Category: Faculty of Art and Culture

From the 4th to the 6th of June,  Contemporary Art master students of Estonian Academy of Arts will have an exhibition titled “Second Act” in Viljandi, together with dance students from Viljandi Culture Academy.  

“Second Act” is an art event, where young artists from Estonia and Europe, as well as from Asia, will fill one old stage with artworks. The exhibition will tell us a story of an empty theatre stage and of home as a fortress, where we have hidden ourselves behind the curtains.

During the second corona virus wave, Alev started to make fast sketches instead of finely finished oil paintings. The motivation behind the paintings is from a human perspective and regards his positioning in the room, with sometimes an insistent absence of a subject, but also a loneliness, and the question of how to adapt to it.

The pieces will visually describe an artist’s internal call, where a pandemic has thrown us. Works are created during the second corona wave in Estonia, therefore they speak topics of the common experience: longing, alienation, overloading of information, and internet communication. In the exhibition one can see painting, stained glass, video art, performance and dance.

Artists:  Eero Alev (EST), Jamie Dean Avis (UK), Muhhammad Suyfan Baig (PK),  Aino Garland (EST), Liisbeth Horn (EST), Georg Kaasik (EST),  Gregor Pankert (BE), Brenda Purtsak (EST), Maryn-Liis Rüütelmaa (EST), Inga Salurand (EST), Jonathan Stavleu (NL), Elle Viies (EST), Junni Yeung (HKG) 

“Second Act ” is Estonian Academy of Arts curatorial studies and contemprorary art studies common project, lectured by Anders Härm and Margit Säde.

Support:  Estonian Academy of Arts, Teatrihoov,  TU Viljandi Culture Academy, Viljandi Kunstikool

The 15th conference from the series “Studies in Contemporary Culture” is dedicated to analyzing the cultural policies of the transition era (~1986–1998) in Estonia. The conference is organized by the Research Group of Contemporary Estonian Culture (EKA, TLÜ, TÜ) and the Estonian Writers’ Union.

The conference is supported by the Estonian Research Council (grant PRG636), the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, and the research fund of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

On 15 May, the exhibition “In Isolation”, curated by the master’s students of the Estonian Academy of Arts, will open in the Tartu Art Museum. It uses the motif of looking out of a window to examine the isolation experienced in different eras and in different locations. The exhibition brings together the internationally renowned artist Ilya Kabakov and the oeuvre of the Estonian classic masters Ülo Sooster, Jüri Arrak, Karl Pärsimägi, Nikolai Kormašov, Andres Tolts, Ilmar Malin and Kai Kaljo. The exhibition will remain open until 27 June.

The central artwork and conceptual starting point of the exhibition “In Isolation” is Ilya Kabakov’s visual narrative “The Looking-out-the-Window Arkhipov”, which is about a character named Arkhipov who is hospitalised; isolation and loneliness have an increasingly devastating effect on his mental condition.

Last spring, we unexpectedly found ourselves in a situation that is reminiscent of Arkhipov’s. Isolated inside the four walls of our homes for an unknown length of time, we at first enthusiastically followed the random passers-by and everyday situations from our windows, but as time passed and loneliness intensified, windows became the border between isolation and freedom. Windows not only showed what was visible, but in them were also reflected our dreams and yearnings.

The curators of the exhibition invite visitors to look out of the window together with the artists and to contemplate this unique time in history when in a weird way isolation has become the thing that unites us all and maybe manages to do so in a more personal manner than any situation ever has.

Curators: Signe Friedenthal, Reigo Kuivjõgi, Eerika Niemi, Jelizaveta Pratkunas, Kerly Ritval, Jelizaveta Sedler and Mae Variksoo

Team: Richard Adang, Nele Ambos, Indrek Grigor, Mare Joonsalu, Margus Joonsalu, Hanna-Liis Kont, Kristlyn Liier, Katrin Lõoke, Kadri Mägi, Julia Polujanenkova, Anti Saar, Kristel Sibul, Peeter Talvistu and Ago Teedema

Graphic design: Laura Pappa

Works from the Tartu Art Museum, the Art Museum of Estonia and the artist Kai Kaljo

Supporters: Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Academy of Arts, Krisostomus, Hektor Light and Peaasi.ee

Additional information: https://tartmus.ee/naitus/eraldatuses/

Ingrid Ruudi, PhD student of the Estonian Academy of Arts, curriculum of Art History and Visual Culture, will defend her thesis Spaces of the Interregnum. Transformations in Estonian Architecture and Art, 1986–1994 („Ruumiline interreegnum. Muutused Eesti arhitektuuris ja kunstis 1986–1994“) on the 18th of December 2020 at 17.00 at Põhja pst 7, room A501.

The defence will also be live-streamed on the following link: https://tv.artun.ee/doktoritoodekaitsmised

The defense will be held in English.

Supervisor: Prof. Andres Kurg (Estonian Academy of Arts)

External reviewers: Prof. Vladimir Kulić (Iowa State University), Dr. Johannes Saar (University of Tartu)

Opponent: Prof. Vladimir Kulić

Conventionally, the Estonian architecture history tends to address the late Soviet postmodernism up to the mid-1980s, and then resume with buidlings of the independent republic from the mid-1990s. The period in between constitutes a kind of gap, and indeed, there was a remarkable decline in building activities. Nevertheless, it was a highly loaded period of active production of new social space, establishment of public sphere and public space, and rethinking of the relationship between built environment and its subject. Those processes continue to have a noted impact on our spatial and social environment up to this day. The doctoral thesis challenges this conventional periosidation of the history of Estonian architecture and art, focusing on the era between two more or less clearly defined social formations – the interregnum of 1986–1994 which must not be treated as a temporary transition on the way to ’normalcy’ but as a specific period of abundant creativity worthwile in its own right. During this dynamic era certain late Soviet practices continued while accelerated appropriation and interpretation of new western impulses took place. The transition from one spatial regime to the other did not happen as a clear and definitive cut but rather as a process that was hybrid, fluid and uneven. The dissertation demonstrates how the production of new space took place on various interconnected levels: built and planned, dreamt and imagined, performed and enacted, as well as theorised and reflected.

The monographic thesis encompasses five loosely connected case studies. The chapter Unbuilt space analyses the most vivid examples of the large amount of unrealised architecture projects and urban designs, focusing on aspects such as production of new public space, identity building and the architects’ agency. Utopian space looks at artist Tõnis Vint’s vision of a new high-rise urban settlement on Naissaar island near Tallinn, proposed as a free trade zone, considering the case in the context of international economic developments and New Age ideologies. Discursive space focuses on the two first instances of Nordic-Baltic Architecture Triennials as attempts at establishing an international platform for theoretical exchange, demonstrating the different expectations of the Nordic and Baltic participants and diverging positions regarding the issue of regional architecture  in the global context. Performative space investigates the architecture and performance practices of Group T as an interconnected phenomenon, aiming at establishing temporary counterpublic spaces and an alternative concept of community to counteract the nationalistic social tendencies of the era. Institutional space looks at the renovation process of the functionalist Tallinn Art Hall as a conceptual processual work of art by George Steinmann, demonstrating the artist’s agency in establishing international transdisciplinary networks and reconceptualisating the artspace as a multivalent discursive space. The chapter also addresses the project’s inevitable entanglement with certain neocolonialist allusions and the restitutional mentality of the era, fuelled by the desire for rebirth of the pre-war republic.

The case studies demonstrate that the Estonian architecture culture from the end of the 1980s to the beginning of the 1990s was far from in hibernation: quite the contrary, it was unprecedentedly vigorous and operated in active dialogue with other processes in the production of space for the new society. Making use of the radical openness of the era, the architecture of the interregnum built upon the previous late Soviet experience and realised some of its desires. It also tested out new impulses connected with the opening up of the society. The experiments stemmed from a belief in creative individuals’ essential role in imagining future space and their right to participate in the public sphere, thus helping to keep open the discussions of possibilities. The spaces thus produced might have been intangible but they were nevertheless vital in shaping the social life of the interregnum.

Members of the Defence Council: Prof. Krista Kodres, Dr. Anu Allas, Prof. Virve Sarapik, Dr. Anneli Randla, Prof. Juhan Maiste, Prof. Marek Tamm, Prof. Tõnu Viik

Please find the PhD thesis HERE

Kristina Jõekalda, PhD student of the Estonian Academy of Arts, Curriculum of Art History and Visual Culture, will defend her thesis “German Monuments in the Baltic Heimat? A Historiography of Heritage in the “Long Nineteenth Century”” (“Saksa mälestised ja Balti Heimat. Pärandi historiograafia “pikal 19. sajandil””) on the 20th of November 2020 at 11.00 at Põhja pst 7, room A501.

Up to 30 people from EKA can participate on-site, please register HERE
The defence will also be live-streamed on the following link: https://tv.artun.ee/doktoritoodekaitsmised

Live-stream viewers can submit their questions HERE

The defense will be held in English.

Supervisors: Prof. Krista Kodres (Estonian Academy of Arts), Prof. Ulrike Plath (Tallinn University)

External reviewers: Prof. Jörg Hackmann, Dr. Ants Hein

Opponent: Prof. Jörg Hackmann (University of Szczecin; University of Greifswald)

In Estonian humanities the Baltic Germans (Deutschbalten) are mostly addressed as a historical phenomenon, despite the fact that the architecture that they left behind from medieval and later times still continues to shape the local environment of the present. How did the Baltic Germans project the image they held of their past onto their goals for the present and the future? How did that path relate to the culture of the Germans living elsewhere in Eastern Europe? What new research prospects are there available to be taken up today? This transdisciplinary and transnational dissertation looks at the representations of Baltic German identity that expressed themselves in art historiography and in heritage preservation from late eighteenth century until the interwar era. This period witnessed not just the rise of nationalism, but also the emergence of the concept of heritage as a culturally valuable entity, the formation of the humanities and of the idea of civil society. Attitudes to monuments and historiography are reflections on political and social processes. Nevertheless, not much research exists to date on the history of art history and heritage preservation taken as a combined topic, nor yet on the popular dimension of these fields, beyond academic circles. This thesis seeks to show that, rather than leaning exclusively on Estonian nationalism, the idea of the existence of a national heritage goes back to the patriotic movement of the Baltic Germans, which had also struggled to create and preserve the symbols of a glorious past against the background of German identity. This is the first attempt made within Estonian humanities to research the challenges that heritage studies – a field heavily tilted toward contemporary concerns – have posed for the discipline of art history. The analysis also has many overlaps with nationalism studies and German diaspora studies, the key concepts being ʻheritageʼ, Heimat and ʻnationʼ, all seen as constructs. What is in focus here is not the local architectural monuments themselves, but the process of turning them into heritage. Ideological standpoints are more fully articulated in the handbooks and widely disseminated texts that hence provide the main sources for this work, especially texts relating to cultural memory, identity and belonging. Addressing various media by which (national) heritage is constructed – in image, word and practice – this dissertation constitutes a critical historiography of texts on the history and protection of local architecture, focusing for the most part on the contribution of the learned societies and of Wilhelm Neumann (1849–1919). The dissertation therefore looks at discussions on monuments through various visions of continuity and discontinuity, of similarity and difference, of localism and universalism, of nationalism and internationalism, of Balticness and Germanness (and Estonianness), of scholarship and popularisation.

Members of the Defence Council: Prof. Andres Kurg, Dr. Anu Allas, Prof. Virve Sarapik, Dr. Anneli Randla, Prof. Juhan Maiste, Prof. Marek Tamm, Prof. Tõnu Viik

Please find the PhD thesis HERE

From 19 – 21 October public lectures will be held in Estonian Academy of Arts on Late Soviet Modernism in Georgia by Nini Palavandishvili, Lithuania by Vaidas Petrulis and Estonia by Laura Ingerpuu. These lectures are part of a study course “Understanding Late Soviet Modernism”. All 3 countries are rich of intriguing architectural masterpieces worth to be evaluated and protected. Soviet modernism in monumental art is presented by Hilkka Hiiop and the current and former students of EAA.

Watch live on EKA TV:

19 October from 16:00 to 18:15: Soviet modernism.
Nini Palavandishvili (Georgia) and Laura Ingerpuu (Estonia)

20 October from 17:00 to 18:00:
Vaidas Petrulis (Lithuania)

21 October from 09:00 to 12:45 Lecture on monumental art.
Hilkka Hiiop, Varje Õunapuu, Frank Lukk, Johanna Lamp, Anu Soojärv, Helen Volber (Estonia) and Nini Palavandishvili (Georgia)

Nini Palavandishvili is a passionate and erudite researcher of Georgian architecture and heritage, especially late soviet modernism. The focus of her research and curatorial projects lies in social and political contexts and their interpretation in the framework of cultural production and contemporary art. She cooperates with Blue Shield Georgia in the protection of heritage in Georgia.

Vaidas Petrulis is a senior research fellow at Kaunas University of Technology. Published a series of articles and conference presentations on history and heritage of modern Lithuanian architecture. Member of ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on 20th Century Heritage ISC20C.

Laura Ingerpuu is a PhD student of Estonian Academy of Arts. Her research field is the soviet modernist architecture in Estonia with an emphasis on the architecture of the collective farms.

Hilkka Hiiop is a professor in the Department of Cultural Heritage and Conservation of EAA. Under his leadership, several important projects for the protection and rescue of monumental art have taken place in recent years.

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On Wednesday, August 19th at 15:00, pre-reviewing of Art and Design programme PhD student Ulvi Haagensen’s exhibition „From the Archive: a Collection of Funny Things” will take place at Tartu Art House Small gallery. Exhibition is part of the artistic (practice-based) doctoral thesis of Ulvi Haagensen.

Supervisors: Dr Liina Unt, Jan Guy (The University of Sidney).

Pre-reviewers of the exhibition: Villu Plink and Ester Bardone

The exhibition is open from 30 July to 23 August 2020.

This exhibition is by imaginary artist, Olive Puuvill, who creates work in the manner of a bricoleuse, cobbling, tinkering and using whatever is close at hand. In her latest work she combines patterns, lines, textures and light to create an installation where objects, situations, materials and ideas are juxtaposed in a slightly chaotic arrangement, but one that nonetheless has a logic of its own. All this bears the traces of her intentions, aims and ideas as physical evidence of the working processes where Olive’s everyday life clashes, meets and melds with her art practice.

Ulvi Haagensen’s doctoral research is about the line between art and everyday life. By merging a multi-disciplinary art practice that combines installation, sculpture, drawing, performance and video with everyday experiences – mainly cleaning, one of the more mundane aspects of everyday life – she works across and along the lines between everyday life and art to discover the lines, overlaps and boundaries between art and the everyday.

Together with three imaginary characters and using an autoethnographic approach that includes the methods, tools and attitudes of an artist who uses ‘what is at hand’ and ‘makes do’she uses the everyday, not only for inspiration, but also materials, tools and techniques.

As her characters move between their roles and various places of work and everyday life, they explore notions of the everyday and the specialness of art, especially from the viewpoint of an artist for whom art and art making are very much a part of the everyday and therefore quite un-special.

The annual conference of EKA Doctoral School takes place on June 10 at the Estonian Academy of Arts (Põhja pst. 7) room A101 and via Zoom.
To participate in the conference registration must be completed by June 8 the latest.

TIMETABLE 

10:00 – 10:15 Welcoming words

Vice Rector for Research Epp Lankots, head of programmes

Architecture and Urban Design 

10:15 – 10:55

Sille Pihlak. “Prototyping Protocols: Protocolling Prototypes* Identifying and systematising design methodology for contemporary modular timber architecture”. Discussant Markus Vihma

Art History and Visual Culture Studies

10:55 – 11:35

Merily Salura. “Flow and time: the temporality of a creative process in Gadamer’s aesthetics”. Discussant Maria Hansar

11:35 – 12:15

Hanna-Liis Kont. “From relational aesthetics to Arte Útil. Selected theoretical frameworks for analysing current curatorial practices related to community engagement and social wellbeing”. Discussant Darja Popolitova

12:15 – 12:45 coffee break

Art and Design

12:45 – 13:25

Ulvi Haagensen. “The art of cleaning: crossing the line between art and everyday life”. Discussant Merily Salura

13:25 – 14:05

Darja Popolitova. “Haptic Visuality of Jewellery”. Discussant Ulvi Haagensen

14:05 – 14:45

Markus Vihma. “Eco Design competencies”. Discussant Sille Pihlak

14:45 – 15:15 coffee break

Cultural Heritage and conservation

15:15 – 15:55

Maria Hansar. “Media Archeological Approach to the Archeological Monument – Narva Case Study”. Discussant Nele Rent

15:55 – 16:35

Nele Rent. “Changes in the use of terms and language over time on the example of the Heritage Protection Act”. Discussant Hanna-Liis Kont

16:35 – 17:00 concluding discussion

The book launch of the newest volume from the series History of Estonian Art, Volume 4, covering the years 1840–1900, will take place at the Kadriorg Art Museum in Tallinn on March 17th, starting at 17:00.

The editor of the volume is Juta Keevallik, the contributing authors are Tiina Abel, Jüri Hain, Karin Hallas-Murula, Lilian Hansar, Ants Hein, Juta Keevallik, Kaalu Kirme, Tiina-Mall Kreem, Mai Levin, Tõnis Liibek, Aleksander Pantelejev, Reet Piiri, Juta Saron, Mart Siilivask, Egle Tamm. The head editor of the series is Krista Kodres. The publishers of the book are Estonian Academy of Arts and Kultuurilehe AS, the volume was funded by the Estonian Academy of Arts and the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.