Marge Monko Book Launch at Kai

Please join us for the launch of Flawless, Seamless – a new monograph by Marge Monko – on Friday, September 23 at 6 pm at Kai Art Center in Tallinn. At the launch Marge Monko will premiere her film Window on the Visible World, which is followed by a conversation with Maarin Ektermann. The film and book are in English, discussion is held in Estonian. During the launch the publication will be sold at a special price of 25 euros. 

Flawless, Seamless is the first monograph of Marge Monko, encompassing works from 2014 to 2021. The book presents nineteen works that explore what the artist calls “the architecture of desire,” drawing inspiration from public banners, print advertisements, shop displays, show windows, etc. These ubiquitous promotional strategies, designed to evoke an abiding, aspirational desire, suggest that the products they represent will fulfill the promise of luxury, romance, and happiness. Monko’s interest in these inseparable elements of capitalist society can be traced back to her childhood in the 1980s, which in the context of the Soviet Union was marked by the shortage of commodities.

The works are accompanied by an essay by curator and writer Moritz Scheper and three conversations with Monko’s fellow artists and friends, Erika Hock, Maruša Sagadin, and Paul Kuimet. In his text, Scheper makes connections between Monko’s earlier and more recent works, and elaborates on different femininities prevailing in East and West. The conversations touch upon the subjects such as artist’s work, materiality, collaboration, and bookmaking. The publication is edited by Laura Toots, designed by Indrek Sirkel, and published by Lugemik. The publication was supported by Cultural Endowment of Estonia and the Estonian Union of Photography Artists (Foku). 

The conversation with Maarin Ektermann is preceded by the premiere of Marge Monko’s film Window to the Visible World at 6.15 pm. The 21-minute film made in 2021 reflects upon the role of the window in architecture and visual culture. It is accompanied by a voice over written and read by the artist. A view from one’s window has been a recurrent motif in the history of visual art. Focusing on the legacy of the modernist architecture, the film draws parallels between the views from windows recorded in São Paulo and Tallinn. It follows different modes of images that equally serve as metaphors for the window – from engravings and paintings to virtual images on our computer and cell phone screens. The film was commissioned by Videobrasil in Context and Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center.

Marge Monko is a visual artist who lives and works in Tallinn. She has studied at the Estonian Academy of Arts, University of Applied Arts Vienna, and Higher Institute for Contemporary Art (HISK) in Ghent. Monko works with photography, video, and installation. Her works are inspired by historical images and theories of psycho-analysis, feminism, and visual culture. She works as a professor in the Department of Photography at the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Maarin Ektermann is an art worker who deals with creating points of contact between contemporary art, more and less experimental education, art criticism, etc. In addition to managing several projects in the field of art, her focus has also been mediating what is happening in the field of art – both through writing art criticism and organising public debates. She has been one of the initiators and leaders of the art criticism blog Artishok, and hosted the show Kultuuriministeerium in Klassikaraadio (with I. Grigor). She has taught several different courses at the Estonian Academy of Arts, where she also works as the head of Centre for General Theory Subjects.

Tallinn Art Hall
14.09–16.11.2022

EKA Contemporary Arts’s alumni at the exhibition!

Journeys can sometimes be life-altering. Over the atmospheric and geopolitical heat of the summer of 2022, curators Corina L. Apostol and Kristaps Ancāns, head of Estonian Academy of Arts’ Contemporary Arts MA program, invited eight artists, four based in Estonia and four in Latvia, to travel across the Baltic coast to discover each other and create this exhibition together. Working in collaboration, each of them brings their personal approach to art practice and co-habitation of the exhibition space at Tallinn Art Hall Gallery in the show I came here to be alone – I also came here to be alone.

The exhibition I came here to be alone – I also came here to be alone draws inspiration from a 1959 film Baltic Express by Jerzy Kawalerowicz, which revolves around the communication between two strangers, forced to co-exist in confined conditions – the claustrophobic world of a tight train cabin. The train journey is a catalyst which tests what kind of chemistry can be created in unstable and uncertain conditions. From the perspective of a passenger, everything in the world is in motion, while from the perspective of someone not on the train it is quite the opposite. Baltic Express reflects on these two phenomena and focuses on a pivotal moment in time. Every story we tell or read about home or about our recent history, now has a different landscape looking out of the window of this train. The world as we know it is no longer the same, and our imaginative space has transformed.

In the foreword of the exhibition booklet, curators Corina L. Apostol and Kristaps Ancāns explain: “This exhibition reflects the many interactions, stories and intertwined experiences that open a certain void that has exploded in our societies during the pandemic and the current crises, revealing what had been masked by an emptiness that still lingers. How should we act, how can we trust each other, and what does this new crisis-era culture look like? Turbulences can sometimes open new ways of approaching things, as we no longer need to follow canons that have been built beforehand. Have the “new us” developed the skills or even some superpowers to cope with transformation or are our levels of loss and grief quietly rising? How do we deal with what has happened and the present challenges, while still waiting for the train to arrive at a new destination?“

Once they got to know one another’s different yet related contexts, collaborating, living and making art together gradually acquired a deeper meaning for the eight participating artists. Transforming and taking over the gallery windows, Dzelde Mierkalne and Junny Yeung have built two claustrophobic, almost cinematic environments, reflecting on how in the current times the home and the workspace have become enmeshed into an uncomfortable functional third space. Johannes Luik and Krišjānis Elviks’ works create the scenography of this exhibition from what has been left behind – or from someone left behind after a journey. Through their own bodies, Alise Putniņa and Maarja Tõnisson test in repetitions how our mind and body connects or disconnects in everyday journeys when something disrupts our intentions. Alyona Movko-Mägi and Madara Gruntmane have created a series of moving digital avatars of locals from Riga reciting love poems. The videos make them seen, not less than human, but also not like us in an avatar state.

Dr. Corina L. Apostol is a curator at the Tallinn Art Hall, curator, and member of the steering committee of the international practice-based research project Beyond Matter (2019–2023), and the curator of the Estonian Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale (2022). Corina is also a guest lecturer at MA POST, Art Academy of Latvia. She is the co-founder of ArtLeaks, and editor-in-chief of the ArtLeaks Gazette. She was longlisted for the Kandinsky Prize (2016) and the Sergey Kuryokhin Prize (2020). She is the winner of the apexart 2022–23 exhibition proposals competition in New York.

Kristaps Ancāns is an artist, writer, and educator whose practice spans installation, sculpture, language and moving images. His practice investigates the confusion between humanity, nature, and machines through a conceptual game with its own artificial intelligence. Ancāns was awarded the Cecil Lewis Sculpture Scholarship and the Helen Scott Lidgett Award. He is the co-head of POST, the interdisciplinary master’s program at the Art Academy of Latvia.

After the opening, on Wednesday, September 14 at 6.30 pm, curators Corina Apostol and Kristaps Ancāns will give a guided tour in English at the exhibition. I came here to be alone – I also came here to be alone will be open at the Art Hall Gallery until 6 November 2022.

Art Hall Gallery (Vabaduse väljak 6) is open from Wednesday to Sunday 11-6 pm, free entry.
The Tallinn Art Hall Foundation is a contemporary art establishment that presents exhibitions in three galleries on the central square of Tallinn – at Tallinn Art Hall and nearby at Tallinn City Gallery and the Art Hall Gallery.

The exhibitions of Tallinn Art Hall are installed by Valge Kuup.

www.kunstihoone.ee www.facebook.com/TallinnaKunstihoone/
www.instagram.com/tallinnarthall/

Further information:
Sirli Oot
+372 5873 6841
sirli@kunstihoone.ee

In the fall of 2022, Narva Art Residency’s international artists are going to give online lectures to tell in detail about the practice of a professional artist, what the everyday life of art residencies looks like, and how to take part in the opportunities offered. It’s a possibility for the wider English-speaking audience to get to know 6 professional artists and learn their tricks and tips as well learn about their artistc practices. Online lectures take place every two weeks starting from the 15th of September. Each time at 18 o’clock in the evening.

The lecture series is broadcasted at the EKA TV webpage – a platform of the Estonian Academy of Arts. The lectures will be available also for viewing later.

EKA TV link:  https://tv.artun.ee/nartavatudloengud/7reYLVjZtv

Schedule:
15.09 at 18.00 Kenneth Bamberg

29.09 at 18.00 Jacque Falcheti 

13.10 at 18.00 TBA

27.10 at 18.00 TBA

10.11 at 18.00 TBA

24.11 at 18.00 TBA

The first lecture is by Kenneth Bamberg, who is spenting a 3-month residency in Narva. He is a Finnish photography artist from the Åland Islands who explores the different angles cultural and traditional ways of expressing masculinity.

The second lecture is by Jacque Falcheti, a singer and songwriter from Brazil. She already took part in the Station Narva festival and will write 6 songs during the time of the residency about Narva.

19.-25.09.2022
Opening 19.09, 6 PM

Balti manufaktuur, Uue Loomingu Maja, Manufaktuuri Tänav 5, Tallinn 

The Sustainable Design and Material Lab DiMa exhibition 

DiMa is a  research centre at the Estonian Academy of Arts, which focuses on circular design in the field of textiles and fashion and the development of new sustainable materials. The textile industry has become the second biggest industrial polluter after the oil industry. This has generated an urgent need to deal with textile waste- collect, sort, upcycle and recycle. Our aim with this exhibition is to provide the visitors with practical examples of the textile waste circularity by upcycling, industrial upcycling, mechanical recycling and regenerative textile design.  

The exhibition is co-funded by Estonian Environmental Investment Centre and European Regional Development Fund 

Pilvi Tammoja and Erinn M. Cox with their joint exhibition “That Girl” in the small gallery of Tartu Art House.

The artists present contemporary jewellery pieces that depict, deny, define, and distort the images we hold of ourselves as women.

The works are inspired by our vulnerabilities, our strengths, our fears, and our desires — whether they are real or imagined.  They are thinking about that girl: who you may know, who you might also be.

Tammoja and Cox add: “In the dark, it’s all a trick.  And nobody knows.  We are in the moment, in the moments.  Our eyes throw a glance, we make you laugh, we are provocative, we dance, we drink.  We pretend to have fun.  We break our own hearts.  And we do it again and again.”

Pilvi Tammoja (b. 1991) is an interdisciplinary artist from Estonia based in Tallinn. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in fashion design and a Master’s degree in Jewellery which provides her a unique understanding of forms and the body, resulting in diverse works made with an ever-changing range of materials from silk thread to cast iron. She has exhibited her work in group exhibitions and fashion shows; and has also worked on window displays, photo set designs and prop design & fabrication.

Erinn M. Cox (b. 1976) is a jewellery artist from the United States based in Tallinn, Estonia.  She holds BFA and MFA degrees in sculpture and a MA degree in Jewellery.  Erinn has exhibited her work in the US and internationally, highlighted by her selection for Schmuck 2018 & 2020, SOFA CHICAGO, and the 21grams touring exhibition.  She was awarded the Galerie Marzee Graduate Prize and named an upcoming design star by Wallpaper* Magazine.  As well, Erinn is an adjunct professor of Fine Arts and Art History in the US and a guest lecturer at the Estonian Academy of Arts.  She is a published author on topics related to contemporary art + design, jewellery, and philosophy and is the founder and writer for the online journal Louise & Maurice (www.louiseandmaurice.com)

Special thanks to: Tartu Art House, Plattform Schmunkkunst

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

The exhibition is open until 2 October.

Additional information:
Tanel Asmer
Tartu Art House producer
produtsent@kunstimaja.ee
5562 1192

www.kunstimaja.ee
facebook.com/kunstimaja

Riin Maide and Nele Tiidelepp  joint exhibition “Etudes with imaginary performers” in the monumental gallery of Tartu Art House.

The central idea of the exhibition is the meaningfulness of absence. The artists have observed the traces of activity in the space. Impressions are presented by media and materials.

Riin Maide and Nele Tiidelepp have been inspired by one of the first exercises of those learning to become actors: an etude with an imaginary object. The scene, the subject of which is usually taken from everyday life, is rehearsed as accurately and repeatedly as possible, so that correspondence to the previous reality is preserved even when the objects are removed. In their exhibition, they have left out the performers from the etude. The space and the objects (which try to imitate the presence of the performers as accurately as possible) are left to speak.

Riin Maide (b 1997) has acquired a bachelor’s degree in the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Estonian Academy of Arts, majoring in graphics, and furthered her education in the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theater at DAMU in Prague, majoring in scenography. In 2020, she received the EKA’s Young Artist Award and the Edmund Valtman Scholarship. Site specificity, ephemerality and graphic imagery are important in her work. Through playful installations and theatrical environments, she deals with memory and presence.

Nele Tiidelepp (b 1998) is an artist and writer who graduated the installation and sculpture department of the Estonian Academy of Arts. Her practice is motivated by spontaneous reactions to the environment and materials. Tiidelepp has won the Noor Tartu competition, EKA’s Young Artist Award, SIIL Prize and Millenium Prize, published texts in the journal “Värske Rõhk”, the newspapers “Müürileht” and “Sirp” and participated in exhibitions and art events in Estonia, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Portugal and Finland.

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
The exhibition is open until 2 October.

The EKA School Fair has started in the EKA lobby

30.08–02.09 & 05.09–07.09

Lots of EKA merch – things that you can wear, give, use, lose and find again. Mainly buy.

See you at the EKA Fair!

Fashion design from here and there. The opening of DiMa. 

There has been a little cell of circular design working around in the corridors of the Estonian Academy of Arts for many years now. It has done science, created new materials, experimented with different design solutions and mapped out textile waste, and eliminated it by circulating it back by using different design methods. The 19th of September is the day for bringing it all into the spotlight and making it official. It is the opening of DiMa.  

On stage, you can see fashion design that has been made from industrial leftovers and post-consumer textile waste that has seen more countries than passionate travellers can dream of. As one of the research topics of DiMa is circular design, specifically upcycling and recycling the show brings you design that has been made by using the before-mentioned design methods. An enormous amount of textile waste has been brought back into circulation through design. 

Participants:
Dr. Reet Aus
Cärol Ott
Sandra Luks
Kristel Aimee Laur
Marta Konovalov
Maria Kristiin Peterson
Yvette Agani
Bibi Mwanzala
Loise Wangari
Olivia Njeri
TOKU shoes  

The event is co-funded by Estonian Environmental Investment Centre and European Regional Development Fund 

DEAR FRIEND
15–29 September 2022
Opening. 15.09 at 6 pm
EKA Gallery, Estonian Academy of Arts

Dear Friend,

We have been thinking about you and we are looking forward to meeting you at the Dear Friend exhibition from 15–29 September 2022 at EKA Gallery. We hope you have time to pass by! The gallery doors open on 15 September at 18:00. 

Since 2019 we have been writing, folding, publishing, sharing and posting the Dear Friend publication. There are four seasons of published letters. This Fall seemed like the right time to meet after a few years of correspondence. It is a chance to talk about publishing, writing, small publications, doing things together, and why not just about how we are doing. 

The exhibition features all the published Dear Friend letters. The letters are available for you to read, take home or mail to another friend. Next to the letters there are projects and publications by our penfriends. These are mostly publications that connect with the Dear Friend project contextually, formally, community-wise and beyond borders. 

There is also a public programme that includes presentations of periodical publications and books; from 20–23 September readings and recordings of letters, programme Tracks as envelopes by oH radio; 24 September Dear Friend symposium, a day full of presentations and discussions; 29 September Dear Friend letter writing workshop and more. 

A catalogue will be published alongside the exhibition, with contributions by Singapore-based design writer Justin Zhuang, designer and writer Else Lagerspetz, and artist Lieven Lahaye. It will include published letters and a selection of photos of the activities. The book launch will take place at the symposium on 24 September. 

PUBLIC PROGRAM

16–29 September, EKA Gallery

16.09 17:00 artist Lieven Lahaye presents a new issue of Catalog

20.09–23.09 11:00–13:00 & 14:00–16:00 oH radio’s Tracks as envelopes, public readings of Dear Friend letters in the exhibition space. Come read one! 

22.09 18:00 presentation of Exercises in Practical Mischievery by Laura Pappa, Carlo Canun, Maki Suzuki

24.09 12:00–17:00 Dear Friend symposium and catalogue presentation. Come and join!

28.09 18:30 launch of the All Horses Are the Same Colour by EKA GD MA students 

29.09 18:00 Dear Friend letter writing workshop. Please join! 

SYMPOSIUM

24 September 12:00–18:00, EKA Gallery

Dear Friend symposium is a gathering where we explore practices and questions around experimental and self-publishing, mailing as a form of publishing, and design as writing through presentations and discussions. 

Symposium is held in English. 

12:00 Gathering

12:30 Presentation Undisclosed Relations, Henk Groenendijk 

Henk Groenendijk travels from Sofia, Bulgaria to open some boxes full of student publications, a selection of works from the Test Press exhibition, and copies of Test Press magazine. Henk will tell us about his library and collection of student publications and the links that are perhaps not visible. The connections are in the books, posters, and other paraphernalia. 

Heni Groenendijk is a collector, educator, and curator of Test Press Books. He worked as a professor at the Graphic Design Department of Gerrit Rietveld Academie and initiated the Rietveld & Sandberg Library Publications Archive. 

13:00 “A Lecture on Nothing: on the Legibility of Illegible Text”, Arja Karhumaa

What do typographic texts consist of? How does typography relate to language, image, and writing? How do you read illegible text? What is type beyond only form, as part of our coexistence and social environment? This performative talk has no answers to these questions but aims to stay with the trouble they make.

Arja Karhumaa is a text designer, a feral academic, and a language animal. She is Assistant Professor and Head of Programme in Visual Communication Design at Aalto University ARTS, Finland. 

13:30 open discussion

14:00–15:00 break/lunch

15:00 Presentation about de Appel’s publication The Remote Archivist, Nell Donkers

Nell Donkers, archivist of de Appel in Amsterdam will talk about The Remote Archivist, a recurring (one-page folded poster) publication from the Archive. There are four series of the publication that have been presented so far. The aim is to invite artists, thinkers, and readers to dive deeper into the archive and recalibrate the archive materials for their own practice. Bardhi Haliti is the designer of the project and of de Appel’s house style. 

Nell Donkers has managed the archive (library, archive, and collection) of De Appel in Amsterdam since 2002 and made it digitally accessible. 

15:30 Talk about Queer.Archive.Work and the resting reader, Paul Soulellis

Paul Soulellis’ talk will present his work at the nonprofit library, publishing studio, and residency Queer.Archive.Work in Providence, US with a focus on collectivity in the context of independent publishing. The resting reader is a book of texts and images assembled from source material found on the shelves of the Queer.Archive.Work library. The content was selected during the rise of the COVID-19 Omicron variant in December 2021, around the loose themes of rest, quiet, care, queer, sanctuary, reflection, collective, and generosity. 

Paul Soulellis is an artist and educator based in Providence, RI. His practice includes teaching, writing, and experimental publishing, with a focus on queer methodologies and network culture. 

16:00 open discussion

17:00 presentation of the Dear Friend catalogue, Ott Kagovere and Sandra Nuut

Ott Kagovere is a Tallinn-based graphic designer and the Head of the Department of Graphic Design at the Estonian Academy of Arts. 

Sandra Nuut is a curator at the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design. Previously she worked at the Estonian Academy of Arts and New York-based gallery Chamber. 

Exhibition concept/curation: 

Ott Kagovere & Sandra Nuut

Exhibition design

Ulla Alla & Nika Gabiskiria

Letters by
Alicia Ajayi, Stuart Bertolotti-Bailey, Claudia Doms, Nell Donkers, Maarin Ektermann, Rosen Eveleigh, Maryam Fanni, Saara Hannus, Eik Hermann, Paul John, Maria Juur, Ott Kagovere, Maarja Kangro, Arja Karhumaa, Kristina Ketola Bore, Nicole Killian, Rachel Kinbar, Tuomas Kortteinen, Keiu Krikmann, Kadri Laas, Else Lagerspetz, Lieven Lahaye, James Langdon, Jungmyung Lee, Kai Lobjakas, Michelle Millar Fisher, Maria Muuk, Sheere Ng, Sandra Nuut, Laura Pappa, Jack Self, Indrek Sirkel, Paul Soulellis, Triin Tamm, Laura Toots, Alice Twemlow, Loore Viires, Sean Yendrys, Justin Zhuang

Letter visuals by 

Mai Bauvald, Pärtel Eelmere, Martina Gofman, Kersti Heile, Laura Merendi, Mikk Oja, Rex, Johanna Ruukholm, Robin Siimann

Thank you

Andres Alliksaar, Louis Biasin, Rita Davis, Pärtel Eelmere, Maarin Ektermann, Mark Foss, Triin Jerlei, Mette Mari Kaljas, Kaur Karu, Kertu Klementi, Else Lagerspetz, Rasmus Lukas, Laura Merendi, Anete Ots, Laura Pappa, Steven Pikas, Lola Maria Pärna, Emma Reim, Filipp Rotšenkov, Maret Sarapu, Georg Ander Sild, Indrek Sirkel, Mariliis Tarja, Ljubov Terukova, Taylor Tex Tehan, Laura Tursk, Pille-Riin Valk 

Detailed program: facebook.com/events/440404928139944/440701844776919

Dear Friend web archive: https://gd.artun.ee/dearfriend/ 

Supported by Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Academy of Arts, European Regional Development Fund

See you soon!

Sandra & Ott

Space-installation “Kadri Goes Green”
Tallinn, gallery HOP,
Hobusepea 2 in Tallinn Old Town. 

Free entrance.

Motto of the exposition (according to art historian Tiina Abel who paraphrased her father,
a famous Estonian comic Ervin Abel):
Live in a way that if you collapse, then
everyone believes its from the utmost
happyness.

You’ll find yourself in a living-room, where there meet the try-outs of green turn and comics connected to these activities.

No pre-registration needed