Open Lecture: Dr. Michael Renov, University of Southern California: “Semiotics of Documentary and U.S. Documentary Film History”

Dr. Michael Renov from the University of Southern California will hold a public lecture titled “Semiotics of Documentary and U.S. Documentary Film History” at the Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonia pst 7, rm 426 on February 3, 2016 at 4 pm. The lecture will be in English and everyone is welcome.

Why the documentary matters? Michael Renov, professor of Critical Studies and Vice Dean for Academic Affairs from University of Southern California, author of several books about the documentary film and documentary film curator for many festivals, will be talking about the social significance of the documentary film. Dr. Renov will discuss the crucial functions served by the documentary film — preservation, persuasion, analysis and expression — with additional attention given to ethical concerns. Dr. Renov, an experienced jury member for film festivals such as Sundance, Silverdocs and many others, will also be talking about the U.S. documentary films and U.S. documentary films history.

The lecture is made possible and available thanks to the Embassy of the United States of America in Estonia.

Croquis.

Robert Vierlinger is an interdisciplinary consultant and researcher. At the University of Applied Arts Vienna he has co-initiated several research projects in architecture and technology, investigating digital design representation, multi-modal optimization, machine learning, and material intelligence. Procedural design and optimization on international competition and construction projects are the basis of his consultancy at Bollinger+Grohmann engineers. He studied structural design in Delft and Vienna, studied architecture in Studio Hani Rashid Vienna, and since has been lecturing at the Angewandte, AA, CITA, ZHA, USC LA, CU Hongkong and many more.

At the Open Lecture Series internationally renowned architects, artists, theoreticians, critics and urbanists from all around the globe give talks to offer fresh perspectives on architecture, design, urban development and critical thought. The lectures are open to everyone interested in the future of our living environment. The lectures are held in English, free of charge.

www.avatudloengud.ee

The lecture series is supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment.

Estonian Academy of Arts Faculty of Architecture

“Open Lecture Series”

04.02 Víctor Enrich (Barcelona) – Víctor Enrich stuudio

Victor Enrich (b. 1976) is a catalan photographer and artist. He graduated architecture in Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in year 2002. Continuing with a self taught education of 3D visualisation and photography, his work is a constant manifest on one and the same subject: the City. The city, not only understood as the very well-known process of adding, subtracting or modifying spaces for all sorts of human activities but also as a complex system of nodes that involve and connect everybody’s blurry dreams, exacerbate passions, fearful nightmares or even tedious social life.

http://victorenrich.com/

At the Open Lecture Series internationally renowned architects, artists, theoreticians, critics and urbanists from all around the globe give talks to offer fresh perspectives on architecture, design, urban development and critical thought. The lectures are open to everyone interested in the future of our living environment. The lectures are held in English, free of charge.

www.avatudloengud.ee

The lecture series is supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment.

Croquis.

3.02 Jeroen Carelse / lecturer in Aalto University, Carelse OÜ designer and analysist.
Mixing research+art+business. Extrasensory Perception & Design, Imagination, Intuition and creativityAuthenticity and creativity. What does it mean to be authentic and how does one become authentic? Does authenticity result in creativity? Are there differences in art and design that comes from the place of authenticity?

The Open Day at the Estonian Academy of Arts will take place on March 24, 2016 from 10am-6pm. If you are a foreign student and need guidance in English, please contact admissions@artun.ee to register for a tour.  The programme is posted in Estonian here: https://www.artun.ee/x/avatuduksed/kava/

Joanna Figiel public lecture on artistic work
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On Wensday, January 27th 6PM we are pleased to host Joanna Figiel (London City University) who will hold an open lecture on artistic work. The lecture will take place at the main hall of Estonian Academy of Sciences, Kohtu 6.
„This short lecture will attempt to overview, and engage with, the vast array of issues faced – currently and historically – by those trying to make a living, pursue a meaningful career or simply survive in the sphere of artistic, cultural and creative work.
What does it mean to work as an artist? What does it mean to work as a female artist?
What is the class composition of artistic and cultural work? What are the lived realities of production for creative workers and different forms of subjectivation occurring in forms of creative labour? How does artistic labour function as a form of authentic self-expression?
To ask and engage with the above, as well as other related questions, I will firstly look at the general history of art workers movements, ideologies and politics, and further turn to a number of recent projects exploring and engaging with these issues.
To name a few, I will:
-bring together existing accounts addressing the politics of cultural and creative work and the findings of the “Metropolitan Factory” research project, developed in collaboration with S.Shukaitis.
-discuss the work of Citizens Forum for Contemporary Arts in Warsaw, Poland and the subsequent publication of the “Black Book of Work in the Arts” of which I was co-editor. (“Czarna Ksiega Polskich Artystow”)
-summarize a portion of findings from the recently completed, 2-year long, “Art Factory” research project of the Free/Slow University of Warsaw examining the distribution of capital(s) in Polish art-world, with the specific focus on issues of female workers and artists
-look back at the ongoing practices and shared tools developed by the Carrotworkers Collective and the Precarious Workers Brigade in London, UK.
Finally, I will give some examples of how we can take responsibility – but whose responsibility is it? – to step out for art workers’ rights and working conditions in the current political climate of neoliberalism and generalized precarity.“
Joanna Figiel is a doctoral candidate at the Centre for Culture Policy Management, City University, London. Her research focuses on the changing compositions of labour, precarity, and policy in the creative and cultural sectors. She completed her MA at the Centre for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths. Joanna is a member of the editorial collective of the journal ephemera: theory and politics in organization, organizes with groups including the Citizen’s Forum for Contemporary Art in Poland and PWB in the UK, and collaborates with Free/Slow University of Warsaw and the ArtLeaks collective. She recently completed work on a special issue of a journal dedicated to workers’ inquiry and a collective research project exploring the practicalities of making a living as a creative worker in the city.
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A workshop about the relationships of art and work.
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Joanna Figiel and Airi Triisberg will also be holding a workshop at the Institute of Art History on January 29th, 10.15 AM (Suur-Kloostri 11, room 103). For participation please email to Rebeka Põldsam (rebeka@cca.ee)
In this workshop, we will discuss how the problems of precarious labour are manifested and contested in the context of contemporary art practice. By examining examples of labour organising in the art field, we will discuss how precarity is addressed and conceptualised by art and cultural workers.
The workshop will focus on two themes in particular. In the first part, we will discuss how art workers relate to the modes of subjectivation that are typical to neoliberal economy. In this context, we will ask what is the role of art education in shaping these subjectivities and how could the imperatives of competition and individuality be contested. How can we manage our individual expectations and ambitions vs the reality of the art world/art economy, individuality vs collectivity ?
In the second part of the workshop we will look at concrete practices and strategies used by art workers initiatives that are currently active. What kind of tools do art workers use when seeking to change precarious working conditions in their local contexts? Which strategies are successful and where are their limits?
Recommended reading
Maarin Mürk, Maria-Kristiina Soomre, Airi Triisberg, Kõigepealt saame rikkaks, siis hakkame õiglaseks?

Kõigepealt saame rikkaks, siis hakkame õiglaseks?

Precarious Workers Brigade, Training for Exploitation? Towards an alternative curriculum

Training For Exploitation? Towards an alternative curriculum

Joanna Figiel, On the Citizen Forum for Contemporary Arts
https://artsleaks.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/joanna_figiel_artleaks_gazette_2.pdf
Airi Triisberg, Art Workers Movement in Tallinn: the Politics of Disidentification
www.art-workers.org
Art Factory Polish survey/ report excerpt http://issuu.com/beczmiana/docs/the_art_factory
Further readings:
Airi Triisberg’s -Estonian text about the recent organising in Estonia
PWB Alternative Curriculum ? https://carrotworkers.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/training-for-exploitation-towards-an-alternative-curriculum/
Counter-internship guide ? https://carrotworkers.wordpress.com/counter-internship-guide/
Citizen forum https://artsleaks.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/joanna_figiel_artleaks_gazette_2.pdf
WAGE?
Bulletpoints to think about:
thinking of ones artistic practice as labor, are artist workers?
artist income
content of their art academies’ curriculum
expectations vs reality of the art world/art economy
precarity
competition vs individuality
internalisig/personalising systemic issues
collectivity? do artists and collectives work? what are the limits of collectivity? issues/limits of unionising
burnout/work-life balance
Possible steps:
– working through examples of practices and initiatives. can we examine them critically?
– creating a problem list / offering ideas for a toolbox – creating a toolbox together?
– mapping precarity

Dear student!
The first ever Estonian creative industries hackathon will be held in
Tallinn from the *29th to the 31st* *of January*. *Loomehäkk* will bring
together creative minds, IT specialists and business development experts.
During 48 hours the participants will create new products and services in
fields like gaming, movies, music, cultural heritage, design, television,
art, literature and performing arts.
You can join the Loomehäkk hackathon with your idea and team, or you may
come and listen to the ideas of others in order to join a cool team. Top
creative industry and startup mentors will help the teams with their skills
and know-how. Ideation and team matchmaking will take place on Friday. On
Sunday evening the teams must be ready to present their service/product
prototype in front of a jury. The jury will pick the best teams and will
hand out awesome prizes.
All the hackathon partners will provide challenges/problems, industry
trends and development ideas that can serve as a starting point for the new
service/product.
Partners of Loomehäkk include: Digix, IGDA, GameFounders, Estonian Digital
Center, Creative Mobile, Tallinn University, Estonian Academy of Arts,
Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, Estonian Business School, UT
Viljandi Culture Academy, Estonian Entrepreneurship University of Applied
Sciences, University of Tartu, Estonian University of Life Sciences,
Tallinn University of Technology, Music Estonia, Black Nights Film
Festival, Estonian Film Institute, Estonian Public Broadcasting, Brand
Manual, TERE AS, Microsoft, Eesti Telekom/VUNK, Estonian National Museum,
Estonian Film Archives.
Participation is free of charge for all students. University discount code
*EKA2016 *is required during the registration process. Please be prepared
to present a document (e.g. ISIC card) on the site to prove your student
status.
Register for the event: https://www.amiando.com/ORFXBGM
Additional information available at:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1171478069548695/
Contact person: Marek Mühlberg, marekm@tlu.ee, +372 5510204

Croquis.