Category: Departments

Rait Rosin, PhD student of the Estonian Academy of Arts, curriculum of Art and Disain, will defend his thesis “Social Art as the Source for Changing Social Norms: Artists’ and Art Viewers’ Expectations in Estonian Small Towns” („Sotsiaalne kunst kui ühiskondlike normide kasvulava: kunstnike ja kunstipubliku vastastikused ootused Eesti väikelinnades“) on 13th of December 2021 at 10.00 at Põhja pst 7, room A101.

Limited number of audience can participate on-site, please register HERE
Please provide certificate of vaccination or recovery from COVID-19.

The defense will be held in Estonian.

Supervisors: Dr. Raivo Kelomees (Estonian Academy of Arts), Dr. Margus Vihalem (Tallinn University)
External reviewers: Dr. Heie Treier (Tallinn University), Dr. Elo-Hanna Seljamaa (University of Tartu)
Opponent: Dr. Heie Treier

The increasing interest in Estonian art scenes outside of Tallinn necessitates careful and critical discussion. Rait Rosin’s PhD dissertation investigates regional gallery spaces and local people attitudes toward art activities in their communities. The reader will have a better grasp of Estonia’s diversified creative scene and society-driven cultural shifts. The comparison provides an overview of the precision of the regional differentiations of the six Estonian small towns: Paldiski, Haapsalu, Valga, Võru, Rapla, and Rakvere by comparing the various regional characters and as well six local art galleries. In comparison, the audience of town galleries and artist interviews demonstrate how each party sees local art. The research looks into Estonian small-town initiatives to communicate with small towns, parallels and examples of artists activities, who had exhibitions in local galleries during the years 2010–2017. The author of the thesis interprets the artistic expressions of the participants as acts of cultural communication of the centre and the periphery polarities. Nonetheless, because the expectations of small towns have to implement for their organised events, the contribution of artists is calculated based on their effect on the surrounding areas. On the one hand, the dissertation is a reflection of Rait Rosin’s own artistic practice while he depict themes for the artworks, while also analysing his own position as artist researcher. Dissertation In the other hand, is classified as discourse, with engaged art as one of the socially active solutions. According to the philosophers such as John Dewey, Jacques Rancière and others, local interest and activity-binding solutions may assist artists. As a result, the local cultural scene may have established a field of meaning construction that aids to integrate various groups into the community. The PhD thesis focuses on local people waiting for artists and visiting artists’ assessments of Estonian small-towns in creative chores and art creation, often due to a lack of expert criticism and the location of the art.

Greta Koppel, PhD student of the Estonian Academy of Arts, curriculum of Art History and Visual Culture, will defend her thesis „Farewell to Connoisseurship? The Work of Art in the Focus of Art Historical Research” („Hüvasti, konossöörlus? Kunstiteos kui kunstiajaloolise uurimise kese“) on 10th of December 2021 at 15.00 at Põhja pst 7, room A501.

Limited number of audience can participate on-site, please register HERE
Please provide certificate of vaccination or recovery from COVID-19.

The defense will be held in Estonian.

Supervisor: Prof.  Krista Kodres (Estonian Academy of Arts)
External reviewers: Dr. Anu Mänd (Tallinn University), Dr. Jaanika Anderson (University of Tartu Museum)
Opponent: Dr. Anu Mänd

This dissertation (Farewell to Connoisseurship? The Work of Art in the Focus of Art Historical Research) deals with problems related to the study of the art of the Old Masters. The research paper reflects the author’s experience based on years of researching and curating Early Modern art at the museum. Works of art as musealised objects have played a central role in this work.

The dissertation emphasises that a multifaceted study based on a close study of works of art that takes into account each work as a whole, i.e. its material and intellectual sides, enables us to obtain valuable information for the study of a particular object but also for analysing broader historical and cultural phenomena. In the case of old works of art, connoisseurship is a significant component of such research. The author introduces the concept of connoisseurship, which is almost unknown as a professional term in Estonia, provides a survey of the long history of connoisseurship as a competence of recognising art(ists), discusses the closely intertwined relationship between modern connoisseurship and technical art history, introduces the specifics of the research method, and explains why this skill is irreplaceable in identifying the authors of works of art and why this competence is worth preserving in art history practice even if one has no interest in the question of the author. It also explains how the critical analysis of the connoisseurship method makes it possible to better understand the specifics of art history as a humanistic discipline. The section on connoisseurship is followed by three case studies related to the author’s curatorial practice at the Art Museum of Estonia, which illustrate the importance of connoisseurship as an object-led, multifaceted close study of works of art in art historical research. The first case discusses the problems of reconstructing the oeuvre of Michel Sittow (ca 1469 – 1525), an itinerant painter from Tallinn; in the second, 16th century Netherlandish Boschian art is the focus, and the last case, research on Johannes Mikkel’s (1907–2006) collection, emphasises its value as historical documentation.

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

Please find the PhD thesis HERE

Online-discussion “Environmentalising Baltic Art Histories: Experience from Research and Curatorship” on 2 November at 5.30-7.30 PM EEST

Participants: Bart Pushaw, Inga Lace, Eda Tuulberg, Nomeda and Gediminas Urbanis, Maja and Reuben Fowkes

Moderators: Ieva Astahovska, Linda Kaljundi

The discussion invites researchers and curators to talk about their experiences of writing and curating Baltic art history from ecocritical and environmental perspectives. How to trace and interpret environmental practices and ideas from Baltic art history in the first place and how to conceptualise these in comparative contexts. How can re-writing and re-curating the Baltic art contribute to reconceptualising global art history in a way that would challenge the Western-orientated model?

More information

The discussion will take place on Facebook

The online discussion will take place as part of the Second Baltic Conference on Environmental Humanities and Social Sciences BALTEHUMS (held online on November 1–2)

BALTEHUMS II programme and registration

This is the fifth discussion of the research and exhibition project “Reflecting Post-Socialism through Post-Colonialism in the Baltics,” organised by the Latvian Center for Contemporary Art in Riga in collaboration with Kumu Art Museum and the research project “Estonian Environmentalism in the 20th Century” (both Tallinn). The project analyses the imprints of post-socialism and post-colonialism in the Baltic region, here exploring them through the prism of environmental history and the current ecological crisis.

Department of Graphic Design’s GD Lunch series is back and the first presentation will be by graphic designer Maria Muuk on Monday, 1 November at 16:00 on Zoom. Please join us here. Zoom ID: 940 6079 6104

Maria is going to talk about the graphic design process of the exhibition “Art is Design is Art” (Kumu Art Museum, 07.05.–03.10.2021), which showcased Estonian late Soviet unique design objects and poster design. It’s an interesting case study of a commissioned exhibition identity with a lot of designer’s input, as well as a glimpse into the rabbit hole of the recent yet forgotten history and craftsmanship of manual graphic designing tools, which the 1980s Soviet poster artists and their printers mastered in inspiring socialist unison.

Glass artist, Kristiina Uslar, associate professor at EKA glass department, is participating in the National Glass Center Glass Prize. 

From 16 October 2021 to 13 March 2022, the Glass Prize, an exhibition organized by the International Glass Center (NGC), will take place in Sunderland, England.

The exhibition will feature 40 artists selected by a jury of Sandra Blach (Glasmuseet Ebeltoft), Reino Liefkes (Victoria and Albert Museum) ja Julia Stephenson (National Glass Center). 

NGC Glass Prize is a European glass prize delivered by the National Glass Centre which features the work of over 40 artists who work in Europe. The selected artworks on display were selected by a panel of judges including Sandra Blach, from Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Reino Liefkes, from the Victoria and Albert Museum and Julia Stephenson from National Glass Centre. Supported by the Weston Culture Fund, the exhibition includes work by artists from England, Scotland, Wales, France, Sweden, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Italy, Romania, The Netherlands, The Czech Republic, Estonia and Belgium. It showcases techniques and approaches including using found and mixed media, casting, hot glass, kiln forming, engraving, neon, pâte de verre, and video. The exhibition includes artists working at all career stages from internationally acknowledged masters to relative newcomers.

NGC Glass Prize on the web

Chun Au Yeung (Contemporary Art, MA), opens the exhibition “Don’t Think That I Am Pushing You Away” on November 11, 6 pm, at Vent Space.

The exhibition is describing the dormitory situation and experiences during the 14 days quarantine. In the exhibition, the artist will explore a wide variety of mediums such as performances, video installation, drawings, sound and photographs.

Chun Au Yeung:
The theme of “Don’t Think that I am Pushing You Away” is about reading myself and my dormitory situation. Experiencing the quarantine in the dormitory, I was forced to stay inside for 14 days and it led me towards new perspectives of myself and my roommate who was a complete stranger to me. With this experience of distancing and suspension, it brought me a little closer to myself and to look at myself differently. In this exhibition, I will explore a wide variety of ways of negotiating closeness and distance in a dormitory, and try to find myself in relation between safe and dangerous space.

Exhibition will be open until November 19, 2021

On Tuesday, 26 October at 17:30 Charlotte Rohde will give a lecture at EKA hall.

Typedesigner and artist Charlotte Rohde will talk about her latest project “HOT MESS 2021”, which she will contextualise within her practice. In her work “HOT MESS 2021”, Rohde explores the idea of 2021 womanhood through niche internet culture, thinking about Naomi Osaka and Britney Spears, who dared to become human under the public eye. Machine-produced and hand-treated, “HOT MESS 2021” performs a self-fetishisation to reclaim its body and emotionality from the public gaze.

Charlotte Rohde is a (type-)designer and artist researching letters as an extension of the body and dealing with hyper-femininity, pop culture and (self-)control. Her work manifests somewhere between contemporary art, niche internet culture and type design as a tool of écriture féminine.

You are invited to join the CITYA Tallinn Screening “City as a Medium” on Wednesday, 28 October at 18.00–20.00 at EKA, Põhja pst. 7, in the main auditorium next to the lobby.

CITYA is an international urban art event that takes place every three years as a platform for city-to-city art sharing and as a new form of collaboration. The first CITYA edition is themed “City as a Medium”. The event is organised in partnership with Hong Kong Baptist University (initiator), the Estonian Academy of Arts, the Beijing Academy of Fine Arts, the University of California Berkeley, the Belle Arti di Roma Academy and the University of Macao.

The CITYA Tallinn Screening brings together films — from Tallinn, Hong Kong, Macao, Rome and San Francisco — that have been created during the last year. The participating artists from the different cities are:

Tallinn

Martinus Daane Klemet – Face Recognition (6:45)
Iti Oja – Partial Victory (4:04)
Stina Isabel Gavrilin – My Body is a Cage (5:20)
Katariin Mudist – The Hesitator (4:32)
Mark Hiir – Fade out (6:50)
Piibe Kolka – Forte Fortissimo (1:35)

Hong Kong

Lee Wing Ki Kalen – A City, Two Worlds, Four Views (1:12)

Peter Nelson – A Book of Trees (1:00)

Leung Mei Ping – Out of Place (5:00)

Macao

Li Lin – Shape of Water (1:00)

Lampo Leong – Blossom (5:22)

San Francisco

Robin Lopez – #Richmondsspeak: Urban Murals of Richmond (0:50)

Kevin Tracy – Fever Dream (7:59)

Jenny Balisle – Air (3:38)

Rome

Chiara Passa – Null Void 0 (1:41)

Maria Giovanna Sodero – Accordatura (Tuning) (6:40)

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/756550422400612

More information about CITYA and the films: www.citya.space 

Contact information: Reds Cheung, king.cheung@artun.ee 

Alphabetizing the Matrix of Discomfort. The Open Lecture Series presents: Matteo Cainer

As part of the Open Lectures series of the Department of Architecture and Urban Design of EKA, practising architect, curator and educator Matteo Cainer will take the stage in the hall of EKA on November 4th, 6 pm with lecture “Alphabetizing the Matrix of Discomfort”.

This fall, all the lectures in the series revolve around the issue of healing in one way or another. Let’s look at whether architecture as a process can be therapeutic and in what way inhabiting space could be restorative – and simultaneously, whether and how architects can contribute to the healing of the construction world. On November 4th, we’ll kick off by discussing how to approach architecture in a now changing world – what kind of a vocabulary might architects need for the emerging future. Matteo Cainer will be walking us through three architectural / research projects, from their inception, in relation to their concept and environmental, architectural and social aims, as a means of proving a sort of evidence and support to the three lines of research/interests that he and his practice share: converging ecologies, resilient adaptive re-use and social weaving.

Prior to opening his own practice MCA in 2010 in London, Cainer worked and collaborated with a number of celebrated international practices including Eisenman Architects in New York City, Coop Himmelb(l)au in Vienna, and Arata Isozaki Associati in Milan. In 2004 he was Assistant Director for the 9th International Architecture Biennale METAMORPH, in 2006 Curator of the London Architecture Biennale CHANGE and in 2018 curator of the Dark Side Club in Venezia. 

In 2011, Cainer moved to Paris where he was Associate professor and HMONP director at the École Spéciale d’Architecture and it was there that he created and directed the “Pavillon Spéciale” series. It was also in Paris that he conceived and hosted “Architecture Whispers” and in 2013 co-founded and co-directed with Odile Decq the Confluence Institute for Innovation and Creative Strategies in Architecture in Lyon. In 2018, Cainer moved back to London and was nominated curator for the 7th Edition of the Dark Side Club for the International Architecture Biennale in Venezia. Today, he remains a regular visiting critic at both Westminster and the AA. In March 2020, to respond to the pandemic, Cainer launched MCA Online, a free educational initiative to provide lectures, teaching, and support to home-bound students, and at the end of the year, he opened MCA in Milan, Italy.

The work of Matteo Cainer and his practice has won various awards and has been published in numerous books and international magazines; it has also been featured in various international exhibitions among which the Royal Academy in London and the Pisa Architecture Biennale. Matteo has also lectured and written and edited a number of books and articles in the field of architecture and design, and his studio featured in numerous books, international magazines and was selected as one of the 25 significant emerging international practices at the London Architecture Festival.

In order to minimize the risk of the virus spreading, we will broadcast the lecture on EKA TV

 and it can be viewed along with all previous lectures at www.avatudloengud.ee. However, the lecture can also be attended in-person – we do ask you to carry your COVID vaccination certificate or proof of having had COVID; there will be no on-site testing. Academy students are subject to the usual in-house rules. NB! You can’t ask questions via EKA TV, so it’s worth coming to the hall to participate in the discussion! The lecture is free and in English.

Curators: Sille Pihlak and Johan Tali.

The season of open lectures is supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment.

On Thursday, October 28th at 4pm, Ruth Sargent Noyes will give an open lecture “Globalizing art histories of North-eastern Europe before modernity: a view from the Baltic” as part of the Open Lectures’ series of the Institute of Art History and Visual Culture of the Estonian Academy of Arts.
Room: A-101

Through a series of queries and micro-historical case studies, Dr. Noyes takes up the questions of issues of globalizing Baltic art before modernity, from the perspective of an art historian focused on connecting Italy and the Baltic over the longue durée. Global approaches have been gaining momentum in recent years across fields dedicated to the study of art, architecture, and visual-material culture. An increasing number of scholars of North-Eastern Europe, including the Baltic sphere, have expanded the purview of research through the integration of comparative and transcultural methods. Elsewhere, the global turn has led to new transgeographical perspectives which have begun to challenge previous national paradigms in various art-historical traditions. This presentation examines these issues from a transregional, transcultural perspective, and also considers how integration of Baltic Europe’s art histories in the discipline’s ongoing explorations of cultural heterogeneity and global circulations of artefacts can be inflected through other fields.

Ruth Sargent Noyes took her BA (Harvard University) and MA and PhD (Johns Hopkins University) in Art History, and is presently Marie Skłodowska-Curie EU Senior Research Fellow at the National Museum of Denmark (Copenhagen). Author of a number of books and articles, her research takes up the intersection of art, religion, and science of the long Counter-Reformation (c. 1550-1800) in its global context, with special interest in cross-cultural perspectives between Italy and North-eastern Europe, including the Nordic-Baltic region. A 2014 Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and recipient of a number of research grants and awards, she currently leads the Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Union Individual Fellowship Project, The art of (re)moving relics and reforming holiness in Europe’s borderlands (TRANSLATIO).

Lecture will be held in English.

Covid certificates will be checked at the entrance of the lecture hall, masks are obligatory.