Calendar

Performance “What if there is no place called home” by Melina Unterhauser in Keskpuur on 20th of April from 12.00 to 15.30.

“This I will only tell myself in confidence because it comes from a little part where I don’t go often and there is still a place for you. Come and sit next to my kitchen to hear a story of our past. Follow the unheard story of my grandfather.”

The performance takes place at Keskpuur activating the installation of Inessa Saarits and Liisa-Lota Jõeleht. Melina Unterhauser transforms the installation by inviting audience to have a homemade meal together, the performance explores and questions the overlapping and contradictions of the culture heritage in different countries. Where are the intersections and what isolate us from each other? How to live as a nomad in a new country with a different cultural background?

Unterhauser is interested in involvements of the individuals and groups in society, specifically  in rituals, social movements and political systems. For that she works mostly in installation and performance to combine haptic materials with body movement.

Melina Unterhauser is a German artist based in Karlsruhe and Tallinn. She is currently studying in the installation and sculpture department at the Estonia Academy of Arts for an exchange semester. In Germany she is a student of Ulla von Brandenburg in the Fine Arts Academy of Karlsruhe. She has participated in several group exhibitions in Germany and Italy.

12:00-14:30 Sound installation and preparation of the meal
15:00 Eating together

“EKA in Kenya. Implementing the Upmade System”
EKA Gallery 5.–26.04.2024
Open Tue–Sun 12–6 pm, free entry
Opening: 4.04.2024 at 6 pm

Supervisors: Reet Aus, Maria Pukk
Participants: Marta Konovalov, Susanna-Belinda Kõgel, Eva-Liis Lidenburg, Kaisa Moora, Anu Muiste, Doreen Mägi, Maria Rojko Nisu, Eva Reiska, Katrin Lepa-Ruben, Lisandra Türkson, Maris Vahter

The exhibition “EKA in Kenya. Implementing the Upmade System” focuses on the effort to reduce and recycle waste from the textile industry. The students of circular design of the Estonian Academy of Arts spent the month of February in 2024 in Kenya, in the city of Eldoret. On site, they learned about the production at the Rivatex factory, followed the product development process, performed analyzes and applied upcycling principles. Twelve different product concepts created by students will be displayed in EKA Gallery, including accessories, clothes, lampshades and a modular tent.

The international project “Transferring Upmade Know-How to Kenya” is part of a longer cooperation between Moi University and DiMa, the Sustainable Design and Materials Lab at the Estonian Academy of Arts. DiMa has contributed to reducing the environmental impact of the fashion and textile industry through various international projects. The aim of the project is to increase the circulation of Kenya’s textile industry by introducing the UPMADE method at the Rivatex factory. The approach enables the recycling of textile waste generated during manufacturing, thus supporting more environmentally friendly production.

The project has been made in cooperation with the Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn Center (SEI Tallinn) and Moi University, with the support of the Erasmus+ study mobility program and the Environmental Investment Centre (KIK).

Opening drinks from Punch Club.

More info:
Transferring Upmade Know-How to Kenya

In April, the public lectures of the Venia legend of the candidates for the 2024 academic staff competition will begin.

April 15 in room A-501

Associate professor of Glass Design, head of BA specialty, head of department (1.0 positions)
at 11:30 Andra Jõgi lecture “Half empty & fully full”

Associate professor of theory and history of Product Design (0.75 positions)
at 12.30 Triin Jerlei lecture “Shared and personal (time) stories in design”

April 29 in room A-501

Associate Professor of the Department of Animation (1.0 positions)
at 13.30 p.m. Lilli-Krõõt Repnau lecture “We tell ourselves stories in order to live…”

April 29 in room A-501

Professor of Textile Design (1.0 positions)
at 3 p.m. Kärt Ojavee lecture “Textiles in interludes”

April 30 in room A-501

Associate Professor of Graphic Design (0.5 positions)
at 11 Kert Viiart lecture “Research in graphic design education and practice”

Associate professor of Fashion Design (0.5 positions)

at 12 Anu Samarüütel-Long lecture “Without or with thought, in silence or in noise. The path of creation”
at 1 pm Catlin Kaljuste’s lecture “Sustainability and beautiful deeds”

May 3 in room A-501

Associate Professor of Interaction Design (0.75 positions)

at 10:30 Nesli Hazal Oktay lecture “Interaction Design of Our Future(s)”
at 11.30 Emrecan Gülay lecture “Empowering Human Creativity: Bridging the Physical and Digital Worlds in Interaction Design and Education”
at 12.30 Velvet Spors lecture “Inter-Personal, Inter-Connected, Inter-Faced: Exploring Technology as a Tool for Relationality”

Lectures for candidates for the Associate Professor of Interaction Design are in English

You are all welcome to listen!

Maria Erikson‘s solo exhibition Hazy Gardens opens in GÜ gallery at 5pm on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Exhibition is open until May 3, 2024.

You will find me if you want me in the garden.
Unless it’s pouring down with rain.(Einstürzende Neubauten, The Garden. Album Ende Neu, 1996.)

Trees stand for growth and life but also for stability and roots. People spend time amongst the trees to seek knowledge and integrity because this is where the spiritual and mundane are intertwined. I visit the trees to ask for advice or tell them about my grief.
(M. E.)

Hazy Gardens premises on an allegorical ambiguity of a garden as an archetypal image of the soul and happiness. A garden represents a spiritual headspace but also a physical space where to seek sanctuary and beauty. While it is an attempt to create nature in a constrained form, it can also be seen as an extension of a domestic space. It is a dimension that is purposefully cultivated in a need of comfort, freedom and escape. In a sense, nurturing a garden is nurturing oneself. It is an embodiment of human desire to care for and be cared for. The neglected, once lush garden becomes a symbol of decay and of a tenacious nature that eventually takes over the habitat.

With similar attentiveness and sensitivity, as if tending to a garden, gentle gestures are transferred to printing paper though the creative process of the artist, envisioning a dreamy garden space, and simultaneously representing the ephemeral nature of the dream itself. Artist’s attempt to grow and maintain both real and imaginary gardens becomes an allegory of the (human) nature, its permanence and impermanence.

Artist thanks: Association of Estonian Printmakers, Lembe Ruben-Kangur,
Liina Siib, Britta Benno, Kadri Toom, Naomi Nowak, Anna Viola Hallberg, Brynhild Seim, Jim Berggren, Marko Odar, Villem Säre, Mart Saarepuu,
Björkö Konstnod, EKA graafika

Exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

Maria Erikson (1985) lives and works in Tallinn and Oslo. Her body of work is an exploration of personal identity and cultural narrative through the methodology of craft and the process of artmaking, the representation of the body and the ephemeral nature of material itself. With the focus on materiality and materials as sets of relationships, she investigates visible and non-visible relations that are produced by the gestures between them. In new structural arrangements she investigates their jointness and indifferences, bodiliness and ability to inhabit shared space.

Maria Erikson teaches graphic art at the Estonian Academy of Arts and the Oslo National Academy of Arts in Norway, previously also at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki. Erikson holds a MFA degree in printmaking study area from the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki and a master printer certificate as a collaborative lithography printer from Tamarind Institute (NM, USA). Before that, she studied graphic arts in Sweden. Maria Erikson is a recipient of the Eduard Wiiralt grant (2021), The Swedish Printmakers´ Association Scholarship, (2017), Getfotsfonden Foundation Scholarship (2012), Eric Ericson Foundation Fellowship (2012), and has been on two occasions rewarded with Ann-Margret Lindell Grant for Printmaking (2021, 2008, Sweden). In 2023, Erikson was awarded the title of Printmaker of a Year by the Association of Estonian Printmakers.

Recent exhibitions: Perspektiv på trykk, Gallery Norske Grafikere, Norway (2024); Pindadest, piiridest, omaruumidest, The Rapla County Centre for Contemporary Art (2023). Solo exhibitions Soft Touch On The Deckle, The Museum of Lithography, Sweden; Gallery Ratamo, Finland; Gallery Draakon, Tallinn (2023) and Notes from Borderspace, ARS Project Space, Tallinn (2022).

Maria Kapajeva’s solo exhibition “Listen To My Scream, Hear Their Dreams” at Draakon Gallery

Opening on Wednesday, April 17th at 18:00. The exhibition will be open until May 11, 2024.

Maria Kapajeva’s exhibition, “Listen To My Scream, Hear Their Dreams,” is profoundly influenced by Draakon Gallery’s location directly across from the Russian Embassy in Tallinn’s Old Town. Positioned in this manner, Kapajeva aims to foster a more nuanced dialogue regarding the ongoing war in Ukraine, which has led to a continual exposure to harrowing imagery. Consequently, a process of desensitization has transpired, rendering us less able to empathize with the enduring violence faced by real individuals still fighting for their lives in Ukraine. The intricate details, nuances, and personal narratives have been reduced to easily shareable content that briefly crosses our screens before fading into obscurity.

The artworks selected and created for this exhibition stem from the necessity to provide a platform for the personal accounts of those who have fled Ukraine, as well as the artist’s own imperative to express and scrutinize her suppressed anger regarding the ongoing conflict. In this exhibition, there are no images of war; instead, viewers are presented with works that demand time to engage with— to be read, listened to, and truly heard. These artworks compel us to scrutinize the language of the oppressor, where imperialist ambitions lurk behind ostensibly positive rhetoric. We encounter intimate tales of despair and devastation, yet also of hope and compassion. We are invited into a tumult of emotions, ultimately finding catharsis in releasing the anger buried deep within us.

Born in the Soviet Union, raised in independent Estonia, and educated in the UK, Maria Kapajeva has found herself in an involuntary position of ‘the other’. This position, which she has embraced and incorporated as a cornerstone of her artistic practice, propels her to investigate a diverse spectrum of cultural identity and gender issues within historical and contemporary contexts. Utilizing various mediums—including video, photography, textiles, and installations—she brings to the forefront elements that are frequently overlooked or relegated to the periphery of our vision. www.mariakapajeva.com

Designer: Kersti Heile
Installation: Hans-Otto Ojaste and Valge Kuup

The artist expresses her gratitude to Lena, Sasha and the whole their family, Polina Kuznietsova, Alena Kapajeva, Inese Strupule, Kateryna Popkova, Hilda Vaike, Gulya Sultanova, Nastassia, Alia, Elizaveta Klepikova, Aditi S Sharma, Jacobina de Rivera, Annika von Hausswolff, Redi Koobak, Irina Andrushko, Aljona Tubaleva, Mari Volens, Valge Kuup and Aksel Haagensen, Kersit Heile, Jake Sheperd and the team of Draakoni gallery

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
Exhibitions in Draakon gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Ministry of Culture and AS Liviko.

The exhibition brings together three different, yet equally sensitive artistic visions. Through the lens of a camera, the photographers Peeter Tooming (1939–1997) and Endel Veliste (1930–2001) and the visual artist Hedi Jaansoo (b 1989) recorded points of intersection between human beings and nature.

Their photographic series exemplify how the camera may amplify the distance from the surrounding environment, lend voices to stones, plants and water, and make the intrinsic interlacing of natural and artificial environments visible.

In the context of current environmental issues, this exhibition creates a poetic dialogue between photographic series by two Soviet-era photographers and a modern-day visual artist. It urges viewers to think about the relationship between nature and people and about the mediating role of technology in that relationship.

“You, River” is the exhibition that reopens the Project Room, which is part of the permanent Soviet Estonian art display. The purpose of Project Room exhibitions is to expand and complement the range of topics and artists included in the permanent exhibition, to contribute to creating trans-temporal and transnational dialogues, and to correlate with the primary research and exhibition projects of Kumu.
Curator Annika Toots on the exhibition:
The title of the exhibition You, River has been borrowed from Peeter Tooming’s photo series devoted to a body of water and its surrounding natural environment. Created in the 1970s, it stands out as being poetic and fragile, and is associated with the environmental topics that entered Estonian art in those days. Endel Veliste’s series View Through the Car Window dates from the same decade. Veliste’s eye follows and captures the surrounding environment through a double barrier: the camera lens and the car window.

The 21st-century visual artist Hedi Jaansoo enters into dialogue with Tooming’s and Veliste’s photos from the second half of the 20th century. She does not set up an opposition between the natural environment and the artificial environment, but rather tries to capture points of intersection between the two realms. Jaansoo’s photos feature carefully composed human-made and natural compositions located in areas where borders are blurred and personal and public environments blend into one.

The display is part of the permanent exhibition “Conflicts and Adaptations: Estonian Art of the Soviet Era (1940–1991) ” on the 4th floor of the Kumu Art Museum.

Team
Curator: Annika Toots
Artists: Hedi Jaansoo, Peeter Tooming and Endel Veliste
Exhibition design: Villu Plink
Graphic design: Tuuli Aule
Coordinator: Anastassia Langinen

Cloe Jancis & Ann Pajuväli
“beginners”
EKA Billboard Gallery 22.03.–02.06.2024
Open 24/7, free
Opening: 22.03.2024 at 6 pm

A beginner’s mindset means letting go of assumptions, expertise, or preconceived notions that might cloud our perception or limit our understanding. In this state, we cultivate curiosity, humility and willingness to learn, even with prior knowledge and experience on the subject. It means embracing a sense of astonishment and discovery by trying things for the first time, which can lead to new perspectives and foster creativity and personal growth.

The artists emphasise that the exhibition is about growing out of the ways of representation they have become accustomed to: “We are in a phase of transition – it is not clear-cut, but it is lively and honest. Going through it means letting go (of former habits) and trusting that work teaches the doer. At the exhibition, we share parallel quests that may have a result, but not necessarily. This is a stopover, one possible version; unfinished thoughts, half-baked ideas, new beginnings and loose ends. The most honest expression of the current situation.

Opening drinks from Punch Drinks.

On April 18, at 7:00 p.m., Denisa Štefanigová will open her personal exhibition “Look at the Clouds” at the Tütar gallery. The exhibition is designed by the artist Johannes Luik.

In the opening exhibition, Štefanigová’s recent works are on display, bringing to the viewers hybrid creatures and fantastic animals executed in an expressive-dynamic handwriting. It is an imaginative, dreamlike or subconscious world where creatures that have taken shape within a deeply personal and dynamic creative process have become the artist’s imaginary companions.

According to art historian Katrin Kivimaa, the hybrid imagery of Štefanigová’s works and the painting technique that emphasizes fluidity symbolize a way of seeing and interpreting the world, in which autonomous self-existence and placing the human being higher than the non-human (other living beings, nature) gives way to the ethics of coexistence and interdependence. “The field of meaning of the works connects with the problems of our world today. Reuse of old painting canvases in the creation of new works; the elimination of the boundaries between craft and so-called high art; the merging of human beings and other living beings – all these elements speak of the author’s ecological awareness and social nerve,” writes Kivimaa in the accompanying text of the exhibition.

Denisa Štefanigová (1995) is a Czech artist specializing mainly in painting. The artist graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts with a major in contemporary art and from the Faculty of Fine Arts of Brno University of Technology (FaVU). In 2023, personal exhibitions of Štefanigová took place in Prague gallery SVĚTOVA 1 and EKA Gallery in Tallinn. The artist has participated in group exhibitions at the Kadriorg Art Museum, the Brno Art House, the MO Museum in Vilnius and Hobusepea Gallery in Tallinn.

Denisa Štefanigová’s exhibition at the Tütar gallery will be open until June 2 and is free to the public.
The gallery is located in Noblessner harbor campus at Vesilennuki 24 and is open from Thursday to Friday 13:00-19:00, Saturday to Sunday 14:00-18:00.

Accompanying text of the exhibition: Katrin Kivimaa
Designer: Johannes Luik
Graphic design: Kert Viiart

The exhibition is supported by the Estonian Cultural Foundation, DSV Estonia and the Czech Embassy in Tallinn.

Nature and Abstraction
Designs for Monumental Paintings from the 1970–1980s

Monumental painting emerged as a significant medium in Estonian art during the 1960s. However, formal instruction in this area gained momentum at the art academy over the subsequent two decades. During this period, the ideas of several painting students progressed from concept to completion in various materials. Examples include the stained glass works of Urve Dzidzaria and Heli Tuksam, which originated from their diploma projects. The preliminary work of these projects is also displayed at the current exhibition.

While Soviet official art typically featured propagandistic content in works intended for public spaces, neither our professional monumental painting nor the students’ works adhere to this approach. Guided by the enthusiastic mentorship of Dolores Hoffmann, students developed universally human and aesthetic solutions in monumental painting. One noticeable trend is the oscillation between nature-inspired, realistic design creation and the abstract style, where recognisable figures have been lost. This selection presents various personal approaches, ranging from a slightly stylised manner to completely abstract expression. In each case, the artists have carefully considered the future technique of execution, whether it be fresco, sgraffito, mosaic or stained glass.

Several artworks that were removed from the old EKA building on Tartu Road before its demolition have been subsequently reinstalled and showcased in the new academy building. Furthermore, contemporary pieces have been introduced, as instruction in monumental painting continues under the guidance of Heldur Lassi at the Estonian Academy of Arts, albeit on a more modest scale today. Present-day students are not constrained by traditional boundaries – they do employ classical techniques but boldly blend them together as dictated by the content. This exhibition provides viewers with the opportunity to establish conceptual links between different approaches from various periods, prompting them to seek out the completed monumental paintings, both old and new, within the public spaces of the EKA.

The artworks showcased in the exhibition were initially featured at the comprehensive exhibition Invisible Monumental Painting at the EKA Gallery in 2020, offering a vibrant display designed by Kristi Kongi.

Reeli Kõiv
curator of the exhibition

Passepartouts: Kristi Kongi
Graphic design: Pärtel Eelmere

Singular Inner Worlds

Marju Mutsu and Reti Saks (Laanemäe) 

This exhibition presents the graduation projects of two notably distinct female print artists: Marju Mutsu (1941–1980), who graduated in 1969, and Reti Saks, formerly Laanemäe (1960), who obtained her diploma in print art in 1987. From the outset, both artists displayed a unique and unmistakable style. They both engrave their visions with a sharp needle onto the acid resistant layer of a metal plate using intaglio printing, specifically etching. Their interpretations of the world are profound and characterised by a strong sense of generalisation – albeit expressed in entirely different ways.

Marju Mutsu’s vibrant series Youth comprises six prints, each titled thematically: Wind, Truth, Tenderness, Song, School and Earth. On one hand, we observe the spirit of the 1960s reflected here, capturing the fast-paced rhythms of contemporary life, alongside determined-looking men with strong jawlines. On the other hand, we encounter unprecedented forms in Estonian printmaking, witty suggestions, fragmentation of the pictorial space, as well as emotional experiences, mental states, and the beauty of nature’s fragments. The uniqueness of Mutsu’s print art lies not only in its dynamic expression and Astrid Lindgren-like humour, but also in its exploration of all the possibilities of intaglio printing and bold experimentation: at times, the plate is not completely wiped clean of printing ink, the outlines of recognisable figures blend into abstraction, and the surface of the printing plate itself becomes a character.

The joyful print artist departed from us prematurely, at the young age of just 39.

Reti Saks’ series of seven images Games exudes a more subdued and static tone. From the outset, the artist has been on a quest for answers to life’s profound mysteries, delving into the enigma of life and death. The depth of exploration, sometimes even penetrating the surface of the image itself, is evident in the sheet titled Deep Print. Other prints, like Stairs, Ribbon and Walker, signify human choices, whereas works such as Eye to Eye, Hand and Picture illustrate the enigmatic ways in which the world can be perceived. The artist reflects the world through herself, with her images literally bearing her own visage. In a metaphysical expanse of imagery, a semi-frozen figure of a child-woman emerges, often in repetitive iterations, reminiscent of the artist herself. This deeply introspective exploration of the world is both painful and melancholic, yet it is also rich and multi-layered.

Reeli Kõiv
curator of the exhibition

Graphic design: Pärtel Eelmere

Pille-Riin Valk’s new work “Scent of Moments” will be installed on the facade of the Estonian Academy of Arts. You are invited to the opening of the work on Thursday, April 18 at 6 pm on Kotzebue Street.

The author has described her work as follows: “My goal is to create a feeling of warmth, sincerity, freshness and modernity at the same time, to offer the joy of recognition and to give an opportunity to feel nostalgic. The new work is inspired by details that I have noticed and drawn from the environment around me and interpreted into my own language. The work focuses on holding each other and the rhythm of being.”

Pille Riin Valk is a graphic designer and artist working in Tallinn. Since 2020, she is studying at the graphic design department of the Estonian Academy of Arts. In addition, she has studied integrated art, music and multimedia at the Baltic Film and Media School and furthered her education at the School of Media Art and Design (ESMAD) in Portugal. Pille-Riin Valk is interested in nature, self-generated details and patterns, which she commonly turns into something digital first, after which she turns it into a physical object. Since 2021, Pille-Riin Valk has created several designs for contemporary art exhibitions. She has participated in art exhibitions since 2022, and in 2023 she did an internship at WWW stuudio.

Opening drinks from Punch Club.

Performance “What if there is no place called home” by Melina Unterhauser in Keskpuur on 20th of April from 12.00 to 15.30.

“This I will only tell myself in confidence because it comes from a little part where I don’t go often and there is still a place for you. Come and sit next to my kitchen to hear a story of our past. Follow the unheard story of my grandfather.”

The performance takes place at Keskpuur activating the installation of Inessa Saarits and Liisa-Lota Jõeleht. Melina Unterhauser transforms the installation by inviting audience to have a homemade meal together, the performance explores and questions the overlapping and contradictions of the culture heritage in different countries. Where are the intersections and what isolate us from each other? How to live as a nomad in a new country with a different cultural background?

Unterhauser is interested in involvements of the individuals and groups in society, specifically  in rituals, social movements and political systems. For that she works mostly in installation and performance to combine haptic materials with body movement.

Melina Unterhauser is a German artist based in Karlsruhe and Tallinn. She is currently studying in the installation and sculpture department at the Estonia Academy of Arts for an exchange semester. In Germany she is a student of Ulla von Brandenburg in the Fine Arts Academy of Karlsruhe. She has participated in several group exhibitions in Germany and Italy.

12:00-14:30 Sound installation and preparation of the meal
15:00 Eating together

On Thursday, 2nd of May at 6 pm the group exhibition titled “Forever in Bloom” will open at Vaal Gallery. The exhibition will remain open until 1st of June Tue–Fri 12–6 pm and Sat 12–4 pm.

Artists: Tõnis Jürgens, Loora Kaubi, Rebecca Norman, Viivi Saikkonen, Marleen Suvi, Roman-Sten Tõnissoo
Curator: Kaisa Maasik
Graphic design: Jaan Pavliuk

The group exhibition “Forever in Bloom” offers personal insights into stories of growing up. Meaning, how someone feels about themselves today and in their own body is directly determined by being in contact with others, coexisting, while staying true to themselves. The works in the exhibition express sincere feelings, perishability, sexuality and levels of comfort in one’s own body. It’s a tribute to growing up, a time during which you get to know different aspects about yourself, to let go of personal discomfort and other people’s expectations.

On May 15 at 6 pm, a tour of the exhibition led by the curator and artists, followed by the screening of Peeter Simm’s film “Multicolored Fairies” (1981) will take place at the exhibition. The event is free and is held in Estonian.

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and Ledzep Group.
Opening drinks from Põhjala Brewery.

More info:
Kaisa Maasik
kaisa.maasik@artun.ee