Contemporary Art MA programme online info session

Master of Contemporary Art (MACA) programme invites prospective MA students to join the online info session on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 at 15:00 (GMT+2).

This online info session will be a good opportunity to hear more about the programme, and to meet and ask questions directly from people behind MACA. The open house event will be hosted online over Zoom.

If you would like to attend, please register online through the form below. A link to attend will be e-mailed shortly before the event begins.

Registration is closed.

Recording of the session HERE.

More information about the MACA programme: https://www.artun.ee/maca.

Admissions period starts on the 1st of February 2022 and application deadline is 1st of March 2022.

https://artun.ee/admissions

An exhibition of slippers illustrated by  the children from Tallinn Children’s Home awaits visitors at the Nautica Shopping Center

Nautica Center opened an exhibition of illustrated slippers made by the children from Tallinn Children’s Home. Painted slippers were made in cooperation with the Accessories and Bookbinding Department of the Estonian Academy of Arts and the shoes were provided by Võru footwear manufacturer OmaKing.

The slippers illustrated by children of Tallinn Children’s Home were made in cooperation with OmaKing as a continuation of a workshop organized within a joint project of the Accessories and Bookbinding Department of the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) and Tallinn Children’s Home. The children were given a task of designing slippers according to their vision so that they could express themselves through art.

Teana Baskirtseva, a representative of the Nautica Center, said: “It is a great pleasure to have the opportunity to hold such positive exhibitions at our center. We try to help the local community as much as we can, and inspired by this project, we decided that the Nautica Center will support the children of the Tallinn Children’s Home with drawing supplies and a Christmas donation.”

The exhibition features a total of 32 pairs of slippers designed by children participating in the project aged 7-17.

The exhibition of slippers made by Tallinn Children’s Home children is open at the Nautica Shopping Center from November 18 to January 10 on the second floor.

Participants: Johhan Rosenberg, Bosa Mina, Laima Jaunzema, Iris Lillemägi, Sveta Grigorjeva
Sound: Mihkel Kleis
Gallerist: Pire Sova

Join us for the “Kõdu” gallery visit on November 26, 27 and 28 at 8—10pm at EKA Gallery. The guests can move around in the space to meet “Kõdu”.

The age-old phantom Kõdu is living in all organisms while decomposing them from inside. The constant resistance with apparent subjugation will end with the inevitable surrendering.

The performance takes over the gallery space with an installation that changes over time. Johhan works together with the participants based on their artistic practice. Through sensing the body movements the utterer and the uttering become one while provoking the obscure new creatures are brought to life.

:they have not managed to conceive you
and you have already occurred
please be such a hag and tell me
who is it that imagined you;

Johhan Rosenberg (EST) has graduated Choreography at the School For New Dance Development with a background in music and dance studies. In his practice, the functionalities of language and identities become embodied contexts for the process of creating surroundings. Performances become technologies of tearing apart what is already known to develop new autonomies. Through raw vocabulary and playfulness, he layers body, visuals and sound to meet the viewer in the collective consciousness. He’s currently studying Chinese Medicine and is working as a freelance choreographer in Berlin and Tallinn.

Thanks to: Johannes Luik, Hans Gunter Lock,Tener Ilirstrom, Ando Naulainen, Kanuti Gildi Saal, Eesti Tantsuagentuur, Eventech, Kaarli Hambakliinik, Margus Laksberg 

Supported by: School for New Dance Development

Strobe lights are used at the event.

Ticket 5€.
Buy at the door with cash or here: https://fienta.com/et/galeriikulastus-kodu-hag

Free for EKA students!

Entrance from the EKA main door with Covid pass

TO THE EXHIBITION! The students of the 2nd year of the bachelor’s study in interior architecture focussed on creating inclusive exhibition spaces, tutored by architect Johanna Jõekalda. The task of the students was to design an exhibition space based on what they had learned, which would take into account visitors with different special needs to the maximum. 

During the course, students learned to understand the principles of user-oriented design and create an inclusive environment. Spatial solutions were designed with the Estonian National Museum’s exhibition “Kaasav ELU” (“Inclusive LIFE”) in mind, which brings together different gadgets and tools that support the learning and leisure activities of users with disabilities.

In developing their spatial proposals, students used VR technologies to better understand and explain different unique user experiences: VR, allowing for immersive experiences, is an excellent tool for helping to better understand different spatial experiences and designing more inclusive environments. Students’ work was based on the principle that a room that is comfortable for people with special needs is also convenient for all other users.

During the development of the projects, the students received support from the parallel course “Digital Techniques” held at the VR Lab and supervised by Johanna Jõekalda. Daniel Kotsjuba (accessibility), Kärt Ojavee (materiality), Artur Staškevitš (exhibition solutions) and Paco Ulman (digital techniques) shared their experiences of inclusive design. The studio was conducted in cooperation with the Tallinn University “Inclusive LIFE” project, led by Tiia Artla and Jana Kadastik.

See a virtual tour of the works of five interior design students.

From early November, a selection of student works completed during the course (Laura Maria Tõru, Kätlin Lond, Triin Kampus, Anni Kõrvemaa, Viktoria Ugur) is available for everyone to see at the exhibition “Inclusive LIFE” at the Estonian National Museum in Tartu. The student work is presented on a touch screen as a virtual tour, which guides the visitors of the exhibition through more exciting space solutions and shares information on the application of the principles of inclusive design in interior architecture.

The Department of Interior Architecture of EKA would like to thank all those who contributed to the supervision of students and for the exciting opportunity to cooperate with Tallinn University and the Estonian National Museum – together we took a small step towards making the environments and premises of the future friendly to all users.

The exhibition will be open until January 31, 2022, so onwards to Tartu!

As part of the Open Lectures series of the Department of Architecture and Urban Design of EKA, writer and researcher Philip Maughan will take the stage in the hall of EKA on November 25th, 6 pm with a lecture titled “Black Almanac: Processing, Cooking and Expanding Earth”.

This fall, all the OLS lectures revolve around the issue of healing in one way or another. We’ve explored whether architecture as a process can be therapeutic and in what way inhabiting space could be restorative – and whether and how architects could contribute to the healing of the construction world. 

On November 25th, we take a look at something directly and closely related to health – the food system – and ask how it could be healed. In order to feed ourselves we cook the land, the atmosphere, the oceans, and other animals, and the earth in turn is cooking us. Named for the tradition of farmer’s almanacs that stretches back to the dawn of agriculture, and for the potential of the earth’s most fertile, dark synthetic soil, this open lecture will introduce Black Almanac: a catalog of steps to produce a viable food system by 2050. It asks when and why food culture became so reactionary, and how might we “cook” with flavors, landscapes, genes, machines and buildings in order to expand a sustainable, nutritious, and desirable feast for a growing population at planetary scale. Black Almanac is a growing index of urgent questions around food, with tough and surprising lessons for the present, and new hope for the future.

Philip Maughan is a writer and researcher based between London and Berlin. He was a member of The Terraforming cohort at the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design in 2020 and is currently working on a book about food and climate change under the title Black Almanac.

https://philipmaughan.net/ 

In order to minimize the risk of the virus spreading, we will broadcast the lecture on EKA TV and it can be viewed along with all previous lectures at www.avatudloengud.ee as well as the faculty’s Youtube channel. The lecture can also be attended in-person – we do ask you to carry your COVID vaccination certificate or proof of having had COVID and cover your nose and mouth with a mask. Academy students are subject to the usual in-house rules. NB! You can’t ask questions via EKA TV, so it’s worth coming to the hall to participate in the discussion! The lecture is free and in English.

Curators: Sille Pihlak and Johan Tali.

The season of open lectures is supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment.

On November 25th at 5.30 pm, Dan Karlholm from Södertörn University will give a lecture “The Climate of Art History” at the Estonian Academy of Arts (room A-501).

Drawing on Dipesh Chakrabarty’s classic essay “The Climate of History”, where he argues that world history and earth history must be seen as conjoined histories, the lecture discusses art history through the lens of climate change, how our discipline is impacted by the “New Climatic Regime” and how it can contribute to ecologizing the world.

Dan Karlholm is Professor of Art History, Södertörn University. Karlholm is founder (with Charlotte Bydler and Håkan Nilsson as co-founders) of the Art History Department at Södertörn University in 2003. He is also editor of Konsthistorisk tidskrift/Journal of Art History (Taylor & Francis/Routledge) since 2009. Karlholms research interests revolve around historiography, including the history and theory of art history in Sweden, Germany and in general, as well as museum studies, visual culture studies, and the issue of temporality and contemporaneity. Research projects in recent years have dealt with contemporary art from various perspectives.

Lecture will be held in English.
Covid certificates will be checked at the entrance of the lecture hall, masks are obligatory.

Lecture is supported by the ASTRA project of the Estonian Academy of Arts – EKA LOOVKÄRG (European Union, European Regional Development Fund).

Rait Rosin, PhD student of the Estonian Academy of Arts, curriculum of Art and Disain, will defend his thesis “Social Art as the Source for Changing Social Norms: Artists’ and Art Viewers’ Expectations in Estonian Small Towns” („Sotsiaalne kunst kui ühiskondlike normide kasvulava: kunstnike ja kunstipubliku vastastikused ootused Eesti väikelinnades“) on 13th of December 2021 at 10.00 at Põhja pst 7, room A101.

Limited number of audience can participate on-site, please register HERE
Please provide certificate of vaccination or recovery from COVID-19.

The defense will be held in Estonian.

Supervisors: Dr. Raivo Kelomees (Estonian Academy of Arts), Dr. Margus Vihalem (Tallinn University)
External reviewers: Dr. Heie Treier (Tallinn University), Dr. Elo-Hanna Seljamaa (University of Tartu)
Opponent: Dr. Heie Treier

The increasing interest in Estonian art scenes outside of Tallinn necessitates careful and critical discussion. Rait Rosin’s PhD dissertation investigates regional gallery spaces and local people attitudes toward art activities in their communities. The reader will have a better grasp of Estonia’s diversified creative scene and society-driven cultural shifts. The comparison provides an overview of the precision of the regional differentiations of the six Estonian small towns: Paldiski, Haapsalu, Valga, Võru, Rapla, and Rakvere by comparing the various regional characters and as well six local art galleries. In comparison, the audience of town galleries and artist interviews demonstrate how each party sees local art. The research looks into Estonian small-town initiatives to communicate with small towns, parallels and examples of artists activities, who had exhibitions in local galleries during the years 2010–2017. The author of the thesis interprets the artistic expressions of the participants as acts of cultural communication of the centre and the periphery polarities. Nonetheless, because the expectations of small towns have to implement for their organised events, the contribution of artists is calculated based on their effect on the surrounding areas. On the one hand, the dissertation is a reflection of Rait Rosin’s own artistic practice while he depict themes for the artworks, while also analysing his own position as artist researcher. Dissertation In the other hand, is classified as discourse, with engaged art as one of the socially active solutions. According to the philosophers such as John Dewey, Jacques Rancière and others, local interest and activity-binding solutions may assist artists. As a result, the local cultural scene may have established a field of meaning construction that aids to integrate various groups into the community. The PhD thesis focuses on local people waiting for artists and visiting artists’ assessments of Estonian small-towns in creative chores and art creation, often due to a lack of expert criticism and the location of the art.

Greta Koppel, PhD student of the Estonian Academy of Arts, curriculum of Art History and Visual Culture, will defend her thesis „Farewell to Connoisseurship? The Work of Art in the Focus of Art Historical Research” („Hüvasti, konossöörlus? Kunstiteos kui kunstiajaloolise uurimise kese“) on 10th of December 2021 at 15.00 at Põhja pst 7, room A501.

Limited number of audience can participate on-site, please register HERE
Please provide certificate of vaccination or recovery from COVID-19.

The defense will be held in Estonian.

Supervisor: Prof.  Krista Kodres (Estonian Academy of Arts)
External reviewers: Dr. Anu Mänd (Tallinn University), Dr. Jaanika Anderson (University of Tartu Museum)
Opponent: Dr. Anu Mänd

This dissertation (Farewell to Connoisseurship? The Work of Art in the Focus of Art Historical Research) deals with problems related to the study of the art of the Old Masters. The research paper reflects the author’s experience based on years of researching and curating Early Modern art at the museum. Works of art as musealised objects have played a central role in this work.

The dissertation emphasises that a multifaceted study based on a close study of works of art that takes into account each work as a whole, i.e. its material and intellectual sides, enables us to obtain valuable information for the study of a particular object but also for analysing broader historical and cultural phenomena. In the case of old works of art, connoisseurship is a significant component of such research. The author introduces the concept of connoisseurship, which is almost unknown as a professional term in Estonia, provides a survey of the long history of connoisseurship as a competence of recognising art(ists), discusses the closely intertwined relationship between modern connoisseurship and technical art history, introduces the specifics of the research method, and explains why this skill is irreplaceable in identifying the authors of works of art and why this competence is worth preserving in art history practice even if one has no interest in the question of the author. It also explains how the critical analysis of the connoisseurship method makes it possible to better understand the specifics of art history as a humanistic discipline. The section on connoisseurship is followed by three case studies related to the author’s curatorial practice at the Art Museum of Estonia, which illustrate the importance of connoisseurship as an object-led, multifaceted close study of works of art in art historical research. The first case discusses the problems of reconstructing the oeuvre of Michel Sittow (ca 1469 – 1525), an itinerant painter from Tallinn; in the second, 16th century Netherlandish Boschian art is the focus, and the last case, research on Johannes Mikkel’s (1907–2006) collection, emphasises its value as historical documentation.

Members of the Defence Council: Prof. Virve Sarapik, Dr. Anu Allas, Dr. Anneli Randla, Prof. Juhan Maiste, Prof. Marek Tamm, Prof. Tõnu Viik, Dr. Kadi Polli

Please find the PhD thesis HERE

On 12 December 21, the traditional EKA Christmas Fair will take place on all five floors of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Almost 100 traders will be selling the design and artistic creation of the students and alumni of EKA, accompanied by the young Viljandi folk band Tammele.

The Christmas market opens at 11.17 am and the last purchases can be made at 17.11 pm.

Entrance to the market is free, through the gates of Kotzebue 1, but only upon presentation of the corona certificate! To make trading more comfortable, you are asked to bring cash.

EKA Christmas Fair on Facebook

The Christmas Market of EAA is organized by the Student Council of the Estonian Academy of Arts.