Alina Birjuk “May there be enough bread!”

Estonian sayings “one has to honour bread” or “bread is older than us” refer to the special meaning of bread. Numerous traditions, beliefs, rituals and proverbs are associated to bread. The taste and form of bread has not changed throughout centuries and breakbaking is a very special skill. For me, bread is something that makes me think of my great-grandparents and my roots. I decided to photograph bread against the white backdrop where the time of the picture-taking is imperceptible. Bread is the centerpiece of attention while its texture and form has been emphasized.

Current work is a photo montage that has been combined by a staged studio photograph as well as a view from my window. This is the view of Lasnamäe district, Tallinn, where I lived fifteen years ago and temporarily living now. Nothing has changed – the same monotonousness and hopelessness, the same sad buildings and empty looks – and again I feel the need to escape this place. I am looking up – where the blue sky is, knowing that there is always a way out. 

Mon-Sat, 3—6 pm

May brings an opportunity to experience, in an exhibition format, works produced by students in the Faculty of Fine Arts as their term projects: every day there will be a fresh crop of university students’ works on display in the gallery.

Works in contemporary art, prints, installation, sculpture and painting curricula will be on display. On each morning of the marathon, a new exhibition will be installed and in the evening the exhibit will give way to the next one. Hopefully, viewers will be able to keep up with the pace of the young artists.

SCHEDULE

29.–30.04 – Drawing, supervisor Ülle Marks

03.05 – Studio photo, supervisor Madis Kurss

04.05 – Drawing, supervisor Ulvi Haagensen

05.05 – Drawing, supervisor Tõnis Saadoja
06.05 – Drawing, supervisors Maiu Rõõmus, Matti Pärk

07.05 – Conceptual drawing supervisor, juhendaja Anna Škodenko

09.05 – Conceptual drawing supervisor, juhendaja Tõnis Saadoja

10.05 – Graphic art, supervisors Viktor Gurov, Eve Kask, Lennart Mänd

11–12.05 – Contemporary art, supervisors Marge Monko, Taavi Talve, Liina Siib, Kristi Kongi, John Grzinich, Kristaps Ancans, Anu Vahtra

13–14.05 – Kujundliku Mõtte Labor— Ekspeditsioon Narva, supervisor Ene-Liis Semper

16.05 – Graphic art, supervisors Maria Erikson, Britta Benno, Charlotte Biszewski, Aarne – Mesikäpp, Maria Izabella Lehtsaar

17.05 – Photo art project, supervisors Marge Monko, Reimo Võsa-Tangsoo

18.05 – Painting, supervisors Mart Vainre, Tiina Tammetalu, Aapo Pukk

19.05 – Painting, supervisors Sigrid Viir, Mihkel Ilus, Tõnis Saadoja, Heldur Lassi

My idea was to reflect self-conditioning through staged photography, a state of being trapped by my thoughts and feelings where negative beliefs alarm negative emotions, which in turn affects the mind. A model’s moving body is captured in a studio with long exposure in order to highlight the inseparability of mental and physical health. A bright figure positioned in a dark background emphasizes the condition of being trapped and vulnerability.

I am exploring themes of intimacy, human connection and sexuality through my work. A portrait of this couple is part of an ongoing documentary photography series.

On Monday, April 18, at 4 pm, the Department of Textile Design of the Estonian Academy of Arts presents Katrin Kabun’s book “Archaically high-tech: Knowledge-based Use of Sheep Wool”

The book was born out of a practical need, a desire to help restore the historical and economic value of wool. 

The publication has been compiled by a textile designer and is intended primarily for students, designers, interior architects, but also for anyone interested in understanding the value of wool as a material, the continuous processes that take place in the wool fibre and the functional properties of wool that are the result of such processes and give reason to call wool a naturally high-tech fiber. The aim of the book is to explain in an easily understandable language what is happening in the wool fibre, how wool as a material interacts with the surrounding environment and thereby increase interest towards a wider and more conscious use of wool.

Author Katrin Kabun has been developing the possibilities and technology of the application of sheep wool since 2014 in the Department of Textile Design of the Estonian Academy of Arts. The study of wool is the subject of both her master’s and doctoral theses and is central to her studies with her students.

Publisher: The Estonian Academy of Arts Department of Textile Design

Author: Katrin Kabun

Scientific editor: Sander Õun

Content editor: Diana Tuulik

Language editor: Svea Aavik

Designer: Janika Vesberg

Illustrator: Laura Meelind

Photography: iStock, Shutterstock, Katrin Kabun, Gilleke Kopamees, Sandra Urvak 

SEM images: Valdek Mikli

English translation: OÜ Tritek

Print: Booksfactory

ISBN 978-9916-6-1951-3

Supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and the Estonian Academy of Arts 

OPEN LECTURE by Ariel Guersenzvaig
“The goods of design: towards professional ethics for designers”
Thursday, 14th of April at 4 p.m. (EKA, A-101)

SYNOPSIS

Despite its impact on society and on the world, the design profession lacks widespread ethical principles and frameworks for addressing ethical issues. Codes of ethics, however useful to prompt discussions, rarely go beyond generalities as preventing harms or respecting human rights. In this talk I will propose a different approach based on the cultivation of ethics from within the practice, and will explore the urgent need for a broad design professional ethics that viably enables designers to deal with the challenges they face in their profession.

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Ariel Guersenzvaig is a design and technology ethicist and a professor of design at ELISAVA, Barcelona School of Design and Engineering. His main areas of research are, on the one hand, the ethical impact of machine intelligence on society, and, on the other hand, the ethics of professional design activity, which is the topic of his latest book ‘The Goods of Design: Professional Ethics for Designers’* (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021), which is also available in EKA library. He holds a PhD in Design Theory from the University of Southampton (UK), and an MA in Ethics from the University of Birmingham (UK).