanding of history? What do they change in our perception of the world around us? Overcoming local and national borders, the exhibition calls for reflection on the relationships between difficult pasts and their impact today through the perspective of a shared history-opening dialogue, forging connections and foregrounding solidarities between the different difficult histories that are often perceived as incompatible or in competition with each other.

The exhibition was first shown in 2020 at the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga, as part of Communicating Difficult Pasts, an international project which engages with the uncomfortable and often forgotten sides of history in order to understand their influences in the Baltic region and neighboring countries. The project has fostered collaboration and synergy between artists, curators and researchers who seek new approaches and means to study difficult legacies and to overcome their omission. The current exhibition is organized within the framework of the project From Complicated Past Towards Shared Futures, which is a collaboration between the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art in Riga, the National Gallery of Art in Vilnius (Lithuanian National Museum of Art), OFF-Biennale in Budapest, Muzeum Sztuki in Lodz, and Malmö Art Museum. The project seeks to explore and communicate the entanglements of past and present, and is searching for new ways how art and culture can raise awareness of these issues for the wider public and influence current realities.

Curators: Ieva Astahovska, Margaret Tali, Eglė Mikalajūnė

Artists: Anastasia Sosunova, Eléonore de Montesquiou, Jaana Kokko, Laima Kreivytė, Lia Dostlieva & Andrii Dostliev, Matīss Gricmanis & Ona Juciūtė, Quinsy Gario & Mina Ouaouirst, Paulina Pukytė, Ülo Pikkov, Vika Eksta, Zuzanna Hertzberg

Exhibition design: Jonas Žukauskas

Graphic design: Alexey Murashko

Organized by: Latvian Center for Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Art (Lithuanian National Museum of Art)

The project is financed by Lithuanian Council for Culture

Supported by: European Union Programme “Creative Europe”, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Frame Contemporary Art Finland, Nordic Council of Ministers, Mondriaan Fund, Fundermax, Exterus

Media sponsor: lrytas.lt

“Soft Negotiations”
EKA (Estonian Academy Of Arts) Department of Textile Design
25/04/2022–15/05/2022

Vilnius Academy of Arts gallery “Artifex”,  Gaono g.1, Tue to Sun 12.00–18.00

The exhibition presents works by students and teaching staff of the Estonian Academy of Arts that investigate the all-encompassing role of textile design. Besides conventional roles, new hybrid forms emerge, presenting new knowledge in the context of artistic research. Emerging technological approaches are demonstrated, in which textile, interwoven with digital properties or technology at different levels, mediates collaborative processes in design of social interaction.

Just as the warp threads connect the weft, serving as a bridge for each other, this exhibition by the Department of Textile Design invites audiences to ponder the role of textile in today’s and future society. At the exhibition, the department presents contemporary trends that often straddle or meld with the boundaries of other disciplines. That in turn creates a new, multidisciplinary approach where textile can take very different forms: it can convey structure, idea, protest, message, self-expression, pattern or simply colour combination.

The exhibition has three conceptual threads, which intersect each other:
Textile as STATE(MENT)
#critical and conceptual practices
Textile as LAB
#experimental practice #flirting with science #biotextiles #new materials and structures
Textile as WELLBEING
#design that values the environment and well-being #sustainability #recycling #healthcare #social responsibility #therapy

Participants: Frank Abner, Arife Dila Demir, Katrin Kabun, Kadi Kibbermann, Mari-Triin Kirs, Kristi Kuusk + Ana Tajadura-Jiménez (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) + Aleksander Väljamäe (University of Tartu), Krista Leesi, Kille- Ingeri Liivoja + Juulia Aleksandra Mikson, Greth-Ann Loog + Riina Samelselg + Anete Vihm, Nithikul Nimkulrat (OCAD UNIVERSITY), Marin Nooni, Maria Kristiin Peterson, Piret Roos + Liisa Torsus, Zane Shumeiko, Marie Vihmar + Sirje Sasi (TLU), Piret Valk, Varvara & Mar + Sebastian Mealla

Curators: Varvara Guljajeva (HKUST(GZ)), Kristel Laurits, EKA Department of Textile Design
Graphic design: Jesus Rodriguez Santos
Exhibition team: Kristi Kuusk, Varvara Guljajeva, Krista Leesi, Kadi Kibbermann, Piret Valk

Design Conference: Beyond Design
Saturday, June 18, 09:30-17:00 (the schedule coming soon!)
Location: Creative Hub

The European Design Festival Conference 2022 “Beyond Design” addresses the core questions of the future of design and through design, position and responsibilities of the designer through practical workshops, discussions and cross-sectoral future visions.

Through various discussions and case studies the conference seeks answers to the questions such as: How to design a future that is better for all of us? How to control the situations we do not yet know? Will the problems arising today create new meanings and opportunities for design tomorrow? What does digital innovation actually mean, and how does it change us as humans? How to create sustainability in a sustainable way? How to see sustainability not as a constraint but as a great challenge that gives us new opportunities for innovation. On which side of the barricades should a designer stay? Is reconsideration of the ethics of creation a basis for new significance?

The questions will be opened via 3 tracks

1. BEYOND GOVERNANCE. Innovation leads us to the future, and the future makes us innovate. How to govern situations that are in the future and that we have never experienced before? How to consider unforeseen events and uncertainty? How to understand the future of the relationship between people and their governments?

2. DESIGN BEYOND RESISTANCE. Our world is using many comfortable and unsustainable models – social, ecological, economical. How to challenge the status quo – and go beyond mere disruption but design the next solution.

3. DESIGN BEYOND TRANQUILITY. Creating a world for living in meaningful peace of mind – this is the oldest task of design. How to design a future that is better for all of us? Will the problems arising today create new meanings and opportunities for design tomorrow? How to see sustainability not as a constraint but as a great challenge that gives us opportunities for innovation?

The programme and speakers will be announced gradually in the end of April 2022.

The conference will take place on June 18, 09:30-17:00 at Kultuurikatel (Cultural Hub) as a physical event, enabling also some hybrid activities. The conference will be recorded and available for later review.

More info about the conference and THE SPEAKERS

European Design Festival 2022 Tallinn programme and tickets now available!

This year the European Design Festival (ED-Festival) will be held in Tallinn, 17-19 June 2022.

Creative people from all over Europe are expected to take part in the Festival Programme that will also be open to the general public. The Programme includes the Design Conference “Beyond Design”, Workshops, Exhibitions, Design Walks, Design Talks, Studio Crawls and of course, the European Design Awards Ceremony!

The Festival Programme 2022 is being curated by the Estonian Design Centre. The Programme and ticketing are available on the European Design Awards website.

“There were this time over 1 400 submissions to the ED-Awards 2022 Competition. The participants were from 34 different countries – from Lichtenstein to Germany and from Iceland to Turkey, so from big to small, east to west and north to south” says Mr Demetrios Fakinos, the European Design Festival director and added: “The winners will start receiving notifications in the second half of April, but the official announcement of winners will take place during the European Design Festival 2022 Award Show, on 18 June at 7 pm at the Creative Hub/Kultuurikatel – one of the most unique creative and event spaces in Northern Europe.”

The European Design Conference 2022 “Beyond Design”, also takes place on 18 June at the Creative Hub/Kultuurikatel. The Conference addresses the core questions of the future of design and the future through design, as well as themes related to the position and responsibilities of the designer. The work will take place through practical workshops, discussions and multidisciplinary future visions. The speakers at the Design Conference include designer, sociologist and sustainability provocateur Leyla Acaroglu; futurist Angela Oguntala (founding partner at Greyspace, a foresight and design studio); professor, design and technology ethicist Ariel Guersenzvaig; creative strategist and problem solver Marksteen Adamson and many more. The Conference will also cover several interesting cases from leading European design agencies.

More info about European Design Festival 2022 in Tallinn

The programme

Having buried her daughter and husband, 69-year-old Polina Rayko found solace in painting. The walls of her home became her easel. I spent a day in Rayko’s footsteps, covering my kitchen with floor-to-ceiling drawings. I didn’t have a definite plan and found myself, like Rayko, illustrating personal memories.