Events

On December 4, EKA Urban Studies students will present the zine “The Cheapest Option”.

Urban Studies students Elena Pusčiūtė, Ishrat Shaheen, Jonas Vyšniauskas, Maria Laura Benduzu Ulluo, Kalina Trajanovska and Kush Badhwar in collaboration with EKA GD students Joao Nogueira and Karthik Palepu release The Cheapest Option, a zine emerging from the semester-long studio Production of Urban Space, guided by Helen Runting and Leonard Ma.

The zine explores how ideas of the non-plan, neoliberalism, markets, cybernetics, and neo-liberal subjects shape our experience of space, explored through forms including city postcards, generic characters, local newspapers, and memes. The event takes place in 501, 5th floor. A limited number of copies of the zines will be available for distribution.

The zine launch will be followed by a presentation from Professor Helena Mattsson on her recent book “Architecture and Retrenchment: Neoliberalization of the Swedish Model across Aesthetics and Space, 1968–1994,” which investigates the relation between architecture and the neoliberalization of the Swedish welfare state.“

Schedule:

In autumn 2023, the open architectural lectures will take place under the title Mobile Masters. The theme brings architects and theorists to Tallinn, who analyse architecture’s flexibility and the mobile practices of architects, spatial designers and artists.

Gregor Taul, the curator of the autumn lectures, introduces the program with the following words: “Architecture stands at a significant crossroads. Ten-year-old buildings are demolished and taken to the landfill. The lifespan of an interior design project is five years at best, if that. These bleak facts do not inspire confidence in a discipline that requires so many resources in light of such a short time perspective. What does ‘better not do anything’ mean for spatial design? What might ‘mobile architecture’ refer to or who is a ‘mobile designer’? How can moving people or things be a positive spatial practice?”

On December 7, Brussels-based Laurens Bekemans and co-founder of Brussels-based BC architects & studies, will be on the EKA main hall stage in Tallinn with the lecture The Act of Building.

BC is BC architects, studies and materials. BC stands for Brussels Cooperation and points to how BC grew – embedded within place and people. Started in 2012 as a hybrid office, BC is manoeuvring the boundaries of architecture in a doers manner. With three different legal entities, the team engages in a variety of experimental projects through which it designs bioregional and circular architecture, researches educational and construction processes and produces new building materials using local waste streams such as excavated earth

Laurens introduces his lecture in the following words:

From the first fieldtrips for the design of a library in Burundi to involving over 150 workshop participants in the construction of a public building in Belgium, these stories tell how BC engages in acts of building. The act of building is act and discourse.It is the complex effort of a temporary association to create an infrastructure of its own. In order to have a positive impact on our society, BC believes that architects need to intervene beyond the narrow definition of the professional who designs and controls the execution of buildings. 

Hence, BC ventures into material production, contracting, storytelling, knowledge transfer, community organization, which all influence BC’s design approach. The act of building has an impact and is at the same time a manifestation of values and ideas, which grew out of a broad network around a specific project. Building has a transformative power, driven by action, narrative and result. The lecture will guide you through key moments and key projects, which helped transform BC into the hybrid practice it is today. 

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The open lectures are intended for students and professionals of all disciplines, not just the field of architecture. All lectures take place in the large auditorium of EKA, are in English, free of charge and open to all interested parties. Be there!

Within the framework of a series of open lectures, the Department of Architecture and Urban Design of EKA brings to the audience in Tallinn every academic year about a dozen unique practitioners and valued theoreticians of the field. You can watch lectures from previous years on YouTube or www.avatudloengud.ee

The lecture series is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

Curator: Gregor Taul

The department of Interaction Design MA at EKA will contribute to the World Usability Day Estonia (WUD) with a public talk and workshop.

Conference FB event

Nesli Hazal Oktay’s Talk

Tanel Kärp’s Workshop

Conference LinkedIn event

World Usability Day Estonia (WUD) is an annual UX-, web- and interaction design conference, the largest in the Baltics. WUD 2023 topic is Collaboration and Cooperation.

This year’s WUD theme encompasses the essence of effective teamwork and smooth interaction in the realm of User Experience (UX). We aim to shed light on the significance of synergy and collective effort in driving innovation and fostering a cohesive UX community.

The event is in English and this year we will continue with the hybrid format which combines a live event (Kultuurikatel) with an online event.

November 21-23rd – workshop days
November 23rd – pre-event at Tallinn University (Narva mnt 25, Tallinn)
November 24th – conference day – the hybrid format – combines a live event (Kultuurikatel, Põhja puiestee 27a, Tallinn, ESTONIA) with an online event

You can watch the conference till the end of the year 2023!

More information on the event website

#wud2023 #ux #conference

BOOK LAUNCH: Urbanizing Suburbia: Hyper-Gentrification, the Financialization of Housing and the Remaking of the Outer European City

Location: EKA Lobby, Canteen

Time: 21.11.2023 @ 18:00

Urbanizing Suburbia considers three current and related processes underway in global cities: the hyper-gentrification of inner cities, the financialization of housing, and the structural changes occurring in the outer city. Rocketing housing prices have displaced residents from inner cities and created a rent gap in outer cities. Increasingly, municipalities, developers, and displaced residents search for opportunities in the suburban belts. Changes in demographics, densities, live/work ratios, and tenures are remaking outer cities, rendering them less and less suburban. The book examines these changes by looking at four key European cities: Amsterdam, Berlin, London, and Stockholm. It is a first attempt at understanding the three processes discussed here within one comprehensive explanatory framework.

Editors are EKA adjunct staff teaching at the faculty of Architecture Tahl Kaminer, Leonard Ma and Helen Runting.

EKA Prof of Urban Studies Maroš Krivy has contributed in the book with one chapter.

Urbanizing Suburbia is published by JOVIS (De Gruyter) and the publication is supported by EKA. EKA urban studies students have been part of collecting materials for the book.

The presentation will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Kaja Pae. 

It is possible to buy the book at the presentation.

“The Life and Death”

Miradonna Sirkka and Sofi Häkkinen have worked together for 8 years – and counting. The pair has created the artistic world of Recover Laboratory, a Finnish pioneer of immersive performances. Sirkka hails from experimental contemporary circus and Häkkinen from fine arts; together they explore the space of performance art with their signature way of looking at the world, where the mundane becomes surreal, and humor and vulnerability are present simultaneously. 

Sirkka and Häkkinen’s performance “the Life and Death” brings together elements of performance art, DJ & VJ gigs, and having grown up in the 00’s. The performance can be seen as criticism of hetero- and mono-normativity, along with capitalistic perfectionism. Queerdos Häkkinen and Sirkka build a shared moment of fun, weirdness, horror, play, love and tears, while probing around the space they occupy right now both mentally and physically.

In the performance, the hypersexualization afab bodies are subjected to in everyday life is made visible and reclaimed. The duo takes matters into their own hands with the imagery of popular culture, movies and music. The performance rises from pure enjoyment. One of the kindles for the piece is the many incidents when the artist’s work has been criticized for showing boobs on stage.

CW: sexual movement, childbirth, death, tattoo needles, nudity

On October 23, as part of EKA Ceramics 100, it will be possible to watch the 2020 documentary film 972 Breakdowns by Daniel von Rüdiger, which shows the 2.5-year trip on motorcycles through Siberia by five young artists (among whom Kaupo Holmberg, an alumnus of the ceramics department).

On the colorful journey, which starts in Germany and is planned to go through Georgia, Mongolia, Siberia and New York, Canada, the group also experiences many setbacks, which are overcome with the help of friendship, creativity and youthful enthusiasm.

The film is in English, German and Russian, with English subtitles. It lasted 110 minutes

Place: A-501, start at 17.00

In autumn 2023, the open architectural lectures will take place under the title Mobile Masters. The theme brings architects and theorists to Tallinn, who analyse architecture’s flexibility and the mobile practices of architects, spatial designers and artists.

On October 26, at 6 pm Berlin-based architect, designer and carpenter Alexander Römer will be on the EKA main hall stage in Tallinn with the lecture Convivial Ground.

Alexander Römer initiated the international design-build network ConstructLab in 2012 as a member of the former EXYZT collective (2005–2013). ConstructLab is a laboratory for action research, constructive experimentation and interdisciplinary creation.

ConstructLab takes a dynamic approach to uniting concepts, realisation and activation of project situations. Breaking with traditional divisions of labour, the organisation engages a team of multitalented artists and designers – as well as sociologists, urban planners, graphic designers, film makers, photographers, curators, educators, and web developers – who carry the creative process from the drafting table into the field, enabling concept and design to respond to the possibilities and constraints posed by an environment, it’s people and utilisation.

Alexander introduces his lecture in the following words:

Construction is fundamentally a collaborative activity. In this talk, the collaborative aspects of construction processes are examined from different perspectives. In the design and planning process a lot of different expertise comes together, in the construction itself different trades are involved and during the construction there are situations where in sometimes very short moments, e.g. when straightening a roof truss, a lot of hands are needed. A planning and construction process is complex and can only succeed in teamwork. In addition, a broad community is created through participation processes in the building process, and through this participation, a community that cares about the building itself.

I would like to convey the community aspect of design-build processes by looking at our ConstructLab projects. In doing so, I draw on the content structure of the latest ConstructLab book Convivial Ground. Stories from a Spatial Practice (Jovis 2023, Editors: Joanne Pouzenc, Peter Zuiderwijk and Alexander Römer).

*

The open lectures are intended for students and professionals of all disciplines, not just the field of architecture. All lectures take place in the large auditorium of EKA, are in English, free of charge and open to all interested parties. Be there!

Within the framework of a series of open lectures, the Department of Architecture and Urban Design of EKA brings to the audience in Tallinn every academic year about a dozen unique practitioners and valued theoreticians of the field. You can watch previous lectures  www.avatudloengud.ee

The lecture series is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

Curator: Gregor Taul

October 22th, 12–16 in Paljassaare.

More info in Urban Studies, Estonian Academy of Arts facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/urbantallinn

First year students of Urban Studies have spent half a semester exploring Paljassaare, the strip of land that takes one to the end of Tallinn, to the place where all the waste of the capital city ends up… and where all the high-flying visions of eco-city by the sea are waiting to be fulfilled.

On coming Sunday students will make an interim summary of their studio journey so far and are expecting everyone interested to join them on a four-hour walking trip through the peninsula’s pasts, present and futures, to discover and make sense of today’s Tallinn’s Wild West .

The 17th conference from the series Studies in Contemporary Culture, dedicated to one of the key Estonian literary works from the transition era, Emil Tode’s groundbreaking novel Border State, will take place on October 16th, 2023, at the Writers’ House in Tallinn (Harju 1).

The conference is organized by the Research Group of Contemporary Estonian Culture (EKA KVI, TLÜ TÜHI and TÜ) in collaboration with the Estonian Writers’ Union, and funded by Estonian Research Council (grant PRG636), Cultural Endowment of Estonia and EKA’s Research Foundation.