Category: Departments

Public play event “Don´t lose, but let loose” will take place on 10th May 18-19 at EKA caffeteria hole (A100). 

And playground is open for the whole day.

This is part of course “Design for play”, which is led by Eva Liisa Kubinyi.

Until we play!

Difficult Pasts. Connected Worlds

With the beginning of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the past has returned in Eastern Europe, changing from something distant into a present-day disaster for millions of people. The invasion that started in 2014 with Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk was often dismissed by the international community, but it has now grown into a situation that is affecting the whole world. This war hits Eastern Europe most alarmingly, reviving many silences, unhealed wounds and unprocessed memories of the totalitarian past.

We are used to thinking about past times through the lens of national histories, with their selective, smoothed and linear narrations, instead of the plural, messy and nonlinear stories shared in daily life. The difficult sides of these histories have often been neglected; instead, comforting stories are told that stress positive narratives and ways of overcoming challenges. This exhibition brings together difficult and often-silenced aspects of pasts that include violent conflicts, traumatic losses and their long-term legacies. The difficult pasts addressed here involve nationalist and communist regimes, recent warfare and histories of colonialism, the uneasy balances between modes of survival and collaboration and the ongoing specificities of post-soviet societies coping with the shadows of the past.

 Difficult Pasts. Connected Worlds includes works by artists from the three Baltic countries, Ukraine, Poland, Finland and the Netherlands. The experiences the works evoke are ones that are often forgotten or ignored, excluded from official histories. Artists included in the exhibition narrate those experiences through individual stories, while evoking broader layers of cultural memory. What is the place of these stories in the present? How could we integrate them in our understanding of history? What do they change in our perception of the world around us? Overcoming local and national borders, the exhibition calls for reflection on the relationships between difficult pasts and their impact today through the perspective of a shared history-opening dialogue, forging connections and foregrounding solidarities between the different difficult histories that are often perceived as incompatible or in competition with each other.

The exhibition was first shown in 2020 at the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga, as part of Communicating Difficult Pasts, an international project which engages with the uncomfortable and often forgotten sides of history in order to understand their influences in the Baltic region and neighboring countries. The project has fostered collaboration and synergy between artists, curators and researchers who seek new approaches and means to study difficult legacies and to overcome their omission. The current exhibition is organized within the framework of the project From Complicated Past Towards Shared Futures, which is a collaboration between the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art in Riga, the National Gallery of Art in Vilnius (Lithuanian National Museum of Art), OFF-Biennale in Budapest, Muzeum Sztuki in Lodz, and Malmö Art Museum. The project seeks to explore and communicate the entanglements of past and present, and is searching for new ways how art and culture can raise awareness of these issues for the wider public and influence current realities.

Curators: Ieva Astahovska, Margaret Tali, Eglė Mikalajūnė

Artists: Anastasia Sosunova, Eléonore de Montesquiou, Jaana Kokko, Laima Kreivytė, Lia Dostlieva & Andrii Dostliev, Matīss Gricmanis & Ona Juciūtė, Quinsy Gario & Mina Ouaouirst, Paulina Pukytė, Ülo Pikkov, Vika Eksta, Zuzanna Hertzberg

Exhibition design: Jonas Žukauskas

Graphic design: Alexey Murashko

Organized by: Latvian Center for Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Art (Lithuanian National Museum of Art)

The project is financed by Lithuanian Council for Culture

Supported by: European Union Programme “Creative Europe”, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Frame Contemporary Art Finland, Nordic Council of Ministers, Mondriaan Fund, Fundermax, Exterus

Media sponsor: lrytas.lt

“Soft Negotiations”
EKA (Estonian Academy Of Arts) Department of Textile Design
25/04/2022–15/05/2022

Vilnius Academy of Arts gallery “Artifex”,  Gaono g.1, Tue to Sun 12.00–18.00

The exhibition presents works by students and teaching staff of the Estonian Academy of Arts that investigate the all-encompassing role of textile design. Besides conventional roles, new hybrid forms emerge, presenting new knowledge in the context of artistic research. Emerging technological approaches are demonstrated, in which textile, interwoven with digital properties or technology at different levels, mediates collaborative processes in design of social interaction.

Just as the warp threads connect the weft, serving as a bridge for each other, this exhibition by the Department of Textile Design invites audiences to ponder the role of textile in today’s and future society. At the exhibition, the department presents contemporary trends that often straddle or meld with the boundaries of other disciplines. That in turn creates a new, multidisciplinary approach where textile can take very different forms: it can convey structure, idea, protest, message, self-expression, pattern or simply colour combination.

The exhibition has three conceptual threads, which intersect each other:
Textile as STATE(MENT)
#critical and conceptual practices
Textile as LAB
#experimental practice #flirting with science #biotextiles #new materials and structures
Textile as WELLBEING
#design that values the environment and well-being #sustainability #recycling #healthcare #social responsibility #therapy

Participants: Frank Abner, Arife Dila Demir, Katrin Kabun, Kadi Kibbermann, Mari-Triin Kirs, Kristi Kuusk + Ana Tajadura-Jiménez (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) + Aleksander Väljamäe (University of Tartu), Krista Leesi, Kille- Ingeri Liivoja + Juulia Aleksandra Mikson, Greth-Ann Loog + Riina Samelselg + Anete Vihm, Nithikul Nimkulrat (OCAD UNIVERSITY), Marin Nooni, Maria Kristiin Peterson, Piret Roos + Liisa Torsus, Zane Shumeiko, Marie Vihmar + Sirje Sasi (TLU), Piret Valk, Varvara & Mar + Sebastian Mealla

Curators: Varvara Guljajeva (HKUST(GZ)), Kristel Laurits, EKA Department of Textile Design
Graphic design: Jesus Rodriguez Santos
Exhibition team: Kristi Kuusk, Varvara Guljajeva, Krista Leesi, Kadi Kibbermann, Piret Valk

Design Conference: Beyond Design
Saturday, June 18, 09:30-17:00 (the schedule coming soon!)
Location: Creative Hub

The European Design Festival Conference 2022 “Beyond Design” addresses the core questions of the future of design and through design, position and responsibilities of the designer through practical workshops, discussions and cross-sectoral future visions.

Through various discussions and case studies the conference seeks answers to the questions such as: How to design a future that is better for all of us? How to control the situations we do not yet know? Will the problems arising today create new meanings and opportunities for design tomorrow? What does digital innovation actually mean, and how does it change us as humans? How to create sustainability in a sustainable way? How to see sustainability not as a constraint but as a great challenge that gives us new opportunities for innovation. On which side of the barricades should a designer stay? Is reconsideration of the ethics of creation a basis for new significance?

The questions will be opened via 3 tracks

1. BEYOND GOVERNANCE. Innovation leads us to the future, and the future makes us innovate. How to govern situations that are in the future and that we have never experienced before? How to consider unforeseen events and uncertainty? How to understand the future of the relationship between people and their governments?

2. DESIGN BEYOND RESISTANCE. Our world is using many comfortable and unsustainable models – social, ecological, economical. How to challenge the status quo – and go beyond mere disruption but design the next solution.

3. DESIGN BEYOND TRANQUILITY. Creating a world for living in meaningful peace of mind – this is the oldest task of design. How to design a future that is better for all of us? Will the problems arising today create new meanings and opportunities for design tomorrow? How to see sustainability not as a constraint but as a great challenge that gives us opportunities for innovation?

The programme and speakers will be announced gradually in the end of April 2022.

The conference will take place on June 18, 09:30-17:00 at Kultuurikatel (Cultural Hub) as a physical event, enabling also some hybrid activities. The conference will be recorded and available for later review.

More info about the conference and THE SPEAKERS

European Design Festival 2022 Tallinn programme and tickets now available!

This year the European Design Festival (ED-Festival) will be held in Tallinn, 17-19 June 2022.

Creative people from all over Europe are expected to take part in the Festival Programme that will also be open to the general public. The Programme includes the Design Conference “Beyond Design”, Workshops, Exhibitions, Design Walks, Design Talks, Studio Crawls and of course, the European Design Awards Ceremony!

The Festival Programme 2022 is being curated by the Estonian Design Centre. The Programme and ticketing are available on the European Design Awards website.

“There were this time over 1 400 submissions to the ED-Awards 2022 Competition. The participants were from 34 different countries – from Lichtenstein to Germany and from Iceland to Turkey, so from big to small, east to west and north to south” says Mr Demetrios Fakinos, the European Design Festival director and added: “The winners will start receiving notifications in the second half of April, but the official announcement of winners will take place during the European Design Festival 2022 Award Show, on 18 June at 7 pm at the Creative Hub/Kultuurikatel – one of the most unique creative and event spaces in Northern Europe.”

The European Design Conference 2022 “Beyond Design”, also takes place on 18 June at the Creative Hub/Kultuurikatel. The Conference addresses the core questions of the future of design and the future through design, as well as themes related to the position and responsibilities of the designer. The work will take place through practical workshops, discussions and multidisciplinary future visions. The speakers at the Design Conference include designer, sociologist and sustainability provocateur Leyla Acaroglu; futurist Angela Oguntala (founding partner at Greyspace, a foresight and design studio); professor, design and technology ethicist Ariel Guersenzvaig; creative strategist and problem solver Marksteen Adamson and many more. The Conference will also cover several interesting cases from leading European design agencies.

More info about European Design Festival 2022 in Tallinn

The programme

Having buried her daughter and husband, 69-year-old Polina Rayko found solace in painting. The walls of her home became her easel. I spent a day in Rayko’s footsteps, covering my kitchen with floor-to-ceiling drawings. I didn’t have a definite plan and found myself, like Rayko, illustrating personal memories.

In this portrait, I embody the absurd hyper-sexualised ‘ideal’ woman portrayed in the media. The inspiration for creating this image came from Gillian Flynn’s novel ‘Gone Girl’ (2012). The protagonist describes her experience as a woman trying to be the perfect ‘cool girl’ stereotype her whole life. ‘Cool girl jams hot dogs into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang.’

The opening of Estookin’s solo show SIMULACRUM will take place at Telliskivi Creative City’s Outdoor Gallery on Saturday 7 May at 17:00.

The exhibition features portraits of ten popular Estonian musicians: Ivo Linna, Ott Lepland, Laura Pōldvere, Kerli, Leslie Da Bass, Maarja Nuut, Genka, Anna Kaneelina, Rita Ray, Tanel Padar and ten abstractions inspired by their music, all on large one and a half metre canvases. The exhibits are the results of a quest to explore the effects of music on the works of a visual artist.

The opening show of the exhibition will be performed by Laura Põldvere and Uku Kübar.

The opening show will be followed by a conversation between Estookin and Rita Ray about the processes of creating music and art. The conversation is moderated by Henrik Ehte.

The exhibit is open around the clock from 7 May until 7 June 2022.

Curated by: Estookin

Designed by: Estookin

Special thanks to: Ene-Liis Semper, Katrin Reimann, Janno Reimann, Anita Kremm, Kristel Zimmer, Alice Aleksandridi, Andres Ojasu, Reene Teder, Henrik Ehte, Magdaleena Maasik, and the Creative City’s Outdoor Gallery.

The paintings were created as part of an experiment, where Estookin would exclusively listen to the music of the pictured artist during the entire painting process. Drawing inspiration from the music, she created staged portraits that enter into an intimate dialogue with the abstract landscapes that present the artist’s vision of each musician and their music. 

“I love keeping an eye on what other artists are putting out into the world and sharing aesthetic elements that drive me to express my artistic views in a more distinct and personal manner. The exhibits are not made-to-order vinyl designs that draw on a conversation between the artist and musician, and aim to represent the musician’s image as closely as possible. I chose these musicians intentionally and allowed my senses to guide the process of artistic interpretation. These reproductions of the paintings created during my experiment form an independent reality that has lost connection with its origins – in other words, a simulacrum*,” explains Estookin. 

Estookin (b. 1997, Tallinn), who began exploring digital painting in 2012, is an illustrator, and visual and digital artist active in Estonia and abroad. Over the past few years, Estookin has taken part in various creative projects that, in addition to allowing her to create, learn and polish her technical skills, have brought her close to the music industry. Music and sound have always been of integral importance to Estookin’s artistic output. As an outstanding album cover designer, she has created visual identities for musicians such as Bella Poarch, nublu, Wateva and Lexsoul Dancemachine. In addition to music, Estookin draws inspiration from fashion, theatre, architecture, technology and electropunk. Aside from digital art, Estookin finds expression in photography, and video and theatre arts.

SIMULACRUM is part of Estookin’s bachelor’s project for her degree in scenography at the Estonian Academy of Arts. The project is supervised by Ene-Liis Semper. 

* According to Jean Baudrillard, a simulacrum replaces the real. In Simulacra and Simulation he writes, “Simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being or a substance. It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal. […] It is no longer a question of imitation, nor of reduplication, nor even of parody.” The simulation no longer reflects reality but creates a new and independent reality – a visual representation of sound.

 ______         ______

Additional information:
Estookin
Phone +372 528 8110
info@estookin.studio
www.estookin.studio

Hanno Soans and Silvia Sosaar open their co-exhibition Reformation in Draakon gallery at 6PM on Wednesday, May 4th, 2022. Exhibition will be open until May 28, 2022.

But where is the final destination of the roots of an event? Where are the last cells of an event-organism? These are nowhere. These exist only if agreed upon. This is especially obvious when observing the retroactivity of the specific event comparatively, let’s say in the context of Criminal Code and the possible feeling of guilt.

Jaan Kross, „Kajalood“, 1980

Present exhibition is a result of a several years long process – yet, it has the fixed beginning and the end point. It was a beautiful sunny autumn day 2018 when we planned to go the Papal Mass, carrying the slogan borrowed from Henry of Latvia “Laula, laula pappi!”*. Exhibition involves gestures that stay experimental and veiled gestures that add extra charge to the exhibited objects. Silvia Sosaar’s powerful installation memento mori brackets Hanno Soans’s more fragile artwork while addressing the public space in front of the Russian Embassy in Tallinn. The geographical locations presented at the exhibition refer to the island of Saaremaa, Kaliningrad, Münster and Tallinn as well as the timescale of the exhibition material extends back to 13th century of the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia throughout the year of 1997 up to the present day.

Every Reformation is initially an action. Reformation is born as a spontaneous reaction to the environment that is structured by traditions. Reformation flirts with personal space charged with public rites, whether these be finally represented in an exhibition hall, an icon or iconoclasm. At least for a few stimulated moments, Reformation serves as a symbolic counter-attack to the historical past or present or at least as a disquieting unrealized potential of this gesture. Reformation is a hygiene procedure and they say you have to wash yourself regularly.

Hanno Soans (b. 1974) is an art critic with the background in art history, a curator and artist who is currently studying in the doctoral school of art history and visual culture at the Estonian Academy of Arts. As an artist, Hanno Soans has participated in exhibitions 1997 while focusing on performance art, text-based artwork and video. He lives and works in Tallinn. Soans has obtained MA degree from the department of art history in 2003. In 1999–2008 Hanno Soans worked as a curator at the Art Museum of Estonia. Soans has been a member of artist grouping Stiilne Viisnurk (together with Andres Härm, Kiwa, Andres Lõo, Martin Pedanik and Jasper Zoova). Soans is a founding member of skaala publishing.

Silvia Sosaar (1979) works in Tallinn. In 2017, Sosaar graduated from the photography department of the Estonian Academy of Arts (EAA). In 2021, he obtained a master’s degree in contemporary art at EAA and was nominated for the EAA Young Artist Award with her graduation piece “The Sandbox We Were Given”. With her first solo exhibition “Shiny Shoes Salon” (2018) at the EAA Gallery, Sosaar turned the art gallery into a shoe cleaning salon. The exhibition consisted of a series of performances taking place before and during the exhibition, photographs, a video and a space installation. In 2019, Sosaar held an exhibition “Academy Sports Club” together with Hanno Soans at Hobusepea Gallery. The artist is a member of the Estonian Union of Photography Artists (FOKU) and has exhibited with the collective Umbrella Group. Sosaar is a founding member of ;paranoia and skaala publishing. The artist has participated in exhibitions in Estonia, Latvia, the United Kingdom, France and Pakistan.

The artists express their gratitude to: Andres Gailan, Madis Kaasik, Jaak Soans, the Sosaar family, Uku Toomet, Reimo Võsa-Tangsoo.

Exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

Exhibitions in Draakon gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Ministry of Culture and Liviko Ltd.

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.