NEWS

New EKA Student Council to take office!

We are glad to announce that the new Student Council has taken office! Here is their greeting to all EKA members:

“We are Grete Nagel (Environmental Design, 1st year), Johanna Toom (Cultural Heritage and Conservation, 2nd year), Mariely González Barboza (Animation, 2nd year MA), Stenly Poks (Graphic Design, 1st year), Minni Tang (Cultural Heritage and Conservation, 1st year), Keidy Säinas (Product Design, 2nd year) and Sidney Lepp (Graphic Art, 2nd year) and we would like to pass on our regards on behalf of the new Student Council!

We are very glad that you have helped us all get together. We are mostly newbies to this post but there are already some cool projects in the works that we will announce soon. In the coming year, we want to offer you insane party experiences, but above all we want to be here to listen to all your joys and sorrows concerning school and help you with them.

More information on what we represent and what we want to achieve to follow soon! Until then, follow the EKA Student Council’s Facebook page and Instagramis to keep an eye on our activities.”

The number of international students applying to EKA has risen again

The Academy has ten English language programmes for international students, with the application deadline closing last Friday. While last year saw 182 applications, we’re happy to announce that 253 applications from 61 countries from across the globe were submitted by the deadline this year!

Mock entrance exams for EKA Department of Interior Architecture in Tartu, Tallinn and Viljandi

In April and May, we will be offering anyone interested in applying to the Interior Design bachelor’s programme the opportunity to test themselves with mock entrance exams. Teaching staff members will give you feedback on your performance.

The mock exam schedule:

• The mock exam in Tartu took place on 30 April. Have a look at some photos here!
• Fri 18 May 2018 at 10:00–13:00 at the EKA Department of Interior Architecture (Nunne 16, Tallinn) – register
• Sat 26 May 2018 at 12:00–15:00 at the Viljandi Aircraft Factory (Hariduse 12A, Viljandi) – register

Hoiame EKAlastele Köler Prize-il pöialt!

Nominees for the Köler Prize 2018 are Anna Škodenko (teaching staff member at the EKA Chair of Painting), Holger Loodus (Head of Workshop at the Chair of Painting), Taavi Talve (Head of the Chair of Installation and Sculpture, Associate Professor) and EKA graduates Tanja Muravskaja and Tarvo Varres. The Grand Prix and the People’s Choice award will be announced at the Köler Prize Gala taking place on 10 May at 19.30 at EKKM. A food truck will be on hand to provide catering for the event!

ERKI Fashion Show 2018 to change locations

What does it take to organise a grandiose event? Big steps and brave decisions! That’s why the organising team of this year’s ERKI Fashion Show has decided to move the legendary fashion spectacle to a new venue – Noblessner Shipyard.

According to Karin Kiigemägi, one of the main organisers of the event, the concept of the fashion show has evolved and this, in turn, prompted the change. “It is crucial that the conditions offered by the venue support the ideas of both the students and sponsors. The cooperation with Hall was exciting but – as often happens in creative endeavours – new ideas and unexpected turns are part of the process. This time, fresh ideas needed a new space that would allow for even higher-level production.

A fun casting session for the ERKI Fashion Show 2018 took place over the weekend

On Saturday, a casting session for the ERKI Fashion Show took place at Nautica Centre. The fashion designers will now choose the models who will get to tread the legendary catwalk. Have a look at the gallery to see who was at the casting and what happened!

A documentary on Leonhard Lapin now in cinemas!

The Artis cinema in Tallinn and Tartu Elektriteater are now screening Long Live the Scandals!, a new documentary by Manfred Vainokivi about EKA Professor Emeritus and legendary artist Leonhard Lapin. Lapin is a living legend in Estonian modern art who even now inspires scandals as he celebrates his 70th year.

OPEN LECTURES

Briefing on “trading” with artworks made in EKA

The briefing is organised by the EKA Department of Research and Development. Entrepreneurship Coordinator Ingela Heinaste and Legal Adviser Anne-Riin Kütt will give introductory presentations on the matter.

On 15 May at 14:00, a briefing to discuss questions related to the authorship of works that have been produced during academic work will take place in room 440, Estonia pst. 7.

• Who are the authors of the works produced in EKA classes?
• Which copyrights apply?
• How are the economic rights divided between students, teaching staff members and EKA?
• Which copyright agreements are possible in collaboration contracts to avoid future disputes and economic damage?

EXHIBITIONS

Kristi Kongi in Dialogue with Kasper Bosmans on view at Kumu

On Thursday 10 May, Associate Professor at the EKA Chair of Painting Kristi Kongi will open Kristi Kongi in Dialogue with Kasper Bosmans at the KUMU courtyard. The exhibition is inspired by the environment surrounding the museum. On the one side is Kadriorg Park and its Baroque heritage, with the brutal concrete belt that is Lasnamäe on the opposing side. The starting point for the artists wasn’t only what was, but also could have been there had the activities happened during Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The exhibition is curated by Kati Ilves.

Spheres, the youth exhibition of Tallinn Print Triennial at EKA Gallery

On Thursday 10 May at 17:00, Spheres, the youth exhibition of Tallinn Print Triennial, will open at EKA Gallery. The exhibition is curated by Eve Kask and Oliver Laas, Associate Professors at the EKA Chair of Graphic Art, and the participants include graduates and current students of the EKA Faculty of Fine Arts. Spheres are hybrid and symbolic realities that have been created by means of laws, art, culture, religion, customs, technologies and other tools at the disposal of humans. These co-existence spaces allow humans to exist as humans because life in its entirety takes place within protective membranes that provide us with meaning and immunity.

EKA IN THE WORLD

EKA Department of Photography teaching staff members at Riga Photomonth

On 9 May, New Chic, the main exhibition of Riga Photomonth, will open at Riga Congress Centre and the exhibition will include works by Professor Marge Monko and Associate Professor Laura Kuusk from the EKA Department of Photography. The exhibition is curated by Arnis Balčus and Alnis Stakle, and it is focused on the conditions of photographic language and materiality in the age of post-truth, providing photography as an up-to-date, critical, socio-politically important and continuously-changing medium. The artists use photography in order to tell about identity, sexuality, lifestyle, aesthetics and the culture of looking and showing off in the private and public space.

The exhibition will run until 3 June.

Jaan Toomiks video screened at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen

Jaan Toomik, Professor at the EKA Chair of Painting, presented his video, Fish (2018), at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen in Germany. Oberhausen is one of the oldest international short film festivals in the world. Toomik’s video was screened as part of the international competition programme that included only 53 movies from 33 countries (selected out of 6,000 applicants).

EKA animation students at international film festivals

OPEN ACADEMY

New courses at the EKA Open Academy

EKA members

Product design students had an adventure at the Boat Race at the Tartu Student Days

On 29 April, 1st year EKA product design students Kaspar Kuus, Merike Liiva and Mihkel Arold took part in the Boat Race that was held within the framework of Tartu Student Days. The students had only four days to build an improvised boat from fibreglass and PUR foam.

According to the students, the biggest challenges were time pressure and lack of sleep. The decision to take part in the Boat Race was only made two weeks prior to the event and they had to build the boat during a busy assessment week. As a result, the boat received its last brush strokes in a car park in Tartu city centre minutes before the race.

Collaborations between EKA Fine Arts and Curatorial Studies master’s students

Last week, thee curatorial projects (Cruise – Temporary Spacetime, The Dog Continues to Exist behind the Corner and Performative Dinner) were presented that had been made as a collaboration between EKA Fine Arts and Curatorial Studies master’s students. These three projects offered the audience the chance to take part in an audio-visual journey, to see a video screening and participate in a discussion that followed a dinner show.

In September 2019, the students of both programmes will continue their collaboration with the presentation of Sparrow and Locator, an artist’s book realised under the supervision of Eik Hermann, at the Püant Bookshop. Sparrow and Locator is a book that has been made by interpreting, combining and fusing materials from the private collections of five artists. The result is a visual work in which the boundaries of authorship have been blurred, giving new life to heretofore shelved visions.

Raul Keller and Hans-Gunter Lock in residencies

On 19–30 April, within the framework of the NordPlus project, Hans-Gunter Lock, Head of Workshop at the EKA Chair of New Media, took part in a residency at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in Vilnius.

On 23 April–2 May, within the Artists in Collections project, Raul Keller, Professor at the EKA Chair of New Media, undertook a residency at the Estonian Broadcasting Museum in Türi.