Fresco panel by Dolores Hoffmann at the EKA Gallery. Photo: Kristjan Järv.
On 3 September from 5 pm, an event An Evening with “The Morning”, summarising the
activities related to the fresco panel will be held at the EKA Gallery. Speakers include the
artist of the fresco, Dolores Hoffmann, as well as several of her students and
companions, including friends and contemporaries used as models for the work. The event
also includes a book presentation and a performance during which the artist will sign the
fragments of her work that have been replaced and now continue their life as independent
artworks.
At 6:30 pm, the documentary of Hoffmann’s creative activity, Shared Light, will be
screened, with an introduction by director Kullar Viimne and producer Erik Norkroos.
The event is free.
The earliest known monumental painting in fresco technique from the Soviet period in
Estonia was completed in 1963 based on the design for a diploma project at the State Art
Institute of the Estonian SSR. According to Professor Hilkka Hiiop from the Department of
Cultural Heritage and Conservation at EKA, it is wonderful that the fresco has finally found
its way back to the academy: “The Morning was Dolores Hoffmann’s graduation project.
She was a student at EKA and later also a long-time lecturer, and it was students at the
EKA who took her fresco apart and removed it from Rahu Cinema.” In total, approximately
50 percent of the painting was removed and preserved; part of it has also reached the
collections of the EAA Museum. In the exhibition, the destroyed panel is displayed as a
video projection, with the preserved panels “planted” in it. The exhibition allows us to once
again see the work as a single whole, and to reflect on the preservation of cultural
heritage. The exhibition is accompanied by an eponymous book which provides an
overview of the process of creating and later removing the panel in all its complexity.
The exhibition Restless “Morning” will be open at the EKA Gallery (Põhja pst 7, Tallinn)
until 7 September.
Exhibition team: Hilkka Hiiop, Reeli Kõiv, Frank Lukk, Taavi Tiidor, Maris Veeremäe,
Andres Uueni
The exhibition Restless “Morning” will be open at the EKA Gallery until 7 September.