Category: Departments

October 9, at 16.00, room A101

Open Lecture by Jan van Boeckel
Art and Sustainability Education in an Age of Uncertainty and Climate Fear

Jan van Boeckel will give a presentation on fostering attention through arts-based open-ended approaches in an age of ecological emergency and radical uncertainty. If we are to respond adequately to the rapid and deep changes taking place in the world in our current times, we may need to envisage a very different type of education. Not one that is predominantly based on knowledge transfer, but a kind of teaching and learning that foregrounds engaging with radical uncertainty. In more open-ended modalities of education, learners tend not to know on forehand what the outcomes and expected deliverables will be. Such approaches may cause a sense of unease because of a presumed lack of control, of missing framing guidelines and clear target objectives. It is exactly in this space of vulnerability that it is essential that learners feel that their educational experience is safely contained and held by teachers and facilitators. A way of achieving this may be through employing arts-based approaches. Through such practices of artful exploring (for example together with a group of students) a sense of excitement, of curiosity and wonder may be prompted.

One of Van Boeckel’s key areas of interest is in educational activity as primarily and fundamentally an open-ended process. The outcome is not given, though the participants follow certain sequential steps which frame the process. Through teaching and hands-on doing, it aims to promote understanding of interconnected systems – both biological and cultural. Van Boeckel contextualizes this form of arts-based environmental education by valuing it as a form of ‘poor pedagogy’, as articulated by Jan Masschelein. Such practice is expressive of a view on education that is not about the transmission of knowledge but rather is a way of attending to things (Tim Ingold). It is also ‘weak pedagogy’, in which is foregrounded what Gert Biesta regards as ‘the educational imperative’: to arouse in another human being the desire to exist as subject, in dialogue with the world. For him this means being ‘in the world without occupying the centre of the world’, trying to exist in dialogue with what and who is other.

Exactly because artistic activities and research, as part of this kind of education, aren’t prima facie linked to urgent themes such as climate change – that they may lend possibilities, affordances, to take up such subjects in new ways. For, on a meta-level, they can also be seen as exercises in facing complexity, uncertainty, not-knowing, and of discovering and forging new relationships between phenomena and processes, in ways that are often far from obvious. Van Boeckel suggests that it is precisely this element of sustainable education (Stephen Sterling) we need, if we are aiming to equip new generations with skills to live in ‘postnormal times.’

Jan van Boeckel is an artist and art educator who has worked for many years on the intersections of art, education and ecology. He was professor in art pedagogy at EKA from 2015 until 2018. Before he was a teacher at the Iceland University of the Arts and other places. In academic year 2018-2019 Jan worked as senior lecturer in art education at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and as visiting lecturer and teacher on the themes of art, sustainability and climate leadership at the Centre for Environment and Development Studies (CEMUS) in Uppsala, also in Sweden.
More info: www.janvanboeckel.wordpress.com

The lecture is in English, attendance free.

The display of design and architecture schools introduces graduation works and various school projects. In addition to the design schools in Estonia who offer higher education in Tallinn, Tartu and Haapsalu our guests from Kolding Design School, European University in Madrid and Falmouth University are presenting their most successful student projects.

“This course focuses on research of interactions between an individuality and tangible reality being sufficiently modern, to indicate on the immanent presence of the creative spirit, as a condition for all imaginable arts that may rely on their future.” – A. Jakovlev

Students showing their works: Anni Kivisto, Erle Nemvalts , Johanna Tamm, Kaisa Krusenberg, Oliver Kanniste, Anna-Liisa Hanni, Terje Meisterson, Ketlin Kuusing, Greete Rüütmann, Henri Kaarel Luht, Mart Vaarpuu, Aleksandra Kazanina, Andres Mäekallas, Rünno Kulver, Katrin Aasmaa, Kerttu Rannik, Anna Roomet, Siim Simmermann, Cathy Saarm, Maarika Karm, Kristiina Jeromans, Cärol Ott, Triin Tint, Vitali Valtanen, Anna Viik Archanjo

Tutors: Marta Moorats, Aleksander Jakovlev

TOO MUCH / LIIGA PALJU
Triin Kukk and Erinn M. Cox
We always want more. We are constantly overwhelmed and filled with confusion and excitement of
how to think, feel and react to what happens to us and around us. We conjure images and words that
blur the edges of reality, often falling into obsessions where we can’t seem to get enough, to express
enough. We crave reckless love, endless joy, unbounding truths, and fantastical experiences; all the
while unsuccessfully fighting the temptation to fully follow our wants and wishes. But when do we say
something is too much? Where is the line between what is sufficient and what is excessive when our
hearts and guts beg for an endless more?

Triin Kukk is an Estonian jewellery artist, currently obsessed with stones. She finished her MA
studies in the department of jewellery and blacksmithing at the Estonian Academy of Arts this spring. Recently, Triin was awarded with one of the Galerie Marzee Graduate Prizes.
For more about the artist, visit: www.triinkukk.com

Erinn M. Cox is a jewellery artist from the United States, currently residing in Tallinn, Estonia. She
holds a BFA in sculpture and photography from Florida State University, an MFA in sculpture and
installation from the Memphis College of Art, and a MA degree in Jewellery from the Estonian
Academy of Arts. Erinn has exhibited her work internationally, highlighted by her selection for
Schmuck 2018 and recently being awarded one of the Galerie Marzee Graduate Prizes in 2019.
For more about the artist, visit: www.erinnmcox.com

Over the course of two months, the artists will present a transforming exhibition of contemporary
jewellery and objects to contrast their perspectives of what may, indeed, be too much.

Join us for two special events:
Vernissage: Friday, September 13 at 6 pm
Finissage: Friday, November 15 at 6 pm
The exhibition is open until November 18, 2019

A-galerii
Hobusepea 2, Tallinn

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

Anna Tamm’s solo exhibition “Puppet Warp” will be opened in the Showcase Gallery of the department of photography at the Estonian Academy of Arts since September 4, 2019. 

“Puppet Warp” is an artwork inspired by the today’s situation in domestic policy, illustrating the simple method used for influencing the appearance and form of freely selected object/subject, thus transforming its purpose according to the artist’s needs. However, the radical use of the Puppet Warp tool may turn the original image into something new and unrecognizable.

The title of the exhibition is a direct reference to the digital image manipulation tool in Adobe Photoshop.

Exhibition can be viewed 24/7 and it will be open until October 26th.

Location: facade wall of the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM), Põhja pst. 35.

Open lecture „becoming [in]determinate: from specificity to responsiveness, from site to situation” by JAMES CAREY, artist and lecturer in Interior Design, School of Architecture and Urban Design, RMIT University on Monday, 9 September 4 pm (A300). 

James Carey’s creative research practice explores process-based interventions within decommissioned buildings and gallery spaces. This presentation will discuss James’ practice and how it shifted during his PhD candidature; from one that was defined by himself and others as site-specific and spatial practice, to one that explores and manifests the concept of duration through a practice that is temporal, material and spatial. Furthermore, James will also discuss his ongoing creative research practice, particularly in the cities of Detroit and Hamtramck, USA and his project as part of the Oslo Architecture Triennale 2019.

Biography:

James Carey is an artist and a Lecturer in Interior Design, School of Architecture and Urban Design, RMIT University. James is also an artistic director at BLINDSIDE gallery, and he lives and works in Melbourne, Australia. 

James has an inherent curiosity to notions of process, time and duration. His practice is one of mark making, marking time, making time, and time making; foregrounding duration and marking an occurrence. His technique is one of working responsively, allowing particular temporal conditions to surface within specific situations. His marks materialise immateriality and allow the residue of particular processes to be assembled as collections of materialised and spatialised time. 

Recent projects and exhibitions include interruptions Stockroom Gallery, Kyneton 2018, future interior with staff and PhD candidates Interior Design, School of Architecture & Urban Design, RMIT as part of Melbourne Design Week 2019, and ! 金! curated by Dr Kent Wilson and La Trobe Art Institute, as part of the Castlemaine State Festival, Australia 2019. In June and July 2019, James returned to Detroit, USA for continuing research, and he will also participate in the Oslo Architecture Triennale, whose provocation explores the concept of degrowth within contemporary cities and cultures.

The rescue from destruction of Dolores Hoffmann’s fresco ’Morning’ at the Cinema ’Rahu’ (’Peace’) in Kopli, Tallinn.

The exhibition is open from August 6 at the Gallery of the Estonian Academy of Arts at Põhja pst 7. The theme of the exhibition is a 74 m² fresco by Dolores Hoffmann that she completed as her graduation project – no longer in one piece today.

In 1963 Dolores Hoffmann, a future renowned monumentalist, professor and famous stained glass artist, painted an enormous mural ’Hommik’ (’Morning’) at the newly opened cinema ’Rahu’ (’Peace’). The earliest known Soviet era monumental fresco was painted on the basis of a draft graduation project from the ESSR State Art Institute. The artist used her friends and peers as models, the brothers Arrak, Jüri Palm, Evi Sepp and many others. She also included Ernest Hemingway, an idol writer for the youth of that era.

In 2019 the dilapidated cinema building was demolished to be replaced by a modern shopping centre. The 74 m² monumental work of art by Dolores Hoffmann would have been demolished in the process had the Department of Cultural Heritage and Conservation of the Estonian Academy of Arts not made it its mission to rescue at least parts of the fresco – about half of the painting was dismantled and preserved and pieces of it are kept in the Estonian Academy of Arts Museum.

This exhibition in the Estonian Academy of Arts Gallery on 6.8.–7.9.2019 tells the story of the rescue of the fresco ‘Hommik’. The monumental mural will be shown as a projection with the rescued fragments ‘planted’ into it. The exposition gives another chance to look at the artwork as a conditional whole – something that no longer exists and to contemplate the preservation and appreciation of cultural heritage.

Exhibition team: Hilkka Hiiop, Reeli Kõiv, Frank Lukk, Andres Uueni, Taavi Tiidor, Maris Veeremäe

The exhibition is accompanied by a book under the same title, compiled by the Estonian Academy of Arts Cultural Heritage and Conservation Department and the Estonian Academy of Arts Museum.
The book gives a detailed and abundantly illustrated insight into the dismantling process of the giant fresco by Dolores Hoffmann in all its complexity. It also tells the story of this monumental painting including its historical context, the process of creation, an analysis of the painting, its critical reception, its afterlife etc, as well as the philosophy of conservation and the history of the dismantling of frescos. The book is supplemented by direct quotations from an interview with Dolores Hoffmann.

The texts were written by Hilkka Hiiop, Reeli Kõiv, Andrus Laansalu and Frank Lukk, and edited by Anneli Randla and Maris Veeremäe, designed by Villu Plink. Published in Estonian and in English by Tallinna Raamatutrükikoda, 64 pages.

For more information contact: Hilkka Hiiop – hilkka.hiiop@artun.ee, tel 56 577980

Date: September 9-12 / 5 pm–8 pm

Venue: Estonian Academy of Arts, Põhja pst 7, room A301

Lecturer: Ewa Domanska

This series of seminars is based on the assumption that today art can offer the historian (as well as anthropologists, archaeologists, literary scholar, etc.) theoretical inspiration, and even an epistemological paradigm and a research program of knowledge building. Interesting cognitive models, research categories, and representations of reality can be derived from the analysis of works of art. Following Susan Sontag’s statement that “each work of art gives us a form or paradigm or model of knowing something, an epistemology,” I would claim that analysis of various types of art objects, performances and activities might help us to build an inclusive knowledge of the past.  Such knowledge would be more appropriate for the planetary condition than offered, for example, by history understood as a specific approach to the past that emerged within the Greco-Judeo-Christian tradition and carries a stigma as a colonial enterprise. Thus art participates in the struggle for the epistemic justice, commenting on the problem of “epistemological dependency” of non-western scholars, and criticizing Western cognitive (artistic) imperialism. It is an important force in the development of an emergent paradigm that is post-anthropocentric, post-Western, post-secular and post-global (planetary/ cosmic).

Contemporary art is a great laboratory for the testing of various kinds of future. If indeed there is a need for realistic, responsible (local or micro) utopias in the world today, they might be developed with the help of various ways of knowing (the world). This would include not only humanities, social sciences as well as life sciences and Earth Sciences (“radical interdisciplinarity”) – which is to say, Western type of knowledge, but also include indigenous ways of knowing. The question arises as to whether the historian and the artist can offer a more positive (affirmative) scenario of the future?

Registration

The seminar is open to PhD students.

Registration is open until 01.09.2019. Max group size is 15.

Registration form

Readings (readings will be sent after registration)

• Doris Bachmann-Medick, Cultural Turns. New Orientations in the Study of Culture, trans. Adam Blauhut, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016.
• Bruno Latour and Timothy M. Lenton, “Extending the Domain of Freedom, or Why Gaia Is So Hard to Understand.” Critical Inquiry, vol. 45, no. 3, Spring 2019: 659-680.
• Ariella Azoulay, “Potential History: Thinking through Violence”.Critical Inquiry, vol. 39, no. 3, Spring 2013.
• Rosi Braidotti Rosi, “Powers of Affirmation: Response to Lisa Baraitser, Patrick Hanafin and Clare Hemmings.” Subjectivity, vol. 3, no 2, 2010: 140–148.
• Ewa Domańska, “Affirmative Humanities”. Dějiny – teorie – kritika [Czech Republic], no. 1, 2018: 9-26.
• Ruth Lipschitz, Skin/ned Politics: Species Discourse and the Limits of “The Human” in Nandipha Mntambo’s Art. Hypatia, vol. 27, no. 3, August 2012: 546–566.
• Ann-Marie Tully, Becoming Animal: Liminal Rhetorical Strategies in Contemporary South African Art. Image & Text, vol. 17, 2011: 64-84.
• Kathy Charmaz, Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide Through Qualitative Analysis. Sage, 2006.

Program

 Monday, September 9

1. Paradigm shift in the contemporary humanities and social sciences

Tuesday, September 10

2. Prefigurative Art/Humanities

 Wednesday, September 11

3. Contemporary Art and the Future of History

Thursday, September 12

4. How to build a theory? [workshop]

The course provides an overview of how the contemporary art scene in Estonia functions – the most important organisations, the movers and shakers, the currently important and active artists from different disciplines, and the types of events being held. The causal factors behind the art scene are also explored, starting from the restoration of independence, Estonian art in the context of the regional and broader international art scene, and much more.
The participants will receive an overview of the art field of Estonia through lectures, discussions, studio/institutional visits and art.

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We invite you to take part in a rare opportunity to serve in the Special Programs Think Tank to envision and create hypothetical “special programs” that Estonia’s government might instate, either in the future or in parallel realities.
This five-day event will provide you with the chance to design preferable paths for government, guided by future-visioning strategists from the Extrapolation Factory. Over the course of the workshop, participants will be introduced to the essential principles of futures studies and will learn to identify signals, extrapolate implications and create future artefacts.
Each program will be announced through physical, print or digital artefacts to be shared with local citizens.

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During the sculptural headwear course, the participants will acquire techniques for moulding and draping headwear and making couture millinery in traditional materials. In addition to innovative and alternative solutions, the course will look into the history, functions and meaning of headwear.
The workshop will introduce, based on the example of the Balenciaga fashion house in Paris, the materials and techniques of handmade millinery in order to popularise the field of millinery design that has become marginal in recent decades. By researching various materials (straws, felt, etc.), the participants will obtain the necessary historical background knowledge to help in maintaining the tradition of wearing innovative couture millinery.

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