Calendar

TASE DAY on Saturday, June 6th:

1–9 pm TASE exhibition open
1–3 pm guided tours of the Faculty of Design, in Estonian
3–3.30pm guided tours of the Faculty of Art and Culture, in Estonian
3–6 pm burning ritual at Kail Timusk’s installation “Requiem Larium” on the sea terrace of the main building
3.45–4.30pm Jaak Juske’s historical tour around EKA, in Estonian
5 pm TASE Anima ’26 screening at the cinema Sõprus
7 pm TASE Anima ’26 Q&A in the lobby of the main building of the Estonian Academy of
Arts, moderated by Lyza Karoly Jarvis and Kaur Järve, in English

Keithy Kuuspu’s durational performance in the yard of Kotzebue 4

– “Indirect Performativity” on Wednesday, June 17 at 7 pm

Burning rituals at Kail Timusk’s installation “Requiem Larium” on the sea terrace of the main building of EKA

– Sat 6.06 at 3–6 pm
– Sun 14.06 at 4–7 pm
– Fri 19.06 at 1–4 pm

Margaret Tilk’s study club “Girls, In Theory”

Tuesday, June 9 at 6 pm at EKA Gallery, with pre-registration, in Estonian

GUIDED TOURS

All tours start in the lobby of the EKA main building and participation is free of charge.

Historical tour

Saturday, June 6 at 3.45–4.30 pm historical tour around EKA, led by Jaak Juske, in Estonian, donations are welcome

Guided tours of the Faculty of Architecture

– Thursday, June 11 at 2–3 pm guided tour of the Department of Interior Architecture led by Gregor Taul, in Estonian
– Thursday, June 11 at 3.30–5 pm guided tour of the Departments of Architecture and Urbanism led by Roland Reemaa, in Estonian
– Monday, June 15 at 5–6 pm guided tour of the Faculty of Architecture led by Sille Pihlak, in Estonian
– Tuesday, June 16 at 1–2 pm guided tour of the Department of Interior Architecture led by students of the faculty, in Estonian

Guided tours of the Faculty of Design

– Saturday, June 6 at 1–3 pm, guided tour by Kätlin Leokin and students of the faculty, in Estonian
– Sunday, June 14 at 1–3 pm, guided tour by Kätlin Leokin and students of the faculty, in Estonian

Guided tours of the Faculty of Arts and Culture

– Saturday, June 6 at 3–3.30 pm, guided tour by Valve Saarma, in Estonian
– Sunday, June 14 at 3–3.30 pm, guided tour by Valve Saarma, in Estonian

Guided tour of the Faculty of Fine Arts

– Sunday, June 14 at 4–5 pm, guided tour by Elo Vahtrik, in Estonian

More info at: https://tase.artun.ee/

On May 23 at 1:30 PM the 2nd year glass and ceramics department students of EKA will open their exhibition Same Time Same Place in the Viinistu`s Barrel Gallery.

In a time marked by tension, acceleration and fragile boundaries, this exhibition gathers works that linger in the space between presence and relation. Created by 12 student artists from the glass and ceramics departments of EKA, the exhibition unfolds as a series of quiet negotiations between materials, bodies, and ways of being that do not always easily align.

Rather than offering a unified perspective, it brings together distinct, sometimes conflicting approaches. The works explore connection as a process: we leave traces, we transform, inevitably and continuously, both intentionally and unintentionally. In this, there are tensions and collisions, moments of conflict, and recurring attempts to foster peace.

The exhibition attends to the conditions under which beings share space. Proximity does not guarantee understanding; contact does not ensure unity. Instead, the works move through closeness, tension, dependence, and care, questioning what it means to coexist. Symbiosis is more than living side by side, just as parasitism speaks to forms of reliance and imbalance.
Co-existence emerges here as a kind of chemistry — a dissolving you and an insoluble me, and vice versa. Together, the works ask what it means to exist alongside difference without dissolving it.

Works by: Antigone Doron-Sornin, Lee Saarepera, Maria Ivanova, Karl Otti, Daniela Treviño, Martin Kõiv, Stina Preiman, Kirke Vahar, Una Poriete, Olivia Jegorov, Ellen Schleyer, Helen Vinogradov

Advisors: Kaja Altvee, Kateriin Rikken 

The exhibition will remain open until June 11th.

Opening times:
 
Until May 31: Fri-Sun 11-18
From June 1: Mon-Sun 11–18

Supported by: Viinistu Art Harbour, Lexplast, EKA Student Council, Põhjala, Peetri Lõheäri, High Voltage, Capra Saun, Käbliku, Coca Cola, Juhan Kivitoa 

Moulds for the Wilderness / Vormid tühermaale
Odie Lap Chun Chow
Location: Hanger, Põhjala tehas, Marati tn 5, Tallinn
Opening 8.05 at 18:00
Visting hours: 8.05–19.05 WED-SUN 11:00-17:00
Defence date: 12.05 at 10:00

Moulds for the Wilderness is a showcase of Odie Lap Chun Chow’s journey into mould making, inspired by ceramic casting production and self-experience in identity seeking. Gypsum, clay, and photography became the materials Odie used to explore and reflect on his struggle to find self-identity, bound to the city he came from. Here, he raises the question of whether moulds give limits or freedom to one, and whether one can create their own “wilderness”, a space without borders.

Perfect Dupes / Täiuslik duplikaat
Maia Hellman
Location: Kopli tn 2a
Opening: 9.05 at 18:00
Visiting Hours 9.05–30.05 THR-SUN 14:00-19:00
Defence date: 12.05 at 15:00

The remnants of the honey shop linger here, in the elongated shelves that run the walls and the price stickers from the beekeeping and gardening equipment they once sold. The same shelves now hold objects that arrived here with their own histories. Second-hand tableware, ceramic pieces, raw materials. Things that have passed through other hands before reaching these shelves. Some of them have passed through mine.

Lyly Pudi-Padi Pood, Lyly’s IJzerwinkel, La Quincallerie de Lyly
Lyly Letzer
Location: Keskturg Kiosk 168
Opening date: 10.05 at 11:00
Visiting hours: 10.05–17.05
Defence date: 13.05 at 11:00

A “ijzerwinkel”, “quincallerie” or “pudi-padi pood” is a place where you can find glue, a flower, a plate or someone to talk to. // Pudi-padi pood on koht, kust võib leida nii liimi, lilleõie, taldriku kui ka vestluse. // Une quincaillerie est un endroit où on peut tout trouver, un clou, une assiette, un savon et une personne à qui parler. // Ik ga naar een ijzerwinkel om van alles en nog wat te vinden: een tas, een koek of een babbel.

Unfolding Gestures / Avanev käeliigutus
Mariam Mestvirishvili
Location: Angaarinstituut, Põhjala Tehas, Marati tn 5, Tallinn
Opening 8.05 at 18:00
Visiting: 8.05–24.05 WED-SUN 11:00-17:00
Defence date: 13.05 at 15:00

Unfolding Gestures brings together practices of ceramic and textile making, exploring what lies beyond their surface and unfolds through them. By focusing on the process of making, the coexistence of material and maker as beings in their own right becomes visible, resulting in a series of works that reveal the traces of the process and its inherent mundanities.

Beyond Wearability / Kantavusest kaugemal
Peixuan Lin
Location: ARS Kunstilinnak, Stuudio 53, Pärnu mnt 154
Opening 11.05 at 18:00
Visiting hours: 11.05–15.05
Defence date: 14.05 at 10:00

Beyond Wearability builds on the personal experiences and theoretical research of designer Peixuan Lin, exploring how accessories transcend from wearability to becoming fluid symbols of identity. It shows how materials, myths, and everyday use collectively transform accessories into vehicles for personal narratives.

Souvenirs from Home / Suveniirid kodust
Sylvia Burgess
Location: Pika Jala väravatorn, Pikk Jalg 3
Opening: 16.05 at 18:00
Visiting hours 16.05–14.06 THR–SUN 12:00-17:00
Defence date: 14.05 at 14:00

Souvenirs from home is an exhibition of small objects and jewellery drawing on motifs, techniques and materials gathered through the three homes Sylvia Burgess has experienced in the past two years.

KULTIVEERITUD KEHA
Joanne-Heleene Sõrmus
Location: EKA Stenograafia stuudio, B304
Opening: 14.05 at 19:00 (performance)
Defence date: 15.05 at 10:00, A403

At the culmination, the focus shifts away from the body to what remains of it: its traces, forms, and surfaces that are transferred into the garment. Performance KULTIVEERITUD KEHA explores the moment when the body ceases to be the objective and instead becomes a trace – a shell no longer defined by physical perfection, but by the aesthetic and emotional residue left by the pursuit of it.

Extensions / Pikendused
Marite Kuus-Hill

Location: Kopli 70a, II floor/korrus
Opening 12.05 at 18:00

Defence date: 15.05 at 14:00

Extensions is a collection of events surrounding a handmade 4 m x 4 m quilt. This project presents a series of proposals and brings forth open-ended questions about space and space making, while expanding the notion of a quintessential cultural object, the quilted blanket.

Collection of public events:

April 17th 18:00
Thesis Assembly
Marite Kuus-Hill & Chloé Gourvennec
Krulli maja, Kopli 70a, Tallinn

May 6th 14:00
Patchnotes: Line Arngaard
Haron Barashed & Marite Kuus-Hill
oh.eka-gd-ma.ee / EKA sea terrace, Põhja pst 7, Tallinn

May 12th 18:00
Twelve Proposals for an Unfolding Event
Lili Maud Dobell & Marite Kuus-Hill
Krulli maja, Kopli 70a, Tallinn

May 13th 18:00 (invitation only)
Quilting Bee and Talking Bird
Jordy Weaver & Marite Kuus-Hill
ETC Space, Niine 8, Tallinn

May 22nd – 23rd 11:00-17:00
Quilt Space
Fair Enough Art Book Fair
Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design
Lai 17, Tallinn

June 3rd 14:00
Patchnotes: Alek Green
Haron Barashed & Marite Kuus-Hill
oh.eka-gd-ma.ee / EKA sea terrace, Põhja pst 7, Tallinn

On Thursday, 14 May at 6 PM, Viktoria Martjanova’s first solo exhibition Biomaterial will open at the Hobusepea Gallery.

Working with installation, video and photography, the artist regards the body as a resource: a currency that can be optimised, controlled, used and categorised according to political, military and economic interests.

At the centre of the exhibition is a large-scale installation made of hair, transforming this intimate and personal material into a spatial experience. From this enchanting, yet repellent approach to material and form, Martjanova moves on to the media of photography and video, creating a more direct link between organic matter and human life. The exhibited bodies and materials have lost their autonomy and function rather as units in a broader socio-political system, where their value is determined by their usability and purpose.

Viktoria Martjanova is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice includes video, installation, sound, text and performativity. Her work focuses on the formation of identity in conditions where the personal experience is inextricably linked to social and political mechanisms, perceiving the body as a tension field where these power dynamics are manifested.

Martjanova uses bodily experience, memory and language as materials to examine how personal tension and social structures intertwine in the body and how these relationships become perceivable. Her works move along the axis of tension and interruption, looking at identity as an unstable construct that is constantly rewritten. Martjanova highlights the human and young author’s position in conditions shaped by external pressure, visibility and the requirement to create one’s self-image.

Her works have been shown at the Performa Biennial in New York, the Riga Art Week’s (RAW) opening event, the Alma Gallery in Riga and the Vilnius Art Week. She is the laureate of the 2025 Young Artist Award granted by the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Curator: Lilian Hiob-Küttis

Graphic design: Maxim Nikanorov

Installation of the exhibition: Polina Kaaiko, Tõnis Tallermaa, Madis Eek, Hans-Otto Ojaste

Metalwork: Märt Vaidla

Special gratitude to Eesti Kultuurkapital, Eesti Kunsti Aakadeemia, Valge Kuup Studio, Anita Kremm, Ksenia Verbeštšuk, Juri Krutii, Todd Richter, Dmitry Gubin, Aksel Haagesen, Viktoria Arapina, juuste doonorid, kunstniku perekond, Villem Varik, Liisi Kõuhkna, Kaisa Maasik-Koplimets, Anna Mari Liivrand, Jordi Hin, Andrei Kazakov, Meraki Testa Dell’Acqua, Compose.

PS! The celebration of the exhibition opening will continue at Paavli Culture Factory starting from 8:30pm.

Exhibitions in the Hobusepea Gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, the Estonian Ministry of Culture and Liviko AS.

The gallery is managed by the Estonian Artists’ Association.

Curated by Rebeka Põldsam

15.05.-14.06.2026

Opening Thursday, May 14 at 6 pm at Draakon Gallery 

Mara Kirchberg’s solo exhibition explores the technologization of care, focusing on how the automotive sector has shaped care work. Moving between garage and medical settings, Kirchberg examines the metaphor of the body as a machine, tracing how petromodern systems designed for efficiency come to structure how we carry, support, and maintain one another.

At the center of the exhibition is a hanging installation assembled from industrial materials forming a fragile organism—lifting slings, artificial membranes, lubricants—requiring ongoing maintenance to remain functional. During “Service Hours,” the artist activates the pulley system, performing a public maintenance while wearing a PVC “Sweat Suit”. 

Performances: 30 May and 13 June at 5 PM

Performed by Mara Kirchberg

Curator: Rebeka Põldsam

Graphic design: Kert Viiart–Õllek

Technical support: Gisèle Gonon, Marko Odar

Outside Eye: Gisèle Gonon

Supported by The Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Goethe-Institut Estland

Special thanks to: Eesti Kunstnike Liit, Hans-Otto Ojaste, Mari Volens, Sandra Ernits

23.05.26.-14.06.26

Opening: 22.05.26 18:00

with a Performance by Anumai Raska starting at 19:00!

Artists: Bob Bicknell-Knight, Giulio Cusinato, Anastasiia Krapivina, Kroplya, Denis Kudrjašov, Lisette Lepik, Fausta Noreikaitė, Rosa-Maria Nuutinen, Kertu Rannula, Anumai Raska, Nora Schmelter

Curated by Bob Bicknell-Knight, Rosa-Maria Nuutinen and Nora Schmelter

Entrance No. 4 transforms the ARS Project Space into a stage of sorts, where the audience engages with the artworks on show through a series of curtailed entranceways, examining ideas of control, illusionary realities and voyeuristic tendencies. Through actively herding and throttling the viewing experience, Entrance No. 4 demands a re-examination of how artworks are seen and engaged with, reflecting upon how images are shared and diffused within contemporary life.

When navigating the purposefully oblique space one will have the opportunity to encounter work from 11 artists currently undergoing a Masters in Contemporary Art at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Artworks on show range from painting and sculpture to video and installation, engaging with ideas associated with the home, climate collapse and our collectively fraught relationship with the body and physical spaces.

Tue–Fri: 12:00–18:00

Sat, Sun: 12:00–16:00

ARS Project Space, Pärnu mnt 154, Tallinn 11317

Graphic Design: Chloé Gourvennec, Ethan Anthony Read

The exhibition is supported by ARS Kunstilinnak, Estonian Artists’ Association, Estonian Academy of Art, Nudist, Põhjala Brewery, Tuletorn

Being / Becoming
Põhjala tehas, Marati 5-3, 2nd floor
Exhibition open June 4–14, everyday 11:00–19:00
Opening: Wednesday, June 3, 18:00

From materials to maker,
from environment to mind.
Through the fingertips into an object,
which then finds its way back to the environment again.

The practice of craft is one of interconnection: between material and body, environment and society, thought and action. Craft extends beyond the production of a physical object – it shapes the ways we relate to the world around us and to one another.

The exhibition Being / Becoming presents works by the first year students of the Craft Studies MA program. Developed alongside one another over the past year, the works emerge through conversations between materials and makers, processes and practices, experiments and outcomes – shaped through sharing spaces of making, thinking and exchange.

Being is existing in the same space with others. Becoming is an endless process of change until we decide to lay a pause on it.

Participating: Astrid Davis, Þórey Björk Halldórsdóttir, Carmen Kremm, Anna Larionova, Athaly Lens, Marco Manfredino, Teresa RA, Anna-Maria Saar, Kay Shek, Laura-Maria Vahimets

In curatorial dialogue with: Anu Vahtra
Graphic design: Andrew Kuus-Hill & Linda Morel

Thank you: Juss Heinsalu, Kärt Ojavee, Põhjala tehas
Supporters: Craft Studies, Estonian Academy of Arts, Punch Club OÜ

Throughout the exhibition we have a few events organised for the public, including tours, workshops and a finissage:

Tours
Sunday, June 7, 11:00–12:00
Sunday, June 14, 15:00–16:00
In English & Estonian
* Free participation

Workshops
‘Materializing the Handwriting. The Workshop’ by Anna-Maria Saar

The hand-stitching workshop develops participants’ awareness of their personal working methods through hands-on experimentation with different materials. It supports learners more broadly in understanding and articulating their intuitive choices as makers.

Sunday, June 7, 13:00–13:45
Wednesday, June 10, 18:00–18:30
Thursday, June 11, 18:00–18:30

* Workshops take place in the exhibition space, free participation with prior registration: anna-maria.saar@artun.ee. Materials are provided on site.

Finissage
Sunday, June 14, 16:00–19:00

The EKA Graduation Show Festival TASE ’26 opens on May 27, 2026 at 17:00.

At the graduation festival, the faculties of architecture, design, art culture, and fine arts will present this year’s final projects.

TASE ’26 will take place on the EKA campus in Kalamaja – in the EKA main building (Põhja pst 7 / Kotzebue 1), as well as in the buildings at Kotzebue 4 and 10, and on the Kotzebue 2 plot.

At the opening event, the Young Artist, Young Applied Artist, and Young Designer awards will be presented to bachelor’s and master’s level students.

The TASE ’26 exhibition will remain open from May 28 to June 19, daily from 13:00 to 19:00.

Find the detailed programme and the list of graduates on the website https://tase.artun.ee/

PROGRAMME

TASE ’26 Opening on Wed 27.05. at 17–23

• 17.00 opening ceremony on Kotzebue Street, speeches, announcement of the Young Designer, Young Artist, and Young Applied Artist awards
• 18.00 Puuluup concert on the Kotzebue Street stage
• 19.00–22.00 DJ duo Danger from Estonia on the roof of the PAKK pavilion
• 23.00 end of the party
• 23.00–… official afterparty and karaoke at Balta Chill

Additionally, Hulkur Baar and the ÖKU food truck will be present.

TASE Day on Saturday, 6 June:

• 13.00–21.00 TASE exhibition open
• 13.00–15.00 presentation of graduation projects from the Faculty of Design
• 15.00–15.30 presentation of graduation projects from the Faculty of Art and Culture
• 15.45–16.30 Jaak Juske’s historical tour around the EKA area
• 17.00 screening of TASE Anima ‘26 at Sõprus Cinema
• 19.00 TASE Anima ‘26 discussion in the lobby of the EKA main building, in English

Keithy Kuuspu endurance performance

• “Active Performativity”, Monday, 25 May at 19.00 in the courtyard of Kotzebue 4
• “Indirect Performativity”, Wednesday, 17 June at 19.00 in the courtyard of Kotzebue 4

Margaret Tilga’s learning club “Girls, in Theory”

• Tuesday, 9 June at 18.00 in the EKA Gallery, with pre-registration, in Estonian

GUIDED TOURS
All tours begin in the lobby of the EKA main building and participation is free.

Historical tour

• Saturday, 6 June at 15.45–16.30 historical tour around the EKA area, guided by Jaak Juske, in Estonian, donations are welcome

Faculty of Architecture tours

• Thursday, 11 June at 14.00–15.00 presentation of graduation projects from the Department of Interior Architecture, in Estonian
• Thursday, 11 June at 15.30–17.00 presentation of graduation projects from the Departments of Architecture and Urban Studies, in Estonian
• Monday, 15 June at 17.00–18.00 presentation of graduation projects from the Faculty of Architecture, in Estonian
• Tuesday, 16 June at 13.00–14.00 presentation of graduation projects from the Department of Interior Architecture, in Estonian

Faculty of Design tours

• Saturday, 6 June at 13.00–15.00, in Estonian
• Sunday, 14 June at 13.00–15.00, in Estonian

Faculty of Art and Culture tours

• Saturday, 6 June at 15.00–15.30, in Estonian
• Sunday, 14 June at 15.00–15.30, in Estonian

Faculty of Fine Arts tours

• Saturday, 30 May at 16.00–17.00, in Estonian
• Sunday, 14 June at 16.00–17.00, in Estonian

General TASE tour

• Friday, 29 May at 17.30–18.30, in English

SPONSORS
Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Tallinn City

PARTNERS
Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia, Funrent, mirai™, Punch Club, Puumarket, Sadolin Estonia, Tallinn Circular Economy Center

TASE chief organizer:
Kaisa Maasik-Koplimets, kaisa.maasik@artun.ee

If history were to end today, as who would you be left standing in the following static oblivion? The exhibition “Läbi dissonants” contrasts five audiovisual artworks, with the goal of taking a deeper glance at the tools and mechanisms that neoliberalism, as a system, uses to enforce and recreate its modern political hegemony.

Abstraction can be found everywhere, from long, seamlessly blending beaches to industrial megastructures. From strong outlines around hollow bodies to misleading wordplay that those shapes espouse. From the foggy beginnings of a human’s existence to their last interrupted movement.

The exhibition includes works from the artists Inna Tarakanova, Artjom Jurov, Aksel Haagensen, Marto Mägi, and John Smith.
Open from the 13th of May till the 19th of June. To visit, we ask that you contact the gallery a day ahead of time to organize your visit.

Curator: Kaur Järve

Metropolkapp – https://www.instagram.com/metropolkapp/?hl=en

Opening on 8.06 at 2:00 PM, in Narva
Exhibition open 8.06 – 22.06.2026

“A Breath” is an exhibition created as a school project by students of the Contemporary Art and Curatorial Studies programme at the Estonian Academy of Arts. It invites visitors to slow down and notice what often remains hidden between everyday moments.

The exhibition explores quiet moments of breath that arise both in solitude and in the company of others. These small pauses, often delicate and easily overlooked, carry reflection, intimacy, and a sense of shared presence. The project invites viewers to momentarily forget the turbulence and uncertainty of daily life and instead contemplate states of being, moments of silence, and quiet observation. Through works in various media, the exhibition creates a space where visitors can slow down and experience these fleeting yet meaningful moments.

At 2:30 PM, visitors are invited to enjoy an edible artwork by Mia Maria Rohumaa and Maria Wrang-Rasmussen. As Virginia Woolf wrote, “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”

You can take the 9:55 AM train departing from Tallinn.

Artists: Daria Morozova, Maria Wrang-Rasmussen, Mia Maria Rohumaa, Lotta Karoliina Räsänen, Kertu-Liisa Sarap
Curator: Karen Aasa

Opening on 8.06 at 2:00 PM, in Narva, Green Gallery 

April 24 – August 15, 2026
Opening April 23 at 6pm

Announcing the opening of ‘Ersatz Strata’, a joint exhibition by Zody Burke (Tallinn, NYC, EKA MACA) and Klara Zetterholm (Stockholm) at Temnikova & Kasela gallery. 

The work is an exploration of a recently discovered imagined anthropological site of questionable provenance. Through reliefs, sculptures, printed work, kinetic elements, and industrial residue, the artists present an unreliable aesthetic archaeology in the language of natural history museums.

The exhibition includes a short story written by Jaakko Pallasvuo (a.k.a. Avocado Ibuprofen) with design by Taylor Tex Tehan (EKA GDMA).

The opening will include a live performance by musician and digital-age cosmogonist 011668 (Los Angeles), whose interdisciplinary work blends spirituality, consumption, and fossil fuel mythologies. The performance will occur just before twilight.

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

29.05–16.08.2026
Maria Kapajeva. I Am A Border
Curator: Siim Preiman, Exhibition designer: Anu Vahtra

Estonian artist Maria Kapajeva will open her largest solo exhibition to date at the Tallinn Art Hall’s Lasnamäe Pavilion on 28 May at 6 pm. Titled I Am a Border, the exhibition brings together 16 works created between 2014 and 2026, many of them produced specifically for this show. Admission is free.

The exhibition is the culmination of more than a decade of artistic research into the border as a geographical, bodily, and emotional phenomenon.

Its point of departure is the region beyond Narva, Narvataguse – the former homeland of the artist’s paternal family, now located within the Russian border zone and inaccessible to the family today. Through photographs, video works, installations, and textiles, Kapajeva approaches borderliness not as a fixed place, but as a continuous state of transition – never fully one thing, never fully becoming the other.

The works intertwine the Narva River, the post-operative body, family archives, a disappearing language, and disrupted connections to landscape and heritage. One of the exhibition’s central works, Four Generations Later, features the artist’s relatives reading dialect texts from the Narvataguse region recorded in 1947 – a language that has become partly incomprehensible even to younger Russian-speaking generations.
The installations incorporate materials such as maps from the family archive, diary entries by Kapajeva’s father, a family tree drawn by a geneticist, and a blanket that once belonged to the artist’s grandmother. Several works also explore the fluidity of the body and identity, connecting queer perspectives with ecology and border landscapes.

“What moves me in Maria Kapajeva’s work is her ability to speak about identity without simplifying it. Her works hold vulnerability, the weight of history, and a deeply personal clarity all at once,” said the exhibition’s curator Siim Preiman. “Every day I see how nationalism is often something that divides rather than unites us.”

The exhibition is accompanied by a diverse public programme:

• 30 May at 2 pm – curator’s tour with Siim Preiman
• 17 June at 5 pm – artist’s tour with Maria Kapajeva
• In July, Maria Kapajeva and Anton Küünal will host a joint event exploring the intersections of plants, ecology, and queer perspectives (date to be confirmed)
• 9 August – a collective textile workshop titled Queering and Sewing Together
• On the exhibition’s final day, 16 August, there will be an artist’s tour followed by a communal cooking event in the Korr-korr (Borborygmus) series, where the exhibition team and visitors will prepare and share food together.

Maria Kapajeva is an artist whose work explores questions of identity and gender, with a particular focus on in-between and transitional states. Her works are included in several museum collections, including the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art and the Tartu Art Museum. She is currently pursuing doctoral studies at the Estonian Academy of Arts and is one of the recipients of the Estonian state artist’s salary.

Opening on Thursday, 21 May at 6 pm in the Great Hall of the Kumu Art Museum
(Weizenbergi 34 / Valge 1, Tallinn).
 
Chromatic Drift creates a cohesive perceptual and spatial experience centred on colour, a defining element in the oeuvre of the Estonian painter Kristi Kongi. Works created specifically for this exhibition over the past couple of years, together with the surrounding installation-based environment, evoke both chromatic richness and a poetic mode of being in unmapped territory.
 
At the opening, the launch of the book accompanying the exhibition will also take place.
 
The opening will take place in Kumu’s courtyard, weather permitting.
 
Opening programme on Saturday, 23 May:

Exhibition tours with curator Ann Mirjam Vaikla and artist Kristi Kongi: 12 noon (in English) and 2 pm (in Estonian)
Artist talk with Kristi Kongi at 3:30 pm

The exhibition will remain open until 11 October 2026.

Curator: Ann Mirjam Vaikla
Exhibition design: Mari Hunt, Grete Daut (MARIHUNT architects)
Graphic design: Brit Pavelson
Exhibition installation manager: Tõnis Medri
Coordinator: Anastassia Langinen

The 2026 graduation ceremonies will be held on Friday, June 19th in the EKA Assembly Hall (room A101, Põhja puiestee 7).

• At 11:00 AM, the ceremony will begin for graduates of the Faculty of Architecture, the Faculty of Fine Arts and the Faculty of Art Culture
• At 3:00 PM, the ceremony will begin for graduates of the Faculty of Design

Dear graduates, please arrive 15 minutes early to the lower door of the EKA hall, where you will be guided to your designated seat. This year there is a record number of graduates (for the first time over 300) and unfortunately most of the congratulators will not be able to sit in the hall, they can watch the ceremony on the screens in the lobby or online via EKA TV.

More info:
Elisabeth Kuusik
elisabeth.kuusik@artun.ee

Opening of the exhibition “I hate violence and I see it everywhere” at 18:00 at OKAPI Gallery in Tallinn

Yeva Sihachova

Curator: Ilja Jakovlev
Graphic design: Ksenia Kvitko

I hate violence and I see it everywhere.
Not only in war or catastrophe, but in the ordinary choreography of living alongside others.
I see how it impales the body, leaving no space for resistance.
I see how, through force, it restructures culture, embedding itself across generations as trauma.
I see it in the attempt to make everything defined – what does not fit is forced to take form, yet even when fixed, it remains out of place.
I see how it alters the body until adaptation turns pain into routine.
I see how it quietly inhabits the spaces between people.

The exhibition explores the ontology of violence: where it lives, how it manifests itself, what language it speaks, where it is born, and what it eventually transforms into.

The works focus on moments in which violence has not yet become fully visible or fully named – on the normalization of discomfort, on adaptation as a survival mechanism, on repetition, pressure, fixation, and the unstable distance between bodies.

Again and again, the exhibition returns to the question of connection.
Perhaps violence begins much earlier – in the attempt to fix, define, or fully overcome distance.

Fear becomes one of the central mechanisms within the exhibition. The attempt to understand violence can become an attempt to rationalize it, to make it predictable, and therefore less threatening. As if analysis could create a certain form of control over what is feared. But the need for control itself easily begins to reproduce the logic of violence.

The works do not offer a stable definition of violence. Instead, they trace the moments in which it quietly enters everyday life – reorganizing proximity, settling into ordinary forms of coexistence, and changing the ways bodies learn to exist alongside one another.

Drinks at the opening are provided by PÕHJALA!

Exhibition dates:
11.06–19.07.2026
Wed–Fri 12:00–18:00
Sat 12:00–16:00

OKAPI gallery
Niguliste tn 2, 10146, Tallinn

We thank the exhibition supporters:
EKA Student Council, OKAPI Gallery, PÕHJALA

EKA Arh Conference 2026 is titled To Be Continued….From Scattered Facts to Shared Concerns, and takes place as Day 1 of the two-day Tallinn Architecture Biennial TAB Symposium.

Tickets for the EKA Architecture Conference and the entire TAB Symposium — available at an early-bird price until 31 July — can be purchased on Fienta.

The 2026 EKA Arh Conference focuses on one of the central questions facing architecture and urban development today: how do we move forward when starting from scratch is no longer a viable option? While knowledge about climate transition, resource limits, and the built environment is abundant, translating that knowledge into collective action remains a challenge. Rather than asking only what comes next, the conference asks what can and should continue.

Across urban, building, and material scales, international speakers and researchers explore adaptation, reuse, and transformation in the built environment. The programme brings together perspectives from architecture, planning, construction, and research to discuss how existing places, buildings, and resources can support meaningful change, and how scattered knowledge can become shared concerns capable of shaping long-term action.

Programme

09:30–09:45
Opening Words

09:45–10:30
Transformation Keynote
Aleksi Neuvonen (Demos Helsinki, Finland)
Finnish futures thinker and co-founder of Demos Helsinki, whose work explores societal transformation, post-growth futures, and new models of collective action.

10:30–10:45
Coffee Break

10:45–12:15 | Parallel Sessions

Main Hall – Session I: Spatial and Architectural Transformation

This session explores processes of spatial transformation across urban and architectural scales, examining how cities, landscapes, and built environments adapt to changing social, ecological, and cultural conditions. Contributions address themes such as urban restructuring, adaptive reuse, spatial continuity, and the relationship between territorial systems, public space, and architectural intervention.

Monumental studio – Session I: Prefabrication, Retrofit, and Adaptive Reuse

This session examines prefabricated and industrialized approaches to the transformation of existing buildings and urban fabric. Contributions explore themes such as adaptive reuse, modular retrofit systems, circular renovation strategies, and the extension of building lifecycles, addressing how contemporary construction methods can support more sustainable and resource-conscious forms of spatial transformation.

12:15–13:15
Lunch

13:15–14:00
Adaptation Keynote
Hiroto Kobayashi (Keio University, Tokyo, Japan)

Japanese architect, professor at Keio University, and founder of Kobayashi Maki Design Workshop, known for his work on adaptive reuse, post-disaster reconstruction, and resource-conscious architecture.

14:00–14:15
Coffee Break

14:15–15:45 | Parallel Sessions

Main Hall – Session II: Material Systems and Circular Construction

This session focuses on material systems, construction processes, and circular approaches to the built environment. Contributions examine themes such as material reuse, prefabrication, tectonics, fabrication methods, and resource-aware design strategies, addressing how construction systems can support more adaptive and sustainable spatial practices.

Monumental studio – Parallel Session II: Participatory Planning and Urban Transformation

This session explores participatory approaches to urban transformation through digital mapping, GIS-based spatial analysis, and collaborative planning tools. Contributions address themes such as tactical urban interventions, community engagement, and urban greening strategies, examining how localized actions and participatory processes can inform broader spatial and policy frameworks and vice versa.

15:45–16:00
Coffee Break

16:00–16:45
Panel Discussion

16:45–17:00
Closing Words

The EKA Institute of Art History and Visual Culture is part of the Visual Arts in Europe: An Open History (EVA) project that brings together more than 150 art and heritage historians representing the 46 member countries of the Council of Europe. The project is led by an Editorial Board, composed of six European specialists, and supported by the International Association of Research Institutes in the History of Art (RIHA). Its scientific and operational coordination is provided by the Institut national d’histoire de l’art (INHA) in Paris.

Launched in 2019, this scientific and editorial project results in the publication of a digital platform, documenting the history of the visual arts on the European continent, from prehistory to the present day. This platform will be structured around a collection of 475 objects and images, selected in consultation with all of its institutional partners. It is developed within the framework of an international dialogue, remaining attentive to the plurality and richness of scholarly traditions, accessible to all audiences, and providing an account of current research in the discipline of art history.

This seminar will examine the principles that inspired the launch of this project, the methodology used both for the selection of objects and the attribution of associated texts, as well as the challenges encountered during the development of the digital platform. The presentation of the project and platform prototype will be followed by an open discussion with colleagues from the EKA Institute of Art History and Visual Culture, host of this seminar and Estonian project partner. With INHA director Anne-Solène Rolland and project coordinator Margot Sanitas present, the seminar will be an opportunity for all the Estonian representatives to share their reflections on the selection of objects and how the project contributes to reshaping our common history of European visual culture.

When you think of the Nordic and Baltic regions, your first associations might be trolls and Vikings, the midnight sun and polar nights, saunas and ice swimming, hygge and fika, Nokia and IKEA. Maybe you have also heard about their excellent school systems and strong social welfare models. But what is behind these myths? 16 comic artists from across the Nordics and Baltics created works that reflect their unique perspectives on life in the region.

Participating artists: Akvile Magicdusté (Lithuania), Cecilia Vårhed (Sweden), Clara Jetsmark (Denmark), Disa Wallander (Sweden), Elín Elísabet (Iceland), Emmi Valve (Finland), Ida Neverdahl (Norway), Joonas Sildre (Estonia), Jurijs Tatarkins (Latvia), Laura Ķeniņš (Canada), Liisa Kruusmägi (Estonia), Mari Ahokoivu (Finland), Ona Kvašytė (Lithuania), Søren Glosimodt Mosdal (Denmark), Tim Ng Tvedt (Norway), Tommi Musturi (Finland). Curator: David Schilter.

Along with the exhibition comes the publication Baltic Comics Magazine š! #57 ”Mythbústers,” which collects these stories and gets distributed worldwide.

Organized by Kuš! in collaboration with Nordic Council of Minister’s Offices in Latvia and Estonia.

Supported by Latvian State Culture Capital Foundation, Nordic Council of Minister’s Offices in Latvia and Estonia, Danish Cultural Institute and Embassy of Sweden in Riga.