Calendar

Exhibition of the EKA Museum
INVISIBLE MONUMENTAL PAINTING
Monumental art by students at the Painting Department of EKA 1962–1995

8.10.–5.11.2020 at the EKA Gallery

The opening of the exhibition and presentation of the catalogue will take place at 5pm on the 7th October at the EKA Gallery. Entrance from Kotzebue Street. Please wear a mask!

The exhibition introduces the fascinating collection of monumental painting designs from 1962–1995 stored in EKA Museum including design proposals for various works in all classical techniques of monumental painting: fresco, sgraffito, mosaic, and stained glass. In order to highlight the technical singularity of monumental painting, 12 completed works are displayed at the exhibition, including stained glasses and mosaics made as student works (and graduation projects) as well as two works removed from the former EKA building on Tartu Road before its demolition: a circus-themed fresco by Valentin Vaher and fragments from Urve Dzidzaria’s remarkable sgraffito which covered the walls of the canteen. Screened at the exhibition will be a video by Kai Kaljo, introducing the fate and stories of destruction of monumental paintings through interviews with artists.

The exhibition features 46 artists (and also a few anonymous authors) totalling 138 works. Most of the works at the exhibition come from the collection of the Museum of EKA, with added works from the private collections of the artists themselves. The oldest exhibit is a fragment of the fresco mural by Dolores Hoffmann removed from Rahu Cinema before its demolition (1962–1963); the most recent work displayed is a part of Ivika Luisk’s graduation project in mosaic technique (1995).

The exhibition is accompanied by a 160-page catalogue which provides an overview to the teaching of monumental painting at the EKA in 1962–1995 illustrated with documentary photographs and reproductions. It also sheds light on the fortunate occasions when students were able to realise their ideas in buildings. Worth mentioning here is Dolores Hoffmann’s collaboration with Aate-Heli Õun, lecturer of interior architecture. The catalogue also includes the list of artists who graduated in the specialty of monumental painting, and their graduation works, and provides information on student works which cannot be brought to the exhibition hall. Monumental paintings finished as integral part of architecture are introduced through photographs. During our research we managed to identify 44 works of which only half are available today. The catalogue and its lists of monumental paintings are compiled by Reeli Kõiv. She is also the author of the overview article printed the catalogue.

The catalogue also addresses the fate and status of monumental painting today. In addition to the essay based on Kai Kaljo’s memories, various opinions emerge in a discussion group of painters moderated by Gregor Taul, where artists from different generations talk about monumental painting, its possibilities and future place, drawing on their personal experience.The catalogue is designed by Tiina Sildre, edited by Kristi Metste and translated into English by Epp Aareleid.

Curator of the exhibition: Reeli Kõiv

Exhibition design: Kristi Kongi

Graphic design: Pärtel Eelmere

Exhibition team: Heldur Lassi, Mihkel Ilus, Karmo Migur, Hilkka Hiiop, Taavi Tiidor

Many thanks to: Cultural Endowment of Estonia, OÜ JÄRSI, OÜ Grano Digital, EAA Gallery, Dolores Hoffmann, Kai Kaljo, Epp Kubu, Gregor Taul, Tiina Sildre, Kristi Metste, Epp Aareleid, Enn Põldroos, Tiit Pääsuke, Urve Dzidzaria, Eva Jänes, Mari Roosvalt, Uno Roosvalt, Kaarel Kurismaa, Jüri Kask, Heldur Lassi, Hilja Nairis-Piliste, Saima Vaitmaa, Robert Suvi, Üüve Vahur, Heli Tuksam, Valentin Vaher, Andrei Lobanov, Valev Sein, Kalli Sein, Tiina Tammetalu, Inga Aru, Ivika Luisk, Rene Aua, Kaido Ole, Kai Kallas, Heinart Puhkim, Ilmar Köök, Tiina Meeri, Heie Marie Treier, Aate-Heli Õun, Epp Maria Kokamägi, Iris Uuk, Reet Reidak, Hilkka Hiiop, Solveig Jahnke, Sirli Aavik, Pire Sova, Pärtel Eelmere

On 19 June at 6 pm, Estonian Academy of Arts will open the graduation show TASE for the first time as an online exhibition.  The opening will be broadcast on ERR Cultural News portal, on EKA TV at live.artun.ee as well as Facebook Live channel.  Instead of a regular gallery space, the works of the fresh graduating architects, artists, designers, and researchers will be exhibited online at tase.artun.ee

Live TV show will begin here June 19 at 6PM

“The decision to hold the exhibition online stemmed from the special situation of the coronavirus.  The graduates had to adjust to the changes quickly and in many cases rethink their physical works or ideas,” explains the head organiser, gallery manager Pire Sova and adds:

“In a normal situation, most of the fine arts and many graduation works from other specialties are created considering the meeting of the audience and the work in a physical space.  In this case, they have tried to solve the task of how to relay their ideas with immediacy and optimally in the internet space.  Exhibiting works online brings many new questions: what type of documentation media to use, how to combine and support them with text etc?”

TASE’20 online exhibition will show more than two hundred graduation works from the graduates of the architecture, design, fine arts, and art culture faculties.  The exhibition gives a complete overview of master’s theses from all EKA specialties as well as most of the bachelor graduation works and portfolios.

According to the Dean of Fine Arts, Kirke Kangro, the isolation period was an especially big challenge for the graduating young artists:
“There was no access to studios and workshops, the works had to be completed in hallways and kitchens.  I am certain that this year’s graduates carry the footprint of the global moment more than ever before – either knowingly or through the creative process itself.  The audience, who otherwise was able to attend the defences in a physically limited space, are able to hear the young artists via their theses defences through an internet link.

The topics of the 46 diploma works are broad and as custom to artists, both empathetic and critical.  Introspection and the yearning for forest, the connection between local and expat Estonians with Australia – or even Siberia, the reflections of the world of justice, questions of the body and status,” says Kangro.

The largest faculty of EKA, the Design Faculty will bring 87 student works to the TASE web exhibition.

“We are proud of our graduates who despite the difficult situation were able to complete their Bachelor and Master’s works.  The projects in all our specialties are dense, the topics immensely wide: from clay musical instruments to the innovation of structural building, from board games to theoretical research that questions the core principles of design,” rejoices the Dean of Design, Kristjan Mändmaa.

The Faculty of Architecture is represented by 43 architecture Master’s and interior architecture Bachelor students.  The young architects engaged in the most serious and painful aspects of society: the space around the deathbed, prison, rehabilitation for juvenile delinquents, a more effective educational space for high school and so on.

In previous TASE exhibitions, the Art Culture master theses have remained a bit hidden among the creative objects, but the Dean Lilian Hansar hopes that the web exhibition will give a wonderful opportunity to find out more about the written theoretical works from art history, heritage and conservation, as well as art education.  44 graduates present their works at the show.

In August, 45 more graduation works will be added to the exhibition and on 17 August the regular TASE show will open in the EKA gallery and other spaces, but the online TASE will remain open as long as the internet lasts.

This year’s graduates have the advantage, compared to all previous years, to show and share their creations regardless of physical distances – to their relatives in the countryside or outside of the capital city, to the families of international graduates and potential colleagues at the other side of the world.

Come see TASE’20 on tase.artun.ee and join the opening ceremony on 19 June at 6 pm at live.artun.ee !

TASE Team
Head Organiser: Pire Sova
Communications: Solveig Jahnke, Mart Vainre
Graphic Design: Robin Siimann, Elisabeth Juusu, Kersti Heile; adviser Associate Professor Indrek Sirkel
TASE.artun.ee Web: WWW Stuudio

TASE is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia

Kristina Jõekalda, PhD student of the Estonian Academy of Arts, Curriculum of Art History and Visual Culture, will defend her thesis “German Monuments in the Baltic Heimat? A Historiography of Heritage in the “Long Nineteenth Century”” (“Saksa mälestised ja Balti Heimat. Pärandi historiograafia “pikal 19. sajandil””) on the 20th of November 2020 at 11.00 at Põhja pst 7, room A501.
Audience outside of EKA is welcome to follow the live stream: https://tv.artun.ee/doktoritoodekaitsmised
The defense will be held in English.

Supervisors: Prof. Krista Kodres (Estonian Academy of Arts), Prof. Ulrike Plath (Tallinn University)

External reviewers: Prof. Jörg Hackmann, Dr. Ants Hein

Opponent: Prof. Jörg Hackmann (University of Szczecin; University of Greifswald)

In Estonian humanities the Baltic Germans (Deutschbalten) are mostly addressed as a historical phenomenon, despite the fact that the architecture that they left behind from medieval and later times still continues to shape the local environment of the present. How did the Baltic Germans project the image they held of their past onto their goals for the present and the future? How did that path relate to the culture of the Germans living elsewhere in Eastern Europe? What new research prospects are there available to be taken up today? This transdisciplinary and transnational dissertation looks at the representations of Baltic German identity that expressed themselves in art historiography and in heritage preservation from late eighteenth century until the interwar era. This period witnessed not just the rise of nationalism, but also the emergence of the concept of heritage as a culturally valuable entity, the formation of the humanities and of the idea of civil society. Attitudes to monuments and historiography are reflections on political and social processes. Nevertheless, not much research exists to date on the history of art history and heritage preservation taken as a combined topic, nor yet on the popular dimension of these fields, beyond academic circles. This thesis seeks to show that, rather than leaning exclusively on Estonian nationalism, the idea of the existence of a national heritage goes back to the patriotic movement of the Baltic Germans, which had also struggled to create and preserve the symbols of a glorious past against the background of German identity. This is the first attempt made within Estonian humanities to research the challenges that heritage studies – a field heavily tilted toward contemporary concerns – have posed for the discipline of art history. The analysis also has many overlaps with nationalism studies and German diaspora studies, the key concepts being ʻheritageʼ, Heimat and ʻnationʼ, all seen as constructs. What is in focus here is not the local architectural monuments themselves, but the process of turning them into heritage. Ideological standpoints are more fully articulated in the handbooks and widely disseminated texts that hence provide the main sources for this work, especially texts relating to cultural memory, identity and belonging. Addressing various media by which (national) heritage is constructed – in image, word and practice – this dissertation constitutes a critical historiography of texts on the history and protection of local architecture, focusing for the most part on the contribution of the learned societies and of Wilhelm Neumann (1849–1919). The dissertation therefore looks at discussions on monuments through various visions of continuity and discontinuity, of similarity and difference, of localism and universalism, of nationalism and internationalism, of Balticness and Germanness (and Estonianness), of scholarship and popularisation.

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

Please find the PhD thesis HERE