EKA to celebrate EKA Day on 30 October with open workshops and studios

Dear EKA member!

You are kindly invited to attend EKA Day on 30 October when we will be celebrating the 104th anniversary of the Estonian Academy of Arts in its new location.

Birthday song at 10:35 in the lobby
The EKA Chamber Choir will sing a birthday song to the school. Muffins will be served.

Open workshops and studios at 11:00–16:00
Our new academic building is like a maze with rapidly evolving content. After the big opening party, this anniversary event offers us a new opportunity to rediscover our building. To mark the occasion, we have opened our workshops and studios for EKA members. You will be welcomed by technicians and heads of workshop who will kindly show you all the technical equipment – both brand new and from previous locations. Let’s use this opportunity to make new acquaintances and rekindle old contacts. It might become the starting point for your next creative step!

The following workshops and studios are open:

B104 Woodworking and Modelling Shop
B106 Metalworking Shop
B106.4 Smithy
B204 Prototyping Lab
B304 Scenography Studio / Black Box
B311 Animation Studio
B404 Photo and Video Studio
B405 Analogue Darkroom
B409 Graphics Studio
B504 Jewellery Workshop
B506 Enamelling / Stone-Cutting
B510 Accessory Studio
B511 Bookbinding Workshop
B602 Ceramics Workshop
B604 Glass Workshop
C404 3D Lab
C408 VR Lab
D308 Painting and Sculpture Conservation Studios
D308.2 Sculpture Conservation Studio
D412 Architecture Conservation Studio
D502 Textile Printing Studio
D503 Knitting Studio
D505 Weaving Studio
D505.1 Textile Futures Studio
D507 Sewing Workshop

One of the central questions for social design is how to account for the social value achieved through research approach.

Often social design is mistakenly conflated with related areas such as design for social innovation and social entrepreneurship. What they all have in common is the involvement of citizens – in processes aiming towards social change or equality. Social design shares some similarities with these approaches, yet there are important differences. In his talk, Thomas Markussen will highlight these differences showing how social design processes may actually foster social change.

In addition, he will present an ongoing 3-year project of the University of Southern Denmark – “Social Games against Crime”. In this project, design researchers have developed an innovative board game to be played by children and their incarcerated fathers in Danish maximum-security prisons. The board game has been designed in close collaboration with children, inmates and prison staff. It provides a platform for understanding and communication, helping adolescents to cope better with problems they experience due to parental incarceration.

Thomas Markussen is Associate Professor and Co-Founder of the Social Design Research Unit at the University of Southern Denmark. In his work, Markussen focuses on how design can be used as a political and critical aesthetic practice, notably in the fields of social design, design activism and design fiction. His publications include journal articles such as “The disruptive aesthetics of design activism: enacting design between art and politics” (Design Issues); “Disentangling the ‘social’ in social design’s engagement with the public realm” (CoDesign); and “The politics of design activism – from impure politics to parapolitics” appearing in Routledge’s forthcoming book Design and Dissent.

Thomas Markussen visits EKA by the invitation of the Faculty of Design and the Doctoral School. He conducts here a series of seminars and talks on the topic of design research.

Natalia Araya is young jewellery artist from Costa Rica who graduated MA studies in Escola d’Art i Superior de Disseny de València this year.

Short overview of thesis:
“Enamel and volume” is the title of a year long project, that challenged me to move from jewelry to objects and to explore enamelling in depth.

The simplest way to describe enamelling is as a technique that bonds glass and metal, but the process inherently required to practice it, has given me the freedom to find my own voice and to question myself though making.

I’ve created a group of objects with surfaces that have registered every touch, every though, with shapes that invite to celebrate simplicity, the incomplete, imperfections and the passing of time.”

Natalia was inivited to give enamelling masterclass for jewellery students October 22-26, 2018.

Paulis Liepa artist talk
TODAY 25.10 5pm in room A202

Paulis Liepa(1978) works with the most basic printmaking techniques – cardboard cut and collagraph. Techniques as simple as life itself. Knife, cardboard, glue and the magic of the moment in a quiet, sunny afternoon, when time freezes dreams about future turn into memories of things that never happened. Our plans, hopes and unfinished projects turn into foggy, fading snapshots and vibe of the moment – symbols, pictograms and worn down speech bubbles imprint themselves into every square inch of the image turning into diary from unknown time and place.

Paulis Liepa lives and works in Riga(Latvia), graduated Janis Rozentāls Art School(1996), obtained bachelors(2001) and masters(2003) degree in Department of Graphic Art of Art Academy of Latvia. Liepa has worked several years as animator and director in production company Vilks Studio and more recently worked on book design, illustrations and posters. His works are in public collections(e.g. Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia, Mūkusala’s Art Salon, Riga, Latvia) and private collections in Germany, Switzerland, Austia and USA. Recent projects include solo exhibitions “Cabinet of the Fine Arts”(2017) and “Noise”(2015) in Mukusala Art salon, Riga(2017), “What is this time?” viennacontemporary 2017 in Vienna(2017) and group exhibitions “International Print Triennial – Kraków 2015”, Krakow, Poland(2015), “Telling Tales. Swiss and Baltic Artists” Biel/Bienne, Vilnius, Tallinn(2014).

Liepa is currently giving a workshop at EKA printmaking department called “Artist’s Technique”.

Artist talk will be held in english.

http://www.paulisliepa.lv/

Evita Vasiljeva will open her exhibition “Unintentional and very particular” in the Showcase Gallery of the department of photography at the Estonian Academy of Arts (Põhja pst 35, Tallinn) at 6pm on Friday, October 19, 2018.

Evita Vasiljeva’s new exhibition is part of the 20th anniversary celebrations of the department of photography at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Different events including lectures are hosted by the Estonian Museum of Contemporary Art (Põhja pst 35). This fall the programme of the Gallery is curated by Kaisa Maasik. The Showcase Gallery has previously presented the works of Vít Havránek and Anna Mari Liivrand. Students of the Estonian Academy of Arts are welcome to apply at the Showcase Gallery until October 20th, results will be announced on November 1st.

Evita’s distorted abstract sculptural forms were created during her stay at the EKWC ceramics residency in the Netherlands. These unfamiliar forms were the result of 3D printing clay – a long process where the fragile surface of the formations cracked repeatedly. The final outcome is an intriguing contradiction of the new and the old – a futuristic shape using ancient materials, a technical method using natural resources.

Current exhibition can be viewed at any time and it will remain open until December 2nd.

Evita will also open her solo show “Still Stands and Resilient Nows” at Tallinn City Gallery on Thursday, October 18th. The exhibition will remain open until November 25th.

Graphic design: Mai Bauvald and Ran-Re Reimann

Evita Vasiļjeva (1985) is a Latvian artist based in Riga and Amsterdam. In 2012 she has graduated from the Fine Arts program at the Amsterdam Gerrit Rietveld Academie and in 2016 Evita finished the two-year residency program at De Ateliers in Amsterdam. She is mainly a sculptor, who is not limited to a physical material. Her latest exhibitions include “HYBRIDS” Lustwarande, Tillburg (2018) and “Manhours in Headquarters” P/////AKT, Amsterdam (2017).

Kaisa Maasik (1994) is an artist and curator based in Tallinn. She is currently in the middle of her MA studies in the department of photography of the Estonian Academy of Arts where she also finished her BA studies. Her first curatorial projects took place in 2017 and were Umbrella Group’s “Not Really” and Keiu Maasik’s solo exhibition “Lost Friends”. Her first solo exhibition “Green Room” took place at her home in 2015 and dealt with the topic of urban space and the anonymous relationships within it, her last solo show “Your Love Hurts” dealt with domestic violence.

More information:

Kaisa Maasik kaisa.maasik@artun.ee
FB event https://www.facebook.com/events/1090463464458203
Evita Vasiljeva’s Webpage evitavasiljeva.com

The fourth club event of EAA PHOTO 20 will be held in EKKM Cafe in order to celebrate the 20thanniversary of the department of photography at the Estonian Academy of Arts. The event will start at 6pm on October 24thand the central theme of the discussion is “Photography on the Open Field”. The discussion will be held in English.

Perhaps the term “photography” – that literally means “drawing with light” – is too humble for covering the diversity of contemporary cultural, social, scientific and military practices it signifies today.The rigidity of a singular image is suspended in tension against the incessant circulation of data streams, organising space and power in ways that, more often than not, remain invisible to the human eye. What are the processes and disciplines beyond art theory that artists follow in order to make interesting things with photography and pay attention to what photography does to the world?

The discussion is moderated by Kristel Raesaar; participants are Marge Monko, Maija Rudovska, Hirohisa Koike and Paul Paper.

Ice cream will be served by Chicks on Icecream; music by DJ Marta Vaarik

Visual identity of EAA PHOTO 20 by Mai Bauvald and Ran-Re Reimann, students of the graphic design department of the Estonian Academy of Arts. The website of EAA PHOTO 20 including the history of the department of photography is being updated during the year and can be found here: https://www.foto.artun.ee/

Thanks to: Mai Bauvald, Ran-Re Reimann and Anneli Kripsaar, Eve Kiiler, Marco Laimre, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM).

Programme of all events can be reached:

• Website of the Estonian Academy of Arts: https://www.foto.artun.ee/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EKA-Fotograafia-142012159217400/?ref=br_rs
• Event on October 24th in EKKM: https://www.facebook.com/events/192474868315451/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eka_fotograafia/

More information:

Laura Kuusk
Department of Photography
Estonian Academy of Arts
laura.kuusk@artun.ee
+372 55 584 609

Laura Toots
Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM)
laura@ekkm.ee
+372 511 7886

Thursday, 8 November will start bright & early at 9 am with our Morning Coffee where students and graduates from the interior architecture department will come and share their experiences from studying, working or doing an apprenticeship somewhere else in the wide and wild world – through the spectrum of space and spatial design, naturally. We’ll meet at C406, EKA new building.

On stage this time: Siim Karro talking about his time at the Danish Royal Art Academy, Hotel Pro Forma and life in Copenhagen in general. Everyone’s welcome to listen & ask questions — it’s in Estonian though, so best for those of you who have some Estonian skills already.

This event is perfect for students and those wanting to become a student, but also tutors; the door is always open to anyone from other EKA departments or other schools. The interior architecture department Morning Coffee events take place about once a month and there will most definitely also be coffee – and upon occasion, there has been also delicious cake (for the cake, you might want to bring a tiny bit of cash).

Set your alarm clocks, join us!

Thursday, 8 November will start bright & early at 9 am with our Morning Coffee where students and graduates from the interior architecture department will come and share their experiences from studying, working or doing an apprenticeship somewhere else in the wide and wild world – through the spectrum of space and spatial design, naturally. We’ll meet at C406, EKA new building.

On stage this time: Siim Karro talking about his time at the Danish Royal Art Academy, Hotel Pro Forma and life in Copenhagen in general. Everyone’s welcome to listen & ask questions — it’s in Estonian though, so best for those of you who have some Estonian skills already.

This event is perfect for students and those wanting to become a student, but also tutors; the door is always open to anyone from other EKA departments or other schools. The interior architecture department Morning Coffee events take place about once a month and there will most definitely also be coffee – and upon occasion, there has been also delicious cake (for the cake, you might want to bring a tiny bit of cash).

Set your alarm clocks, join us!

On Thursday, 18th October at 5pm in room A302 will take place Canadian artist Tor Lukasik-Foss’s artist talk.

Tor Lukasik-Foss(1967) is a visual artist, performer and writer from Canada, whose works examine the mechanics of public space and social anxiety. Over the last decade he has focused on a series of sculptural performance chambers and shadow boxes loosely assembled under the moniker “unlikely concerts”, which simultaneously fuse public and private spaces together. Side by side with his visual art practices he performs and writes songs under the pseudonym ‘tiny bill cody’ and has released collections of original songwriting over the last two decades. Tor Lukasik-Foss is currently in a four-week residency at Tallin Art Hall, organized by the Estonian Artists Association as part of the Hamilton Arts Council European artist exchange.

At the artist talk on Thursday Tor Lukasik-Foss will present his art practice, talk about the work he has been doing at the residency here in Tallinn and discuss social anxiety and its affect on sculpture and performance.

Artist talk will be held in English.

www.torlukasikoss.ca