Exhibitions

Within dictionaries, a flag is claimed as being “a piece of cloth with a particular design representing a country, party, association, etc.” From 8 October until 15 October, artist Thomas Sadée is going to challenge this description.

Together with you!

In How about flags we play with the concept of flags. What can a flag be? What can it stand for? When do we identify a thing as a flag? Let’s talk together, brainstorm together, and work together!

From 8 October until 15 October Ventspace will be open from 12:00 until 18:00.

Feel free to stop by to explore the idea of flags together.

On 13 October there will be a free workshop where we will make our own flags, and afterward partake in the unique flag parade from 15:00 until 19:00 – so please bring your own everyday materials to use.

This whole project will come together in a Finissage on 15 October from 15:00 until 20:00.

All activities take place at Vent Space, Vabaduse väljak 6-8.

On 6 October at 6 pm, Trance, the main exhibition of Tallinn Photomonth’s seventh edition, will open at Tallinn Art Hall’s Lasnamäe Pavilion.

It explores people’s everyday addiction to screens and includes works by 17 artists from eight countries, as well as three artist duos and one artist group. Several artists will present their works in Estonia for the first time. Curated by New York based, Finnish curator, Ilari Laamanen, the exhibition will remain open until 26 November.

“Trance looks into the charm and allure of being engaged with technology on the one hand, and the darker side of these rapid developments on the other. The presence of these objects is so mundane and pervasive, even to the point that not having one could give an individual the feeling of isolation from the social context altogether,” says Ilari Laamanen, curator of the exhibition. The exhibition focuses on technological trance as people’s dependence on screens, and it examines how the transition from photographic images to interactive screens, as well the intimately intertwined relationship between the two, marks one of the most significant and destabilising changes in the way in which humans perceive reality, but also how contemporary art can be a fertile ground for making sense of the relationship between technology and the human experience.

According to Laamanen, an art exhibition offers an environment where alternative ways of communicating and transmitting information can be used: “The artists in the exhibition utilise glitch as a conceptual tool, which offers the viewer an opportunity to take a break, step back from the technological trance, and contemplate on the meanings and significance of art and images.” The presented artworks invite viewers to perceive and analyse various means of (audio)visual presentation and to review their own relationship with watching.

The artists participating in the main exhibition are Sara Bjarland (FI/NL), Zody Burke (US/EE), Patricia Domínguez (CL), Elo-Reet Järv (EE), Karel Koplimets (EE), Diane Severin Nguyen (US), Veli Granö (FI), Laila Majid (AE/UK) and Louis Blue Newby (UK), Norman Orro and Joonas Timmi (EE), Pire Sova and Ando Naulainen (EE), Viktor Timofeev (LV/US), Anu Vahtra (EE), Jessica Wilson (US) and artist group CUSS Group (ZA).

According to Laamanen, Trance has an interdisciplinary and cross-generational focus, and each artist’s work has an unexpected impact at the exhibition: “The process of curatorial work has been strongly influenced by the unusual architecture of Tallinn Art Hall’s Lasnamäe Pavilion. The presented works are in dialogue with the exhibition space, which makes the exhibition an engaging and multi-sensory experience. Estonia-based artists Zody Burke, Karel Koplimets, Anu Vahtra, Pire Sova and Ando Naulainen will create new installations specially for Photo Month. I am very pleased to introduce the works of international artists Patricia Domínguez, Laila Majid and Louis Blue Newby, and the CUSS Group for the first time in Tallinn.”

The exhibition is accompanied by a rich public and educational programme, you can find further information on the Tallinn Art Hall website: https://www.kunstihoone.ee/en/programme/.

Running from 6 October to 26 November the Tallinn Photo Month ’23 main programme, includes international group exhibition Trance at Tallinn Art Hall’s Lasnamäe Pavilion and Artist Film screenings at Sõprus Cinema in collaboration with the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (16 and 17 November; curators Piibe Kolka and Genevieve Yue). The biennial’s Satellite programme includes a continued collaboration with several important partners and exhibition spaces focused on photo-led art in Tallinn. In cooperation with Tallinn City Transport, an urban space installation will be presented in two Tallinn trams. More information about the Tallinn Photomonth contemporary art biennial programme can be found at https://www.fotokuu.ee/en/programm.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Ilari Laamanen
Ilari Laamanen is an independent curator based in New York. He co-curated the ninth edition of the Momentum biennial in Moss, Norway in 2017. As the Director of Programs at the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York (2013–2020), he curated and commissioned projects to the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New Museum’s Ideas City festival, and Brooklyn Bridge Park. At the FCINY he led the MOBIUS Fellowship Program for six years, establishing partnerships with institutions such as Artists Space, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and JUDD Foundation. He has edited the publications Crossroads – New Views on Art and Environment, MOBIUS Manual and Beyond the Pleasure Principle.

Lasnamäe Pavilion of Tallinn Art Hall
The Tallinn Art Hall Foundation is a contemporary art establishment that presents exhibitions in two galleries in 2022–2024 – at Tallinn Art Hall’s Lasnamäe Pavilion and Tallinn City Gallery. The exhibitions of Tallinn Art Hall are installed by Valge Kuup.

Tallinn Photomonth
Tallinn Photomonth is an international biennial of contemporary art which presents works from almost all areas of visual culture and looks more broadly at the development of art and society, increasingly mediated by photographic images, cameras and screens. Tallinn Photo Month was initiated in 2011 by the Estonian Union of Photography Artists (FOKU), which coordinates and supports collaboration between art institutions, galleries and artists.

How is knowledge about the city produced and to what ends? What methods help broaden perspectives on the city? How to learn from urban space and represent the results?

Urban Studies year I students invite you to the final presentations of the “Art and the City” course, which has focused on creative urban methods. Entitled Momentum Montenegro, the evening of presentations delves into the social and material aspects of the first microdistrict of Mustamäe.

As Estonia’s first panel house district, it pioneered a new spatial configuration and quickly became an iconic dream destination in war-ravaged mid-century Tallinn. However, the implementation of this housing model has been heavily critiqued since its inception. Now, four houses from the I micro-district have been earmarked for a neighbourhood renovation pilot project seeking to upgrade the buildings as well as the space between them.

The presented projects focus on the public space between these four panel houses, not with the aim to prove something but to learn something.

The course is tutored by Mattias Malk.

Event on Facebook

We provide an overview of the current status of the Benin traditional music project.

Introducing the traditional music of Grand-Popo in Benin (West Africa).

Composer and singer Steve Abeni (Benin) and the Benin traditional music ensemble will contribute
Hans-Gunter Lock
Andrus Haugas
Janek Samberg
Asya Dorofeeva
Andrus Kallastu 

Since Grand-Popo is one of the most important voodoo spiritual centers in addition to extremely exciting musical traditions, in addition to musicians, anthropologists, religious researchers, dance researchers, visual artists, filmmakers, cultural historians, philosophers and experts in other fields are invited to exchange ideas.

Event on Facebook

The ceramics department of EKA is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. This exhibition is one of the events. The large-scale ceramic forms exhibited in Viimsi Artium have been completed as a first-year study project of the EKA Ceramics Department.

The works planned and built during March and April have been fired in the beginning of May in the anagama-type kiln located in Tohisoo manor park in Kohila. The special feature of the kiln is that it is heated with wood and the objects to be fired are in direct contact with the flame, one firing lasts on average 50 hours and the kiln cools down in 4-5 days.

Participating current and former students: Anna-Liisa Villmann, Merilyn Kasemets, Keily Kerem, Lilian Maasik, Elisabeth Tönne, Sanna Lova, Kristel Kärdi, Linda Viikant, Mari-Ann Maask, Maria Kim, Kätriin Reinart, Marta Vikentjeva, Gaida -Erica Pärn, Helen Griffiths, Ethel Ütsmüts.

Subject supervisor and exhibition organizer: Karin Kalman

The exhibition will remain open until October 19.

On Monday, 18th September, the EKA Library will open an exhibition to present the results of the artistic research project „The Reconstruction and Artistic Development of the Historical Relief Print Technique“.

The starting point of the study is the relief printing technique used in the workshop of leather artist and bookbinder Eduard Taska in 1924. The technique is currently unknown but distinguished from the well-known cliché and linoprint by its two-dimensional result and the absence of fine graphic lines.

The exhibition provides an overview of the experiments conducted to reconstruct the relief printing process as authentically as possible and develop printing solutions suitable for contemporary materials and techniques based on the restored historical technique that allows for mass production.

The reinvented reverse print technique allows for the use of a wide range of reusable and recyclable materials as printing plates. It enables blind and foil printing on various materials. The results of the experiments show that the reverse print is suitable for prototyping as well as for the production of unique items and small-scale products.

The exhibition will remain open until 15^th November 2023.

For more information, please contact Jaana Päeva: jaana.paeva@artun.ee

EKA artistic research project team of „The reconstruction and artistic development of the historical relief print technique“: Jaana Päeva, Eve Kaaret, Lennart Mänd, Riina Samelselg

Exhibition design: Ran-Re Reimann

Project is funded by: Ministry of Culture’s Artistic Research Support Program in the field of culture and creative industries

Special thanks to: The Estonian History Museum, EKA Bookbinding Studio, IKIGI

Monday to Friday 10.00–18.00
Saturday 11.00–15.00

(Russian below)

KEEPING THINGS IN THE DARK, AGAIN
Anna Škodenko, Darja Popolitova, Viktor Gurov and Francisco Martínez 
22.09—25.10.2023
Opening: 22.09 at 5 pm

Join us for the exhibition “Keeping things in the dark, again” opening on September 22, 5 pm at EKA Gallery!
“Keeping things in the dark again” is a collectively curated art project, based on ethnographic research. The exhibition at the EKA gallery is the final part of a trilogy, which reflects on the correlation between public secrets and shadow spaces in Ida-Virumaa. Over the past three years, we have visited 37 basements, exploring the underground material culture of this post-industrial, Russian-speaking, ecologically devastated region. A four-artist installation has been the first outcome of our collective work, which was exhibited in the Riga Art Space (2022) and at the Sillamäe Museum (2023). In the meantime, we have been developing our installation and continued with our research and the exchange of ideas. As a result, we have created 4 new, individual works:

THE PAST OF THE FUTURE—this installation stages a series of encounters with the time capsule buried into the ‘Glory to Labour’ monument in 1971 in Kohtla-Järve, which is supposed to be opened in 2046 but was accidentally unearthed in 1996.

KRATT© MADE IN IDA-VIRUMAA—a wall installation consisting of sculptured oil shale fragments exposed on 3D-printed shelves. Kratt is a workaholic mythological creature who destroys oneself when its creator entrusts it with impossible tasks.

CAVE GHOSTS—an installation that combines fumage aesthetics with spatial design. By covering the entrance to the gallery, it reproduces the experience of descending a staircase and stepping into a cellar. Or into a mining tunnel.

LIQUID SHADOWS AT THE BORDER—a series of Byzantine collages inspired by the bonding gestures of garage users in Kulgu (aka ‘Narva Venice’). This is a male, amphibious territory for doing things other than in the city and being in time at ease.

What had been concealed and kept in the dark has a particular efficacy while resurfacing and being on display. This exhibition presents different instances of this, reflecting on material hoarding, messages for the future, existentialist aesthetics and shelters where to test different sides of the self. People need hideouts and places to store things in the dark. The main installation deals with this issue and is composed of 4 parts: the ‘Cellar Door’ video installation in which Jelena guides us around her cellar in Kohtla-Järve; the audio-visual sculpture titled ‘Баю-бай’ introduces a surreal video located in a sculpture in the form of a stroller; the visual representation ‘Sartre downstairs’ of various existential messages found in local basements; and ‘Subterranean biographies’, which displays a series of extracted objects alongside personal stories.

Anna Škodenko (b. 1986) is a multidisciplinary artist and guest lecturer at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Her work is characterized by a lyrical and analytical approach to the medium and the visual image.

Darja Popolitova (b. 1989) is a multidisciplinary artist, guest lecturer and doctoral student at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Darja creates jewellery and video installations on the topic of digital culture, mixing it with pseudo-magical aesthetics.

Viktor Gurov (b. 1989) is an artist and graphic designer interested in urban landscapes and decommissioned places. He works as creative director of the Estonian National Library.

Francisco Martínez (b. 1982) is an anthropologist of Tampere University dealing with contemporary issues of material culture through ethnographic experiments. In 2018, he was awarded with the Early Career Prize of the European Association of Social Anthropologists.

We express our gratitude to Pire Sova, Svetlana Ivanova, Ekaterina Grafova, Jelena Mutonen, Andrei Mitkovets, Nadežda Popolitova, Jakob Tulve, Andres Nõlvak, Allar Rebane, Madis Kaasik, Riina Varol, Mari Kivipõld, Taavi Teevet, Dmitri Fedotkin, Enas Amerkhanov, Dept. of Jewelry and Blacksmithing, WasteMatters ERC project, and, overall, to all who have contributed to the exhibition in different ways.

_______________

И СНОВА ВЕЩИ В ТЕМНОТЕ?
Анна Шкоденко, Дарья Пополитова, Виктор Гуров и Франсиско Мартинес
Галерея EKA, 22.09—25.10.2023
Открытие: 22.09 в 17.00

И СНОВА ВЕЩИ В ТЕМНОТЕ? – это коллективный художественный проект, основанный на этнографических исследованиях. Выставка в галерее EKA является заключительной частью трилогии, которая размышляет о том, как хранимые обществом тайны соотносятся со скрытыми пространствами в Восточной Эстонии. За последние три года мы посетили 37 подвалов, исследуя подземную материальную культуру этого постиндустриального, русскоязычного, экологически разоренного региона. Инсталляция, созданная четырьмя художниками стала первым результатом нашей коллективной работы, которая была выставлена в Рижском городском выставочном зале (2022) и в музее Силламяэ (2023). Тем временем мы дополняли нашу инсталляцию, продолжали наши исследования и обмен идеями. В результате мы создали 4 новые индивидуальные работы: 

ПРОШЛОЕ БУДУЩЕГО—эта инсталляция представляет собой серию встреч с капсулой времени, замурованной в 1971 году в монументе «Слава Труду», возведенном в Кохтла-Ярве. Капсулу предполагалось открыть в 2046 году, но ее случайно обнаружили в 1996.

ДОМОВИК© MADE IN IDA-VIRUMAA—настенная инсталляция, состоящая из скульптурных фрагментов горючего сланца, выставленных на полках, напечатанных на 3D-принтере. Kratt (домовик) – мифологическое существо-трудоголик, которое уничтожает себя, когда его создатель поручает ему невыполнимые задачи.

ПЕЩЕРНЫЕ ПРИЗРАКИ—инсталляция, сочетающая эстетику фьюмажа с пространственным дизайном. Закрывая вход в галерею, инсталляция воспроизводит ощущение спуска по лестнице в подвал. Или в шахтный туннель.

ЖИДКИЕ ТЕНИ НА КРАЮ—серия коллажей в византийском стиле, вдохновленная тем, как вяжут узлы пользователи лодочных причалов в районе Кулгу (также известном как «Нарвская Венеция»). Это, так сказать, земноводная, мужская территория, где можно отдохнуть от городской рутины и отлично провести время. 

То, что было скрыто и хранилось во тьме, приобретает особое очарование, когда извлекается на поверхность. И выставка позволяет нам в этом неоднократно убедиться, размышляя о накоплении материалов, посланиях в будущее, экзистенциалистской эстетике и убежищах, где можно узнать разные стороны собственного «я». Людям нужны укрытия и пространства, чтобы хранить вещи в темноте. Основная инсталляция посвящена этой теме и состоит из 4 частей: видеоинсталляция «Дверь в подвал», в которой Елена проводит нас по своему подвалу в Кохтла-Ярве; аудиовизуальная скульптура «Баю-бай» знакомит с сюрреалистичным видео, располагающимся в скульптуре в форме коляски; визуальное представление «Сартр внизу» из различных экзистенциальных посланий, найденных в местных подвалах; и «Подземные биографии», в которых рядом с личными историями представлен ряд извлеченных объектов.

Anna Škodenko (1986)—мультидисциплинарная художница и гостевая преподавательница в Эстонской академии художеств. Ее творчество характеризуется лиризмом и аналитическим подходом к медиуму и визуальному образу.

Darja Popolitova (1989)—мультидисциплинарная художница, гостевая преподавательница и докторант в Эстонской академии художеств. Дарья создает украшения, а таже видео-инсталляции на тему дигитальной культуры, смешивая это с псевдо-магической эстетикой.

Viktor Gurov (1989)—художник и графический дизайнер, которого интересуют темы оформления текстов, а также городских пейзажей и заброшенных, урбанистических мест. Виктор работает креативным директором Эстонской национальной библиотеки.

Francisco Martínez (1982)—антрополог Университета Тампере, занимающийся современными проблемами материальной культуры через этнографические эксперименты. В 2018 году он был награжден премией за раннюю карьеру Европейской ассоциации социальных антропологов.

Выражаем благодарность Пире Сова, Светлане Ивановой, Екатерине Графовой, Елене Мутонен, Андрею Митковцу, Надежде Пополитовой, Якобу Тульве, Андресу Нылваку, Аллар Ребане, Мадис Каасик, Рийна Варол, Мари Кивипылд, Таави Тивет, Энас Амерханов, Дмитрий Федоткин, Кафедра ювелирного и кузнечного дела, ERC проект WasteMatters, и всем, кто так или иначе внес свой вклад в инсталляцию.

Tiia Roivanen ELE/GESTURE
15.–21.09.2023 in Vent Space

Tiia Roivanen lives and work in Helsinki, Finland. They graduated from Taidekoulu Maa’s contemporary art study program (2022) and is preparing for a bachelor’s degree in Aalto University’s visual arts education program. In their Bachelor’s artistic research they explore their practicum in how intuition and gestures perform in our sense of selves. They call it ”the practicum of weaving”. They is a self-taught lyricist and composer. In their work, they use singing, lyrics, organic materials and objects that become a part of their work. With their projects, they does solo concerts and music performances. Now they is fascinated to bring their musical work

’Ele’ (Gesture) into an installation and to open a new layer of thoughts with it’s aesthetics. 

Ele/Gesture is proposing movement. Gestures and their interpretations may vary – their connection to humankind is wavering, and sometimes complex. Every gesture adds a layer into our surface. They pierce trough into our previous ways and make space for variation. Sometimes there is dust between the gestures and the surfaces don’t stick to each other. Do you understand the meaning? Yes – no – sometimes you get lost. They always give, reach and receive. You can choose how to answer. 

What kind of gestures you have been practicing? Which gestures lead forward? What kind of gesture you are?

Gesture is a statement for revealing yourself. The idea behind the work is to act as a letter, like a “novella about heartbreak”. Since childhood, I have been fascinated by epochal films from the 1700s and 1800s. I think there’s something about them that never changes – the romantic scenes and the dazzling rays of sun woven into their core, blurring my surroundings. The romanticized scenes from the fields and the way love is being presented as this unbearable source of suffering. The spaces we have created, the spaces we have taken from, the spaces we want to go back to even after we have lost them. This gesture is an act to become seen in grief and movement to see the layers – it strives to be a multimaterial composition. 

I would like to thank my closest people and co-workers for their ultimate support in order to complete Ele. Thank you Elias Riipinen for music producing Ele, Ida Lindgren, Hele Okkonen ja Saija Lehtola for making video cooperation and Helmi Tikkanen who helped me to write this poster in English.

Manifesto:

In my practice I am committed to questioning questions of vulnerability and honesty, which trough play grow first from shyness to trust, and then into an experience of being able to open up, with encounters that reflect the path you are on. I try to surrender myself towards it constantly.

On Friday, 15th of September at 6 pm Holger Loodus will open his solo exhibition titled “Silver Bullet / Dinner for Four” at Vaal Gallery.

The exhibition brings together two parallel narratives presented as a cohesive unity through the mediums of painting and video.

The series of paintings titled “Dinner for Four” is about you and me and the unknown guests who come to visit us one evening from far away. The guests have come to provide answers to questions that have been bothering us for a long time – how to end wars and solve global problems; what the future of our planet will be; is humanity still sustainable or is it time to pack up and leave? And finally, as perhaps what we all think about, how can we become better human beings? At the same time, there are so many questions we would like to ask, but perhaps we are afraid to. What answers do they bring? We’ve never sat down with people who have no face, no body, and who don’t speak with words. But they talk a lot.

“Silver Bullet” is a video essay about a rifle bullet lost in space. A closer look reveals that a solitary character lives there inside. We don’t know how they got there, where they’re going or what they’re thinking. At the same time, inevitable processes and strange events are taking place. The artist wonders whether such phenomena take place inside every bullet on its journey.

The exhibition will remain open until 7th of October, Tue–Fri 12–6 pm, Sat 12–4 pm.

Holger Loodus (b 1970) is a musician, painter, multimedia and installation artist, as well as a lecturer at the Estonian Academy of Arts. His work is characterized by the construction of strange situations that at times strive towards fantastical realities or alternative histories. In order to do this, he uses analytical and poetic-philosophical visual means – from hyperrealist painting to mechanisms he himself has constructed and from video to staged installations. In 2018, Loodus participated in the exhibition of the Köler Prize nominees at the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia and was awarded the People’s Choice Award. Since 2010, he has exhibited in group and solo exhibitions in Estonia, Lithuania, Finland and Germany, his most recent solo exhibitions took place at Kai Art Center (2023), Kogo Gallery (2021), Turku Art Museum (2019) and the Tallinn Art Hall Gallery (2017).

Contributors to the exhibition:
Sander Põldsaar – camera and post-production.
Katrin Enni – sound
Aaron Adam Bluds – passenger

The artist would like to thank: Rein Loodus, Kristel Altmäe, Andreas Altmäe, Iris Vilu, Mihkel Ilus, Jane Muts, Hans Lillemets, Tanel Paliale, Irma Bluds, Johannes Säre

Exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.