Category: Photography

This work is about the internal and external changes I have experienced since moving to Tallinn. Leaving home has given me the time and space to figure out who I am and where I fit in in this new environment. I took this image during a walk through the Old Town enjoying the sunlight after many months of overcast clouds. The text is taken from my own personal writing accounts, I feel it compliments the idea of self-discovery that the cut out silhouette in the image conveys.

My work depicts long-distance relationship and the precariousness of mental existence in two places simultaneously. It is possible to overcome the distance if locate oneself in a virtual reality for a moment.  I have used different collage techniques in making the image. Two images have been cut out of their context and placed closer to each other. Deconstructed parts are creating a new reality that is  fragmented and detached.

Estonian sayings “one has to honour bread” or “bread is older than us” refer to the special meaning of bread. Numerous traditions, beliefs, rituals and proverbs are associated to bread. The taste and form of bread has not changed throughout centuries and breakbaking is a very special skill. For me, bread is something that makes me think of my great-grandparents and my roots. I decided to photograph bread against the white backdrop where the time of the picture-taking is imperceptible. Bread is the centerpiece of attention while its texture and form has been emphasized.

Current work is a photo montage that has been combined by a staged studio photograph as well as a view from my window. This is the view of Lasnamäe district, Tallinn, where I lived fifteen years ago and temporarily living now. Nothing has changed – the same monotonousness and hopelessness, the same sad buildings and empty looks – and again I feel the need to escape this place. I am looking up – where the blue sky is, knowing that there is always a way out. 

My idea was to reflect self-conditioning through staged photography, a state of being trapped by my thoughts and feelings where negative beliefs alarm negative emotions, which in turn affects the mind. A model’s moving body is captured in a studio with long exposure in order to highlight the inseparability of mental and physical health. A bright figure positioned in a dark background emphasizes the condition of being trapped and vulnerability.

I am exploring themes of intimacy, human connection and sexuality through my work. A portrait of this couple is part of an ongoing documentary photography series.

First Year Students of the department of Photography exhibit their work in two showcases of Tallinn Old Town

One Another
Location: Suur-Karja 7, Suur-Karja 10
April 7 – May 19, 2022

One-photo-expositions by the first year students of the department of photography held in two showcases in the Old Town of Tallinn (Suur-Karja Str 7 and 10) serve as a part of the art project course held during the spring semester.

The objective of the course for each student was to communicate an intriguing theme and aesthetic preference with one photographic work. Together 11 different works can be seen in the showcases from April 7 to May 19; every Thursday two new photos will be exhibited.

Participating artists: Alina Birjuk, Ott Kattel, Saoirse McGarry, Cristiana Ortiga, Katerina Rothberg, Katerina Šarapova, Sonja Sutt, Inna Tarakanova, Emilia Tensing, Mia Tohver, Megan Wynne

Supervisors: Marge Monko, Reimo Võsa-Tangsoo

Graphic design: Emma Reim and Laura Tursk (2nd year students of the department of graphic design at the Estonian Academy of Arts)

Department of photography forwards its gratitude to Raido Nurmela from Hestia Hotels Group.

Exhibition is supported by Hestia Hotel Barons, department of photography at the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Exhibition schedule:

07.04–14.04 Emilia Tensing
14.04–21.04 Cristiana Ortiga, Katerina Sarapova
21.04–28.04 Alina Birjuk, Katerina Rothberg
28.04–05.05 Saoirse McGarry, Inna Tarakanova
05.05–12.05 Sonja Sutt, Megan Wynne
12.05-19.05 Ott Kattel, Mia Tohver

Artists Sophie Thun and Karel Koplimets will hold an open artist talk at 17:00 on Tuesday, March 22, 2022 in Estonian Academy of Arts, room A-501. Karel Koplimets introduces his artistic practice; Sophie Thun will have a conversation with Marge Monko, professor of the department of photography in EKA.

On the same week, Sophie Thun and Karel Koplimets lead masterclasses in the department of photography.

Talk will be held in English.

Sophie Thun (b. 1985) works primarily with techniques of analogue photography, its spaces, processes as well as conditions of production and exhibition.

In her artistic practice, Thun is primarily concerned with the spaces and physicality of photography, more precisely with me as the technician and operator of the apparatus. The places and the process itself are made visible in the work, the work and exhibition space become part of each other. In her artistic work, Sophie pursues the question of how work can be created for a specific spatial situation, which decisions (can/must) be made regarding the location, format, process, and production.

https://www.sophietappeiner.com/artist/sophie-thun/

Raised in Warsaw, Sophie Thun lives and works in Vienna. She completed her master’s degrees at the Academies of Fine Art in Vienna (2017, Martin Guttmann and Daniel Richter) and Cracow (2010). Solo and duo exhibitions include: I Don’t Remember a Thing: Entering the Elusive Archive of Zenta Dzividzinska, Kim? Contemporary Art Center, Riga; Merge Layers at Galerie Sophie Tappeiner, Vienna (both 2021); Stolberggasse, Secession Vienna (2020). Group exhibitions include: FRIEDL KUBELKA VOM GRÖLLER Songs of Experience, Museo MACRO, Rome; Smart to the Core: Medium / Image, SMART Museum, Chicago; Homesick, Shivers Only, Paris (all 2021); Elisabeth Wild, curated by Adam Szymczyk, Karma International, Zurich; Borderlinking, High Art, Paris (both 2020).

Her work is part of the permanent collections of the Verbund Collection Vienna, the SMART Museum Chicago, Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz, and the OÖ Landesmuseum Linz.

Karel Koplimets (b. 1986) is a photo, video and installation artist based in Tallinn, Estonia. The main keywords in his artistic practice are urban space, fear, paranoia, prejudice and criminality. With his recent projects, Koplimets has been observing the themes related to traveling and migration under various economical and geopolitical conditions, including shopping tourism and commuting. One of the most common features in Koplimets’ artwork is the psychological aspect – his large-scale installations influence the viewers’ spatial experience and perception.

He has an MA degree in Photography (Estonian Academy of Arts, 2013) and has finished two year postgraduate programme at HISK (Higher Institute for Fine Arts, Belgium, 2021). He has received the Estonian Artist Laureate Salary (2020) and he was nominated for the main art prize in Estonia (Köler Prize, 2013). Koplimets has participated in various exhibitions in Estonia and abroad. Recent exhibition projects include: Belonging (Hunt Museum, Ireland, 2022), Art in the Comfort Zone? The 2000s in Estonian Art (Kumu Art Museum, Estonia, 2021) and Sonsbeek´s Conjunctions programme (Park Sonsbeek, Netherlands, 2021). His works are included in various collections in Europe, e.g., Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Musée de l’Elysée and Art Museum of Estonia. Koplimets has also participated in different art residency programmes, e.g., EIB Institute’s Artists Development Programme (Luxembourg, 2019) and Helsinki International Artist Programme (Finland, 2015).

www.karelkoplimets.com

Laura Kuusk on March 5 – 16 April in Kanal Gallery, Võru.

The first solo exhibition of Laura Kuusk in Võru consists of two of her recent works, with which the artist wishes to create a dialogue with people who are interested in food, clothes, technology and who ask questions about the origin and ways of being of the matter in our environment. She also puts the emphasis on the ways of composing by the nature and by the human. 

The installation “How to Move as a Slime Mold” (2021) is built up as a sound cocoon created by a female voice and an ambient sound, walking the visitor through his/her/ their bodies to suggest an experience of becoming an other-than-human organism. The participants are asked to find a comfortable way of interacting with the installation and build their personal experience through spatial and auditory elements. The installation emphasises the idea of reuse and growing through change, not accumulation.

The photo series “Some Notes on Things Around and In” (2019) is taking everyday things and situations as the departure point for the series of still-lives. The main question the artist is asking herself is how to relate to the things and the environment around us at the current situation. How to relate our bodies to the materials that travel with, within or through our bodies? The artist wishes to comment and organise these thoughts visually through an essay in the still life genre. She would like to make the objects speak about the moment in time in which we live now. The idea that everything seems to be reachable within a few clicks is creating an alienation from real objects and the physical environment.

Laura Kuusk (b. 1982) lives and works in Tallinn. She studied semiotics and culture theory at the Tartu University in Estonia (BA in 2005), photography at the Estonian Academy of Arts (MA in 2008) and fine arts at the Annecy Higher School of Art, France (postgraduate diploma in 2014). Kuusk works as the Associate Professor at the Estonian Academy of Arts, in the Department of Photography. Kuusk’s fields of interest are the visual and cinematic grammar and the potentials of narrative, she often recycles anthropological visual (found) materials. Kuusk is interested in the decision-making mechanisms within the collective consciousness. Over the last years, she has worked with the experience of the human body in the surrounding environment – in homes, in clothes, in relation to technology. Kuusk mainly uses photography, video and installation mediums in her work. 

Graphic designer Henri Kutsar.

Thanks: Estonian Cultural Endowment, Säsi Pruulikoda, Anderson’s Craft Beer, Camille Laurelli, Renzo van Steenbergen, Madis Kurss, Sigrid Liira, Agur Seim, Indrek Kits, Eleriin Seim, Kristel Onno, Janika Solmann, Edina Csüllög, Ago Paabusk, Tiina Mõttus, Robert Kähr, Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia, Estonian Academy of Arts Photography Department.

KANAL GALLERY
Liiva 11a, Võru city, Estonia
Thu–Sat 12–18
www.liivaate.ee
Facebook, Instagram @kanalgalerii

The exhibition “Open Windows” will reopen on the windows of the Library of EKA on February 21, at 4 pm.

Through the exhibition of EKA windows, different specialities of EKA introduce their most outstanding projects and the latest creations of students. The exhibition can be viewed on the windows of the EKA Library on Põhja pst and Kotzebue streets and will remain open until March 14.

Specialities represented: Installation and Sculpture, Room Design, Product and Environmental design, Visual Communication, Photography, Jewellery and Blacksmithing, Scenography, Fashion Design, Textile Design, Accessory Design, Graphics, Graphic Design, Animation, Ceramics, Industrial and Digital Product Design, Glass, Architecture, Interior Design, Painting, Art and Visual Culture, Cultural Heritage and Conservation

The exhibition of open windows of EKA made its debut in 2021 and received a warm welcome from those interested in art and art education. The Estonian Academy of Arts, located on the edge of Kalamaja, will once again enliven the city’s cultural landscape at street level. Get with it!