Open Lectures

Design Issues: Hasso Krull’s Talk “Earth Thought: sentipensar con la tierra Arturo Escobar and the Cosmovisions of the Relational Ontology” on Tuesday, November 19 at 4:00 PM, in room A501 at the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA).

We have been taught that we live in the modern world. The axis of modernity is progress, based on rationality, development and technology. However, we have also learned that modernity is in a perpetual crisis. But why does development always lead to a disaster? Maybe modernity is not a solution, but in itself a problem? If that is the case, we need to redefine it. We need several new cosmovisions and something that Arturo Escobar has called pluriversal politics.
Hasso Krull (b. 1964) is an Estonian poet who has published sixteen books of poetry and nine collections of essays that include literary criticism as well as writings concerning art, cinema and society. During 1990-2017 he was teaching cultural theory at the Estonian Institute of Humanities (special courses on creation myths, oral tradition, continental philosophy and psychoanalysis). From 2019 he has been teaching creative writing in the Estonian Academy of Arts.

The Design Open Lecture series 2024 is part of Sandra Nuut and Ruth-Helene Melioranski’s Design Issues course. It is public and open to all.

Minna Henriksson: Archive as artwork. Kiila Feminist Archive and other cases

Artist Minna Henriksson will talk about the crucial role archives have played in her artworks, both as source of information and influence. In addition, Henriksson has built archives, or complemented existing ones, as artworks. During the talk she will introduce several cases, where she has implemented archives and archiving in her artistic practice in different ways, and aims to explain her motivations for working with archives, and history writing in general.

Minna Henriksson (b. 1976, Oulu, Finland, lives in Helsinki) is a visual artist working with a disparate range of tools including text, drawing, painting and linocut. In dealing with historical cases, Henriksson hopes to politicize contemporary events that seem neutral and inevitable. The ideological nature of historiography is a recurring theme in her work.

Contemporary Art and Context is a lecture series hosted by MA Contemporary Art. This lecture is organized in collaboration with Archival Impulse, an elective course taught by Lieven Lahaye that introduces students to the practicalities, considerations and possibilities of using archives and archival material as part of their practice as artists and designers.

The lecture is held in English, everyone is welcome to join!

11.11
Triin Tint – “Stitch by stitch – a journey from EKA to the H&M knitting design team (and who knows where to go)”

Triin Tint is a designer with a background at EKA and Aalto University, whose niche is knitwear. The designer, who has long been interested in conceptual (fashion) art and telling stories through clothes, ironically has been working for the last few years in one of the biggest fashion brands in Stockholm.

In the lecture on 11.11, Triin will talk about his own journey and its development.

The lecture will be held in English

Karolin Tampere: Curiosity led learning through curating, collaboration and care

Karolin Tampere will show and tell from her ongoing PhD research project Down in the Bog – Thinking with Peatlands. A project led by an ambition to create cross-pollinating meeting grounds for art, natural science, environmental issues and the public. The three chapters project emphasizes the sharing and embodying of knowledge and awareness to create attention towards the need for increased care for peatland areas, locally, nationally and internationally. Practically and conceptually, the topic of peatlands act as a guiding map and compass to learn about historical, cultural and contemporary and geopolitical changes in the environments in Sápmi / Northern Norway, Estonia and selected places internationally.

Throughout the two group exhibitions Down in the Bog: Hibernation (Tromsø Art Center) and Down in the Bog – Sporulation (EKKM, Tallinn) followed by Thinking with Peatlands symposium, artists, natural scientists, environmental activists, NGOs and the public have lent the ecosystem of peatlands as a prism for sharing, learning and collaboration. Together we have dived deep into the bog, listened, smelled, touched it and learnt from it.

Karolin Tampere is an artist and curator currently a PhD Research fellow in Curatorial practice at Tromsø Art Academy, UiT and KMD, Faculty of Fine Art, Bergen, Norway. She has a particular interest in collaborative, cross disciplinary, long term socially engaged art practices, sound, music and listening. Karolin´s curatorial practice has dealt with a wide range of topics fueled by her interests, including gentrification, city development, art in public space, rights of nature, socially engaged art and ecology and the other-than-human.

Since 2004 she has regularly contributed to the “forever lasting” art project Sørfinnset skole/the nord land initiated by artists Geir Tore Holm and Søssa Jørgensen. Together with Åse Løvgren their ongoing collaboration Rakett was initiated in 2003. In 2013 and partly 2014 she was serving as director of Konsthall C in Stockholm and collaboratively transformed the directorship of the institution into a collective named the Work Group/Arbetslaget. In 2017-2022 she served as curator at North Norwegian Art Centre, realizing context specific projects with artists across the whole region of Northern Norway. She co-curated Lofoten Sound Art Symposium (with Svein Ingvoll Pedersen) and LIAF2019 Lofoten International Art Festival (with Hilde Mehti, Torill Østby Håland and Neal Cahoon). Since 2011 she is part of ENSAYOS – a collective research practice that has developed distinct inquiries into extinction, human geography, and coastal and peatland health. The mission of Ensayos is to do eco-cultural conservation work in Tierra del Fuego and other archipelagos through collaborative art, science and community projects in partnership with existing decolonial, ecological, and cultural conservation initiatives. In 2022 ENSAYOS presented «The Gift» as part of «TURBA TOL HOL HOL TOL» – The Chilean Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale.

«Contemporary Art and Context» is a lecture series hosted by MA Contemporary Art.

The lecture will be held in English, everyone is welcome to join! 

The Open Lecture series of the EKA Faculty of Architecture will take place in the autumn of 2024 under the general title S*cial – Values in the built realm.

The lecturers will focus on the ongoing shift in planning practice, where considerations other than pure economic viability increasingly play a role in decision-making.

On November 28 Petra Marko will hold the lecture “Meanwhile City – The power of temporary interventions in long-term change”.

Petra Marko is an architect and placemaking expert dedicated to creating people-centric cities and public spaces. She serves as Chief executive of the Metropolitan Institute of Bratislava, driving strategic architecture, urban planning and participatory placemaking initiatives to enhance quality of life. She’s known for leading Marko&Placemakers, an urban design practice in London and campaigning to unlock London’s small sites. An advocate for greener cities and active travel, Petra has co-authored VeloCity and Meanwhile City – a best practice and how-to guide for temporary interventions.

Mattias Malk, curator of the autumn lecture series, PhD student and visiting lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture, describes the main theme of the lecture series as follows:

Inclusion, the valorisation of social space and the changing role of architects, especially in the public sector, are gaining ground in Europe’s spatial development, but things are still moving slowly in Estonia. So far, our economic growth has been based on environmental degradation and, despite rigid market-driven planning, we are among the weakest in the EU in resource use. However, the foundations of a smarter spatial policy, which is more profitable than profit, are still undefined and untested. 

One of the aims of the lecture series is to define and rehabilitate the word ‘social’ in Estonian spatial policy, including the social responsibility mentioned in the new planned public procurement. All the invited lecturers deal with the issues of space and sociality in their daily work and will share their experiences of the changing role of architects through examples. 

The lectures are intended for all disciplines, not only for students and professionals in the field of architecture. All lectures are in English and free of charge.

Within the framework of a series of open lectures, the Faculty of Architecture of EKA presents a dozen unique practitioners and valued theorists in the field in Tallinn every academic year. See all the lectures: www.avatudloengud.ee

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

New Media 30

EKA New Media department is celebrating 30th anniversary during the EKA 110 event. Our program includes a series of talks on media art, presentations of alumni work, a student exhibition and an evening for video games.

Birthday week program:

4.11
18:00 New Media 30: Paul Galloway (US) – Video Games at MoMA (Paul Galloway will be joining us from New York city via screen. In English, Main hall A-101)

5.11
18:00 New Media 30: Ava Imogen Grayson (CA/FI) & John Grzinich (US/EE) – Discussing Sound Art (Ava will be joining us from Helsinki via screen. In English, B-305)
19:15 New Media 30: Jaime Lobato (MX/EE) – The right to forget. Artificial intelligences humanly inspired in contemporary art (Jaime will be joining us from Mexico via screen. In English, B-305)

7.11
18:00 New Media 30: Raivo Kelomees – Metamorphoses in Media Art (In Estonian, Main hall A-101)
15:00 – 21:00 New Media 30: Video Art Screening Program (Works by graduates and students of the Department: Mari-Liis Rebane, Katrin Enni, Evi Pärn, Lauri Lest, Tõnis Jürgens, Sten Saarits, Taavi Suisalu, Martin Rästa and others) (B308)

8.11
15:00 – 22:00 New Media 30: Video Art Screening Program (Works by graduates and students of the Department: Mari-Liis Rebane, Katrin Enni, Evi Pärn, Lauri Lest, Tõnis Jürgens, Sten Saarits, Taavi Suisalu, Martin Rästa and others) (B308)
18:00 Opening of the exhibition “Lifetime of a Building” (Kotzebue 10 + Kotzebue street)
19:00 – 23:00 New Media 30: LVLup Video Games Chill Out Lounge (B307)

The Sensorial Design group is hosting an event focused on design approaches centered around sensory experiences, addressing themes such as care, well-being, public engagement, and non-sexual intimacy. The event will begin with an open lecture on somatic well-being for individuals with chronic gut diseases by Dila Demir, followed by four Pecha Kucha presentations by sensorial design researchers Nesli Hazal Oktay, Azeem Hamid, Zaur Babayev, and Kristi Kuusk. Join us for an engaging exploration of sensory-driven design practices and insights.

Date: 

November 11

Time: 

16.00–17.50

Location: 

Estonian Academy of Arts, Room: A-101

Registration Link: 

https://forms.gle/HpxPEHL4x8Dz8FkY9

As part of EKA’s 110th birthday week, Honorary Doctor Antoine Picon presents an public lecture “Architecture and Materiality in the Age of the Digital and the Anthropocene”.
The lecture will take place on November 6 at 18:00 in the main hall of the Estonian Academy of Arts and is open to all interested parties.

Antoine Picon is the G. Ware Travelstead Professor of the History of Architecture and Technology at the GSD where he is also Chair of the PhD in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning. He teaches courses in the history and theory of architecture and technology. Trained as an engineer, architect, and historian, Picon works on the relationships between architectural and urban space, technology, and society, from the eighteenth century to the present.
A series of Picon’s books offer a comprehensive overview of the changes brought by the computer and digital culture to the theory and practice of architecture as well as to the planning and experience of the city.

It is almost impossible to work on the history of technology without encountering the question of nature or rather of the relationship between the natural and the artificial. This question is at the core of Picon’s latest book, Natures Urbaines: Une Histoire Technique et Sociale (2024) follows two main threads: the technological component of the presence of nature in cities as well as its social and political dimension.

Picon has received a number of awards for his writings, including the Médaille de la Ville de Paris, and twice the Prix du Livre d’Architecture de la Ville de Briey, as well as the Georges Sarton Medal of the University of Gand. In 2010, he was elected a member of the French Académie des Technologies. In 2015, he became a member of the French Académie d’Architecture. He is Chevalier des Arts et Lettres since 2014. He was Chairman of the Fondation Le Corbusier from 2013 to 2024.

Since Picons first lecture in Estonian Academy of Arts 2017, 4th of May a deep bond has developed. This was also the year when PhD supervision began for our academy’s researcher and architect, Siim Tuksam, culminating in a very successful defense and dissertation on Modulated Modularity.

Since last year, Professor Picon has been appointed to the EKA Arh International Board of Advisors. He has initiated discussions regarding the global objectives of our architecture faculty, particularly the relative significance of the technological component compared to the artistic aspect. Additionally, he has raised questions about the positioning of our research and doctoral programs, and whether these could serve as a guiding framework for our faculty’s activities, both locally and internationally.

You can find the events of the whole EKA110 Birthday Week here:
https://www.artun.ee/en/calendar/eka-110th-birthday-week/

On Wednesday, November 6 at 4:00 p.m., the newly elected EKA honorary doctor prof. will hold an open lecture in hall A101. Linda van Deursen. 

Linda van Deursen is a graphic designer based in the Netherlands. Together with Armand Mevis, she founded the studio Mevis & van Deursen in 1987, which has collaborated with various cultural institutions: their partners have included the Stedelijk Museum, documenta 14, Haus der Kulturen der Welt and the artists Armin Linke, Yael Davids and Aglaia Konrad, with whom they worked on publications and exhibitions.

Since 1990, Linda van Deursen has taught at various schools, for example at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam (where she was head of the graphic design department), the Yale School of Art and currently at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague.

Van Deursen is a designer whose approach and design ideas have been among the most influential in the last twenty years. She has also had a great influence on the local design scene, because many Estonian designers have studied under her at various art universities in Europe and North America.

The lecture is held in English

“An Artistic Journey from Sculpture to Animated Film”
Martina Mestrovic Masterclass

November 14th, 5 p.m. in room A-101

In this masterclass, Croatian filmmaker and artist Martina Meštrović will examine her extended work in sculpture and animation.

She will discuss the creative inspirations behind her films, including the animation documentary “A Cat is Always Female” (2019, co-directed with  Tanja Vujasinović) and her recent, mixed techniques film “Her Dress for the Final” (2023) – both of which have traveled extensively within the international film and animation festival circuit. 

A screening of two of her films will be included, and Martina will share a sneak peek of her new animated documentary film in development.