Category: Support Units

PhD Vitamin is a first-time event at the Estonian Academy of Arts that consists of public lectures and individual consultations. Our goal is to bring together experts in artistic research with prospective PhD students with the intent of introducing the latter to the field of artistic research and to advise them in developing their own PhD research proposals.

1. Join the lectures: (please register beforehand)

Monday, 04.05. 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Liina Siib works mainly in photography, video and installation. The most prominent and recurring themes in Siib’s work include social spaces, marginalised groups and overlooked experiences. In her work Siib looks into how history gets written and the role of memory in shaping various groups in society, often using interviews, observation or archival materials as her method of working. (CCA)

Monday, 04.05. 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Dr. Varvara Guljajeva is an artist and researcher. Varvara holds a PhD from Estonian Academy of Arts, and M.Sc in digital media from University of Luebeck, and a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology from IT Collage (Tallinn University of Technology). Her practice-based doctoral thesis “From interaction to postparticipation: the disappearing role of the active participant” analyses and contextualises passive audience interaction through the lens of post-participation.

Tuesday, 05.05. 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Dr. Michael Schwab is a London-based artist and artistic researcher who investigates postconceptual uses of technology in a variety of media including photography, drawing, printmaking, and installation art. He holds a M.A. in philosophy (Hamburg University) and a PhD in photography (Royal College of Art, London) that focuses on post-conceptual post-photography and artistic research methodology. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal for Artistic Research (JAR).

Wednesday, 06.05. 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Dr. Chris Hales has exhibited a variety of interactive film installations dating back to ARTEC’95 in Japan via Future Cinema at ZKM in 2003 to the Glucksman Gallery in Cork in 2019. Part of his enquiry is the use of novel or unusual interface technology including facial emotion recognition and brain-computer interfaces.

2. Join the consultations: (please also register beforehand)

In addition to the lectures, individual consultations take place within the framework of the PhD Vitamin from 6th to 8th of May. They offer the opportunity to talk about your artistic work and ideas for a doctoral thesis with an expert of your choice.

In addition to the experts who will give lectures in the first half of the event, it is possible to register for a consultation with artist Kristina Norman.

Kristina Norman is a freelance artist whose interdisciplinary work is characterized by an interest in the relationship between identity, memory and public space. One of her most internationally known works is the intervention in public space at the 10th Manifesta Biennale in St. Petersburg, when she installed a 14-meter iron Christmas tree frame – which has become a symbol of Euromaidan – in front of the Winter Palace. The action linked the tragic events in Kiev to the repressed memory of demonstrations at the Palace Square at various times. Norman’s newer research-based creation experiments with performative expressions.

To participate in the consultations, register HERE.

We encourage artists, alumni and graduates of the Estonian Academy of Arts and other universities working with creative research methods to register. Registration is open until 03.05.2020. The exact consultation times will be sent directly to the provided e-mail addresses. Be quick – the number of free spots for the consultations is limited!

The lectures and consultations will take place in digital environments. The event is funded by the European Regional Development Fund

Questions? Please contact madis.luik@artun.ee

You are invited to the opening of the exhibition “This is not a labyrinth” on 11 March at 5 PM at the EKA Billboard Gallery. The gallery is located outside on the EKA building on Kotzebue street. The exhibition will remain open until 8 April.

Walking through the cities, they change into something else: it’s impossible to walk along the same street twice, the shadows and light are growing and shrinking on their own. We are lost since morning. Don’t let go. Don’t get lost. This is not anymore the place you came to.
Like in “Invisible Cities” by Italo Calvino, we show one city we visited together, but more so one city, we visited in our imaginations. “This is not a labyrinth” is a photo album about on day in a foggy dreamy place.

Graphic Art 3rd year students: Mark Hiir, Hanneleele Kaldmaa, Brit Kikas, Maria Izabella Lehtsaar, Riin Maide, Liis-Marleen Verilaskja

Supervisor: Liina Siib

Apply for Erasmus+ exchange studies or training in 2020/2021! Application deadline at EKA is 1st of March 2020.

We encourage all EKA students to study abroad or carry out training during one or two semesters.

Info about how to apply on website: artun.ee/en/studies/studying-abroad

Check the list of partner universities, prepare your portfolio and motivation letter.

Info meeting on February 13 at 15.00, room A403.

Join us for the opening of the exhibition “Pretence” by Brenda Purtsak and Eero Alev on Tuesday, February 11 at 6 PM. The exhibition is curated by Holger Loodus.

With this exhibition, two young painters, Brenda Purtsak and Eero Alev portray a person through body and space. Right at the start of the project, the artists reached an agreement that they would not show the face of the person being portrayed. The challenge is to create tension – whether the viewer is able to follow the mystery put together by Purtsak and Alev. We get to know that the person being portrayed is a real human with his or her virtues and flaws. He or she has given artists permission to experiment, allowed them close and opened himself or herself up, as it is generally usual in a portrayal.
The viewers’ task is to be a detective and rebuild the whole from the pieces, so they invited to participate in the Hitchcock-like mystery of painting. The exhibition will remain open until March 7.

Brenda Purtsak (b. 1994) and Eero Alev (b. 1983) are studying painting at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Purtsak has participated in various joint exhibitions – “Let Me Breathe in My Own Way” (2018), “Common Dimension” (2019) and others.
Eero Alev has participated in several group exhibitions, at the Haapsalu City Gallery (“Common Dimension”, 2019) and the Estonian Art Museum (“Open Collections. The Artist Gets the Floor”, 2019). 

Holger Loodus (b. 1970) has graduated from the Department of Cultural Heritage and Conservation (BA, 2008) and the Department of Painting (MA, 2012) at the Estonian Academy of Arts. In 2012 Loodus was awarded the Young Artist Award. In 2018 he received the People’s Choice Award of the Köler Prize and the annual Award of the Estonian Cultural Endowment.

Supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and A. Le Coq.

Join us for the opening of the exhibition “Maintenance Is a Drag (It Takes All the Fucking Time)” on Tuesday, 28 January at 6 pm. The exhibition will remain open until 8 February, Tue-Sat 12-6 pm.

On 14th January 2020 at 15:00 you are welcome to the Estonian Academy of Arts’ assembly hall to join EKA Design Showcase – a public presentation of the freshest design projects made in collaboration with various enterprises.

Registrer here: forms.gle/f57Np17xGetoVTAP6
Event on Facebook: facebook.com/events/2613872371981428/

Concepts, prototypes and final results for innovative products and services will be presented, featuring new developments in the field of design. All enterprises, EKA’s present and future cooperation partners, and enthusiasts of innovative design are kindly invited to attend the event! The presentations will be given in English and the event will be in English.

Timeline:
15.00 Opening remarks by Kristjan Mändmaa (Dean of EKA Design) and Martin Pärn (Professor of Design at TalTech, Design & Technology Futures Head of Curriculum).

15.10 Linnar Viik – “Innovation – verb, not noun”

15.30 – 16.30 First block of presentations
– Smart Clothing for Moon Habitat. Swiss Space Center, Igluna 2020, D&TF
– Modular Clothing System for Lunar Habitat. Swiss Space Center, Igluna 2020, D&TF
– Mindful Listening in Spotify. Spotify + IxD
– TalTech Library: Advisory. TalTech Library + D&TF
– Re-thinking TalTech library. TalTech Library + D&TF
– Terve ruum /Healthy room. PERH + Product design
– Banners for Reidi tee promenade. Port of Tallinn + Graphic design
– Tallinn Pattern Buildings. Faculty of Architecture

16.30 – 16.50 Coffee break

16.50 – 18.15 Second block of presentations and closing remarks
_ Vessels for Transition, Exploring Circular Economy for Bolt. Bolt + IxD
– Aruna Clothing (India) + Fashion design
– Tvilum + D&TF
– More than a piece of furniture. Tvilum + D&TF
– Ruum. Tvilum + D&TF
– NOOK. Tvilum + D&TF
– “Nest of Emotions”. Porkuni school + glass/textile design
– Viimsi bus stops and gates. Viimsi county + Product design

The event will be funded by European Union Regional Fund.

Join us for the opening of the solo exhibition “Five Volumes” by Paul Kuimet on Friday, January 3 at 6 PM. The exhibition will remain open until January 25.

The exhibition, consisting of film projections, a slideshow, photos and an installation, was first exhibited at Narva Art Residency in 2018. In the accompanying catalogue, curator of the exhibition, Nico Anklam, explores the different meanings of the word volume – it can be a part of a series, the amplitude of sound, and, above all, a property of three-dimensional space: its capacity. The various meanings of the title and its subtleties open the contents of the works at a slow and meditative pace, similar to film projections.
Three 16 mm film projections depict the Pärnu KEK building complex, built in 1969. Golden Home (2017) deals with a block of flats forming part of the KEK complex, which according to Anklam “conjures two different eras and styles of architecture – Socialist and Capitalist – with their specific hopes and promises of advancement. Both seem, again, to be stuck in constant return. This motif slumbers already in the title of the exhibition: volume as a word derives from the Latin volvere – to roll or fold, and its recurrence, re-volvere informs the term revolution.”
Kuimet has been working with space since 2013. He is interested in the connection of architectural space to photography and film, and, in turn, their relationship to the architecture of exhibition space. He also pays great attention to the scenography and choreography of both the visitors and the artworks in the gallery. For Kuimet, the relocation of the exhibition content to a new space and context is important when presenting the works at EKA Gallery: “These five volumes or units, which were laid out in separate rooms in Narva and projected onto double-sided screens have been presented as a single volume at EKA Gallery. In Narva, Display for Optical C-Prints hosted two photographs, but at the current exhibition, it will be used as a kind of pavilion that contains all four projectors.”

Paul Kuimet (b. 1984) is an artist based in Tallinn, Estonia. His work has recently been exhibited and screened at Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt; European Central Bank, Frankfurt; KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn; WNTRP, Berlin and BOZAR Center for Fine Arts, Brussels. In 2018 he participated in the residency programme at WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels and will take part in the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York City.

www.paulkuimet.ee

Supported by Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Muddis Brewery, A. Le Coq.

Graphic design 3rd years students present their project “Wack Dystopia” at EKA Billboard Gallery

On November 20 at 8 PM 3rd-year graphic design students will present their project “Wack Dystopia” at the EKA Billboard Gallery. The course is supervised by Norman Orro. EKA Billboard gallery is located outside on Kotzebue street. The exhibition will remain open until January 31.

In 2015, Mark Fisher coined the term “boring dystopia” to describe the mundane underbelly of the hypercapitalist London society. The first “Blade Runner” movie is already set in history, in November 2019.

Now on the brink of 2020, we live in a WACK DYSTOPIA where truth seems debatable and most news is underlined with the hashtag #notonion.

WACK DYSTOPIA is life in a glimmering technocracy, haunted by a medieval mindset.
WACK DYSTOPIA is a gut feeling, that nothing makes sense anymore.
WACK DYSTOPIA is not a forecast, but a critique of the present.

The metamodern condition finds us in limbo between utopias and dystopias. Both are simplistic caricatures and neither seem real or attainable. To move forward we first have to look truth in the eye. To get real we need to look to the absurd…

In the words of Aldous Huxley ”The trouble with fiction… is that it makes too much sense. Reality never makes sense.”

Participating students: Adam Asztalos, Kersti Heile, Elisabeth Juusu, Roven Jõekäär, Karmo Järv, Anneli Kripsaar, Syret Kärt, Liisi Lasn, Sigrid Liira, Laura Martens, Mikk Tanel Oja, Aliz Stocker, and Johann Georg Villmann
Headline font: Aliz Stocker

Supervisor: Norman Orro

Vlog-performance “THE STORY: chatty get ready, what I eat, workouts (realistic day-in-a-life)” by Netti Nüganen on December 27 at 8 PM at EKA Gallery

A vlog-performance, “The Story…” follows a journey of a character who takes on a trip to ungraspable and alienating lands. Surrounded by the heat and landscapes of California, the protagonist shares with the audience her most banal, trivial and expectable everyday actions. But somehow, by highlighting this banality, something magical is created – a parallel universe where the experience of the known everyday is turned upside down into absurdity, becoming perhaps more relatable than the reality itself. Appearing both in the video and on stage, the character watches the audience watching her throughout these familiar, yet alienating situations.

Netti Nüganen has graduated from the choreography department in SNDO, Amsterdam. Through her video and stage works, she tells stories about characters like a weightlifter, a teenager vlogger, a detective or a cowboy, approaching their banal habits through mystification. While finding comfort in contradictions, displacement, and pluralism, she treats everything known with careful deconstruction and everything unknown with vigilant attention.

Video montage by Ando Naulainen and Netti Nüganen
The performance is in English

Doors: 8 pm
Performance: 8.30 pm
The entrance is from Kotzebue street