The Architecture Open Lecture Series presents: Philip Maughan

As part of the Open Lectures series of the Department of Architecture and Urban Design of EKA, writer and researcher Philip Maughan will take the stage in the hall of EKA on November 25th, 6 pm with a lecture titled “Black Almanac: Processing, Cooking and Expanding Earth”.

This fall, all the OLS lectures revolve around the issue of healing in one way or another. We’ve explored whether architecture as a process can be therapeutic and in what way inhabiting space could be restorative – and whether and how architects could contribute to the healing of the construction world. 

On November 25th, we take a look at something directly and closely related to health – the food system – and ask how it could be healed. In order to feed ourselves we cook the land, the atmosphere, the oceans, and other animals, and the earth in turn is cooking us. Named for the tradition of farmer’s almanacs that stretches back to the dawn of agriculture, and for the potential of the earth’s most fertile, dark synthetic soil, this open lecture will introduce Black Almanac: a catalog of steps to produce a viable food system by 2050. It asks when and why food culture became so reactionary, and how might we “cook” with flavors, landscapes, genes, machines and buildings in order to expand a sustainable, nutritious, and desirable feast for a growing population at planetary scale. Black Almanac is a growing index of urgent questions around food, with tough and surprising lessons for the present, and new hope for the future.

Philip Maughan is a writer and researcher based between London and Berlin. He was a member of The Terraforming cohort at the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design in 2020 and is currently working on a book about food and climate change under the title Black Almanac.

https://philipmaughan.net/ 

In order to minimize the risk of the virus spreading, we will broadcast the lecture on EKA TV and it can be viewed along with all previous lectures at www.avatudloengud.ee as well as the faculty’s Youtube channel. The lecture can also be attended in-person – we do ask you to carry your COVID vaccination certificate or proof of having had COVID and cover your nose and mouth with a mask. Academy students are subject to the usual in-house rules. NB! You can’t ask questions via EKA TV, so it’s worth coming to the hall to participate in the discussion! The lecture is free and in English.

Curators: Sille Pihlak and Johan Tali.

The season of open lectures is supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment.

On November 25th at 5.30 pm, Dan Karlholm from Södertörn University will give a lecture “The Climate of Art History” at the Estonian Academy of Arts (room A-501).

Drawing on Dipesh Chakrabarty’s classic essay “The Climate of History”, where he argues that world history and earth history must be seen as conjoined histories, the lecture discusses art history through the lens of climate change, how our discipline is impacted by the “New Climatic Regime” and how it can contribute to ecologizing the world.

Dan Karlholm is Professor of Art History, Södertörn University. Karlholm is founder (with Charlotte Bydler and Håkan Nilsson as co-founders) of the Art History Department at Södertörn University in 2003. He is also editor of Konsthistorisk tidskrift/Journal of Art History (Taylor & Francis/Routledge) since 2009. Karlholms research interests revolve around historiography, including the history and theory of art history in Sweden, Germany and in general, as well as museum studies, visual culture studies, and the issue of temporality and contemporaneity. Research projects in recent years have dealt with contemporary art from various perspectives.

Lecture will be held in English.
Covid certificates will be checked at the entrance of the lecture hall, masks are obligatory.

Lecture is supported by the ASTRA project of the Estonian Academy of Arts – EKA LOOVKÄRG (European Union, European Regional Development Fund).

Rait Rosin, PhD student of the Estonian Academy of Arts, curriculum of Art and Disain, will defend his thesis “Social Art as the Source for Changing Social Norms: Artists’ and Art Viewers’ Expectations in Estonian Small Towns” („Sotsiaalne kunst kui ühiskondlike normide kasvulava: kunstnike ja kunstipubliku vastastikused ootused Eesti väikelinnades“) on 13th of December 2021 at 10.00 at Põhja pst 7, room A101.

Limited number of audience can participate on-site, please register HERE
Please provide certificate of vaccination or recovery from COVID-19.

The defense will be held in Estonian.

Supervisors: Dr. Raivo Kelomees (Estonian Academy of Arts), Dr. Margus Vihalem (Tallinn University)
External reviewers: Dr. Heie Treier (Tallinn University), Dr. Elo-Hanna Seljamaa (University of Tartu)
Opponent: Dr. Heie Treier

The increasing interest in Estonian art scenes outside of Tallinn necessitates careful and critical discussion. Rait Rosin’s PhD dissertation investigates regional gallery spaces and local people attitudes toward art activities in their communities. The reader will have a better grasp of Estonia’s diversified creative scene and society-driven cultural shifts. The comparison provides an overview of the precision of the regional differentiations of the six Estonian small towns: Paldiski, Haapsalu, Valga, Võru, Rapla, and Rakvere by comparing the various regional characters and as well six local art galleries. In comparison, the audience of town galleries and artist interviews demonstrate how each party sees local art. The research looks into Estonian small-town initiatives to communicate with small towns, parallels and examples of artists activities, who had exhibitions in local galleries during the years 2010–2017. The author of the thesis interprets the artistic expressions of the participants as acts of cultural communication of the centre and the periphery polarities. Nonetheless, because the expectations of small towns have to implement for their organised events, the contribution of artists is calculated based on their effect on the surrounding areas. On the one hand, the dissertation is a reflection of Rait Rosin’s own artistic practice while he depict themes for the artworks, while also analysing his own position as artist researcher. Dissertation In the other hand, is classified as discourse, with engaged art as one of the socially active solutions. According to the philosophers such as John Dewey, Jacques Rancière and others, local interest and activity-binding solutions may assist artists. As a result, the local cultural scene may have established a field of meaning construction that aids to integrate various groups into the community. The PhD thesis focuses on local people waiting for artists and visiting artists’ assessments of Estonian small-towns in creative chores and art creation, often due to a lack of expert criticism and the location of the art.

Greta Koppel, PhD student of the Estonian Academy of Arts, curriculum of Art History and Visual Culture, will defend her thesis „Farewell to Connoisseurship? The Work of Art in the Focus of Art Historical Research” („Hüvasti, konossöörlus? Kunstiteos kui kunstiajaloolise uurimise kese“) on 10th of December 2021 at 15.00 at Põhja pst 7, room A501.

Limited number of audience can participate on-site, please register HERE
Please provide certificate of vaccination or recovery from COVID-19.

The defense will be held in Estonian.

Supervisor: Prof.  Krista Kodres (Estonian Academy of Arts)
External reviewers: Dr. Anu Mänd (Tallinn University), Dr. Jaanika Anderson (University of Tartu Museum)
Opponent: Dr. Anu Mänd

This dissertation (Farewell to Connoisseurship? The Work of Art in the Focus of Art Historical Research) deals with problems related to the study of the art of the Old Masters. The research paper reflects the author’s experience based on years of researching and curating Early Modern art at the museum. Works of art as musealised objects have played a central role in this work.

The dissertation emphasises that a multifaceted study based on a close study of works of art that takes into account each work as a whole, i.e. its material and intellectual sides, enables us to obtain valuable information for the study of a particular object but also for analysing broader historical and cultural phenomena. In the case of old works of art, connoisseurship is a significant component of such research. The author introduces the concept of connoisseurship, which is almost unknown as a professional term in Estonia, provides a survey of the long history of connoisseurship as a competence of recognising art(ists), discusses the closely intertwined relationship between modern connoisseurship and technical art history, introduces the specifics of the research method, and explains why this skill is irreplaceable in identifying the authors of works of art and why this competence is worth preserving in art history practice even if one has no interest in the question of the author. It also explains how the critical analysis of the connoisseurship method makes it possible to better understand the specifics of art history as a humanistic discipline. The section on connoisseurship is followed by three case studies related to the author’s curatorial practice at the Art Museum of Estonia, which illustrate the importance of connoisseurship as an object-led, multifaceted close study of works of art in art historical research. The first case discusses the problems of reconstructing the oeuvre of Michel Sittow (ca 1469 – 1525), an itinerant painter from Tallinn; in the second, 16th century Netherlandish Boschian art is the focus, and the last case, research on Johannes Mikkel’s (1907–2006) collection, emphasises its value as historical documentation.

Members of the Defence Council: Prof. Virve Sarapik, Dr. Anu Allas, Dr. Anneli Randla, Prof. Juhan Maiste, Prof. Marek Tamm, Prof. Tõnu Viik, Dr. Kadi Polli

Please find the PhD thesis HERE

On 12 December 21, the traditional EKA Christmas Fair will take place on all five floors of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Almost 100 traders will be selling the design and artistic creation of the students and alumni of EKA, accompanied by the young Viljandi folk band Tammele.

The Christmas market opens at 11.17 am and the last purchases can be made at 17.11 pm.

Entrance to the market is free, through the gates of Kotzebue 1, but only upon presentation of the corona certificate! To make trading more comfortable, you are asked to bring cash.

EKA Christmas Fair on Facebook

The Christmas Market of EAA is organized by the Student Council of the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Online-discussion “Environmentalising Baltic Art Histories: Experience from Research and Curatorship” on 2 November at 5.30-7.30 PM EEST

Participants: Bart Pushaw, Inga Lace, Eda Tuulberg, Nomeda and Gediminas Urbanis, Maja and Reuben Fowkes

Moderators: Ieva Astahovska, Linda Kaljundi

The discussion invites researchers and curators to talk about their experiences of writing and curating Baltic art history from ecocritical and environmental perspectives. How to trace and interpret environmental practices and ideas from Baltic art history in the first place and how to conceptualise these in comparative contexts. How can re-writing and re-curating the Baltic art contribute to reconceptualising global art history in a way that would challenge the Western-orientated model?

More information

The discussion will take place on Facebook

The online discussion will take place as part of the Second Baltic Conference on Environmental Humanities and Social Sciences BALTEHUMS (held online on November 1–2)

BALTEHUMS II programme and registration

This is the fifth discussion of the research and exhibition project “Reflecting Post-Socialism through Post-Colonialism in the Baltics,” organised by the Latvian Center for Contemporary Art in Riga in collaboration with Kumu Art Museum and the research project “Estonian Environmentalism in the 20th Century” (both Tallinn). The project analyses the imprints of post-socialism and post-colonialism in the Baltic region, here exploring them through the prism of environmental history and the current ecological crisis.

6.11.2021–31.12.2021
University of Tartu Narva College gallery
Raekoja plats 2, Narva 20307
Mon-Sun 8.00-19.00

Estonian Glass Artists’ Union’s annual exhibition, which travels between different exhibition spaces in Estonia, will make its debut this year in Narva. It is a sequel to Estonian Glass Artists’ Union’s 20th annual exhibition ¨Colour – RED¨ held in ARS Project Space in 2020. With the follow-up exhibition new time- and site-specific layers and viewpoints are added to the topic of red and its variations that were the main focus in the previous exhibition.

The keywords for Estonian Glass Artists´ Union´s exhibition “Colour – red 2.0” are contrast, confrontation and transition. The exhibition showcases the works from eighteen glass artists, who have interpreted the topic freely by using personal semantics, metaphors and symbolism.

The curator enters the dialog of “Colour – red 2.0” by adding the colour green in the exhibition design.Through confrontation and contrasts a whole is born.

Participating artists:
Aleksandra Ehrensvärd
Anna-Maria Vaino
Birgit Pählapuu
Eili Soon
Eve Koha
Kairi Orgusaar
Kati Kerstna
Kersti Vaks
Malle Hallimäe
Maret Sarapu
Merle Kannus
Piret Ellamaa
Piret Uibotalu
Rait Lõhmus
Riho Hütt
Tiia Põldmets
Tiina Sarapu
Sofi Aršas

Curator and head of organising:
Maarja Mäemets

Organising team:
Aleksandra Ehrensvärd
Andra Jõgis
Birgit Pählapuu
Maria Tamm
Rait Lõhmus

Consultant:
Tiina Sarapu

Light:
Kati Kerstna

Sponsors and supporters:
The Estonian Artists’ Association
Cultural Endowment of Estonia
Estonian Glass Artists’ Union
Moe OÜ (www.moe.ee)
Klaasissepa OÜ (www.klaasissepa.ee)
Punch Club OÜ (https://punch-drinks.com)

On November 26.–28., the undergraduate 3rd-year students of product design and EKA staff visited Transform4Europe’s partner, the University of Silesia, in Katowice, Poland. 

In the workshop, the students mapped the journey of the University of Silesia in Katowice Erasmus students. Both university staff and students participated in the workshop. Together, they drew the route, noted the main issues, and discussed possible solutions. 

In addition, EKA employees Piret-Klea Velleste, Marilyn Riisimäe, Merilin Kuklas, Argo Tamm and visiting lecturer Eva Liisa Kubinyi participated. They visited various departments of the University of Silesia and met with its staff. In addition to EKA staff and students also visited Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Film School and watched two excellent student films. 

On the last day of the trip, they also visited the Warsaw Academy of Arts and explored the city.

Department of Graphic Design’s GD Lunch series is back and the first presentation will be by graphic designer Maria Muuk on Monday, 1 November at 16:00 on Zoom. Please join us here. Zoom ID: 940 6079 6104

Maria is going to talk about the graphic design process of the exhibition “Art is Design is Art” (Kumu Art Museum, 07.05.–03.10.2021), which showcased Estonian late Soviet unique design objects and poster design. It’s an interesting case study of a commissioned exhibition identity with a lot of designer’s input, as well as a glimpse into the rabbit hole of the recent yet forgotten history and craftsmanship of manual graphic designing tools, which the 1980s Soviet poster artists and their printers mastered in inspiring socialist unison.