Transform4Europe Open Dual Lecture: Paganin and Pihlak. Housing Crisis.

Open Dual Lecture on Monday: two speakers, one global issue – housing crisis 

On September 5, the Estonian Academy of Arts will organize an open conversation/ lecture with two speakers, where academic knowledge and business experience will join forces to discuss an important topic in both Estonia and Europe – the looming housing crisis. The conversation/lecture will take place in the Botik bar of Põhjala Factory in Tallinn. Doors open at 5.30 p.m., the event with live broadcast starts at 6 p.m.

On behalf of the Estonian Academy of Arts, Dr. Sille Pihlak, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Architecture, Sara Paganin, head of social housing, Finanziaria Internazionale Investments SGR SpA, Conegliano/Milano, will arrive in Tallinn from Italy. The conversation will be moderated by Madle Lippus, deputy mayor responsible for urban planning issues in Tallinn.

The real estate price rally has created a situation in major Estonian cities where there is not enough affordable housing available for either renting or buying. People in households with lower incomes find themselves in a particularly difficult situation – and once they are forced to move further away from their workplaces, to places where housing is cheaper, there will in turn be greater pressure on the city’s transport network, and the ecological footprint of the citizens and thus the city will increase.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the standard project of the so-called Lender’s house was developed in Tallinn, which offered the opportunity to build affordable and need-based housing for people who had just moved to the city. Today, we do not have such a solution for affordable housing. But what would it take to develop it? How to create a standard project of an affordable community-needs-driven apartment building, and what would it require from the developers, the communities themselves, the local government and the state? How to make sure a firefighter and a teacher could also afford to live in Kadriorg, Kalamaja, or in the city center? What should be changed in the structure of our apartment buildings – architecturally – to make housing more affordable, how to divide and share the space? We will talk of all this on September 5th, analysing Italian experience, considering the possibilities provided by contemporary architecture and construction technology, and searching for solutions in dialogue that would be suitable in Tallinn.

The relevance of the topic is evidenced by the fact that two of the seven finalists for the 2022 Mies van der Rohe architecture award, the largest architectural award in the European Union, were community apartment building projects built from wood: the La Borda co-operative building in Barcelona and the 85 social apartments project in Cornellà. There are already communities and developers in Estonia as well, who have set as their main goal the creation of denser, more cohesive, and therefore more resilient communities.

The lecture is open to all interested parties, but community leaders, real estate developers, urban planners, architects and interior architects, and officials dealing with planning in local governments are especially welcome.

This public dual lecture takes place within the framework of the Transform4Europe project: T4EU, consisting of seven universities, operates under the European Universities Initiative with the aim of making European higher education more competitive, based on European values ​​and identity. The focus of the Transform4Europe project is primarily the issues of the digital transformation and digital smart regions, environmental issues and sustainability, social development, community development and inclusion. The housing crisis issue, which will be discussed in Tallinn on September 5, is connected to all these topics.

More information: http://www.transform4europe.eu 

EKA website in Estonian: https://www.artun.ee/akadeemia/rahvusvaheline/t4eu 

What is the essence of the housing crisis? What is the Transform4Europe project? Find out more here and join us at Botik!

Social Design Days

8-9 September, EKA

In Estonia, 40.000 children are affected by mental illness. €164 million worth of food is discarded every year. And there is an urgent need to understand the difficult experience of the over 45.000 Ukrainian refugees that have arrived to our country. How could an expertise in social design help us to deal with these issues?

Twenty-two professionals in the field are meeting at the Estonian Academy of Arts to discuss questions such as: 

• What is the political impact of design?
• Why is design a social practice?
• And can we understand social transformations with design techniques?

The frontiers of design are rapidly expanding within society; In the recent years, design practice has moved beyond the ideation of commercial products and is more and more considered as a set of techniques for engaging with complex problems.  Hence, there is a need to open up the roles of design within wider economic and political issues.

As explained by Bori Fehér, leader of the Social Design Research HUB at MOME: “This event will contribute to giving form to a rapidly expanding field of study, developing new ways of inclusive design and social intervention in Estonia”.

EKA is opening a new MA programme in Social Design. Students will gain an understanding of design as a political force, while expanding their capacity to intervene in contemporary issues and comprehend social transformations.

Experienced colleagues from all over Europe are joining us to discuss the key questions in the field. For instance, Guy Julier has written about activism and the economies of design; Jesko Fezer about architecture and community making; Eeva Berglund about how to research environmental activism; Adam Drazin about design anthropology; Jussi Koitela about hospitality and interdisciplinary projects; Maija Rozenfelde about design institutions; Liene Ozoliņa about social theory; Bianca Herlo about bottom-up politics and civic infrastructures; and Alvise Mattozzi about innovation and sustainability, just to name a few key topics of expertise. 

Likewise, we are organising a series of experimental workshops and fieldtrips with local and international colleagues, exploring a wide range of issues, such as multi-species communication, mental health and indigenous rights.

As a result, Tallinn will become the European capital of Social Design in September.

Thursday, 8 September A-101

10:30 Round table: What can social design promise?

Participants: Bori Fehér (MOME Budapest), Guy Julier (Aalto), Alvise Mattozzi (Politecnico Torino), Ruth-H. Melioranski (EKA)

13:30 Open formats A-307

• Feral Tracking / Multispecies Conversari by Hermione Spriggs (UCL)
• Design for advocacy in the Global South by Nathaly Pinto (Aalto)

16:00 Field visit to Paljassaare by Andra Aaloe

Friday, 9 September A-306

10:15 Round table: When, where, with whom, what for? The social is not singular

Participants: Eeva Berglund (Aalto), Jesko Fezer (HFBK Hamburg), Bianca Herlo (UDK Berlin), Liene Ozoliņa (Latvian Academy of Culture)

13:15 Round Table: How do we evaluate interdisciplinary projects?

Participants: Adam Drazin (UCL), Jussi Koitela (Frame Finland); Maija Rozenfelde (Art Academy of Latvia), Indrek Sirkel (EKA)

15:00 Open Format: Social Design projects in EKA

• Ott Kagovere & Sandra Nuut: snail mail, redesigning the times and spaces that we give ourselves to say and understand things
• Eva Liisa Kubinyi & Maarja Mõtus, mitigating mental health problems among youth 
• Kristi Kuusk, social design for children with special needs
• Urmas Lüüs, loneliness of elderly people

16:15 Field visit to Lasnamäe by Maria Derlõš

Please, register here.

For more details, please contact:
Francisco Martínez
francisco.martinez@artun.ee / +372 58038079

This project of the Baltic-German University Liaison Office is supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic Germany.

Four artists look into the future at a safe haven called Viljandi Old Water Tower from 5th of August 2022: Egle Ehtjen, Kelli Gedvil, Hanna-Liisa Lavonen and Helle Ly Tomberg with their exhibition ‘Expectations of the End’.

They explore how to relate to a world that is ending. Denial, fear, grief or reconciliation is on the table. You can also feel joy and wonder. One can be viewed from humanly close or cosmically far.

The end of the world is getting closer every minute.

Reality as we know it is stretched to the breaking point, there is no sense of security and there is a bittersweet smell of ozone in the air. The world around us is in active war, society is crumbling, climate change and everything that comes with paints the future in very hopeless tones.  

The feeling of being surrounded by global disasters as well as personal tragedies that shatter our personal core, have followed people forever. We have been born into these conditions, carry that fragile and heavy weight around daily knowingly that there is more ahead. Any catastrophe hasn’t been the last of its kind.

The future depends on self.

Our gratitude goes to: Marek Gedvil, Leegi Kiis, Svetlana ja Johannes Lavonen, Ian-Simon Märjama, Kristen Rästas, Sten Saarits, Jan Viilma, Tiina Vändre

Graphic design by Henri Kutsar

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Nudist

The exhibition ‘Expectations of the End’ will remain open until 31st of August 2022

Viljandi Old Water Tower is located at Johan Laidoner plats 5.

It is open for visitors Mon-Fri from 11 AM to 6 PM.

Each year, the Estonian Academy of Arts Research and Development Office, in conjunction with the Tallinn City Enterprise Department, holds an applied research and development projects competition to motivate the Academy’s members to apply to a greater extent the results of their academic and research work in the public, business and third sectors; to increase the quality and extent of knowledge services provided by the Academy to society and businesses and to raise public awareness of the application of the Academy’s know-how in the economy and society.

The author(s) of the best project are awarded 1000€. If numerous outstanding works are submitted for the competition, additional work(s) will be awarded.

The competition is open for EKA’s students, whose course or graduation project has reached the stage of developing an applied output, i.e. the results of the work can be applied in businesses or other organisations. The competition welcomes applied research or projects by all employees and researchers.

The works must be completed between 01.09.2021–31.08.2022.
To submit a project to the competition a completed form together with additional materials must be sent to koostoo@artun.ee no later than 14 September 2022. The e-mail addresses of all authors of the work must be included among the e-mail recipients.

Materials for applying:

Competition rules in English

(full document in Estonian)

Submission form

Peer-reviewing of Art and Design PhD student Nesli Hazal Oktay’s first design case study “Empathic Placebos—Designing for the bodies in videotelephony” will take place on Friday, September 2, at 15.00-17.00 (EEST) in the Estonian Academy of Arts, auditorium A501.

Nesli Hazal Oktay will present the design process and analysis of the project. Case study “Empathic Placebos—Designing for the bodies in videotelephony” is part of the doctoral thesis of Nesli Hazal Oktay.

The peer review event will be in a hybrid format. Please find the Zoom link to participate HERE.

Supervisors
Dr. Kristi Kuusk, Estonian Academy of Arts
Prof. Danielle Wilde, Umeå University, Sweden and University of Southern Denmark

Reviewers:
Dr. Kristina Andersen, Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands
Dr. Oscar Tomico, Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands and Barcelona School of Design and Engineering

The research project titled “Empathic Placebos—Designing for the bodies in videotelephony” is an inquiry into the ways people feel, interact and move during video calls. The project works with the moving bodies as a creative material to design for people who are close by heart but physically apart. Relying on a cultural probe kit study and a three-step embodied design ideation process, the project invites digital natives to be more in contact with their bodies so that they have more chances to shape their experiences with their loved ones and themselves.

Nesli Hazal Oktay is a designer-researcher and educator focusing on the impacts and interactions the emerging technologies could deliver. She holds an MA in Interaction Design from the Estonian Academy of Arts in Tallinn and a Communications BA from the Galatasaray University in Istanbul. Since the academic year 2019/20, she is working as a visiting lecturer and also as a curriculum developer of the Interaction Design MA at the Estonian Academy of Arts. As an educator, she has led several industry collaborations, and her subjects are shaped around interaction design and speculative design. While continuing her journey as a design educator she is also studying at the Academy as a doctoral student. Her research interests include embodied, participatory, and speculative approaches to design. For more information, please visit https://neslihazal.com/

Katariin Mudist at Tartu Art House
“To-Do or Not-To-Do”
29.07.–28.08.22

The exhibition, showcasing themes that have long intrigued the artist, focuses on a newly completed monumental piece the exhibition has been named after. The 9-meter-long mixed media composition speaks of the contemporary productivity culture and anxiety relating to both action and inaction resulting from the global pandemic situation.

The inspiration behind the exhibited works is Mudist’s longtime self-critical study centered around to-do lists that have accumulated over several years. The central piece “To-Do or Not-To-Do” visualises activities along with their temporal dimensions – starting new activities, as well as interruptions – and treats this input as anthropological and psychological data which, in turn, reveals interesting patterns describing both the pace of life and the state of mind of an individual.

The exhibition and artwork of the same name are at once personal and remarkably universal studies visualising choices, disruption, inactivity, and exhaustion – both the internal and the societal pressure to be productive.

Katariin Mudist (b 1994) has studied in the Tartu Art College and the Estonian Academy of Arts, supplementing her skills in Budapest and in Ghent. Her previous solo exhibition in Tartu was in 2020 in the Jakobi Gallery.

The exhibition is supported: Estonian Cultural Foundation and Anderson’s craft beer

Exhibition design: Alden Jõgisuu

Exhibition team: Tanel Asmer, Elika Kiilo-Kulpsoo, Johanna Mudist, Peeter Talvistu, Urmo Teekivi and Mae Variksoo

Thanks: Sander Koit, Alan Voodla, Sophie Durand and Maria Elise Remme

The exhibition is open until 28 August

Tartu Art House (Vanemuise 26, Tartu, Estonia) Wed–Mon 12–18. Exhibitions are free of charge

The exhibitions of the Tartu Art House are supported by the Tartu Town Government and the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

The opening of the exhibition Hardcore Gentleness by Maria Izabella Lehtsaar and Sarah Nõmm will take place on 25 August at 18.00 at the Vent Space project room.

The first duo exhibition by Lehtsaar and Nõmm focuses on the intertwining of intimacy, mental health, sense of security, control and loss of control in a person’s life through common elements of both artists’ creative practice. In their artistic dialogue, Lehtsaar and Nõmm talk about the challenges of girlhood and coming of age. The artists explore the interdependent dynamics of security and intimacy in different relationships, everyday expressions of gender and sexuality, and the role of everyday rituals in coping with mental health issues.

The tension at the heart of the exhibition is the juxtaposition between categories – such as light and heavy, soft and harsh, safe and dangerous, and acceptable and unacceptable – which is characteristic of the work of Lehtsaar and Nõmm. The aim of the convened duo show is to manifest the role of sexual expression in art and life, emphasising the importance of a sense of personal security and belonging, shared joys and concerns, and the well-being of one’s mind and body.

Curators: Anita Kodanik and Brigit Arop

Graphic design: Michael Fowler

Maria Izabella Lehtsaar (1998) is an artist based in Tallinn who combines textiles, graphics, drawing, installation and text in their work. Their works deal mainly with the themes of queer experience and mental health, often playing on the fragile border between reality and fantasy. Lehtsaar graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts with a bachelor’s degree in Graphic Art and is currently studying in the Contemporary Art MA programme. In 2021, they were awarded the Edmund Valtman scholarship.

Sarah Nõmm (1998) is an artist based in Tallinn who works primarily with sculpture, installation, video and performance. Her work deals with the female body and the spaces surrounding it. Nõmm’s works are often based on personal experiences and look at themes of the body through popular beliefs, myths, taboos and everyday rituals. She has a bachelor’s degree in Sculpture and Installation from the Estonian Academy of Arts. In 2021, she was awarded the Young Sculptor Prize.

The exhibition is open every day at 13.00–19.00 from 26 August to 31 August.

Supported by: Cultural Endowment of Estonia

Special thanks: Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia, EKA Gallery, Johannes Luik, Maksim Bondartsuk, Julika Roos

Additional info:

Brigit Arop, curator

brigit.arop@artun.ee

Anita Kodanik, curator

anita.kodanik@artun.ee

On Friday, September 2, starting at 12:00, the opening ceremony of the 2022/23 academic year will be held. The ceremony lasts approximately 1.5 hours.

Peer review event of Art and Design PhD student Dila Demir’s second design case study „Caring Companion“ will take place on August 22, 14.00-15.30 at EKA, room A501.
Dila Demir will present the design process and analysis of the project. Along with the peer review event there will be a physical exhibition at EKA on the fifth floor. Case study „Caring Companion“ is part of the artistic doctoral thesis of Dila Demir.

The peer review event will be in hybrid format. Please find Zoom link to participate HERE

Reviewers: Dr. Vasiliki Tsaknaki, assistant professor at the IT University of Copenhagen, Dr. Claudia Nuñez-Pacheco, post-doctoral researcher at KTH, Royal Institute of Technology
Supervisors: Dr. Nithikul Nimkulrat and Dr. Kristi Kuusk.

Dila is working in the field of interactive textiles, bodily discomforting experiences i.e., pain, soma design, and somaesthetics. Her second design case titled Caring Companion discusses the emergence of designing discomforting interactions that demonstrates how repeated engagement with the discomfort can lead to new becomings and inform the design of better engaging wearable interactive artefacts (soma extensions). Dila regards bodily discomforts as disturbing experiences that disrupts the everyday flow of the bodies such as fibromyalgia, depression, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) or chronic pain. She specifically works with the chronic pain and aim to induce sensory bodily awareness in her doctoral research. Accordingly, Caring Companion is a collection of various items in the form of a cultural probe kit (CPK) for encouraging people to engage with their bodily discomfort, specifically, chronic pain. Five participants with chronic pain used the Caring Companion kit for a minimum of four days a week for three weeks. For the study, they wore the soma extension – a soft textile artifact – that was included in the kit to practice yoga sequences shown in a YouTube video. They inserted their phones into the soma extension for localized sound effect. After each practice, they reflected on their felt experience of moving with the soma extension textually in the journal and visually by drawing body maps included in the kit and forming the plasticine. Additionally, they choose the words that best describe their felt experiences from the word list that includes 42 words to which they were free to add different words as well. The Caring Companion became part of their routines and supported them to engage and reflect upon their bodily experiences concerning pain.