Events

18.08.2022 — 28.08.2022

“Masters of Architecture” – exhibition organized by the Association of Polish Architects in Katowice

Estonian Association of Architects together with Estonian Academy of Arts and SAP Katowice are pleased to invite for an exhibition about the cycle of lectures Masters of Architecture

The opening will take place 18.08.2022  thursday|
18:00 (EEST) I Estonian Academy of Arts | Põhja pst 7
110412 Tallinn | Estonia|

The exhibition opening on the 18th of August will be followed by a polish-estonian panel discussion about the conditions of designing in both countries. Guests invited to participate are Andro Mand, At Ader, Katrin Koov, Matgorzata Pilinkiewicz and Tomas Studniarek.
The discussion will be moderated by Justyna Boduch and Wojciech Fudala.

Masters of Architecture is a series of architecture lectures organized by the Association of Polish Architects in Katowice (SARP Katowice). This special exhibition is created to sum up the historv of all the events.
The series was originated in 2004 and supposed to be a cycle of 5 lectures onlv, given by architects representing 5 biggest European capitals. The speeches about London, Berlin, Paris, Vienna and Amsterdam received extremelv wide interest from local architects and architecture students. As a result, the only decision possible was to go on with organization.
The Masters of Architecture series is organized up to now and influenced the education of hundreds of architecture students who received an access to much extensive knowledge than their predecessors from post-communist era. Between 2004 and 2020, the citv of Katowice hosted 70 architects from all over the world, including winners of the most significant architecture prizes.
A moving installation consists of 70 circles, corresponding to 70 architects who visited the city of Katowice and shared their knowledge with Polish audience. All the elements of the exhibition are mobile, what encourages visitors to interact. Besides the circles with the Masters of Architecture names, the installation contains some bigger circles with architect’s portraits, together with their opinions about the city of Katowice.
An extra gesture are mirrors, located at some of the circles. When young architects are visiting the exhibition, the can see their own reflection there. Who knows, maybe
in the future the will become Masters of Architecture as well?

The event is under the Honorary Patronage of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage prof. Piotr Glinski, the Ambassador of Poland to Estonia Gregorz Koztowski and the Mavor of Katowice Marcin Krupa.

EAL website

Posted by Tiina Tammet — Permalink

“Masters of Architecture” – exhibition organized by the Association of Polish Architects in Katowice

Thursday 18 August, 2022 — Sunday 28 August, 2022

Estonian Association of Architects together with Estonian Academy of Arts and SAP Katowice are pleased to invite for an exhibition about the cycle of lectures Masters of Architecture

The opening will take place 18.08.2022  thursday|
18:00 (EEST) I Estonian Academy of Arts | Põhja pst 7
110412 Tallinn | Estonia|

The exhibition opening on the 18th of August will be followed by a polish-estonian panel discussion about the conditions of designing in both countries. Guests invited to participate are Andro Mand, At Ader, Katrin Koov, Matgorzata Pilinkiewicz and Tomas Studniarek.
The discussion will be moderated by Justyna Boduch and Wojciech Fudala.

Masters of Architecture is a series of architecture lectures organized by the Association of Polish Architects in Katowice (SARP Katowice). This special exhibition is created to sum up the historv of all the events.
The series was originated in 2004 and supposed to be a cycle of 5 lectures onlv, given by architects representing 5 biggest European capitals. The speeches about London, Berlin, Paris, Vienna and Amsterdam received extremelv wide interest from local architects and architecture students. As a result, the only decision possible was to go on with organization.
The Masters of Architecture series is organized up to now and influenced the education of hundreds of architecture students who received an access to much extensive knowledge than their predecessors from post-communist era. Between 2004 and 2020, the citv of Katowice hosted 70 architects from all over the world, including winners of the most significant architecture prizes.
A moving installation consists of 70 circles, corresponding to 70 architects who visited the city of Katowice and shared their knowledge with Polish audience. All the elements of the exhibition are mobile, what encourages visitors to interact. Besides the circles with the Masters of Architecture names, the installation contains some bigger circles with architect’s portraits, together with their opinions about the city of Katowice.
An extra gesture are mirrors, located at some of the circles. When young architects are visiting the exhibition, the can see their own reflection there. Who knows, maybe
in the future the will become Masters of Architecture as well?

The event is under the Honorary Patronage of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage prof. Piotr Glinski, the Ambassador of Poland to Estonia Gregorz Koztowski and the Mavor of Katowice Marcin Krupa.

EAL website

Posted by Tiina Tammet — Permalink

29.07.2022

Opening of shelter KINO

OPENING: On July 29 at 5 p.m., students of architecture and urban planning will open this year’s wooden shelter KINO on the embankment of River Emajõgi in Tartu. You are all kindly invited to the opening.

The shelter / installation KINO is an school project created by EKA 1st-year architecture and urban planning students and completed during the summer construction study sessions. Designing and building a shelter has been the first major project of EKA architecture students for many years – this is the 17th shelter, to ve precise. Last winter, one proposal was selected from among the ideas developed for specially for Tartu city, which will now be built by the whole team of students. The KINO, consisting of three parts, will remain to enjoy for the citizens of the city until the end of Tartu’s cultural capital year, and the shelters for the next few years will also be planned and built in Tartu and for Tartu.

KINO is being produced with the support of the city of Tartu, the Estonian Cultural Foundation, the Estonian Forestry and Wood Industry Union, the Environmental Investment Center, Raitwood, Palmako and EKA.

Students and tutors:

EKA architecture and urban planning 1st year students’ design team: Alis Mäesalu, Tuule Kangur, Darja Gužovskaja, Madis Arp Keerd.

Construction team: Aiko Liisa Olek, Anabel Ainso, Anu Alver, Anneli Virts, Arabella Aabrams, Frank Kuresaar, Fred-Eric Pavel, Hugo Georg Kalaus, Karl Robin Timm, Karmo Viherpuu, Kristian Tigane, Laura Haki, Laura Venelaine, Liisalota Kroon, Rasmus Roosileht, Triinu Lamp.

The project was supervised by Ott Alver and Alvin Järving from architecture office Arhitekt Must, Ragnar Kekkonen guided the students in the carpentry workshop, and Andres Lehtla directed the constructions.

We will be happy to meet you all on the banks of Emajõgi – next to the Atlantis building in Ülejõe Park.

Posted by Triin Männik — Permalink

Opening of shelter KINO

Friday 29 July, 2022

OPENING: On July 29 at 5 p.m., students of architecture and urban planning will open this year’s wooden shelter KINO on the embankment of River Emajõgi in Tartu. You are all kindly invited to the opening.

The shelter / installation KINO is an school project created by EKA 1st-year architecture and urban planning students and completed during the summer construction study sessions. Designing and building a shelter has been the first major project of EKA architecture students for many years – this is the 17th shelter, to ve precise. Last winter, one proposal was selected from among the ideas developed for specially for Tartu city, which will now be built by the whole team of students. The KINO, consisting of three parts, will remain to enjoy for the citizens of the city until the end of Tartu’s cultural capital year, and the shelters for the next few years will also be planned and built in Tartu and for Tartu.

KINO is being produced with the support of the city of Tartu, the Estonian Cultural Foundation, the Estonian Forestry and Wood Industry Union, the Environmental Investment Center, Raitwood, Palmako and EKA.

Students and tutors:

EKA architecture and urban planning 1st year students’ design team: Alis Mäesalu, Tuule Kangur, Darja Gužovskaja, Madis Arp Keerd.

Construction team: Aiko Liisa Olek, Anabel Ainso, Anu Alver, Anneli Virts, Arabella Aabrams, Frank Kuresaar, Fred-Eric Pavel, Hugo Georg Kalaus, Karl Robin Timm, Karmo Viherpuu, Kristian Tigane, Laura Haki, Laura Venelaine, Liisalota Kroon, Rasmus Roosileht, Triinu Lamp.

The project was supervised by Ott Alver and Alvin Järving from architecture office Arhitekt Must, Ragnar Kekkonen guided the students in the carpentry workshop, and Andres Lehtla directed the constructions.

We will be happy to meet you all on the banks of Emajõgi – next to the Atlantis building in Ülejõe Park.

Posted by Triin Männik — Permalink

20.06.2022

EKA ANIMA 2022

EKA anima 2022 banner

Screening of EKA Animation graduate students’ films in cinema “Sõprus” on Monday the 20th June at 16.30 p.m.

Films by:

John Francis Quirk, Aspasia Kazeli, Sophia Michele Bazalgette, Lukas Manuel Winter, Jass Kaselaan, Anne Mirjam Kraav, Hleb Kuftseryn, Andrei Bljahhin, Kadi Sink, Ida Lepparu, Sameliina Paurson, Anna Dvornik.

Please come to the screening and bring your family, friends, colleagues and everyone you want to share your works with!

Free entrance!

Cinema “Sõprus”, Vana-Posti 8

See you at the screening!

Facebook

Posted by Andres Lõo — Permalink

EKA ANIMA 2022

Monday 20 June, 2022

EKA anima 2022 banner

Screening of EKA Animation graduate students’ films in cinema “Sõprus” on Monday the 20th June at 16.30 p.m.

Films by:

John Francis Quirk, Aspasia Kazeli, Sophia Michele Bazalgette, Lukas Manuel Winter, Jass Kaselaan, Anne Mirjam Kraav, Hleb Kuftseryn, Andrei Bljahhin, Kadi Sink, Ida Lepparu, Sameliina Paurson, Anna Dvornik.

Please come to the screening and bring your family, friends, colleagues and everyone you want to share your works with!

Free entrance!

Cinema “Sõprus”, Vana-Posti 8

See you at the screening!

Facebook

Posted by Andres Lõo — Permalink

21.06.2022 — 22.06.2022

EKA GRAD PARTY 2022

This year, the graduation party takes place on 21th of June, starting from 19:00 in the EKA Gallery.

In addition to the graduating students, all other students, graduates and staff are welcome to attend. To kick off the party, there will be a drag show followed by the band Arg Part.

After the band, DJs will take over. The EKA X SVETA BAR will be serving both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks all night long. Guests can also capture the night in the photobooth which will be installed next to the gallery. 

The EKA Grad Party is hosted by EKA Student Council

SCHEDULE: 

19:00 – beginning of the party 

19:30-21:00 – Drag Show

21:00-23:00 – Arg Part

23:00-00:00 – DJ Silikaat

00:00-03:00 — DJ YALLAH b2b DJ HOLY MOUNTAIN 

Event on Facebook

Posted by Andres Lõo — Permalink

EKA GRAD PARTY 2022

Tuesday 21 June, 2022 — Wednesday 22 June, 2022

This year, the graduation party takes place on 21th of June, starting from 19:00 in the EKA Gallery.

In addition to the graduating students, all other students, graduates and staff are welcome to attend. To kick off the party, there will be a drag show followed by the band Arg Part.

After the band, DJs will take over. The EKA X SVETA BAR will be serving both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks all night long. Guests can also capture the night in the photobooth which will be installed next to the gallery. 

The EKA Grad Party is hosted by EKA Student Council

SCHEDULE: 

19:00 – beginning of the party 

19:30-21:00 – Drag Show

21:00-23:00 – Arg Part

23:00-00:00 – DJ Silikaat

00:00-03:00 — DJ YALLAH b2b DJ HOLY MOUNTAIN 

Event on Facebook

Posted by Andres Lõo — Permalink

15.06.2022

LMDA Talk

LMDA research institute at the Art Academy of Latvia invites You to join LMDA talks on June 15th at 6PM. 

The talk will be livestreamed on Facebook. 

15-minute presentations by invited speakers are followed by a discussion round. 

You are welcome to join!

Extended Bodies / Extended Spaces

It is through our bodies that we make sense of space. Bodies practice and enact spaces. Body-space-interfacing can lead to the creation of schemas, which we project onto our bodies. These might include the embodiment of technologies, leading to body schemas that overcome notions of inside and outside. Thus, they extend to the tip of a pencil or the outer limitations of a car. Some of these schemas, or models of thought, if you will, dissolve the boundaries between bodies and spaces—a selection of which we will be discussing in the upcoming talk. By redefining bodily ways of being and by challenging us to rethink space, these models help to reconsider how bodies and (digital) environments build relationships with one another. 

Moderator: Dr. Eva Sommeregger, senior researcher, Art Academy of Latvia

Invited Speakers:

Christina Jauernig: architect and arts-based researcher (dance, digital environments)

Johanna Jõekalda: architect and VR researcher (human spatial perception)

Valerie Messini: architect and arts-based researcher (digital environments, AI, machine learning)

Seth Weiner / Sadie Siegel: transdisciplinary artist (spatial practice, sound)

Posted by Andres Lõo — Permalink

LMDA Talk

Wednesday 15 June, 2022

LMDA research institute at the Art Academy of Latvia invites You to join LMDA talks on June 15th at 6PM. 

The talk will be livestreamed on Facebook. 

15-minute presentations by invited speakers are followed by a discussion round. 

You are welcome to join!

Extended Bodies / Extended Spaces

It is through our bodies that we make sense of space. Bodies practice and enact spaces. Body-space-interfacing can lead to the creation of schemas, which we project onto our bodies. These might include the embodiment of technologies, leading to body schemas that overcome notions of inside and outside. Thus, they extend to the tip of a pencil or the outer limitations of a car. Some of these schemas, or models of thought, if you will, dissolve the boundaries between bodies and spaces—a selection of which we will be discussing in the upcoming talk. By redefining bodily ways of being and by challenging us to rethink space, these models help to reconsider how bodies and (digital) environments build relationships with one another. 

Moderator: Dr. Eva Sommeregger, senior researcher, Art Academy of Latvia

Invited Speakers:

Christina Jauernig: architect and arts-based researcher (dance, digital environments)

Johanna Jõekalda: architect and VR researcher (human spatial perception)

Valerie Messini: architect and arts-based researcher (digital environments, AI, machine learning)

Seth Weiner / Sadie Siegel: transdisciplinary artist (spatial practice, sound)

Posted by Andres Lõo — Permalink

06.07.2022 — 10.07.2022

VENT SPACE Art fair +  Summer Market

VENT SPACE Art fair +  Summer Market 6-10 July, Tallinn. Register now!

The event is open for everyone, who wishes to participate. International applicants are also very welcome (works for the Art Fair can be received by post)!

Opportunity to participate in one or both events. Participation possible by registration and filling a form in Drive until June, 20, 2022.

Photos and works should be submitted by mail until July, 1st (details explained in the rules). No comission applied. All sales revert to the artists.

SCHEDULE

Art Fair 6-10 JULY – submit 2-10 works. All works with the price of 15 EUR per piece.

Summer market 9-10 JULY – Bring and sell your art/craft/design/creation.

Location: 
Vabaduse väljak 6-8, 10146 Tallinn.

Registration

More info

See you at the ART FAIR SUMMER MARKET!

Team Vent Space 

Posted by Andres Lõo — Permalink

VENT SPACE Art fair +  Summer Market

Wednesday 06 July, 2022 — Sunday 10 July, 2022

VENT SPACE Art fair +  Summer Market 6-10 July, Tallinn. Register now!

The event is open for everyone, who wishes to participate. International applicants are also very welcome (works for the Art Fair can be received by post)!

Opportunity to participate in one or both events. Participation possible by registration and filling a form in Drive until June, 20, 2022.

Photos and works should be submitted by mail until July, 1st (details explained in the rules). No comission applied. All sales revert to the artists.

SCHEDULE

Art Fair 6-10 JULY – submit 2-10 works. All works with the price of 15 EUR per piece.

Summer market 9-10 JULY – Bring and sell your art/craft/design/creation.

Location: 
Vabaduse väljak 6-8, 10146 Tallinn.

Registration

More info

See you at the ART FAIR SUMMER MARKET!

Team Vent Space 

Posted by Andres Lõo — Permalink

28.06.2022 — 30.06.2022

European Society for Aesthetics Annual Conference

The ESA Conference 2022 is to be held on 28–30 June 2022 at Estonian Academy of Arts (Põhja puiestee 7) in Tallinn. 

The keynote speakers:

Professor Emmanuel Alloa (University of Fribourg)

Professor Pauline von Bonsdorff (University of Jyväskylä)

Professor Virve Sarapik (Estonian Academy of Arts)

Info

Posted by Andres Lõo — Permalink

European Society for Aesthetics Annual Conference

Tuesday 28 June, 2022 — Thursday 30 June, 2022

The ESA Conference 2022 is to be held on 28–30 June 2022 at Estonian Academy of Arts (Põhja puiestee 7) in Tallinn. 

The keynote speakers:

Professor Emmanuel Alloa (University of Fribourg)

Professor Pauline von Bonsdorff (University of Jyväskylä)

Professor Virve Sarapik (Estonian Academy of Arts)

Info

Posted by Andres Lõo — Permalink

31.05.2022

Discussion: “What kind of design writing do we need?”

Sandra Nuut, Urmas Lüüs, Karin Vicente and Jüri Kermik talk about writing about design.

The conversation will be moderated by Taavi Hallimäe.

The discussion will be held in Estonian.

What approaches to design do we need, what do the designer need?
Who is the reader we should keep in mind when writing about design?
What kind of design should we write about at all?
What can be done with design writing, but what the design itself is not always capable of?
Do we need descriptive, evaluative, experiential, or interpretive design criticism?

The event will also introduce the new journal of the Faculty of Design of EKA, Leida the first issue of which will be published in the autumn.

Posted by Andres Lõo — Permalink

Discussion: “What kind of design writing do we need?”

Tuesday 31 May, 2022

Sandra Nuut, Urmas Lüüs, Karin Vicente and Jüri Kermik talk about writing about design.

The conversation will be moderated by Taavi Hallimäe.

The discussion will be held in Estonian.

What approaches to design do we need, what do the designer need?
Who is the reader we should keep in mind when writing about design?
What kind of design should we write about at all?
What can be done with design writing, but what the design itself is not always capable of?
Do we need descriptive, evaluative, experiential, or interpretive design criticism?

The event will also introduce the new journal of the Faculty of Design of EKA, Leida the first issue of which will be published in the autumn.

Posted by Andres Lõo — Permalink

04.06.2022

TASE FILM 2022

TASE FILM on June 4 at 5 pm at EKA auditorium (A101) once again.

 

TASE FILM is an event which happens every year in the context of EKA’s graduate student exhibition, TASE. It offers a programme full of different videos and short films made by students of EKA.

 

TASE FILM 2022 explores the dream world and reality. The programme consists of two chapters, the first of which takes a look at socially relevant topics such as overconsumption and the tireless construction of shopping malls, and an insight into the work of food couriers. In addition, there are video pieces that look at everyday life around us. In the second part, surreal and abstract videos are presented, including documentaries of performances, dream landscapes and questions of identity.

 

The programme lasts about 2 hours.

 

Participating artists:
Aap Kaur Suvi | Potato, Seagulls, Reeds and cars
Camilla Prey | Blaue Stunde
Ditiya Ferdous | Family 1
Ivor Lõõbas | Tradition
Jamie Avis | The Wave
John Quirk | HIDE
Kadri Joala | Autoportree
Karl Joonas Alamaa, Lisette Sivard, Andreas Kübar | ONLY BASIC FASHION SHOW
Kush, Paul Simon, Timothee | TXMALL
Lauri Lest | Moulded
Maria Naulainen | KIHA
Martina Maria Semenzato | ALBAIONES
Moritz Simon | Sand, Stone
Paulina Schroeder, Christian Horner, Nabeel Imtiaz | Looking of Action
Santiago Ordoñez | The station´s seat
Xingpei Shen | Lotus Lantern

 

Event is free of charge!

 

Film programme curators: Johanna Kuzmenko, Lígia Fernandes

Location: Estonian Academy of Arts (Põhja pst 7), A-101 

 

TASE FILM on Facebook

Posted by Andres Lõo — Permalink

TASE FILM 2022

Saturday 04 June, 2022

TASE FILM on June 4 at 5 pm at EKA auditorium (A101) once again.

 

TASE FILM is an event which happens every year in the context of EKA’s graduate student exhibition, TASE. It offers a programme full of different videos and short films made by students of EKA.

 

TASE FILM 2022 explores the dream world and reality. The programme consists of two chapters, the first of which takes a look at socially relevant topics such as overconsumption and the tireless construction of shopping malls, and an insight into the work of food couriers. In addition, there are video pieces that look at everyday life around us. In the second part, surreal and abstract videos are presented, including documentaries of performances, dream landscapes and questions of identity.

 

The programme lasts about 2 hours.

 

Participating artists:
Aap Kaur Suvi | Potato, Seagulls, Reeds and cars
Camilla Prey | Blaue Stunde
Ditiya Ferdous | Family 1
Ivor Lõõbas | Tradition
Jamie Avis | The Wave
John Quirk | HIDE
Kadri Joala | Autoportree
Karl Joonas Alamaa, Lisette Sivard, Andreas Kübar | ONLY BASIC FASHION SHOW
Kush, Paul Simon, Timothee | TXMALL
Lauri Lest | Moulded
Maria Naulainen | KIHA
Martina Maria Semenzato | ALBAIONES
Moritz Simon | Sand, Stone
Paulina Schroeder, Christian Horner, Nabeel Imtiaz | Looking of Action
Santiago Ordoñez | The station´s seat
Xingpei Shen | Lotus Lantern

 

Event is free of charge!

 

Film programme curators: Johanna Kuzmenko, Lígia Fernandes

Location: Estonian Academy of Arts (Põhja pst 7), A-101 

 

TASE FILM on Facebook

Posted by Andres Lõo — Permalink

30.05.2022

Urban Studies Master’s Thesis Presentation and Defence

10:00-10:10 Introductions

 

10:10-11:10 (EEST)

Luisa Fernanda Ayla Torres

Precariousness in the Transformation of Labour: Through Working Class Identity in the city of Turin

 

Between the 1960s and 1980s, nine million Italians migrated from the agricultural regions of Italy to the productive areas of Turin, shaping the periphery of the city from a rural to an industrial area. The Post-War economic boom provided jobs in the northern plants, giving life to a workers’ hegemony and demographic, social, and cultural transformation. This socioeconomic transformation that affected the organisation of workers, labour, political activity, and society in general, was manifested in two cases. The Palace of Labour, an avant-garde building intended to celebrate the struggles of the working class with an exhibition focused on “man and his progress”, and the case of Mirafiori Sud, a working class neighbourhood symbolising the association of workers. In this way, this thesis explores the identity of the working class in the contemporary city of Turin, where security in neoliberal times no longer needs the scope of the protective techniques of the liberal social State, and as a consequence precarization is now the norm. This is reflected in the transformation of labour manifesting itsel through productive connection with others, where labour is not purely characterised by the increasing capitalization of social life but is effectively reflected with others, producing new social relations.

 

Examined by Alberto Vanolo (University of Turin) and Aro Velmet (University of Southern California)

 

11.15-12:15 (EEST)

Mira Samonig

the matter of right-wing populism in Polish LGBT-free zones; towards a with-standing xenourbanism?

 

Almost a third of Poland had been declared an ‘LGBT-free zone’ in 2020, stigmatizing the LGBTIQP+ community as a threat to Polish identity; this labeling remains a reality for many Polish towns. In this thesis, I am turning towards the concept of the ‘LGBT-free zones’ as a case to investigate the material reality of right-wing populism. I seek to develop a third position to a historical or new materialist understanding in order to investigate such material reality. By that, the ways values find physical expression and thus possibly mobilize oppressive attitudes into ever new futures ahead are traced. It becomes quite evident that the way structures of oppression are advanced and maintained within the public realm exists quite dominantly in everyday narratives. In a bottom-up manner, right-wing populism is advanced on the street; yet, it is by far not perceived by everyone. This marks the entry point for sketching out a possible approach to how the discipline of urbanism could position itself in social struggles. Drawing on Helen Hester’s Xenofeminism, the thesis introduces the concept of xenourbanism describing urbanism based on the conceptual notion of solidarity without sameness. I argue that the notion of xeno- as a prefix attached to urbanism focuses on an inherent transformational potential within the current, rendering a perceived unarming reality into a weapon of contestation and by that suggesting trajectories away from paralyzing no-alternative narratives.

 

Examined by Piotr Plucienniczak (Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts) and Helen Runting (Secretary)

 

12:25-13:35 (EEST)

Zahaan Khan

Tourism-Led Gentrification: The Case of Dal Lake in Kashmir

The dissertation explores tourism-led gentrification, its causes and the impact on the communities living in and around the ecologically-sensitive region of Dal Lake in Kashmir. The dissertation employs methodological triangulation using interviews, survey and policy document analysis, as methods. The policy document in question is the Srinagar Master Plan 2035 issued by the Srinagar Development Authority. Analysing the correlation between tourism and gentrification in a conflict-torn region and using displacement as a conceptual lens, the thesis maps the socio-cultural and economic aspects of touristification especially in relation to the everyday lives of the communities. The dissertation employs a two-pronged analytical approach by using two categories – land milieu and water milieu – to foreground the patterns and impact of gentrification in and around the lake. The analysis of the land milieu concerns itself with a detailed exploration into Boulevard, the long promenade along the lake’s periphery. It further discusses holiday rentals and issues of mobility and maps the city’s land-use patterns particularly in relation to expansion along the lake’s periphery. The study of the water milieu, on the other hand, is an exploration into the historical houseboats of Kashmir and the local hanji (or haenz) community; foregrounding the issues concerning policies of renovation and relocation of

houseboats. The dissertation also delves into the government’s land use and tourism-driven development plans around the lake, especially post abrogation of

Article 370 of the Indian constitution that gave ‘special status’ to the region.

 

Examined by Dr Mathew Varghese (Mahatma Gandhi University) and Karlis Ratnieks (EKA)

 

13:35-14:25 Lunch

 

14:25-15:25 (EEST)

Egemen Mercanlioglu

THE WORK OF A RIFT: Kanal İstanbul and Turkey’s Authoritarian Neoliberalism

 

Turkey under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi was touted as a paragon of neoliberalism and a burgeoning democracy until the late-2000s. Two decades later, the positive portrayals of the country have decidedly shifted. Turkey is now considered to have retreated from neoliberalism; an emblematic case of authoritarian turn. However, this thesis rethinks authoritarian governance as the kernel of the Erdoğan-led AKP’s brand of neoliberalism. It does so by focusing on a to-be-built urban megaproject, Kanal İstanbul—a 45-kilometer long man-made waterway, aiming to locate İstanbul as a signature node in the global web of flooding money and commodities. Using the megaproject as a lens, the thesis shows how neoliberal reforms in the early-2000s have propelled İstanbul and the construction sector as financial growth generating engines of the country. Subsequently, these

reforms have buttressed contemporary coercive governance structure and a megaproject spree in the city. Finally, the thesis briefly explores a recent but growing counter-hegemonic contestation against Erdoğan and his Kanal İstanbul, posed by the mayor of İstanbul. The thesis does not give a final verdict but explores whether or not this challenge proposes an alternative to authoritarian neoliberalism.

 

Examined by Dr Cemal Burak Tansel (Newcastle University) and Mattias Malk (EKA)

 

15:30-16:30 (EEST)

Deniz Taskin

Architecture as a Practice of Care: Case Studies of Women’s Care-Based Architecture Practices

 

Care as a concept is becoming more crucial in architecture and urban practice as a result of

the COVID-19 pandemic’s unpredictable spatial, social, and political circumstances. The

attitude of urbanized capitalism towards contemporary urban problems and its refusal to

acknowledge the urgency of the climate crisis result in uncaring urban practices. The

important position of architecture as a measure for assessing our place in the ecosystem and

the role of architects and related disciplines in determining with whom we live together

requires them to reconsider the values and priorities that drive their practice.

This thesis unpacks care as a concept and ethical practice through a feminist lens by

focusing on the notion of “configuration of care,” which refers to how architects express their

ethical and political objectives by arranging human and nonhuman materials to achieve

caring relationships in urban spaces. (Suchman 2012). It does so by focusing on the practices

of women from the field of architecture and related disciplines whose contemporary practice

foregrounds care and employs feminist care ethics: Careful Mapping by Spolka, Performing

Architherapy by Erika Henriksson, Mutfak (Kitchen) by Merve Bedir, The Blind Alley by

Elin Strand Ruin. The thesis explores certain commonalities and recurring patterns of thought

in how the practitioners’ encounter and apply feminist care ethics. Finally, it discusses the

potential and limits of incorporating feminist care ethics into architecture practice, as well as

the potential for architectural practice to become care practice.

 

Examined by Agata Marzecova (EKA) and Henriette Steiner (University of Copenhagen)

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Urban Studies Master’s Thesis Presentation and Defence

Monday 30 May, 2022

10:00-10:10 Introductions

 

10:10-11:10 (EEST)

Luisa Fernanda Ayla Torres

Precariousness in the Transformation of Labour: Through Working Class Identity in the city of Turin

 

Between the 1960s and 1980s, nine million Italians migrated from the agricultural regions of Italy to the productive areas of Turin, shaping the periphery of the city from a rural to an industrial area. The Post-War economic boom provided jobs in the northern plants, giving life to a workers’ hegemony and demographic, social, and cultural transformation. This socioeconomic transformation that affected the organisation of workers, labour, political activity, and society in general, was manifested in two cases. The Palace of Labour, an avant-garde building intended to celebrate the struggles of the working class with an exhibition focused on “man and his progress”, and the case of Mirafiori Sud, a working class neighbourhood symbolising the association of workers. In this way, this thesis explores the identity of the working class in the contemporary city of Turin, where security in neoliberal times no longer needs the scope of the protective techniques of the liberal social State, and as a consequence precarization is now the norm. This is reflected in the transformation of labour manifesting itsel through productive connection with others, where labour is not purely characterised by the increasing capitalization of social life but is effectively reflected with others, producing new social relations.

 

Examined by Alberto Vanolo (University of Turin) and Aro Velmet (University of Southern California)

 

11.15-12:15 (EEST)

Mira Samonig

the matter of right-wing populism in Polish LGBT-free zones; towards a with-standing xenourbanism?

 

Almost a third of Poland had been declared an ‘LGBT-free zone’ in 2020, stigmatizing the LGBTIQP+ community as a threat to Polish identity; this labeling remains a reality for many Polish towns. In this thesis, I am turning towards the concept of the ‘LGBT-free zones’ as a case to investigate the material reality of right-wing populism. I seek to develop a third position to a historical or new materialist understanding in order to investigate such material reality. By that, the ways values find physical expression and thus possibly mobilize oppressive attitudes into ever new futures ahead are traced. It becomes quite evident that the way structures of oppression are advanced and maintained within the public realm exists quite dominantly in everyday narratives. In a bottom-up manner, right-wing populism is advanced on the street; yet, it is by far not perceived by everyone. This marks the entry point for sketching out a possible approach to how the discipline of urbanism could position itself in social struggles. Drawing on Helen Hester’s Xenofeminism, the thesis introduces the concept of xenourbanism describing urbanism based on the conceptual notion of solidarity without sameness. I argue that the notion of xeno- as a prefix attached to urbanism focuses on an inherent transformational potential within the current, rendering a perceived unarming reality into a weapon of contestation and by that suggesting trajectories away from paralyzing no-alternative narratives.

 

Examined by Piotr Plucienniczak (Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts) and Helen Runting (Secretary)

 

12:25-13:35 (EEST)

Zahaan Khan

Tourism-Led Gentrification: The Case of Dal Lake in Kashmir

The dissertation explores tourism-led gentrification, its causes and the impact on the communities living in and around the ecologically-sensitive region of Dal Lake in Kashmir. The dissertation employs methodological triangulation using interviews, survey and policy document analysis, as methods. The policy document in question is the Srinagar Master Plan 2035 issued by the Srinagar Development Authority. Analysing the correlation between tourism and gentrification in a conflict-torn region and using displacement as a conceptual lens, the thesis maps the socio-cultural and economic aspects of touristification especially in relation to the everyday lives of the communities. The dissertation employs a two-pronged analytical approach by using two categories – land milieu and water milieu – to foreground the patterns and impact of gentrification in and around the lake. The analysis of the land milieu concerns itself with a detailed exploration into Boulevard, the long promenade along the lake’s periphery. It further discusses holiday rentals and issues of mobility and maps the city’s land-use patterns particularly in relation to expansion along the lake’s periphery. The study of the water milieu, on the other hand, is an exploration into the historical houseboats of Kashmir and the local hanji (or haenz) community; foregrounding the issues concerning policies of renovation and relocation of

houseboats. The dissertation also delves into the government’s land use and tourism-driven development plans around the lake, especially post abrogation of

Article 370 of the Indian constitution that gave ‘special status’ to the region.

 

Examined by Dr Mathew Varghese (Mahatma Gandhi University) and Karlis Ratnieks (EKA)

 

13:35-14:25 Lunch

 

14:25-15:25 (EEST)

Egemen Mercanlioglu

THE WORK OF A RIFT: Kanal İstanbul and Turkey’s Authoritarian Neoliberalism

 

Turkey under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi was touted as a paragon of neoliberalism and a burgeoning democracy until the late-2000s. Two decades later, the positive portrayals of the country have decidedly shifted. Turkey is now considered to have retreated from neoliberalism; an emblematic case of authoritarian turn. However, this thesis rethinks authoritarian governance as the kernel of the Erdoğan-led AKP’s brand of neoliberalism. It does so by focusing on a to-be-built urban megaproject, Kanal İstanbul—a 45-kilometer long man-made waterway, aiming to locate İstanbul as a signature node in the global web of flooding money and commodities. Using the megaproject as a lens, the thesis shows how neoliberal reforms in the early-2000s have propelled İstanbul and the construction sector as financial growth generating engines of the country. Subsequently, these

reforms have buttressed contemporary coercive governance structure and a megaproject spree in the city. Finally, the thesis briefly explores a recent but growing counter-hegemonic contestation against Erdoğan and his Kanal İstanbul, posed by the mayor of İstanbul. The thesis does not give a final verdict but explores whether or not this challenge proposes an alternative to authoritarian neoliberalism.

 

Examined by Dr Cemal Burak Tansel (Newcastle University) and Mattias Malk (EKA)

 

15:30-16:30 (EEST)

Deniz Taskin

Architecture as a Practice of Care: Case Studies of Women’s Care-Based Architecture Practices

 

Care as a concept is becoming more crucial in architecture and urban practice as a result of

the COVID-19 pandemic’s unpredictable spatial, social, and political circumstances. The

attitude of urbanized capitalism towards contemporary urban problems and its refusal to

acknowledge the urgency of the climate crisis result in uncaring urban practices. The

important position of architecture as a measure for assessing our place in the ecosystem and

the role of architects and related disciplines in determining with whom we live together

requires them to reconsider the values and priorities that drive their practice.

This thesis unpacks care as a concept and ethical practice through a feminist lens by

focusing on the notion of “configuration of care,” which refers to how architects express their

ethical and political objectives by arranging human and nonhuman materials to achieve

caring relationships in urban spaces. (Suchman 2012). It does so by focusing on the practices

of women from the field of architecture and related disciplines whose contemporary practice

foregrounds care and employs feminist care ethics: Careful Mapping by Spolka, Performing

Architherapy by Erika Henriksson, Mutfak (Kitchen) by Merve Bedir, The Blind Alley by

Elin Strand Ruin. The thesis explores certain commonalities and recurring patterns of thought

in how the practitioners’ encounter and apply feminist care ethics. Finally, it discusses the

potential and limits of incorporating feminist care ethics into architecture practice, as well as

the potential for architectural practice to become care practice.

 

Examined by Agata Marzecova (EKA) and Henriette Steiner (University of Copenhagen)

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