The keywords that link the research directions and grants related to the Estonian Academy of Arts are practice, technology, theory, society and culture. In addition to the high-ranking research projects in traditional humanities – in art history, visual culture and Soviet Studies – the Academy has set its priority to be artistic (practice-based) research. At the Academy artistic research can connote different means of knowledge production, depending on the specific field of study: artistic research in contemporary art, design research, design practice research in architecture and urban design, practice-based research in conservation and cultural heritage. Artistic research is experimental, cross-disciplinary and process-oriented. Its criteria are applicability, innovativeness, level to which the creative activity communicates with and/or engages the public. Among other things, artistic research deals with research into the relationships between art and contemporary society, including the possibilities of contemporary art to participate in societal processes or to support the processes using creation of specific knowledge.
Ongoing Research Projects
How to Reframe Monuments (Estonian Ministry of Culture grant, 2024–2026)
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has triggered debates about the Russian and Soviet heritage both globally and in Estonia. This has been accompanied by the toppling of monuments, as well as social conflicts and polarisation. The aim of ...
Transferring Upmade know-how to Kenya
Addressing the Challenge In Kenya, the textile industry faces a significant environmental challenge. The prevalent linear production model in textile manufacturing is a major contributor to climate change, marked by excessive ...
Study and analysis of textile recycling technologies
The EU's Waste Framework Directive requires all Member States to introduce separate collection of textile waste from 1 January 2025. Separate collection will be the responsibility of local authorities, which will be able to choose the ...
MUUSA: Material research modelling and synthesis
MUUSA: Material research modelling and synthesis The project aims to develop a new artistic research methodology using material-based co-creation methods. Various models will be synthesised ...
New Found Type Project. New Type from Old. An Estonian Perspective
The Newfound Type project will explore relief type and print form making from an Estonian perspective, by identifying the techniques and characteristics specific to its historical context and applying these in an ...
Fashion TEX
In the Fashion TEX project, 13 partners from 11 European countries are participating with the aim of creating a new, shared level of expertise to teach digital fashion art in higher education institutions. The project enhances curricula with ...
Multi-Sensory Design for Somatic WellBeing
Multi-Sensory Design for Somatic WellBeing based on the idea of delving into the realm of bodily sensations can unlock fresh perspectives on our own bodies, nurturing heightened ...
LIFE heritageHOME
The LIFE heritageHOME project focuses on the energy performance improvement of residential (single or multi-family buildings) listed buildings and of residential buildings located within ...
From Sowing Confusion to Gathering Knowledge
Marta Konovalov, Jane Remm Tallinn Botanic Garden, Garden of Senses, Kloostrimetsa tee 52, Tallinn From October 2023 to March 2024 the boxes in the centre of Tallinn Botanic Garden’s Garden of Senses will be ...
Experience-driven practice-based research on handbag design principles
The project focused on exploring experience-driven design principles that extend the product lifespan by using emotional attachment. perceptions and product descriptions to understand how products are perceived and experienced, which ...
ACuTe – Cultural testbeds for performing arts and new technology
ACuTe, a pioneering digital theatre project across Europe, has EKA as one of its partner organizations. Project aims to transform the way theatre and performing arts are created and presented using emerging ...
Developing self and relational awareness through multi-sensorial textile artifacts that invite movement
Moving Aware-ables looks for methods for designing multi-sensory textile objects that would invite for contemplative movement. Contemplative movement for developing self and relational awareness has great potential for caring for one’s ...
Project WOODMEADOWLIFE
The Estonian-Latvian joint LIFE project (LIFE20 NAT/EE/000074) “Restoring and promoting a long-term sustainable management of Fennoscandian wooded meadows in Estonia and Latvia” focuses on the restoration of wooded meadows in ...
LIFE IP BuildEST
In view of Estonia's climate goals, the Estonian Academy of Arts participates in the international project Life IP BUILDEST (2021 - 2028), the task of which is to show direction and give impetus to the complete renovation of private houses built ...
Transform4Europe – T4EU
Transform4Europe (The European University for Knowledge Entrepreneurs) is an ...
Forecast and Fantasy in Late Soviet Architecture (PSG, 2020–2024)
The research project proposes to write a history of fantasy in Late-Soviet architecture, focusing on its mediating role in the transformative effects of postwar modernisation. From the 1960s onwards several architects realigned their work ...
Patterns of Development in Estonian Culture of the Transition Period (1986–1998) (PRG, 2020–2024)
The research project sets out to investigate the cultural processes at work in Estonia between 1986 and 1998, a time-frame known as the transition period, corresponding to the disintegration of socialist systems in Eastern Europe and subsequent ...
Publishing the ‘History of Estonian Art’ (1999–2025)
Publishing the multi-volume History of Estonian Art was initiated in 1999. It is the longest-running research project of the Institute of Art History and Visual Culture. The Estonian-language volumes are accompanied by lengthy English ...
Fashion SEEDS – Fashion Societal, Economic & Environmental Design-led Sustainability
Fashion SEEDS is a project led by world leading institutions in Fashion Education spanning over the course of three years. It seeks to develop a Design-led Framework for ...
Bernt Notke: The Research and Conservation of the Retable of the Church of the Holy Spirit
The late medieval retable of the High Altar of the Church of the Holy Spirit, Tallinn, is an outstanding masterpiece of woodcarving and painting of international renown, completed in 1483 in the workshop of Bernt Notke, a prominent master of ...
