Workshops

Artist statement:
I strive to explore the tension between industry and the organic. I choose forged steel as my primary method. I do this because forged steel retains an industrial weight as it simultaneously can be made plastic and non linear. Within this merging duality I find a larger narrative. These feelings resonate with my own interests in understanding how we as a people seek to find balance in the world. A balance of our own.
The industrial ruins that dot the American landscape inspire some forms in my work. Other forms are directly related to anatomy and the human body. A recent body of work explores the aesthetic nature of graffiti that dominates these industrial ruins. It is my goal to explore the flux of human impact on the natural world and to comment on our social and physical impact through this exploration.

Zachary Lihatsh is an artist, designer, and blacksmith. Born and raised in New Hampshire, Zach later settled in Arizona where he established his studio. He received his undergraduate degree form Prescott College in northern Arizona and is currently an MFA candidate at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. He has taught blacksmithing at high school and college levels as well as assisting at the Penland School of craft in North Carolina. He has exhibited work nationally and internationally. His Public art commissions can be seen in Tucson, Arizona and at The University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
www.zachlihatsh.com

September 21 – October 2, 2016
Application Deadline: September 12, 2016

Tallinn, Estonia
www.ecadc.ee

This fall the Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center (ECADC) is presenting the third edition of its Gallerist Master Course in Tallinn, Estonia, offering training for both practicing and emerging gallerists.

The course is designed to introduce students to the dynamics of the art world infrastructure. Classes will discuss the various segments of today’s global art market (Alessia Zorloni, IULM); artist representation and the day-to-day operations of a commercial gallery (Sol Pochat, HILO Gallery); art journalism and writing for social media (Andrew M. Goldstein, Artspace, Phaidon); as well as more recent developments in exhibition-making and curating (Fatos Üstek, independent curator, fig2).

This eight-day intensive course will accept MA students with a demonstrated interest and/or experience in contemporary art as well as practicing gallerists, arts and culture managers, and artists. The entire course will be conducted in English.

September 21 – 22
Sol Pochat
Case Study of HILO Gallery

Established in 2015, HILO Galeria is an emerging gallery in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with a special focus on site- and context-specific artistic and curatorial practices. The seminar will take the form of a case study on how to develop a sustainable gallery model representing emerging artists.

September 23 – 24
Alessia Zorloni
Introduction to the International Art Market

The art market, like most major business sectors in the 21st century, operates in a global environment and is complex, dynamic, and often seemingly irrational. This seminar will give students an understanding of the various segments of today’s ever-evolving international art market.

September 29 – 30
Fatos Üstek
Introduction to Contemporary Curatorial Practices

The seminar will address curatorial positions and the significant role they play in today’s arts ecology. Visiting a plethora of voices that are shaping the practice of contemporary curating, it will concentrate on different modalities and sensitivities that a curator employs in order to engage with art, and, more significantly, to make art public.

October 1 – 2
Andrew Goldstein
How to Write About Art (and Actually Get People to Read It)

Beginning with the polemicists and publications of the postwar era and going through the rise of the October magazine style to today’s proliferation of TMZ-like art sites, the seminar will take the form of a discussion on how art writing has dramatically changed over the past 70-odd years.

For the full course schedule and to download the application form, please visit our website: http://www.ecadc.ee/call-for-applications-gallerist-master-course-2016/

Location: Estonian Academy of Arts, Institute of Art History

Tuition: Full program €500 / Single module €125
Participants will be responsible for their round-trip transport to and from Tallinn, accommodations, and living expenses during their stay.

Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center

The Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center (ECADC) is a nonprofit foundation focused both on fostering international exposure for artists from Estonia and on developing the contemporary art scene in Estonia. Functioning as an umbrella organization for Estonian partner institutions, the center is creating strategic international partnerships in the field of contemporary art. ECADC is supported by Enterprise Estonia from the European Regional Development Fund and its team members are based in New York and Tallinn, Estonia.

Acknowledgements

The Gallerist Master Course has been made possible with generous help from Enterprise Estonia through grants endowed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and the Ministry of Culture, Estonia.

For further information on the Gallerist Master Course 2016 please contact info@ecadc.ee

What happens when you mix creative industries with IT!?

Come show off your skills at our 48 Hour creative hack. Meet people from all creative industries as well as IT sector and collect valuable tips from local and international mentors.

Win prizes from our partners but most of all start something up!

The event is free for students of all universities in Estonia. 

Friday 26 August
14:00 Start of registration
15:00 Event kick-off
16:00 Team forming & START
19:00 Dinner

Saturday 27 August
9:00 Breakfast & Coffee
9:00 Seminar 30 min
12:00 Mentor meetings
13:00 Lunch
13:30 Mentor meetings
19:00 Dinner

Sunday 28 August
9:00 Breakfast & Coffee
11:00 Mentor meetings
13:00 Lunch
15:00 48h milestone & PRESENTATIONS
17:00 Announcing winners

Use EAA code for free registrateion – 0816EKA

Register here: https://en.xing-events.com/loomehakk.html

Between June 10 to 20, 2016 in Nida Art Colony stdents of glass and ceramics specialties from Estonian, Latvian and Vilnius (Lithuanian) Academies of Art are working with several media to research, visualize and find solutions to problems connected with WATER. In most approaches the issue of clean water, its endangered situation and several ecological and social problems have come up. The event will be concluded with an exhibition starting on June 17 in the Nida Art Colony.

The Open Day at the Estonian Academy of Arts will take place on March 24, 2016 from 10am-6pm. If you are a foreign student and need guidance in English, please contact admissions@artun.ee to register for a tour.  The programme is posted in Estonian here: https://www.artun.ee/x/avatuduksed/kava/

Dear student!
The first ever Estonian creative industries hackathon will be held in
Tallinn from the *29th to the 31st* *of January*. *Loomehäkk* will bring
together creative minds, IT specialists and business development experts.
During 48 hours the participants will create new products and services in
fields like gaming, movies, music, cultural heritage, design, television,
art, literature and performing arts.
You can join the Loomehäkk hackathon with your idea and team, or you may
come and listen to the ideas of others in order to join a cool team. Top
creative industry and startup mentors will help the teams with their skills
and know-how. Ideation and team matchmaking will take place on Friday. On
Sunday evening the teams must be ready to present their service/product
prototype in front of a jury. The jury will pick the best teams and will
hand out awesome prizes.
All the hackathon partners will provide challenges/problems, industry
trends and development ideas that can serve as a starting point for the new
service/product.
Partners of Loomehäkk include: Digix, IGDA, GameFounders, Estonian Digital
Center, Creative Mobile, Tallinn University, Estonian Academy of Arts,
Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, Estonian Business School, UT
Viljandi Culture Academy, Estonian Entrepreneurship University of Applied
Sciences, University of Tartu, Estonian University of Life Sciences,
Tallinn University of Technology, Music Estonia, Black Nights Film
Festival, Estonian Film Institute, Estonian Public Broadcasting, Brand
Manual, TERE AS, Microsoft, Eesti Telekom/VUNK, Estonian National Museum,
Estonian Film Archives.
Participation is free of charge for all students. University discount code
*EKA2016 *is required during the registration process. Please be prepared
to present a document (e.g. ISIC card) on the site to prove your student
status.
Register for the event: https://www.amiando.com/ORFXBGM
Additional information available at:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1171478069548695/
Contact person: Marek Mühlberg, marekm@tlu.ee, +372 5510204

The Estonian Academy of Arts will hold an Open Day for all interested prospective students and others on March 24th, 2016. All lectures are open for visitors as well as there will be exhibits, information hours in departments and other activities. All are welcome! More information will be available soon.

17.sept 16:00-21:00 @ TAB-Club, Kultuurikatel, Põhja pst 27a
As part of Tallinn Architecture Biennale (TAB), the seminar aims to discuss the architecture as a process and as an outcome of complex and multilayered economic, social, cultural and political dialogue due to the impact of different regulations and restrictions, as well as other important circumstances.
The seminar will end with an informal part accompanying sound perfomance by Rachael Melanson (UK).
Participation is free of charge.
See more information below, on Facebook or TAB webpage.
————-
The cities within the Baltic Sea Region are currently undergoing large scale changes, which are mainly related to economic growth, immigration and emigration, ecological and environmental issues, mass tourism, threat of war and economic sanctions among neighboring counties, etc. It is important to ascertain how contemporary architecture and built environment can help us to facilitate and accommodate these changes and how these changes affect historical urban environment and architecture.
Cultural, economic and social ‘regeneration’ have become key words, especially after the global financial crisis, which severely affected the economy of the Baltic States. Due to the financial crisis, the transformation of urban environment and architecture has experienced various new trends. When it comes to Riga, after the financial crisis a large number of residential buildings, office complexes and former factories remain vacant. These are the main conditions which determine the need of contemporary architects to shift from the construction of new buildings to the adaption of existing buildings and complexes of the urban environment, taking into account the new functions of the buildings, as well as the needs of the users.
It is exactly the work on historical development and cultural heritage which has helped contemporary Latvian and Estonian architects to earn recognition on a regional level. The large number of projects carried out counts as proof that new architecture can be combined with old architecture in very different ways. Such projects reveal the differences between the Estonian and Latvian attitude and approach towards both the historical and contemporary substance.
Both – Riga and Tallinn – share a lot in common. For example, the same geopolitical situation, political history or the status of a small-nation capital, etc. At the same time when it comes to their mentality, building traditions or even the origins of foreign investment, these capitals can be considered as very different.
The main aim of the seminar is to outline the different approaches in the design of contemporary architecture and the diverse attitudes towards the architectural heritage in Riga and Tallinn, as well as to distinguish the causes and preconditions of such differences. The discussion will attempt to reveal the connection between the contemporary architecture and the historic urban environment. Special emphasis will be put on the policy of the conservation of cultural heritage as well as building regulations which determine the formation and development of contemporary architecture.
SPEAKERS
Inga Karlštrēma (Latvian Academy of Fine Arts, “New urban typologies- Unesco World heritage zone- Riga city centre” (Exhibition 9 Conditions of Riga))
Viesturs Celmiņš (social anthropologist, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Latvia), “Modernist Architecture and Imaginative Presencing.”
Jaanus Juss (“Transformation of former industrial sites- Telliskivi Creative City”)
Maroš Krivy (Urban Studies at the Faculty of Architecture, Estonian Academy of Arts)- “From factory to culture factory (and back):demolition, preservation, regeneration, maintenance.”)
Artis Zvirgzdiņš (architecture blog a4d.lv “Upcycling in Riga”)
Dagmar Jäger (Tallinn University of Technology, “Reuse of Difficult Heritage sites. Modernist heritage in former GDR”)
CURATOR
Oskars Redbergs is a Latvian architect, educator and curator. His main research focus is on the transformations of urban landscape of post socialist cities. He studied Architecture and Urban planning at the Riga Technical University (Latvia), Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS), The Royal Danish Academy of Fine arts – School of Architecture (Denmark), The Staatliche Hochschule der bildenden Künste (Staedelschule) Frankfurt’s Architecture Class (Germany).
Oskars Redbergs is a founder of The Riga School of Architecture and for the last 5 years he has been a Dean and a Lecturer of Faculty of Architecture and Design at RISEBA University in Riga.
Since 2009 he has been closely collaborating with the Swedish Institute and Fargfabriken in Stockholm. Currently he is working on his doctoral research at Brandenburgische Technische Universität, Germany.
He is a member of the board of the Latvian Association of Architects, MT15 forum and Megaphone Publishers. He is a curator of European Cultural Days of the European Central Bank (ECB) – Latvia, 2013. He is an author of various articles as well as editor of books “Mūsdienu kultūras stāvokļi / Conditions for Contemporary Culture. Riga” and “9 Conditions of Riga: Regeneration and Transformation of the City – Urban Environment and Architecture”.
SUPPORTERS
Embassy of Latvia in Estonia; State Culture Capital Foundation (SCCF); LIVE RIGA (The Riga Tourism Development Bureau Foundation); Riga Municipal Agency “Riga City Architect’s Office”; The Association of Culture Institutions of Riga City Council; Megaphone Publishers; mT15. Foundation for Interdisciplinary Cooperation
ORGANIZERS
Curator: Oskars Redbergs
Project coordinator: Inga Karlštrēma
Concept: mT15. Foundation for Interdisciplinary Cooperation
Implementation: Megaphone Publishers
The seminar is jointly organized by the mT15. Foundation for Interdisciplinary Cooperation and Riga City Architect’s Office. For more information please contact Inga Karlštrēma (inga.karlstrema(at)inbox.lv), + 371 26364044 and Oskars Redbergs (redbergs(at)hotmail.com), + 371 29581841
WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO
His Excellency ambassador Juris Bone (Embassy of Latvia in Estonia); Zenta Ļakša (DHM, Counsellor); Agita Ikauniece (Latvian Cultural days of ECB); Zanda Ķergalve (The Association of Culture Institutions of Riga City Council); Marten Kaevats (TAB15); Rebecca Kontus (TAB15); Maria Derlõš (TAB CLUB15); Solveig Jahnke (Estonian Academy of Arts); Tauri Tuvikene (Tallinn University)
The discussion forum “RIGA TALKS” is an integral part of the exhibition „9 Conditions of Riga” and along with the exhibition offers a series of seminars that brings together thinkers and makers in order to discuss challenges and opportunities, which the cities of the Baltic Sea Region are facing today. Earlier in 2013, two seminars were organized in Frankfurt am Main: “Re-industrialization and Urban Regeneration in Europe between Riga, Frankfurt and Warsaw” (Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM)) and “Riga until 1914 as a Role Model for the Contemporary European Urban Culture of 21st Century” (Goethe University, House of Finance).
The contribution for this year’s Tallinn’s Architecture Biennale (TAB CLUB) programme is a seminar “Architecture as a Dialogue. New Approaches towards Transformation of the Architectural Heritage between Riga and Tallinn”.