Category: Departments

In autumn 2023, the open architectural lectures will take place under the title Mobile Masters. The theme brings architects and theorists to Tallinn, who analyse architecture’s flexibility and the mobile practices of architects, spatial designers and artists.

Gregor Taul, the curator of the autumn lectures, introduces the program with the following words: “Architecture stands at a significant crossroads. Ten-year-old buildings are demolished and taken to the landfill. The lifespan of an interior design project is five years at best, if that. These bleak facts do not inspire confidence in a discipline that requires so many resources in light of such a short time perspective. What does ‘better not do anything’ mean for spatial design? What might ‘mobile architecture’ refer to or who is a ‘mobile designer’? How can moving people or things be a positive spatial practice?”

On December 7, Brussels-based Laurens Bekemans and co-founder of Brussels-based BC architects & studies, will be on the EKA main hall stage in Tallinn with the lecture The Act of Building.

BC is BC architects, studies and materials. BC stands for Brussels Cooperation and points to how BC grew – embedded within place and people. Started in 2012 as a hybrid office, BC is manoeuvring the boundaries of architecture in a doers manner. With three different legal entities, the team engages in a variety of experimental projects through which it designs bioregional and circular architecture, researches educational and construction processes and produces new building materials using local waste streams such as excavated earth

Laurens introduces his lecture in the following words:

From the first fieldtrips for the design of a library in Burundi to involving over 150 workshop participants in the construction of a public building in Belgium, these stories tell how BC engages in acts of building. The act of building is act and discourse.It is the complex effort of a temporary association to create an infrastructure of its own. In order to have a positive impact on our society, BC believes that architects need to intervene beyond the narrow definition of the professional who designs and controls the execution of buildings. 

Hence, BC ventures into material production, contracting, storytelling, knowledge transfer, community organization, which all influence BC’s design approach. The act of building has an impact and is at the same time a manifestation of values and ideas, which grew out of a broad network around a specific project. Building has a transformative power, driven by action, narrative and result. The lecture will guide you through key moments and key projects, which helped transform BC into the hybrid practice it is today. 

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The open lectures are intended for students and professionals of all disciplines, not just the field of architecture. All lectures take place in the large auditorium of EKA, are in English, free of charge and open to all interested parties. Be there!

Within the framework of a series of open lectures, the Department of Architecture and Urban Design of EKA brings to the audience in Tallinn every academic year about a dozen unique practitioners and valued theoreticians of the field. You can watch lectures from previous years on YouTube or www.avatudloengud.ee

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

Curator: Gregor Taul

On 21 December Mariann Raisma, a PhD candidate at Estonian Academy of Arts, curriculum of Cultural Heritage and Conservation, will defend the thesis „The Power of the Museum. Shaping Collective Memory in Estonia during the Turning Points of the 20th Century“ („Muuseumi võim. Muuseum kollektiivse mälu kujundajana Eestis 20. sajandi murranguperioodidel“).

Public defence will be held on 21st of December 2023 at 11.00 at EKA (Põhja pst 7), room A101.

Supervisors: Prof. Linda Kaljundi (Estonian Academy of Arts), Dr. Anneli Randla (Estonian Academy of Arts)

External reviewers: Dr. Anu Kannike (Estonian National Museum), Dr. Marleen Metslaid (Estonian National Museum)

Opponent: Dr. Anu Kannike (Estonian National Museum)

The defense will be held in Estonian.

Over the past two centuries, museums have played a pivotal role in shaping societies’ understanding of the past. They guide our perceptions of history, determine the delicate balance between forgetting and remembering, and influence the hierarchy of values associated with heritage.

This dissertation critically examines the power and influence of museums as mediums of cultural memory, with a focus on the Estonian museum field. Given that our identity is intricately tied to what we remember and what we choose to forget, it is crucial to understand the reasons and processes behind the shaping and shifting of collective memory throughout historical periods. This research focuses on the history of the Estonian museum in the 20th century, examining three periods which saw significant historical turning points: 1919–1925, 1940–1941/1944–1953 and 1987–1994.

The history of Estonian museums offers insights into how the core principles, values and canons for constructing cultural memory changed during these periods of social and political upheaval. These changes encompassed the nature and interpretation of ideologies, themes and how they were represented, museums as institutions, their hierarchy and nomenclature, the dynamics of the relationship between power and the institution, and the capacity, intent and ability of museums to shape society’s collective memory.

The identity and institutions of the Estonian museum field underwent significant changes throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Beginning with self-definition rooted in European culture, museums transitioned to embracing ‘Heimat’ before evolving to value ethnicity. This evolution culminated in ideas for large national museums, which eventually diversified into various specialised museums during the 20th century. The regional discourse of the early 20th century gave way to a national narrative, followed by a Soviet-Marxist perspective. In the final decade of the century, national cultural memory underwent a revival. This sequence of ideas was also reflected in history-themed permanent exhibitions: the 1920s witnessed the legitimisation of popular culture as elite; the 1940s established a normative approach to historical materialism; and from the late 1980s, nationalism triumphed once again, ushering in new museological approaches. While analysing all these changes, this dissertation emphasises the hybridity of Estonian museum history and its interweaving with different cultural spaces and paradigms.

Throughout the three periods of upheaval discussed, museums were at the forefront of the shaping of a new cultural memory canon. Correspondingly, these turning points have contributed to the formation of Estonia’s own unique museum field.

The thesis is available HERE.

Members of the Defence Committee: Prof. Krista Kodres (Head of the Committee), Dr. Anu Allas, Prof. Hilkka Hiiop, Prof. Juhan Maiste, Prof. Kurmo Konsa

The department of Interaction Design MA at EKA will contribute to the World Usability Day Estonia (WUD) with a public talk and workshop.

Conference FB event

Nesli Hazal Oktay’s Talk

Tanel Kärp’s Workshop

Conference LinkedIn event

World Usability Day Estonia (WUD) is an annual UX-, web- and interaction design conference, the largest in the Baltics. WUD 2023 topic is Collaboration and Cooperation.

This year’s WUD theme encompasses the essence of effective teamwork and smooth interaction in the realm of User Experience (UX). We aim to shed light on the significance of synergy and collective effort in driving innovation and fostering a cohesive UX community.

The event is in English and this year we will continue with the hybrid format which combines a live event (Kultuurikatel) with an online event.

November 21-23rd – workshop days
November 23rd – pre-event at Tallinn University (Narva mnt 25, Tallinn)
November 24th – conference day – the hybrid format – combines a live event (Kultuurikatel, Põhja puiestee 27a, Tallinn, ESTONIA) with an online event

You can watch the conference till the end of the year 2023!

More information on the event website

#wud2023 #ux #conference

“How to give structure to something that itself is lacking one? How to present something like that? This is a question of visibility and making visible. What are the means for making visible something that always remains invisible? More precisely: the thing that remains invisible in real life, but of which we can get a glimpse in Crystal Grid, is the structure of capitalism. But how to display something like that?”

Neeme Lopp Paul Kuimet’s Analytical Photography
Essay from artist’s book Crystal Grid (Lugemik, 2023)

The exhibition features 25 new works from the Crystal Grid series. The series, commenced in 2020, consists of collages composed of photos taken in palm houses of various botanical gardens around the world. The collages are arranged in sets of two, three or four, juxtaposing plant fragments, which in reality are located hundreds or even thousands of kilometers apart.

For the collages, a pattern is used, derived from the structure of the ceiling of the central transept of the Crystal Palace, erected for the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. For each work, a new pattern is designed within the existing framework, based on the internal composition of each photo – part of the image is cut according to the pattern, and part is left uncut.

Public programme:

23.11, Draakoni Gallery and Kanuti Gildi SAAL

18.00 Guided tour with the artist (in English) and book launch (in Estonian)

Please join us for the launch of Crystal Grid – a new artists’ book by Paul Kuimet – on Thursday, November 23 at 6 pm. The event will begin at Draakoni Gallery with a guided tour by the artist. The tour will be held in English. After the tour the book launch will take place at Kanuti Gildi SAAL. At the launch the artist will be in conversation with the art critic Hanno Soans. Discussion is held in Estonian. During the launch the publication will be sold at a special price of 20 euros. On the evening of the launch Paul Kuimet’s exhibition at Draakoni Gallery will be open until 8 pm.

Paul Kuimet’s new book presents two series by the artist – “Crystal Grid” (2020–2023) and an ensuing series of assemblages “What It Is to Be What You Are Not” (2022).

The works are connected by a set of geometric shapes from a grid that is based on the roof structure of the central transept of the Crystal Palace, erected for the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. While the photographic material of the “Crystal Grid” collages has been photographed in different botanical gardens around the world, the assemblages of the “What It Is to Be What You Are Not” series use images exposed to light-sensitive paper in the darkness of a photo lab together with leaves collected in the Tallinn Botanic Garden. Juxtaposed, the works raise different questions about the notions of place, form and representation in photography.

The book includes an essay by Neeme Lopp and was designed by Indrek Sirkel. The book is published by Lugemik and supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

Paul Kuimet (1984) is an artist who works with photography, 16 mm film, and installation comprising of these media. Although his work is often described by a technological way of seeing, his practice places emphasis on the movement and presence of the beholder in the exhibition space. Since 2013, his work has been interested in modernist forms. In his latest works he has concentrated not so much on the forms of modernism, but on its materials, such as steel and glass, and their relationship to the development of modern capitalism since the mid-nineteenth century. He received an MA degree from the Estonian Academy of Arts (2014). In 2018, he participated in residency programmes at WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels, and at the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York City. Since 2022, Kuimet is the Associate Professor at the Estonian Academy of Arts, Department of Photography.

Draakoni Gallery (Pikk 18, Tallinn)
Open: Mon–Fri 11.00–18.00, Sat 11.00–17.00
Opening 1.11.2023 at 18.00
Free entrance
Limited wheelchair accessibility

Exhibition “Crystal Grid”

You are invited to the opening of the exhibition LET’S GET PHYGITAL and a guest talk, where the organisers Anneleen Swillen, Mala Siamptani and Darja Popolitova will discuss contemporary jewellery practices through the prism of digital technologies.

The exhibition opening and a guest talk is on the 30th of November, 17:00–18:30.

The exhibition is open from 30.11 to 18.12.2023.

If you can’t join IRL, sign up for a Zoom guest talk via this link

Meeting ID: 912 0263 6427
Passcode: 202810
Topic: Let’s Get Phygital vestlusõhtu
Time: Nov 30, 2023 05:00 PM Helsinki 

Exhibition Information:

LET’S GET PHYGITAL is a students’ exhibition celebrating the 3rd edition of a collaborative project between the jewellery departments of the London College of Fashion (LCF), the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) and the PXL-MAD School Of Arts.

The exhibition acknowledges how digital experiences advance artistic thinking and practice by creating an IRL space for digital adornment. By using Augmented Reality filters as tools, the students investigated how contemporary adornment can exist in non-physical forms, be wearable and interact with their audience.

Information About Speakers:

• Anneleen Swillen is a postdoctoral researcher and tutor at PXL-MAD School of Arts Hasselt and Hasselt University, located in Belgium. She explores jewellery in a phygital culture through research in the arts, education, curation, and writing. In 2020, she co-founded Artificial Intelligems in collaboration with composer Greg Scheirlinckx. As a fluid and interdisciplinary collective, currently working on the intersection of jewellery, graphic design, music, XR-performance, dance, and data science, they aim to explore more-than-human co-creation.
• Mala Siamptani is a design practitioner with substantial experience in the research, development and delivery of creative projects in Fashion, Design and Art sector. After obtaining two Masters degrees and currently conducting a PhD research, Mala runs her studio in east London specializing in the design and manufacture of products and sculptural objects. Mala has designed and manufactured jewellery and object collections which have been exhibited in Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Italy, Australia, Germany and the UK. Following extensive material research, Mala’s work attempts to connect traditional craft with digital technology. She has recently presented her research projects at the Global fashion Conference (Leon), the Creativity Researchers Conference (UK) and the 1st World Symposium for Fashion, Jewellery and Accessories (Shanghai). Through her design work and research, Mala demonstrates both the use and need for material research and its acknowledgment of experiential knowledge to advance craft thinking and practice.
• Darja Popolitova is a contemporary jewellery artist, curator, lecturer and PhD student at the Estonian Academy of Arts; born in 1989 in Sillamäe and based in Tallinn. An ironical view of nowadays drives her process, which fuels her to blend digital craft and video performances with fiction. She finds jewellery’s haptic and symbolic nature a generous medium that allows her to conceptualise ideas. For her artistic practice, she was honoured with numerous awards and scholarships such as Annual Award of Estonian Cultural Endowment (2020), the EAA Research Publication Award (2020), Adamson-Eric Scholarship (2018) and the Artist Laureate Salary (2022). She took part in the shows at the Smack Mellon Gallery in New York (2022), the Arnhem Museum in the Netherlands (2020) and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York (2019).

On 19 December Arife Dila Demir, a PhD candidate of the Estonian Academy of Arts, curriculum of Art and Design, will defend her practice-based thesis “Extended [Textile] Soma: Somaesthetics of Bodily Discomforts” („(Tekstiilist) laiendatud soma: kehalise ebamugavuse somaesteetika“).

Public defence will be held on 19th of December 2023 at 11.00 at EKA (Põhja pst 7), room A501.

Supervisors: Prof. Nithikul Nimkulrat (OCAD University), Dr. Kristi Kuusk (Estonian Academy of Arts)
External reviewers: Prof. Kristina Höök (KTH Royal Institute of Technology), Dr. Vasiliki Tsaknaki (IT University of Copenhagen)
Opponent: Dr. Claudia Núñez-Pacheco (Umeå University)

Human existence in the world is an embodied one; it is through our moving and sensing bodies – our somas – that we live and be in the world. Our somas, through the sensory capacities, are in constant engagement with internal and external stimuli that shape our understanding of our environment and ourselves. These stimuli may appear as pleasant or discomforting or beyond. For some unfortunate ones, internal discomforting sensations become persistent inhabitants of their bodies defining their embodied existence. This dissertation refers to these persistent discomforting events ‘bodily discomfort’ that disrupt the everyday flow of the body such as migraine, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, chronic pain, etc.
Extended [Textile] Soma: Somaesthetics of Bodily Discomforts specifically focuses on chronic musculoskeletal pain acknowledging the hardship of removal of this phenomenon. It discusses that such a phenomenon requires a more-than-symptom-relieving approach that focuses on enhancing the lived experience of bodily discomfort. Thus, it focuses on supporting transformative becomings with our bodies in discomfort to learn new ways of living and being that is the somaesthetics of bodily discomforts.
Respectively, the main research question of this practice-based dissertation is: how may movement-based interactive textile wearables as soma extensions be designed to facilitate somaesthetic awareness of chronic musculoskeletal pain? In other words, this dissertation explores the ways of designing with/for/through discomfort aiming to facilitate somaesthetics awareness through breaking the habitual ways of engaging with discomfort. It uses soma extensions that mediate movement-based interactions and externalize the felt qualities of chronic pain to provide unhabitual engagements of it. The main research question is explored through three creative case studies that provide methodological and theoretical insights on how to design with/for/through discomfort and form the design program called designing with discomfort.
Designing with discomfort is the main contribution of this dissertation which is exemplified by three case studies. In offering this design programme, this dissertation calls on designer researchers to imagine other ways of being with discomforting experiences and provide a space to closely engage with such sensations to become anew.

The thesis is available HERE.

Members of the Defence Committee: dr Jaana Päeva (Head of the Committee), Dr. Anu Allas, Prof. Kirke Kangro, Dr. Kärt Ojavee, Dr. Liina Unt, Dr. Kristina Jõekalda, Prof. Danielle Wilde, Prof. Indrek Ibrus.

NB! Viewing/listening to festival installations during the day is free, tickets are available only for evening concerts.

Video games

The Estonian Academy of Arts and Videogames in Arts Lab presents:
Experimental Art Landscapes

Discover the experimental world envisioned by students from the Estonian Academy of Arts — an immersive blend of visual and sound art that offers a unique interactive experience. The Showcase is a new project from EKA that experiments with video games as a medium for artistic expression. It is a unique opportunity to see how the next wave of artists blurs the lines between game design and art.

Course supervisors:
Taavi Varm, Camille Laurelli and Sten Saarits

Students:
Anette Jaaniso, Caroline Pajusaar, Daria Luchinina Gregor Ojaveer, Hans Ermast, Kadi Rebane, Kirke Mari Päll, Léo Mourey, Mariia Koloskova, Ramas Ramales, Sander Klein

Video Mapping 

The Estonian Academy of Arts and “Spatial Motion Design” course presents: 

EKA’s fourth-year Visual Communication students are creating a unique video mapping installation in the basement of the Vene Theater. A unique feature of the installation is that the architectural details of the room – be it wall ornaments or window arches – have become part of the artwork’s narrative. The video is not simply projected onto the surface, but it follows and interacts with the specific features of the space, giving the viewer the impression that the moving video image and the physical space merge seamlessly. This guides and inspires the students’ creative process and provides an extraordinary experience for the audience.

Course supervisor:
Taavi Varm

Students:
Mariliis Haljasorg, Anita Juga, Hedy Lehtmets, Kristin Made, Eva Pogoretski, Annaliisa Roots, Rait Sohkin, Anna Maria Toss, Silver Tõnisson, Artjom Šõšov, Karolina Kapinus

Music:
Stonefromthesky albumilt Zero Origin – Ground Zero (Ukraine)

Varm & Correia “Natural Frequencies: A Sonic Symbiosis” conceet at festival Composter on November 24 at Vene Teater

Varm & Correia are a duo composed of Taavi Varm (Estonia) and Nuno Correia (Portugal). They aim to combine natural and synthetic sounds into a coherent sonic ambience, evoking places and their stories. Additionally, they aim to stimulate a reflection on the relationship between humans, technology and nature. Their music style can be classified as ambient, in the tradition of artists such as Brian Eno, Alva Noto and The KLF.

In their performance at Composter festival, they will premiere new material alongside tracks from their recent debut EP, “Live at Purekkari Cape”. The new tracks were composed last Summer in Hiiumaa, taking as starting point field recordings from the island. These new compositions will take the audience on a journey through selected locations, atmospheres and stories of Hiiumaa.

Taavi Varm is a media artist and researcher from Tallinn (Estonian Academy of Arts), with a background in performing arts and video art. Nuno Correia is an academic in the field of interaction design (Tallinn University), and a media artist specialising in audiovisual performance.

“Why should artificially generated sounds, created with the help of human technology, be in conflict with nature? According to Varm and Correia, they shouldn’t – they can coexist in harmony. Not synthesis, but symbiosis.” – Sirp review of Varm & Correia performance at Biotoopia 2022 by Valdek Laur.

Varm & Correia: https://varmandcorreia.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-purekkari-cape

Taavi Varm: http://www.varmstudio.com/

Nuno Correia: https://nunocorreia.com/

On 14 December Britta Benno, a PhD candidate of the Estonian Academy of Arts, curriculum of Art and Design, will defend her thesis “Thinking in Layers, Worlding in Layers: Posthuman Landscapes in Expanded Field of Printmaking and Drawing” (“Mõtlemine kihtides, kujutlemine kihtides. Posthumanistlikud maastikud laiendatud joonistus- ja graafikaväljal”).

Public defence will be held on 14th of December 2023 at 15.00 at EKA (Põhja pst 7), room A501.

Supervisor: Dr. Elnara Taidre

External reviewers: Dr. Elo-Hanna Seljamaa (University of Tartu), Prof. Linda Kaljundi (Estonian Academy of Arts).
Opponent: Dr. Elo-Hanna Seljamaa

The defense will be held in Estonian.

The goal of my creative research “Thinking in Layers, Worlding in Layers: Posthuman Landscapes in Expanded Field of Printmaking and Drawing” is, first of all, to search for new art forms; to develop the fields of drawing and printmaking – by embracing the expansion of their vocabulary, exhaustively describing the work methods and conceptualising various activities.
Printmaking is doing very well today, especially due to the vast possibilities of such expansions and working methods, in all kinds of forms and concepts, whether as a posthumanist or nostalgic resistance. What is needed in my opinion, however, is a broader and more meaningful interpretation and opening up of the exact printing technologies chosen, not only the technical accomplishment – one could even say that there is a demand for a revelation of inherent tacit knowledge. I find this openness to be conceptually very characteristic of drawing. I can place all of my creative activity under the expanded drawing field, because everything starts with a simple drawing and continues depending on the conceptual and formal decisions in subsequent layers of materials and art media. The openness, permeability and permissiveness of drawing has been an essential part of all my creative research, on top of which the following layers of media, thoughts and materials have grown: animation, installation, etc.
This research is based on my three solo exhibitions – “Dystopic Tallinn” (Tallinn Art Hall Gallery, 2019), “Ruinenlust: Lasnamägi” (Hobusepea Gallery, 2020) and “Of Becoming a Land(Scape)” (Tartu Art House, 2022) – on the discussions that accompanied the creation of their concepts and artworks, exemplifying my approach to layered thinking and worlding, and to the expanded media in different variations. The thesis could be read as a travelogue in the layers of the concepts of the exhibited works.
The creative research allows me to conclude that the expanded fields of printmaking and drawing are areas full of potential, which function as subjects and methods of creative research, when used in tandem with other media – either as independent art forms, or together, as a hybrid. My exhibition practice demonstrates that prints and drawings are able to relate to new discourses and address current issues. These processes provide for endless techniques and qualities to constantly explore and disassemble.
More broadly, the dissertation contributes to the internal observation and treatment of creative processes from the artist’s position.The written part is primarily intended for other artists to conceptualise and discuss their own creative processes, including in processes of teaching and learning.

The thesis is available HERE.

Members of the Defence Committee: dr Jaana Päeva (Head of the Committee), Dr. Anu Allas, Prof. Kirke Kangro, Dr. Kärt Ojavee, Dr. Liina Unt, Dr. Kristina Jõekalda, Prof. Indrek Ibrus.

Open Mon-Sat at 15.00-18.00

December brings an opportunity to experience, in an exhibition format, works produced by students in the Faculty of Fine Arts as their term projects: every day there will be a fresh crop of university students’ works on display in the gallery.

Works in contemporary art, prints, installation, sculpture and painting curricula will be on display. On each morning of the marathon, a new exhibition will be installed and in the evening the exhibit will give way to the next one. Hopefully, viewers will be able to keep up with the pace of the young artists.

SCHEDULE

01—02.12 Scenography, supervisor Mark Raidpere

04.12 Photography, supervisor Paul Kuimet

05.12 Drawing, supervisor Eero Alev

06.12 Painting, supervisors Tõnis Saadoja, Karl-Kristjan Nagel

07.12 Painting, supervisors Tõnis Saadoja, Anna Škodenko

08.12 Sculpture, supervisor Taavi Talve, Laura Põld

09.12 Drawing, supervisor Britta Benno

11.12 Graphic Art, supervisors Charlotte Biszewski, Heta Jäälinoja, Viktor Gurov, Katrin Kaev, Caroline Pajusaar, Liina Siib, Taavi Suisalu

12.12 Graphic Art, supervisors Kadi Kurema, Mark Antonius Puhkan, Charlotte Biszewski, Maria Izabella Lehtsaar, Eve Kaaret

13.12 Scenography, supervisor Tomo Stanič

14—15.12 Contemporary Art, supervisors Charlotte Emma Biszewski, Paul Kuimet, Camille Antoine Laurelli, Holger Loodus, Laura Põld, David Ross, Taavi Talve, Jaan Toomik, Anu Vahtra, Reimo Võsa-Tangsoo

16.12 Painting, supervisors Sirja-Liisa Eelma, Vladimir Dubossarsky, Mart Vainre

18—19.12 Contemporary Art, supervisors Charlotte Emma Biszewski, Sirja-Liisa Eelma, Maris Karjatse, Camille Antoine Laurelli, Laura Põld, David Ross, Sten Saarits, Liina Siib, Taavi Talve, Jaan Toomik, Anu Vahtra

20.12 Photography, supervisor Anna Mari Liivrand