Exhibitions

Heleliis Hõim’s personal exhibition “The Mars Chronicles” in ARS Project Space

Opening on June 18 at 7 p.m.

Performance at 7:30 p.m.

The performance will feature music and soundscapes created by a group of vocalists led by Lauri Lesta and Kaie Sauga, inspired by the works exhibited at the exhibition.

The artist invites the viewer to relate to the planet Mars as a borrowed environment in order to gather thoughts of beliefs, isolation, limited thinking, and silence, right after a person has left.

The Chronicles of Mars draws parallels with science fiction, citing Ray Bradbury’s book of the same name. In a collection of short stories, Bradbury describes how a person wants to inhabit Mars, despite its inhabitants and advanced civilization. Mankind wants and demands more than they have. Or there was, because a polluted and war-torn planet is left behind.

The artist focuses on a collage of a kind of planned and then abandoned environment, on the basis of which it is possible to feel the thoughts of the deceased, the creation of the environment, beliefs, dreams.

The exhibition is supported by EAA, the Estonian Artists’ Union, the Estonian Cultural Endowment

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The exhibition is open from 20.06 to 12.07.2022

Mon-Wed 12 – 18 / Sat – Sun 12-16

Maria Kapajeva’s exhibition is a part of the permanent exhibition “Landscapes of Identity: Estonian Art 1700–1945”.

This exhibition is an artistic experiment: presenting a research process as an installation. What can you do and what would you do with a random collection of photographs? Eight years ago, Maria Kapajeva came across a few old photographs online for sale.

This was a quite random purchase for me. An American dealer who runs an online shop selling old images from all over the world agreed to put together ‘a collection’ of photographs, which he thought might be from Estonia. So, this is how this 105-piece collection of ‘loose photos, odds and ends’ (according to the dealer’s description) ended up in my hands. In his message he added ‘I am so glad these photos are “going home”, so to speak’.

“I had no knowledge of the images or how they ended up in the US.”

At the end of 2021, when I started to prepare for this exhibition, I tried to contact the dealer again, but I learned that he had unexpectedly died a week before. It was sad to realise that I had had those eight years to ask him questions, but I hadn’t and now I could not. So, I hope with the help of visitors to the exhibition, I can get answers to some of my questions.

Kapajeva experiments with different ways of opening up the potential of the often undervalued, under-researched, marginalised heritage of vernacular photography. In the age of automated face recognition software – partly developed by historical archives, but even more so by state and military institutions and international corporations – her project demonstrates the benefits of “slow recognition”. As she slowed down for an artistic exploration of this collection, Kapajeva also made this a part of her own homecoming, as she has lived abroad for years, just like the photos she is exploring.

Gradual identification of the photographers and the people portrayed by them reveals new perspectives on Estonian (micro-)history, which gain new meaning in the context of the permanent exhibition focusing on “landscapes of identity”. By focussing on the faces of the photographed people, their stories and some other forgotten facts which she learned from these images, Kapajeva shows her appreciation for each person and every individual story in our history.

Kapajeva invites everyone to contribute to the installation as a continuous research process. Please look at the photos closely and if you recognise anyone, please write down their names or stories, add the photo number(s) and attach this information to the wall.

Exhibition design: LLRRLLRR – Laura Linsi, Karolin Kull
Graphic designer: Maria Muuk
Exhibition coordinator: Magdaleena Maasik
Exhibition technician: Andres Amos
Artist’s research assistant: Ketlin Käpp
With contribution in kind by Linda Kaljundi, Annika Toots and Karmen-Eliise Kiidron

Special thanks to Liisa Kaljula, Merilis Roosalu (Tallinn City Museum – Museum of Photography), Aado Luik, Janeli Suits, Piret Karro, Lembi Anepaio, Aljona Kapajeva and the Sokk family

In autumn 2021, a workshop The Alchemy of [Painting] was held at the Chair of Painting at the EKA.

Inspired by a still life of strange parts and wet preparations, the aim was to open up the concept of alchemy from the point of view of painting and using the tools of painting. In addition to the practical work, there were lectures and discussions on phenomen of alchemy from the perspectives of art, literature, music and film, on a timeline from the Middle Ages through popular culture to the present day.

The paintings were created using Cobra water-based oil paints from Royal Talens.

Tutors: Sirja-Liisa Eelma, Mihkel Ilus, Holger Loodus

Artists: Georg Kaasik, Samuel Lehikoinen, Noah Emanuel Morrison, Brenda Purtsak, Marleen Suvi, Egert Tishler, Triin Türnpuu

KERTU RANNULA
“SNAPCHAT DYSTOOPIA”
12/06/2022 – 16/07/2022

Kanal gallery

While analyzing the essence of social media’s beauty filters, the relation between the filter and the user is under observation – is a beauty filter a sticky parasite who is made to be a part of the system, which splits our self-image and profits from our insecurities, or is it a symbiosis, where a filter is soon becoming a part of our daily beauty routine?

When Photoshop or 3D-technologies are still mainly for the tech-savvy, beauty filters that circulate on all social media platforms, allow self-modification with only a single touch. From pure entertainment to a powerful tool, filters have made manipulating with our reality easier than ever before.

Filters, that distort faces and bodies, are widely spread in typical social media users but also within famous influencers. In China, even posting an unedited photo of a friend, is considered a violation of the social norm; and going to a plastic surgeon with an edited selfie has become so frequent that this state of mind has led to a new termin called “Snapchat dysmorphia”.

In the background of the blurred lines of real and virtual world, the exhibition addresses the affect that social media filters have on our daily lives and behaviour.

The centre that connects the installative works together is the artist’s own face. The face has become a moldable material which transforms through different mediums. Visitors are invited to step into an alternative reality, where the bodily roles of the human and the filter have been reversed in the exhibition room.

Kertu Rannula (b. 1997) lives and works in Tallinn. Through site specific photo- and video installations, she is researching the relationships, signs and symbols of the contemporary human and culture. Rannula holds a Bachelor’s degree in photography from the Estonian Academy of Arts. She has also studied liberal arts in Iceland University of the Arts and sculpture and installation in Belgium PXL University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Rannula has participated in shows in Estonia and abroad. In 2020, she took part of ISSP Riga Residency.

Graphic designer: Henri Kutsar

Supporters: Estonian Cultural Endowment, Võru city

Thanks: Alari Toomsalu, Siim Asmer, Ago Paabusk, Kairit Onno

KANAL GALLERY
Thu–Sat 12–18
www.liivaate.ee
Facebook, Instagram @kanalgalerii

More information:
Stella Mõttus
Kanal Gallery’s gallerist
stella.mottus@gmail.com
+372 55 999 609

Riin Maide’s personal exhibition “It’s Like I Barely See” in Hobusepea gallery. Exhibition will be open until June 27, 2022.

Windows covered by transparent plastic and scaffolding are normally the signs of something new or fresh arriving soon in an urban environment. Similarly to curtains, these elements denote certain anticipation and will be forgotten when they open up new views.

“It’s Like I Barely See” is pays homage to forgotten architecture. While depicting fragile phenomena in urban space, such as framework and construction, the artist attempts to stretch the temporary into something endless.

Riin Maide (b. 1997) lives and works in Tallinn. Through playful installations and staged environments Maide studies the themes of memory and presence. In Riin Maide’s artwork, the emphasis lies on site-specific art, ephemerality and graphic image. As an artist, curator and performer, Maide has participated in exhibition and performance art projects both in Estonia and abroad. She has obtained BA degree in the department of graphic art at the Estonian Academy of Arts and taken additional courses in the department of scenography, faculty of alternative and puppet theatre in DAMU, Prague. In 2020, Maide received the Young Artist Award of the Estonian Academy of Arts and Edmund Valtman grant.

The artist expresses her gratitude to: Rain Kilkson, Cristo Madissoo, department of graphic art at the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

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

Opening of the exhibition Self-Portrait as a Dancer and a Revolutionary by Brit Pavelson and Cloe Jancis at Võru Showcase

The opening of the duo show entitled Self-Portrait as a Dancer and a Revolutionary by Brit Pavelson and Cloe Jancis will take place on 11 June at 5 pm at Võru Showcase. The exhibition playfully addresses topics such as women’s everyday roles and the spaces in which these roles are expressed. What are the roles that permeate through the definition of a parent, a partner and an artist? How can we best cope with the emotional states that different roles make us feel? Which domestic practices are considered “feminine” and what is their social or artistic value?

The title of the exhibition refers to a false citation by the anarchist activist, feminist, writer and teacher Emma Goldman (1869–1940), which has achieved mythical status today: “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” The sentence refers to Goldman’s reaction when she was criticised for dancing joyfully at parties, arguing that agitators should not engage in such frivolous activities. Goldman’s quote is eloquent because many phenomena or common practices are still today called “feminine,” which aims to deem them of lower value. Following Goldman’s example, contemporary women’s rights activists should not choose between dancing and revolution, everyday joys and political activism, but they should instead find individual ways to intertwine these worlds, empower themselves and others, and shift values.

Curators: Brigit Arop and Sigrid Liira
Graphic design: Elisabeth Juusu

A bus starting from Tallinn and stopping also in Tartu will come to Võru on 12th of June. More info here (only in Estonian unfortunately).

The exhibition takes place in three cities during 2022, starting at the Galerie Showcase (Place aux Herbes, 38000) in Grenoble, France. In summer, the exhibition will arrive in Tallinn and Võru, Estonia.

The exhibition is open 24/7 and will remain open until 7 July.v Event on Facebook

Sponsors: The Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Võru City, Võru rannabangalo
Special thanks: Camille Laurelli, Laura Kuusk, Koit Randmäe, Silver Marge

Contact for information:
Brigit Arop
curator
+372 5621 6259
brigit.arop@artun.ee

Silence After Early Hours
(first-ever) EKA GD MA Graduation Show
4–11 June 2022, 1–7pm

Do you know the feeling? The feeling you have after leaving a long and eventful party minutes after the sunrise? The feeling of sneaking to the door past drunken animals and sleeping unfortunates, the feeling of smoke-filled air and a sticky floor that by now looks almost glazed in a varnish of liquor. The feeling of opening the doors and getting slammed in the face by a blinding ray of sunshine, the feeling of the first lungful breath you take, and being almost surprised the air can smell so good. the feeling of guilt as you stumble and hobble, shuffle, and dodder your way home as others have just woken up and are in a fast-paced manner gracefully heading to work? That’s now, we are leaving and returning to the places and lives we left behind. An exhausting end before a new beginning or the silence after early hours.

Vernissage: June 3, 6:30–9 pm
Finissage: June 11, 9 pm–midnight

Class of 2022
Alejandro Bellón Ample, Louise Borinski, Aleksandrs Breže, Paula Buškevica, Björn Giesecke, Otso Peräsaari, Diandra Rebase, Katarina Sarap

Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn
MA in Graphic Design

The exhibition “The Seaweed Ceremony” will be opened on June 3 at 7 pm in Tallinn, at the Sepikoja Gallery of Põhjala Factory (Marati 5).

The exhibition “The Seaweed Ceremony” focuses on the aquatic environment and seaweed species, which are an integral part of this fragile ecosystem. Combining existing knowledge of aquatic organisms with design research, the exhibition treats seaweed caringly and respectfully, through ritual-like gestures. In this way, students from the universities of Iceland, Finland and Estonia show works based on the local context in the “The Seaweed Ceremony”, which reflect on the symbiotic interaction of man and the environment – the post-anthropocentric symbioscene.

“The Seaweed Ceremony” focuses on the conscious design approach that seaweed as an underused but highly economically exploited bioresource, with the aim of reaching both for the development of renewable bioresources and for their industrialization.

In the last decade, seaweed has been explored as a potential resource for new materials. Seaweed is also known as “green gold”, the biofuel of the future and an alternative to animal protein on the human food plate. In order for these high expectations to be realized in the long run, we need a radical change in our way of thinking, learning from the mysterious mechanisms of the water world and the combinations of different species, moving towards a restorative, supportive and nourishing model.

Julia Lohmann, professor and multidisciplinary designer at Aalto University, writes: “Seaweed becomes more than just a resource, but also our method and muse”.

Seaweed, a large heterogeneous group of organisms capable of photosynthetic activity in seawater, are considered to be the most untapped bioresource. The DiMa Sustainable Design Laboratory of the Estonian Academy of Arts has been dealing with local seaweed as one of its focus topics since 2015. The local seaweed has been tested as a raw material for the production of various bioplastics, as a nutrient-rich food as well as as a possible wastewater-draining biomass.

Rainforests of the North

Students from universities participating in the exhibition:

Aalto University

Aura Latva-Somppi, Élise Piquemal, Elsa Tölli, Nina Naveršnik, Zoë Robertson, Vihar Kotecha

Listaháskóli Íslands

Arngrímur Guðmundsson, Birna Sísí Jóhannsdóttir, Bryndís Magnúsdóttir, Elín Dagný Kristinsdóttir, Emma Kristina A. Herrera, Helgi Jóhannsson, Jón Sölvi Walderhaug Eiríksson, Marsibil Sól Þ. Blöndal, Mekkín Guðmundsdóttir, Salóme Bregt Hollanders

Estonian Academy of Arts

Cärol Ott, Indre Spitryte, Karl-Christoph Rebane, Karolin Kärm, Katarina Kruus, Kristiina Jeromans, Marion Laev

Supervisors:

Aalto University

Anna van der Lei, Julia Lohmann

ListahAskóli Íslands

Tinna Gunnarsdottir, Rúna Thors, Lee Lorenzo Lynch, Agnar Jón Egilsson, Johanna Seelemann

Estonian Academy of Arts

Annika Kaldoja, Kärt Ojavee

Elisabeth Perk and Roger Matthias Laas, 2nd year students of EKA Interior Architecture, designed the design of the exhibition and the complete solution of the space. The course was supervised by Kaisa Sööt and Adam Kaarma.

The exhibition is open from 04.06 to 15.06.2022

Mon-Fri 10.00–17.00; Sat-Sun 12.00–17-00

Põhjala Factory Sepikoja Gallery (Marati 5)

The exhibition is supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment’s Architecture Endowment and the Nordic Council of Ministers

post-gallery.online

Opening: 25/05/22 6pm (EET)
Open until: 26/07/22

First, find yourself a comfortable place to relax and close your eyes. Take a deep breath through your nose, hold it for a moment, and then exhale slowly through your mouth. As you relax, try to focus on easing the tension in your body. Feel it leaving as you breathe out. Now, try to allow yourself to imagine a safe space. What is it like? What is the first location that comes to your mind? Maybe it’s a quiet field or a room full of kittens. As you meditate, you can envision and move through it. This can be a little challenging at first, but once you perfect it, going to your safe space can become a calming routine. No one can enter without your permission. This is where you can feel protected. As you come back, you can perfect it to your taste and allow it to shape as you see fit. Picture the tiniest details. What can you hear? How do all the different textures feel? Do you notice any smells? Allow yourself to relax as you breathe in and out. Remember that you can leave any time. You are in control.

A mental safe space or mind sanctuary is a cerebral location that you envision to boost your meditation or to reduce stress. Generally, the term safe space refers to a space created for marginalized people to come together and share their experiences with oppression. It can also indicate that the space has zero tolerance for violence, hate speech and harassment.

“Your brain is a bedroom” is a project that explores the idea of a safe space. This space was first created in 2020 when, in the middle of the pandemic, the artist Maria Izabella Lehtsaar started questioning the safety of one’s home. How does one cope in an unsafe environment and how to make it as secure as possible? Lehtsaar found we can mostly create it through online spaces and the mental safe space exercise. In that sense, we can consider the closet metaphor a notional space to keep one’s identity hidden for safety reasons because of social condemnation. In this version of a safe space, you can relax and play dress up.

post-gallery.online exhibitions are supported by Cultural Endowment of Estonia

Maria Izabella Lehtsaar is an artist based in Tallinn, who works primarily with queer experience and mental health topics, often playing with the fine line between reality and fantasy. Their works and motifs are at times modest, loud and captivating. In their work they blend pop culture aesthetics and sensitive black-and-white graphics, combining them in practice with textiles, drawing and text.

Lehtsaar is currently studying for a Master’s degree in contemporary art at the Estonian Academy of Arts, and has graduated with a bachelor’s degree in printmaking in 2020. Their recent exhibitions include the The Youth Exhibition of 18th Tallinn Print Triennial “SLOW MANOEUVRES”, 2022 (EKKM, curated by Riin Maide and Brit Kikas) and “Resemblance Through Contact. Grammar of Imprint”, 2020 (Tartu Art House and EKA Gallery, curated by Liina Siib and Maria Erikson). Lehtsaar was awarded the Edmund Valtman Fund scholarship of 2021.

Sirja-Liisa Eelma and Tiina Sarapu will open their co-exhibition Black Mirror in Draakon gallery at 5pm on Tuesday, May 31st 2022.

Exhibition will be open until June 25, 2022.
Black surface absorbs light and colours; while looking at black surface, one can see info infinity, unknowing, solitude and protective tenderness. Mirror gives you the honest truth. The danger to get stuck in reflections and in the reflections of reflections is as big as the temptation to touch the snoozing screen of a smartphone in order to open completely different kind of worlds.

Landscape painter of 17th century Claude Lorrain made use of black mirror as an optical aid. Compared to a clear mirror, the details are more subtle and the reflection of black mirror is more simplified. The black reflection brings forth the tonal range as well as reduces the intensity of tones.

The encounter of the reflecting and painted worlds refers to the multilayeredness of existence. The layer of glass in front of the painting is protecting the artwork but also creating the distance between the painting and the viewer. This way, the viewer misses the opportunity of directly experiencing the materiality, fragrance and smell of the paint. The reflections, flickers of light and shadows of the glass function either as disturbance or as an unstable and captivating finesse on the surface of painting.

Sirja-Liisa Eelma (b. 1973) is a conceptual painter whose visual language is characterized by visually minimalistic structures. Her painting series, based on the slow transformation of a repetitive image, focus on the themes of emptiness, ambivalence of meanings as well as defining the visible and the invisible.

Sirja-Liisa Eelma has graduated from the department of painting at the Estonian Academy of Arts (MA, 1996). Since 2018, she has been studying in the doctoral school of the Estonian Academy of Arts. In 2016, her artistic practice was recognized with Konrad Mägi Award. Eelma’s artworks belong both to private collections as well as the collection of the Art Museum of Estonia. She has held numerous personal exhibitions as well as participated in group and curatorial exhibitions both in Estonia and abroad.

Tiina Sarapu‘s (b. 1971) artistic practice can be characterized by minimalistic approach towards form. The perfectly composed form is almost always extremely simple and well interpreted. While having been exhibiting her artwork mainly as an installation artist during the past few years, Sarapu has often transferred the meanings of an initial idea to various contexts (several installations with music stands and mirrors), created illusory spaces, visualized sounds, extended the borders of perception. As an conceptual artist, Tiina Sarapu is using glass in order to express the idea of the multilayeredness of life while working with the oppositions present in glass as a material. (Reeli Kõiv)

Tiina Sarapu has obtained MA degree in the department of glass art at the Estonian Academy of Arts in 1996. In 1996–2017, she was teaching in the same department and in 2003-2017 worked there as an associate professor. Sarapu has participated in numerous exhibitions, symposiums and workshops both in Estonia and abroad. She has received acknowledgement in international competitions of glass art. Sarapu’s artwork belongs to the collections of several museums and private collectors. She received the honorary title of Acknowledged Glass Artist 2005–2005 and Acknowledged Glass Artist 2018–2019; in 2007, Sarapu received Kristjan Raud Art Award, in 2019 she deserved the Annual Award of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and was awarded the Artist Laureate Salary in 2021–2023.

Exhibitions in Draakon gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian

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