Contemporary Art and Context: Mare Tralla

From Breaking Illusions to Becoming a Unicorn. Artist talk by Mare Tralla

Mare Tralla’s first public solo performance, Breaking Illusions (1993), and her most recent performative video work, Becoming a Unicorn, exhibited last month in Edinburgh, represent two significant milestones in her artistic journey. In her first performance, Tralla began with a quiet, symbolic action of destroying the perceived notion of a (young) woman / herself. In many ways, Becoming a Unicorn continues this exploration, presenting a self-ironic and humorous act of creating a queer self. Between these two works lies a journey of feminist inquiry, spanning art, activism, and life.

Mare Tralla (b 1967, Tallinn) is queer-feminist artist and activist. Her professional art career started in Estonia in the early 90s, where she was one of the very few conducting a feminist revolution in the field of contemporary art. Drawing from her personal history and everyday experience her practice was in direct critical response to how the transition period of Eastern European societies affected women. In her art practice she employs and combines a variety of media: video, photography, performance, interactive media, painting and various traditional crafts. As an activist she has been involved with Act Up, London, Catwalk4Power, No Pride in War coalition and LGSMigrants. Her recent performative projects deal with queer experiences, gender issues, investigate sustainability and economics. Currently Mare Tralla lives and works in Edinburgh.

Recent exhibitions include: ‘Duck and Cover’, Vabaduse Gallery Tallinn (2024), ‘In the Name of Desire’, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga (2024); ‘We Don’t Do This. Intimacy, Norms and Fantasies in Baltic Art’, MO Museum, Vilnius (2024);  ‘Same Subject Continued’, Edinburgh Palette, Edinburgh (2023);  ‘Consequences’, Out of A Blue Drill Hall, Edinburgh (2022); ‘Atishoo, A-tishoo, We All Fall Down’, EKKM, Tallinn (2019); ‘Machine Divas’, steirischerherbst’20, Schaumbad, Graz (2019);  ’Woman&Woman’, City Gallery, Pärnu, 2019; ‘The X-Files [Registry of the Nineties]’, Art Museum of Estonia KUMU, Tallinn, (2018-2019); ‘Give Up the Ghost. Baltic Triennial 13’, Kim?, Riga, (2018);  ‘Bastard Voices’, Baltic Triennial 13, evening of performances, South London Gallery, London, (2018); ‘Women’, Threshold Artspace, Perth, UK (2017-2018).

Recent text contributions in books: Feminist Art Activisms and Artivisms, ed. Katy Deepwell, Valiz 2020; Watched! Surveillance, Art and Photography, eds. Louise Wolthers, Dragana Vujanovic, Niclas Östlind, 2016; re.act.feminism a performing archive, eds. Bettina Knaup and Beatrice Ellen Stammer, 2014; quite queer, ed. Claudia Reiche, 2014

www.tralla.net 

The talk will be held in English.

Design specialist Steinar Valade-Amland will hold a public lecture on Tuesday, October 29.

Design has slowly and perhaps unfortunately slipped away from one of its historical hallmarks; that of safeguarding the aesthetical value of solutions by giving them form and beauty. Many designers dream about being allowed to focus more on the aesthetical resonance of their work. The need to develop more compelling – and at the same time more responsible products, services and systems, could be their big chance of doing so because trade-off design can never be utilitarian, or spreadsheet-driven. Design to foster more responsible choices and a more sustainable way of life hence must be more attractive, more captivating, more fun or more enriching than what is already out there.

For more than a decade, Steinar Valade-Amland has acted as an independent consultant, working for a wide range of private sector companies, NGOs and public sector organizations, as well as for the European Commission since he stepped down after twelve years as CEO of the Association of Danish Designers in 2012. He has written numerous articles for trade magazines, contributed to several books – including the “Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Design”, and played an active role in processes focusing on design policy, design practice and design education – in particular on a European level. He’s the author of “INNOLITERACY – From Design Thinking to Tangible Change”, published in Denmark in 2016, and in English by Business Expert Press in 2018, as well as co-author of “Design: A Business Case – Thinking, Leading and Managing by Design” together with Brigitte Borja de Mozota, published in 2020. Re-published as a tool-book under the name “Strategic Design for a Responsible Future” in collaboration with designer Hervé Collignon in February 2024.

We are pleased to invite you to participate in BLACKOUT, an event organised by the Jewellery and Blacksmithing Department of the Estonian Academy of Arts, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the beginning of professional metal art education in Estonia.

Although the name of the university and the department has changed several times over the last hundred years, the fact remains that we have been teaching metalwork at a high level for a hundred years in a row. This is a good enough reason to call together friends from here and abroad to discuss where we have come from and where we are going.

Alongside the exhibition at the Narva Art Residency, a symposium, excursions, and sauna will encourage and initiate the discussions. All these activities are brought under the common title of BLACKOUT.

We do not imply mind-blindness or a serious hangover by this, but rather posing the question of how to arrive somewhere without knowing exactly where you’re going, as the essence of artistic quality lies in capturing the invisible. In discovering something surprising for yourself and others. The fear of being lost vanishes because even without knowing what you seek, you’ll recognize it when you find it.

At the symposium on October 25–26, we will approach the above-mentioned question from three different perspectives: PRACTITIONER, THEORIST, and EDUCATOR. The speakers will explore questions such as:

How do you create a relationship with students that would help them open up and inspire the courage to explore the world? How do I ask the right questions to discover something new and recognize the right things for myself? How do I deal with suspense? How do I maintain the courage to continue searching and working in a situation, where setting too clear goals could be an obstacle?

Speakers: Jorge Manilla (KHIO/NO), Olaf Hodne (KHIO/NO), Erinn M. Erinn (KHIO/NO). Cox (US), Daniel Strandow (HDK Valand/SWE), Siri Tolander (HDK Valand/SWE), Tarja Tuupanen (FI), Jenni Sokura (LAB/FI), Flora Vagi (MOME/HU), Taavi Hallimäe (EKA), Urmas Lüüs (EKA), Sander Haugas (EKA), Taavi Teevet (EKA), Hansel Tai (EE), Liisbeth Kirss (EE), Erle Nemvalts (EE).

Participation in the symposium is free.

The event will be held in English.

Pre-registration is required at the following link: https://forms.gle/6djfdmw41XYnLtXd6

Timetable:

Friday, 25 October

10-12 Narva sightseeing for guests

14-18 presentations

19 Exhibition opening, party

Saturday, 26 October 

11 – 14 presentations

16 Narva sightseeing

Sauna and socialising in the evening

Information about the event will be updated as it becomes available.

Location:
Narva Art Residency (NART)
Joala 18, 20103, Narva

Contact: metall@artun.ee

Artist talk by Family Connection

For the exhibition Difficult Pasts. Connected Worlds (curated by Margaret Tali and Ieva Astahovska, until Oct 20 on show at the Tallinn Art Hall Lasnamäe Pavilion) Family Connection has researched Black people present in historic Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian popular cultural and brought them in conversation with each other. From Mauritius, the patron saint of the Blackheads Brotherhood, to Eewar, the Jamaican maroon in Lydia Koidula’s “Juudit or the Last Maroons of the Jamaica Island”. In their artist talk two members from the collective – Rudsel Martinus and Quinsy Gario – will present about their works and discuss the themes present in the collective’s presentation. Martinus will be presenting via zoom from the Caribbean island Curaçao and Gario will be present in Tallinn. As part of their contribution to the exhibition, Gario will also be performing on Saturday, Oct 19, 18.00 at the House of the Blackheads. During the talk he will also speak about that performance titled In the Presence of Blues Part II.

Family Connection is an artist collective founded in 2005 from Curaçao and the Netherlands. The members are part of the Martinus family who were based in the Buena Vista neighborhood on Curaçao. For each presentation the participating artists vary. In Tallinn works are presented from Glenda Martinus, the co-founder of the collective; her brother Rudsel Martinus; and the children of Glenda Martinus – Jörgen Gario and Quinsy Gario. The group has worked together to present an installation consisting of paintings, audio, video and sculpture. Their work is concerned with decoloniality and presenting speculative histories. The subject matter differs per exhibition, but the collective actively relates their positioning in the Caribbean with the local context of their presentations. Previously the collective has presented work in Riga (Latvia), Berlin (Germany), Utrecht (the Netherlands), Eindhoven (the Netherlands) and on Curaçao.

‘Contemporary Art and Context’ is a lecture series hosted by MA Contemporary Art.

The artist talk will be held in English, everyone is welcome to join!

The Open Lecture series of the EKA Faculty of Architecture will take place in the autumn of 2024 under the general title S*cial – Values in the built realm.

The lecturers will focus on the ongoing shift in planning practice, where considerations other than pure economic viability increasingly play a role in decision-making.

On October 31 Christian Pagh will hold the lecture “Mission Neighbourhood – (Re)forming communities”.

The neighbourhood is a fundamental physical and social horizon for human life. Yet, the intricate mix of relations that makes up a neighbourhood is rarely given the attention it deserves in policy making or urban planning. As Director and Chief Curator of the Oslo Architecture Triennale from 2021-2024, Christian Pagh dedicated his curatorship to exploring neighbourhoods as a horizon for reforming urban and societal development. The lecture – and book – Mission Neighbourhood – (Re)forming Communities, offers insight into how to form more sustainable, diverse and meaningful neighbourhoods, and explores the urgent urban issues of our time – from social infrastructure, nature and biodiversity, to mobility and urban governance – from a neighbourhood perspective. Intent on inspiring action, the lecture includes best practice projects, perspectives and hands-on advice from Pagh’s experience in the intersections between urban planning, design and culture.

Mattias Malk, curator of the autumn lecture series, PhD student and visiting lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture, describes the main theme of the lecture series as follows:

Inclusion, the valorisation of social space and the changing role of architects, especially in the public sector, are gaining ground in Europe’s spatial development, but things are still moving slowly in Estonia. So far, our economic growth has been based on environmental degradation and, despite rigid market-driven planning, we are among the weakest in the EU in resource use. However, the foundations of a smarter spatial policy, which is more useful than profit, are still undefined and untested.

One of the aims of the lecture series is to define and rehabilitate the word ‘social’ in Estonian spatial policy, including the social responsibility mentioned in the new planned public procurement. All the invited lecturers deal with the issues of space and sociality in their daily work and will share their experiences of the changing role of architects through examples.

Within the framework of a series of open lectures, the Faculty of Architecture of EKA presents a dozen unique practitioners and valued theorists in the field in Tallinn every academic year.

Schedule of the autumn 2024 lectures:

September 5 at 6 pm Jonas Janke (architects, b+)

September 19 at 6 pm Elina Alatalo (architect, Tampere University)

October 31 at 6 pm Christian Pagh (curator, Oslo Architecture Triennale)

November 28 at 6 pm Petra Marko (architect, Metropolitan Institute of Bratislava)

The lecture series is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

On Saturday, October 19, the Spooky Drag Night organized by the EKA Students Queer Association (ETKÜ) will take place at EKKM, where drag artists from EKA and elsewhere will perform.

The event celebrates the birth of a new student initiative, the goal of which is to bring together the queer community of EKA and stand for a safer learning environment. People who would like to try drag for the first time, but have not yet found the opportunity to do so, are also invited to perform.

Location: EKKM
Time: 19.10 at 20.00
Ticket information: Admission by donation.

More info: https://fb.me/e/1SJ2IwwjT

“Paljassaare Palimpsest. A journey Through the Interstices of Trash and Treasure.”

On October 18 from 13:00 to 17:00 in Paljassaare

The first-year urban studies students have once again spent half a semester exploring Paljassaare peninsula – the very edge of the capital where today the entire city’s waste is directed… but also where the new focal point of the future Tallinn, the contemporary urban centre of the Nordic capital, is imagined. This Friday, October 18, the students invite everyone who is interested to join them on a journey between trash and treasures in the (post)industrial heart of Paljassaare, to explore what processes and value judgments shape today’s space.

Gathering on October 18 at 13:00 in front of the Maleva 2A building.

The approximately 5-kilometer journey takes place outdoors in changing landscape and weather conditions and ends around a campfire near Pikakari beach. The event is in English.

Things to bring along:

• snacks + drinks
• headphones
• a mug
• warm clothing
• waterproof footwear

More information on urban studies social media: https://www.facebook.com/urbantallinn

On Monday, 21 October 2024 at 17:00, artist talks by Berit Schneidereit and Saskia Fischer will take place at EKA A-501. The artists will be in Tallinn to conduct masterclasses in the photography department of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Berit Schneidereit’s artistic work revolves around the question of the nature of photography and the physical and bodily act of looking. Rooted in photography, her practice extends to spatial installation and sculpture. Using a variety of techniques, Berit Schneidereit creates constellations of closeness and distance, reality and suggestion, with which she creates a constant oscillation between image space and reality.

Berit Schneidereit (b. 1988, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where she graduated as a master student in 2017. She has been exhibited at Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf; G2 Kunsthalle in Leipzig; Kunsthalle Recklinghausen; CCA in Andratx, Mallorca; at NAK Neuer Aachener Kunstverein; de Warande in Turnhout, Belgium and Goethe Institut Paris, among others. She received the Stiftung Kunstfonds work grant, the dhCS-studio grant from the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, as well as the van-Rinsum grant for the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris. She lives and works in Düsseldorf.

https://www.beritschneidereit.de/

instagram: beritschneidereit

Saskia Fischer is an interdisciplinary artist working with images, objects, texts, and environments.

Her research is concerned with the paradigms that form and inform landscape as a reflection of cultural and social values. She examines the ways Western understanding separates anthropological urbanity from a colonial concept of nature, reinforcing problematic notions of femininity and what is ‚natural‘. Her working motifs draw on transitory architectures and the fabricated barrier between nature and the commons. This interdisciplinary research is expressed through photographs and installations synthesizing diverse media blending materials and motives from architecture, mobility, urban planning, landscape design, horticulture, gender studies and art history.

Currently working as a lecturer at the Mathilde Planck Stiftung and State Academy of Art and Design, Stuttgart, DE. She has obtained MFA at the Goldsmiths, University of London, UK 2016 – 2018 and studied photography at the Folkwang University of the Arts, Essen, DE, 2010 – 2015.

https://www.saskia-fischer.com

https://www.instagram.com/___saskia_/

On Friday, October 18, at 1:00 PM, the new season of the Keskpuuri Gallery will open on the second floor of the Central Market’s meat hall with Marto Mägi’s video installation “7 liigutust suure potentsiaaliga”.

Marto Mägi, who graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts’ scenography department last year, primarily primarily explores rephrasing the discourse between the large and small, as well as the important and insignificant.

Curator: Kaur Järve

Keldrimäe 9, 10113 Tallinn- second floor

Exhibition open 18.-30. October. M-S 9-18.

More info: Kaur Järve, kaur.jarve@artun.ee