There have been several exhibitions on Gordon Matta-Clark and one of the most comprehensive ones is exhibited at KUMU until the 8th of June, 2019. Matta-Clark, an architect who uses photography for documentation of his works is revisited by a space-oriented photographer Anu Vahtra through the exhibition Gordon Matta-Clark: Anarchitect. Anu Vahtra: Completion through removal.

Underneath the Visible

Gordon Matta-Clark, best known for his “anarchitecture” (a combination of the words “anarchy” and “architecture”) in which he gets into soon to be destroyed buildings and cuts them, uses architecture to show what is deep inside. As he cuts through floors, ceilings, and walls, he creates a new open space that was not there before. Through his usage of photography and videos for documentation, he puts the viewer in such a disoriented position that one has to fully focus to determine his standing point in that newly existing space. His works are interpreted as an effort to show how connected we are through removing connections. He cuts and digs. Through time, he cuts and digs wider and deeper. He searches for what is underneath the visible. And this time, the viewer also has the chance to go deep in Gordon Matta-Clark’s thoughts, underneath the visible, by the broad range of works exhibited at KUMU.

Problematic Family Relationships

There have been said and written a lot about his artistic medium and philosophy behind the building cuts within the terms of architectural and art historical languages. Re-exploring his works through different disciplines may help to understand and know him better. From a comparative standpoint, Matta-Clark’s relations with buildings and divided spaces within them can be interpreted as a representation of his relations with his father, Roberto Matta.

Matta-Clark’s father Roberto Matta was a well-known surreal artist who started his career as an architect. He worked at Le Corbusier’s studio for about two years in the late ‘30s and during this period it was obvious that those two men, Corbusier and Matta, were not on the same page. Almost 30 years later, the architecture education Matta-Clark had at Cornell University was dominantly founded on Le Corbusian principles which Matta-Clark was totally against. Matta-Clark’s relationship with his father was actually a problematic one. Matta had never praised his son until the day Matta-Clark died at the age of 35. In 1970, Gordon would change his surname to Matta-Clark by incorporating his mother’s maiden name. Matta-Clark had a twin brother, Sebastian (Batan), who was also an artist, a brighter one with some problems. Since they were very close and getting along quite well, Sebastian’s suicide (or fall) in 1975 would devastate Matta-Clark.

Opposition to the Father of Modern Architecture

In the ‘70s, New York’s city plan was designed through Corbusian principles. Even though the city was hosting the world’s tallest building (the Empire State Building), it was also welcoming its successors, the Twin Towers – World Trade Center. Like palaces and cathedrals of previous centuries, architecture was again used for the sake of power symbolization in the name of corporate buildings. “For Gordon, architecture had failed the common man” would say Bessa from Bronx Museum. Anarchitecture, was born due to this urge; the urge to oppose to the “father of modern architecture”.

The will to destroy the tallest buildings which symbolize the dominant power, the father, can also be interpreted as a reflection of his relationship with his father. In her book, Object to be Destroyed: The Work of Gordon Matta-Clark, Lee would explain this situation as “Matta-Clark wrestled for the rest of his short life with a simultaneous denial of his father’s influence and a desire for his recognition. Every testimony devoted to the younger artist’s rejection of the father is complemented by a discussion of Matta-Clark’s need for acceptance”.

An Artist, an Influencer, and a Son

Whilst trying to be like his father, that Oedipal anger and the need for changing the paternal figure were there. He was creating new spaces by removing connections via cutting, slicing, and dividing. Those connection free spaces were also attachment free spaces that always had an opening so that no one could be trapped. “Although he never spoke about his father, I realized that he had spent his whole life competing with him” would say his former partner Carolina Goodden in Lee’s book. Since the outer world represents the father figure, every cut, split, remake he did to reshape the outer world can be seen as an attempt to overcome his ambivalent feelings about his father whom he might want to supersede, resemble, and differ. Countless efforts to deal with the father who was and was not there…

In the end, considering Matta-Clark works as a pure expression of father-son relationship can be too much simplification, even a reduction. On the other hand, ignoring the signs may prevent the viewer from seeing the topic from all possible sides. Therefore, through your journey in KUMU corridors redesigned by Anu Vahtra, be ready to meet an artist, an influencer, and a son.

Photo by Harry Gruyaert. Gordon Matta-Clark and Gerry Hovagimyan working on Conical Intersect. Paris, 1975. Courtesy of the Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark and David Zwirner, New York / London

In these betwixt and between times of our everyday life, how do contemporary artists hatch images of physical and non-physical elements of living? The question seems to be vast and boundless, but the works of six artists of Post Winter Mixtape explore this question within the frameworks of dreams, rhythm, play-sets, chair-table-typewriter, or star-gazing in the starry night.

Jointly curated by Alina Astrova and Lilian Hiob, the exhibition presents a total of 10 artworks including formats such as painting, photograph, video film and installation. This ongoing exhibition was opened on February 28 and will remain open until the 27th of April at Temnikova & Kasela Gallery. Visitors are welcome from Wednesday to Sunday, from 3 pm to 7 pm and the admission is free for everyone.

The phrase Post Winter Mixtape may be interpreted by some people as something related to a seasonal perspective of nature change such as Winter, Spring, Summer and so on. Others may raise a question, “Then, why Post Winter? Why not Spring?” Yes, it is now Spring in Estonia. But like “Post Winter” strikes on the ordinary thinking of time frame, the notion of six artists’ artworks also has similar connotations: “neither one thing nor the other” or, you could say, mixing of fragments which have no ending in the gallery.

The eminent and emerging six artists are Jaanus Samma, Sigrid Viir, Inga Meldere, Helena Keskküla, Ann Pajuväli and Anna Mari Liivrand. Inga Meldere is from Latvia and the others are from Estonia.

The works are placed in the different corners and spaces of the gallery and the first work that visitors encounter is Helena Keskküla’s 7 minutes long black and white film Etude of Dreamcatcher. This is her new artwork – production from 2019 that consists of a smartphone held by genderless hands. Gaining inspiration from Samuel Beckett’s play Rockaby, Helena re-imagines our moments of sleeping at night with rocking chair and lullaby. The film opens with a long, wide shot of a rocking chair – a woman sitting on it and swaying expressionlessly but rhythmically; like a pendulum, like a wave of motion. Then a techno sound breaks the illusory motion, and at one point a close shot of the woman’s face appears in an inverted arrangement. The chaotic sound turns into a soothing song – a lullaby. This is such a familiar image that anyone can relate it to their childhood memories. Chimeric images dramatize the relationship between mind and body, voice, memories and identity in today’s device-dependent everyday living.

Just opposite side of this mobile-mediated film, Anna Mari Liivrand’s artwork Ripple on a Field (2019) is displayed. Shiny, metallic grey color of graphite on the silk fabric, this painting sets quite a wide spectrum that reaches from classical biology book to architecture and makes visitors to experience something undefined – an arch with a microscopic organism that can poke into one’s mind as a dancing body in the Medieval Church.

Along with the new artworks, five previous works by two artists are also presented at the exhibition. Sigrid Viir’s three artworks from 2008, 2009 and 2011 are displayed on the left and on the opposite side of Liivrand’s work. Viir’s main medium is photo but she also deals with a form of installation using wooden frame and sculpture. For example, her smallest work in size at the exhibition, Compromise no: RXP-1209-18 from 2009. It frames the photograph of office table and shelf and a number of file folders with wood. Along with a long wooden trolley-stand, this screen-shape, rectangular framing creates a nothingness of stupid work-space at one point; another look takes you to a tour of TV-watching experience from the 1990s when TV was always set on a trolley.

Office appliances and furniture are leading elements also in the works of Latvian artist Inga Meldere. Her two works are from 2018. Correlation juxtaposes photograph with oil painting. Again, framed by wood, the photograph contains old and new appliances and furniture of work spaces such as desks, shelves with file-folders, typewriter, chair, table lamp, telephone, and so on. By using ultraviolet light, this digital print of the photograph gets a photographic mat-look, but when viewer’s eye catches the small female figure with green and grey color in the left of the canvas, the whole tale takes a different perspective. This tale can be told as a woman’s personal experience in the office space where separate and temporal memories are reflected through objects. Meldere’s other work, Recollection, is a fuse of taxidermied birds, animals and series of drawers and cupboards.

Jaanus Samma’s two new artworks are positioned next to Meldere’s works, on the right-side wall. Based on early 20th century’s archival postcards from Estonian National Museum, each artwork consists of two parts: one part consists of an enlarged postcard, and another one is a water color painting of a starry night. This set up looks like a museum’s table-top display. Samma depicts the starry night in such ethereal and majestic way that the elements on the postcards (socks, gloves, and sculptures) are seemingly floating, as if they are eliciting a sensation of materialistic history in the orbit of the planet. Two artworks with the same title Museum Display (Stargazing) 1 can also take the viewer’s mind to Don McLean’s song ‘Starry Starry Night’ where Vincent (Van Gogh) rests silently.

The last piece of art at the exhibition is Ann Pajuväli’s new work Play Sets. This artwork that combines demo models made from different materials and animated video is perhaps addressing the flexibility to enter the childhood memory lane or vulnerability to stay in the hyperreality. Or perhaps not … But one thing I am sure to say is that the use of wooden frame in most of the artworks stands on environmental sensitivity.

Header photo: Anu Vahtra

Liina Siib’s exhibition Politics of Paradise has a themed layout that instead of taking one through impalpable excitement, shares the embodiment of women’s desire and disruption within body, boundaries and normativity politics. The show is defined by photographs, sculpture, videos, installation and associated ideas. Curated by Taru Elfving, it features twelve artworks by Siib. The exhibition is the last one in the series of Estonia 100 art programme celebrating the centenary of Estonia, it was opened on February 16 and remains open until April 14 at the Tallinn Art Hall.

Liina Siib, a long-time presence on the Estonian art scene, is best known for her counter-visual narratives in which man-masculinity, patriarchal power norms, and stereotypical attitudes and values of grand narrative collide and swirl. Her works have been creating an in-between space where historically ignored or minor things can be seen in-detailed or heard diligently. And, she mostly deals woman as a subject in a different context.

Her artistic journey began at the end of the 1980s and involves many solo exhibitions in Estonia and abroad like Latvia, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, France and Germany. Her works have been presented at a number of festivals in the USA, Asia, and Europe as well. In 2011, she represented Estonia at the 54th Venice Art Biennale. This exhibition encompasses her very new artworks with some selected earlier works, of which some are already finished, and some are still continuing. This fusion is, according to the curator Taru Elfving “intergenerational conversations between individual lives and complex histories of privilege and power”.

Organised in seven sections of the gallery, her works do not follow any chronological order; instead, new, old and ongoing works are placed side-by-side. Of them, Augusta or Politics of Paradise (film), Haeska (film), Witches (installation), Come and Go (video), and Urban Symphony in E-minor III (installation) are new, 2019’s productions. Along with new works, her earlier works include Movie Poster (photograph 2001), Alienus (installation, 1995), Them (sculpture, 1996), Urban Symphony in E-minor (video, 2018), Séance (photographs, 1998), Orbs (video, 2016) and her famous project A Women Takes Little Space (photographs, 2007 to ongoing) is mentioned as an ongoing project.

The newness of Siib’s exhibition is not the inclusion of new works; to me, it is the connection between her old and new works. For example, when I was watching her 2018’s documentary film Urban Symphony in E-minor, I felt a connection to critical theorist Homi K. Bhabha’s term “liminality”. With this term, Bhabha refers to the in-between space where cultural transformation takes place in a way that individuals who are entangled in between two stages of development where they do not hold clearly defined positions within their social system and feel marginal, excluded and at the same time, see a new possibility. The 44-minutes documentary film is based on the interviews with Estonian immigrant working women in Finland who left their country for a new possibility, new hope – a paradise. While the video footages show the glimpses of city life in Helsinki, such as working place, shopping mall, restaurant, public transport, park, seashore and so on; voices of the interviewee women narrate wage discrimination against immigrants, language barrier, obstacles to start new business and some success stories as well.

The same section of the gallery, on the right side after the entrance, shares her new docufilm Come and Go which can be traced as the sequel to the Urban Symphony in E-minor. This 26-minutes docufilm projects an uncanny feeling of home that one can imagine as paradise in homeland and lost paradise in abroad. On the right side of the docufilm projection, another new installation Urban Symphony in E-minor III is displayed with a series of mannequin heads keeping their eyes closed with glittery decorated eye-leads. At the end of the wall of this room, a large prism sets out and beneath it, different colours of floor mats reflect the life of the Estonian immigrant minorities in Finland. Due to the spatial and conceptual proximity of these works, visitors do not encounter discrete media installation as it is totally immersive environment. A low hum soundscape of docufilms guides visitors’ movement from one section of the gallery to the other.

While entering the exhibition at the Art Hall, the first three posters in an urban setting, where a woman is moving forward to a movie screening hall, actually seem like an invitation to visit the exhibition. At the same time, it sets the voice that will be heard – her, him or their. Then, on the right side of the gallery, a plastic floor mat with handmade signs directs one to stand in front of Them. Them is a metal work combining vertical lines and round rings suggesting two human figures but any gender normativity cannot be identified. These two works in the corridor connect the story of Estonian immigrant women on the right side and the story on the left side that presents Estonian women’s different experiences from different historical eras and classes: Orbs, Séance, Witches, Haeska, A Woman Takes Little Space and Augusta or Politics of Paradise.

Liina Siib entwines the construction of the concept of “witch” into her newly finished works Witches and Haeska. Witches is an installation that comprises a historical document – a black and white photograph of three women, which Siib discovered in the album of Võru Criminal Police from 1922 and the elements of the photograph, such as wooden stage, chair, black curtain and the newspaper that published the photograph. This photograph and its story depict the process of constructing the identity of a “witch” imputed to the women in the feudal society 100 years ago. These three mid-aged women were accused and sentenced for fraud as their witchcraft didn’t bring a result for the client. Because of their cheating in the esoteric business, these women were found guilty by the legal system; hence society identified them as bad women, witches. Such interrelationship is also the primary concern of Siib’s new film Haeska, which contains references in its visual and sonic components. This 8-minute 30 seconds colour film narrates the story from the male viewpoint where he falls for two women’s glamour and latter suffers for his moves. As he has suffered for his own deeds, the two glamorous women are turning into evil. The film expresses the protagonist’s fear and agony through an infinite walk on the snowy field while two women are escorting him as criminal. The clamorous sound of the women’s steps increases the climax that envelopes audiences into the psychodrama.

Her ongoing project since 2007, A Woman Takes Little Place, presents about sixty colour photographs of women in their working place. Framed by a white border and hanged on the white wall, these photographs do not tell black and white, linear story; instead, they satirize the stereotypical attitude towards the working women’s space and wage. Initially, the inspiration behind this project came from the wage gap between men and women in Estonia and it is the response to the outcome of the research carried out – “women take little space” thus they should be paid less than men.

Augusta or Politics of Paradise, Siib’s new film that captures a medieval princess’s desire to live her own life, but in the end, it is turned into a tragic story by her death. Based on archival letters of Princess Augusta Carolina von Braunschweig-Wolfenbuttel from 1782 to 1788, the film illustrates a struggle, a tension between her initiatives to make her desires real and the royal, patriarchal power. This 28-minutes 20 seconds long colour film narrates the story through such non-dramatic voice-over that the dramatic life of the princesses becomes palpable. But, of course, for those who know the idea behind the story. If someone sits and watches the film without any idea, it’s not easy to get the storyline. Bringing this historically known “controversial” character to the contemporary discussion can be seen through the counter-visual narrative of an independent woman. Unlike the poor village women of 1922’s Witches photograph, or devil spirit women in Haeska film, Augusta’s desire to live her own life was politicised by the patriarchal power. By telling this personal story of Augusta, Siib again strengthens the feminist motto: “the personal is political”.

“This is the main aim of the exhibition – to be the critical and polemical tool, and the means for initiating a discussion, instead of offering a place for presenting comprehensive research results and final assessments. To provide leads for future research and to discuss what viewpoints could be used to reflect on architecture.” This is how the text of the first feminist architecture exhibition in Estonia (known to the author) that is titled after one of Virginia Woolf’s essays explains the exhibition.

A Room of One’s Own is not a ready-made and resolute product, but is more like fragments from a diary, ideas that support and oppose one another. It is a collage of different topics that relate to the relationship between women and architecture, women as creators of architecture as well as women as ‘consumers’ of architecture.

The exhibition A Room of One’s Own is divided into nine rooms that each approach a set of different questions that lie within the scope of a broader subject. This distinguishes the exhibition from the exhibition canon of classical architecture – these themes are not merely specific to the author, but the room is also viewed as a social and aesthetic construction. The exhibition begins by introducing statistics about local women architects and progresses on to more abstract and broader concepts. Here, the exhibition moves away from women-centred approach and begins to research the ideas that the feminist approach has brought to architecture as a discipline – for example, valuing private space, spatial equality, home decoration, and collectivism.

At the same time, when we step away from the concept of the exhibition, feminism and women in architecture, we can view the display as an alternative history for architecture. The selection of exhibition works is varied and many of them have received undeservedly little attention, because of their author being less known or their subject matter has remained in the background. For example, there are interesting works by Heili Volber, who designed the Tallinna II Lastekodu (Tallinn Children’s Home) with interior designer Aate-Heli Õun in 1976 or the Narva mööblivarbik (Narva furniture factory) by Maimu Kaarnaväli in 1958-60.

The exhibition is also a manifest that fights works that have one single viewpoint, an approach that is characteristic to modernism. There is no one and single truth that is forced on the viewer. The exhibition relies on the viewer and not the author.

The exhibition is also a manifest that fights works that have one single viewpoint, an approach that is characteristic to modernism. There is no one and single truth that is forced on the viewer. The exhibition relies on the viewer and not the author. In the first room, the viewer is confronted by dark facts from recent history when representation of women in architecture structures and institutions was low. But the last room of the exhibition admits: “The general picture of Estonian architecture confirms that creative choices are mostly influenced by the aesthetics and social truths of the period, and gender identity, if it plays a role in a project, is only present indirectly – although in some cases, the gender specific interpretation is possible as an added layer.” And so, the exhibition leaves it up to the viewer to decide what is the nature of architecture that is created by women, and whether it is possible to identify this type of construction at all. The strength of the exhibition lies in knowing how to simultaneously approach a subject from various viewpoints – being more open to discussion and trying less to prove a hypothesis.

This prevalent fragmentation also adds freshness to the exhibition design. Some rooms are designed according  the exhibition canon of classical architecture, but in between them  we find surprises, such as the media display by Laura Linsi and Ronald Reemaa or a room experiment on the subject of marginality and professionalism. So, if the concept of the exhibition talks about nine rooms and questions, we can also add a tenth question on the metaphysical level: what describes a feminist architecture exhibition and where are its characteristics manifested?  In the subject matter? In the structure? Approach? The viewer will have plenty to think about when visiting A Room of One’s Own.

In November, the first international sculpture and installation festival SkulpaKuu is held in Tallinn. In the framework of the festival two exhibitions take place, where twelve international sculpture and installation artists take over the old EKA Gallery.

The festival’s first exhibition “Fibrous” offers genuinely spatial and physical experience, playing smartly with materials and perspectives. In addition to the many surprising moments that could be experienced while descending into the basement hall, it was great that it seemed that the visitor becomes part of the exhibition, and not only through the usual relationship between the viewer and the artwork, but rather in a more literal sense.

One of the most astonishing works for me was the floor of the exhibition hall. It was a big surprise when stepping into the basement, a thick layer of white crumble started to crunch under my feet. On closer examination, it turned out to be salt that covered the entire floor. Another work of art that caught my eye was a huge, rusted iron chain that filled half of the room. At first sight, it seemed that this chain could have arrived only with the help of an equally large crane but it turned out that there was no crane involved. I was also impressed by the small birds flying in the corner and the TV connected to the surveillance cameras, which broadcasted everything that was happening in the exhibition room.

I must say that it was one of the most interesting exhibitions I have seen lately. Group exhibitions are often more exciting than personal exhibitions as they have more inner connections. Connections between artworks, connections between artists, visitor’s connections with artworks, the intention of the artist and how it is executed or not executed.

I did not know anything about the authors of Laura De Jaeger’s curated exhibition “Fibrous” before, but they seem to be worth to keep an eye on. The names of the artists are Barbara Kocsis, Ben Caro, Darja Krasnopevtseva, Johannes Luik, Laura De Jaeger, LAURi and Martina Buck. Artistic director of the exhibition is Stacey Koosel, who has already curated many other interesting exhibitions in the local art scene.

I am looking forward to the next exhibition of SkulpaKuu, “Filtrum”, which will open on November 21. “Fibrous” will only remain open until November 14, so you have to hurry!

PS. I heard from a reliable source that about one ton of salt that covered the floor of the exhibition hall will be used by the animals in the zoo after the exhibition.

More information about the exhibition: http://www.kultuur.info/event/skulpakuu/

In March 2018 culture.ee actively streamed about Tallinn Music Week, a creative music festival. In September music, art, and international festival experience exchange has reached the Eastern borders of Estonia.

What makes TMW special? Its international harmony between art styles and forms. For example, at TMW you could listen to various bands from all over the world, see works of Estonian designers, taste eco ice-cream LaMuu at pop-up cafés, and talk about urban planning and climate change.

Cherry on the top of this creative cake was the upcoming music festival Station Narva in a frontier town that harbours Russian-speaking Estonians.

Apéritif

Why was this festival so interesting to me, someone who fled the town like fire the moment I graduated high school ten years ago? First of all, TMW was a blast and I had to see if it can be done in Narva as well. Second of all, Narva has changed a lot during a decade of my living abroad and I just had to see if Narva really is next (#narvaisnext is the main hashtag of the campaign for Narva to become a cultural capital of Europe in 2024). “Must go there,” I said to myself and there I was.

Breakfast “à la Narva”

The non-formal learning centre VitaTiim was a great place to reconcile with rapidly changing Narva. A long table with “Narva breakfast” (tea, coffee, sandwiches and pancakes with jam) was a meeting point for the youth workers of the centre, local activists, and the guests of the festival from Narva, Tallinn, Tartu, Pärnu… In my line of work I encountered Russian- and Estonian-speaking politicians and cultural personae to get together for a discussion, but for the first time in my life did I see Estonians and Russians mingling together instead of dividing themselves into language groups and talking just about everything in so-called Narva language (or narva keel in Estonian which is also known as Ida-Viru language, a curious mix of Russian and Estonian spoken by half Ida-Viru county and Tallinn). Go Narva keel!

Perfectly imperfect lunch

My lunch took place in Narva Art Residency where I was awaited by muffins and an “imperfect” presentation of one “imperfect” art/book project. Two Finnish artists and comic-book authors Kaisa Leka and Christoffer Leka talked how they crossed the USA by bicycle and made an “Imperfect” travel journal about it (“Imperfect”, 2017: Absolute Truth Press). You can read about the well-designed book and buy it here if you ever get inspired by the first line of the book manual: “To read this book you will need a knife”. The language of the book presentation has evolved into the international: the artists conversed with the public in English by adding a Russian phrase here and there while the public assisted the interpreter.

A snack

To go off topic, I decided to have a walk around town after the presentation (and get warm in a café, because the unusually hot summer has come to its end). Luckily I met a former classmate who gave me a tour of this new Narva. The town has truly changed a lot: new shops, cafés, restored park, and new (bigger than in Tallinn) Vaba Lava theatre hint that Narva becomes cool.

What’s for dinner?

For dinner, we had BAZAR or discussions about imported festivals and Narva people’s identity. And again, the discussions were held in Narva keel with some English seasoning. Quite symbolic because Narva residents discussed issues on an international level with the guests from all over Estonia, Russia, Germany, Finland, Sweden. We talked about:

• how can a provincial town become cultural capital;
• how to create a common information network for a small but multinational country;
• how Russian-speaking residents identify themselves vis-à-vis the Estonian population;
• how to interest the youth in active cultural life;
• what Narva residents have so special that nobody else has.

Waiting for a dessert

During these discussions I had a revelation. Any issue can be related to the proud multicultural and multilingual identity of the Narva inhabitants. Russian-speaking Estonians live not on the edge of Europe but on the frontier of two worlds and they need to use this cultural, economical, linguistic position to their advantage. Narva language is nowhere near official language but it has its charm of an Eastern-Estonian dialect and maybe it will become a first step towards the nationwide information exchange.

As a person who was wondering for half of my life whether I am Estonian or Russian, I have now learned to accept and operate multiple cultural identities because in this globalised world there are better things to think of. For example, what future awaits Narva and what its ascend will be like?

And an espresso to boost the energy

I truly hope that next year Station Narva will take place again and there will be more Narva residents on bazaars, concerts, art shows (both as visitors and as participants).

For now, let’s get inspired.

It is very appropriate that the first personal exhibition of the new building of the Estonian National Museum is dedicated to Anu Raud, whose role as a bearer of Estonian folk art is difficult to overemphasize, especially since her 75th birthday falls on the same year with the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia. The exhibition consists of two parts. Ene-Liis Semper has designed the main part in a separate gallery. The second part of the exhibition which is located next to the entrance to the museum is immediately visible to those who enter the museum. This part consists of rugs that were chosen in collaboration with the artist and the curator. On the one hand, it allows for a larger number of Anu Raud’s works to be exhibited, including the works that for one reason or another did not fit into the gallery; and on the other hand, it brings the exhibition out of the primary room and lets the works interact with the building in a different way.

Although it is an overview exhibition, the curator has avoided the chronological approach and for this exhibition, it works – it’s good to see how the rugs of different decades have the same motifs in a new context. It is possible to see the first rug of Anu Raud, Muhu Couple, completed as the graduate work of the art institute in 1968, as well as her newest work Landscapes of My Fatherland by which the exhibition is named after. When the colour range has become more restrained and the composition more minimalistic during the career of the artist, many strong symbols and themes in her work have survived over time.

Anu Raud’s rugs have a certain pictorial character. Rug as a predominantly two-dimensional medium favours this tendency, but the important part in this is also played by the fact that young Anu Raud wanted to become a painter. Thus, the viewer feels that they are at a painting exhibition where the oil painting or watercolor technique has been replaced with textiles. As the tradition of knitting rugs is much older than painting in Estonia, the medium also refers to folk culture. While studying works closely, the use of colour reminds a little bit of painting and the change-overs of the colour tones of yarn recall brush strokes. The colours of the same rug may seem completely different to the eye depending on the viewer’s location in the room.

The artist’s style combines various mythologies, traditions, and cultural layers through the ages. Christian and local indigenous mythology are presented side by side, blended with witty clues to the present. There is a pink car on one rug and EstCube on the other. Contrary to many other examples of contemporary interpretations of folk art that focus only on rural and farm culture, several rugs by Raud are dedicated to the urban environment. Pikk jalg (Long Leg, a street in Tallinn) depicts the street in Old Town as a striped stocking, Tower depicts Pikk Hermann (Tall Hermann). In its minimalism and clarity, Night in the City is particularly noticeable, both the city lights and the stars shining above them are depicted as the eight-heeled stars. In addition to the cross, eight-heeled stars are one of the most common elements in Anu Raud’s rugs, combining different mythologies.

As noted by the exhibition’s curator Reet Mark, Anu Raud’s works cross culture and generations. The purpose and locations of the rugs are also often associated with the life cycles of a human. Many of her rugs are located at schools, indicating the artist’s interest in combining different generations and past and present-day folk culture. Similarly, there is a clever humour on many of her rugs that crosses the borders of generations. Walk-about makes socks look like animals. Mitten Trees delivers the artist’s desire to help the bare and freezing trees in winter by covering them with mittens – on the one hand, the work reminds of old children’s stories, on the other hand, the ancient sacred grove traditions of Estonians and the old beliefs of animatism of many natural cultures. Rugs made for Civil Registry Offices also form a separate theme. Among them, beautifully composed Wedding Day from the Võru Town Government stands out. At the center of the work are the newlyweds above the wedding bed, around them are the wedding guests and a selection of items that make up something which is like the encyclopedia of everyday life. The pair of rugs, Suitor and Together is borrowed from the Viljandi Town Government. Thus, the motives are mythological and contemporary at the same time, focusing on various symbolic events and periods in life.

As a separate topic, some private stories can be found on the rugs. Dawn is a reference to the artist’s bedroom window and the entering sunlight that signals the arrival of the morning. Field Worshippers tells the story of how Anu Raud worked in the field decades ago with her fellow students, and kind local women lent the woolen skirts for girls to prevent their „modern“ jeans from getting dirty. Play discusses the nature of work and traditions in a changing world through the complex life of the artist’s father Mart Raud, referring to the novel Axe and Moon. For Anu Raud, folk art is something that connects different people but is deeply individual at the same time.

All in all, Landscapes of My Fatherland is a good example of the fact that folk art is not a static phenomenon, but a mythology in constant change, in which different periods and generations do not need to contradict each other. The exhibition works equally well for both Estonian and foreign visitors. The motives of Raud are sufficiently clear and cross-cultural, not requiring explanations or prior knowledge, but at the same time, they are sufficiently detailed to provide an opportunity for going deeper.

I would like to sincerely thank the curator Reet Mark for a pleasant conversation and the exhibition experience.

Photo: Anu Raud’s rug Joyful News

The craftsmen’s guilds of Tallinn are a familiar topic for many of us thanks to the secondary education but the everyday life and material culture of these organizations are still poorly addressed. Aside from their creation, little attention has been paid to their working arrangements. The exhibition on the pendant shields of Tallinn craftsmen in the 17th-19th century at the Niguliste Museum introduces in many ways an unknown topic in the culture of Tallinn craftsmen. Both the theme and the structure of the exhibition provide an excitingly multidisciplinary overview of the field and the era, which has been regrettably often addressed through the aesthetic perspective only. The curators of the exhibition are Anu Mänd, Senior Researcher at the University of Tallinn, and Tarmo Saaret, Director of the Niguliste Museum.

If silver as a material is primarily associated with decorativeness and wealth, then Mänd and Saaret have shown that the pendant shields were mainly used as visual communication tools and therefore, in the modern sense, they are not only craft but also graphic design. The main goal of the shield was to express the master’s field of craft, name and the year of becoming a master. In addition, the shield also features an emblem of the town and the marking of the goldsmith who made the shield. Mostly, the decoration has focused on illustrating the profession. The simplest emblems are typically the craftsmen’s tools, but in some cases, the approach is more allegorical, for example, a savage on a shield of a tailor. But there are different approaches, for example, a name-based approach: in 1796, a tailor A. F. Vogel chose a bird, more precisely a geese, to decorate his shield.

A separate showcase also features a timeline that demonstrates the stylistic developments over the course of the three centuries. If the baroque shields still stand out for their complex and lush ornaments, then the examples of the second half of the 19th century are almost modernist. Instead of a decor, the main focus is on delivering information in a simple and easily understandable manner. In addition, various details refer to evolving globalism and the growing interest in history and foreign cultures – for example, there are pyramids and Celtic decors. The role of the text in delivering information is increasing, referring to the higher level of general education.

From the point of view of the cultural context, the exhibition also illustrates well the Estonian place in the German cultural space. We do not find references to the influences of the Swedish or the Russian empire on the shields; both names and styling are strongly German influenced. Of the more complex objects of the exhibition, the two welcoming goblets of three are brought from Germany. Cultural impact and trade relations are not always dependent on the current political situation, especially during the early modern period.

All in all, this is an excellent exhibition that looks at the topic of the pendant shields from multiple angles, from a cultural, aesthetic, as well as historical point of view. The exhibition does not only vary the stylistics of the displayed shields but also how they are made. Some of the works are slightly clumsy and almost naive, thus illustrating not only the best moments in the field but the diversity of the representatives of the various professions. A couple of words should also be said about the permanent exposition of the Niguliste Museum: the curators have cleverly referred to the exhibition of Sittow currently at Kumu Art Museum, adding eye-catching information cubes to the items that are related to Sittow. Those who have already visited the exhibition will find interesting additional information from Niguliste, for others, it will work as a promotion of the exhibition among other things.

New cultural week has began! There will be punk and Pallas, another life and jewellery art, Liisi Koikson and a fashion show, hiking in Lahemaa, an Estonian language course and other exciting things. Enjoy!
Photo exhibition „Self-invented People. The Face of Soviet-era Punk in Estonia”
15 Nov 2017 – 18 Feb 2018
Juhan Kuus Documentary Photography Center
The exhibition focuses on individual and group portraits of punks through photos of Arno Saar, Urmas Lange and Väino Meresmaa to give the audience a chance to be faced with the rebels and free spirits of that time.
Harry Tensing’s jewellery exhibition „Another Life”
19 Jan – 19 Feb
A-Gallery
Water and plants are inseparable from each other. Without water, a tree will become wood. At the current exhibition, the artist has presented maple, apple and pear tree wood from his home garden – all the trees that have been cut down during his lifetime and the taste of their fruit are still in his mind. While modeling the wood he has attempted to reanimate them in the form of jewellery.
Estonian language courses at the Estonian Institute
22 Jan – 23 Jan
Estonian Institute
The Estonian Institute will start the new Estonian language course for beginners, starting on 23 January in our premises in Suur-Karja 14 (Tallinn Old Town). Classes will take place on Tuesdays at 6-7.30 p.m. (14 weeks).
TAFF Club
25 Jan
House of the Brotherhood of Blackheads
TAFF Club is initiated by the Tallinn Philharmonic in 2012. The main style of the club is mainstream jazz, additionally, there are special events of different styles. On the 25th of January the performer is Liisi Koikson.
Exhibition „Art Society Pallas 100. Birth and Rebirth”
26 Jan – 3 June
Adamson-Eric Museum
The name of Pallas sounds very familiar in the Estonian cultural history, but there is a shortage of deeper knowledge about it. Yet, in the development of our spiritual and emotional culture, this society that was born with the Republic of Estonia, has played a primary role.
Fashion show „ENNE” at the Estonian National Museum
27 Jan
Estonian National Museum
Fashion show „ENNE” presents the modern collections of Sirli Pohlak and Kertu Kivisik inspired by ethnographic heritage. The event will start with a screening by MoeKunstiKino, the first fashion film festival in Tartu, and, to end, the attendees will be able to experience a conceptual fashion video in virtual reality.
Ekström March 2018
27 Jan
Kolga Manor
Ekström march is an event to popularize active outdoor habits and introduce war history to whole families, which takes place in the untouched landscapes of the biggest and oldest Estonian national park – Lahemaa. There will be three hiking trails: 7 km, 17 km, and 30 km.

Culture.ee’s virtual culture guide.

JANUARY
1.–7.01., Tartu 5TH TARTU WINTER MUSIC FESTIVAL
1.–7.01., Tallinn 7TH TALLINN BACH MUSIC FESTIVAL „BACHFEST“
5.–11.01., Tallinn KORFEST 2018
19.–20.01., Jõgeva 13TH POETRY DAYS „CHILDREN OF THE WIND“ DEDICATED TO BETTI ALVER
20.01., Tallinn INTSIKURMU WINTER FESTIVAL
24.–26.01., Pärnu DRAAMA 2018 SMALL THEATRE FESTIVAL FOR CRITICS
26.01.–4.02., Tallinn, Tartu, Pärnu, Jõhvi MUSTONENFEST
26.01.–14.10., all over Estonia FESTIVAL „SCHOOL DANCE“
31.01.–4.02., Tallinn DOCPOINT TALLINN

FEBRUARY
2.–4.02., Tallinn 5TH JEW’S HARP FESTIVAL
3.–4.02., Tallinn SIMPLE SESSION 18
3.–4.02., Laulasmaa 16TH YOUTH THEATRE FESTIVAL TEENIFEST
5.–10.02., Rakvere RAKVERE GYMNASIUM’S FILM FESTIVAL
5.–13.02., Tallinn 11TH TALLINN WINTER FESTIVAL
9.02., Tallinn ACOUSSION FESTIVAL
10.02., Valga 18TH INTERNATIONAL PIANO ENSEMBLES FESTIVAL
10.–11.02., Tartu 18TH FESTIVAL OF YOUNG CELLISTS
10.–22.02., Tallinn FESTIVAL „ESTONIAN THEATRE IN THE ESTONIAN NATIONAL OPERA“
12.–16.02., Tallinn FESTIVAL „VIRMALISED“
16.–17.02., Kuressaare 4TH NATIONAL A. RAUDKATS DANCE COMPETITION
16.–18.02., Viljandi 16TH STUDENT THEATRE DAYS
23.02., Tallinn INDOOR MUSIC FESTIVAL „MADE IN ESTONIA“
23.02., Tallinn WINTER GRIND

MARCH
4.–31.03., all over Estonia THE MONTH OF FRANCOPHONIE
9.03., Tallinn MARCH 9 PERFORMING ARTS FESTIVAL „SERIOUSLY ABOUT HUMOUR“
9.–10.03., Jõgeva 22ND MUSIC DAYS DEDICATED TO ALO MATTIISEN
9.–10.03., Tallinn ARS FILM FESTIVAL AFF 2018
10.03., Tallinn 11TH PERFORMING ARTS SHORT FORMS FESTIVAL MADE IN ESTONIA MARATHON
10.03., Valga ESTONIAN MUSIC VIDEO FESTIVAL
15.–18.03., Tallinn EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL „CECILIANA“
19.–25.03., Tartu 15TH WORLD FILM FESTIVAL
22.–24.03., Tallinn TALLINN FASHION WEEK
23.–25.03., Kuressaare NATIONAL SCHOOL THEATRE FESTIVAL „SAAREMAA MINI THEATRE DAYS“
24.03., Tartu SOUND AND DUSK FESTIVAL „NIGHT OF THE ESTONIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM“

APRIL
April, Tartu FESTIVAL „VUNK“
2.–8.04., Tallinn TALLINN MUSIC WEEK 2018
9.–29.04., across Estonia GERMAN SPRING 2018 – FOCUS ON HAMBURG
12.–13.04., Tartu STUDENTS SCIENCE FESTIVAL 2018
12.–19.04., Tallinn, Tartu ESTONIAN MUSIC DAYS 2018 „SACRED“
12.–22.04., Tallinn TALLINN OLD TOWN FOOD FESTIVAL
17.–24.04., Viljandi JAZZ FESTIVAL VILJANDI JAZZKAAREKE
19.04., Lehtse MUSIC FESTIVAL FOR SMALL SCHOOLS „MUSIC INSIDE AND AROUND US“
20.–23.04., Tartu, Tallinn POLISH AND ESTONIAN CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL „WARSAW SPRING“
20.–29.04., all over Estonia JAZZKAAR
21.–28.04., Tallinn XI HARPSICHORD FESTIVAL
23.–29.04., Viljandi DANCE WEEK
26.–29.04., Tartu 17TH SUPILINN DAYS
27.–28.04., Tallinn TALLINN COFFEE FESTIVAL
27.–29.04., Haapsalu 13TH HAAPSALU HORROR AND FANTASY FILM FESTIVAL (HÕFF)
27.–29.04., Tallinn TALLINN LARP FESTIVAL
27.–30.04., Tallinn TRADITIONAL DANCE FESTIVAL „SABATANTS“
27.04.–5.05., Jõhvi 11TH JÕHVI BALLET FESTIVAL
28.04., all over Estonia ESTONIAN OPEN FISHING PORT DAY 2018
28.04.–5.05., Tartu TARTU STUDENT DAYS: SPRING

MAY
2.–5.05., Tartu AUTHOR’S SONG FESTIVAL „MAILAUL“
2.–6.05., Viljandi VILJANDI COMEDY FILM FESTIVAL „WILKOM“
5.–6.05., Pärnu PROVINCIAL THEATRE DAYS
7.–12.05., Tartu, Jõhvi INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE FESTIVAL „PRIMA VISTA“
11.–12.05., Mooste ESTONIAN FOLK MUSIC ARRANGEMENTS FESTIVAL
12.05., Lao 8TH RÄIMEWEST HERRING FESTIVAL
12.–13.05., Kihlepa DANDELION FESTIVAL
17.–19.05., Tartu ULMEFESTIVAL
17.–19.05., Tartu FREEDOM FESTIVAL
19.05., all over Estonia NIGHT OF MUSEUMS: PARTY IN THE NIGHT
19.05., Koigi WEED FESTIVAL
23.–27.05., Tallinn TALLINN LITERATURE FESTIVAL „HEADREAD“
25.05., all over Estonia INTERNATIONAL NIGHT OF CHURCHES
26.05., Abja-Paluoja 5TH MULGI PARTY
26.05., Orjaku WINDFISH FESTIVAL
26.–27.05., Kuressaare KURESSAARE STREET FESTIVAL
30.05.–3.06., Tallinn 37TH TALLINN OLD TOWN DAYS

JUNE
June, Pärnu, all over Estonia and Europe DIVERSE UNIVERSE PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL
June–September, Naissaar, all over Estonia NARGENFESTIVAL
1.–2.06., Viljandi VILJANDI HANSEATIC DAYS
1.–3.06., Türi 12TH TÜRI SPRING FESTIVAL
2.06., Haapsalu HAAPSALU ITALIAN MUSIC FESTIVAL
2.06., Häädemeeste NORTH LIVONIAN FESTIVAL
2.06., Võru 5TH VÕRO-LANGUAGE SONG AND FOLK FESTIVAL UMA PIDO
2.06., Kohila KAPAROCK 2018
2.06.–1.07., Haapsalu HAAPSALU GRAPHIC DESIGN FESTIVAL
4.–10.06., Tartu ESTONIAN FASHION FESTIVAL
6.–12.06., Tallinn 5TH GUSTAV ADOLF ORGAN FESTIVAL
7.–9.06., Saue, Tallinn 16TH INTERNATIONAL YOUTH RHYTHM MUSIC FESTIVAL „VISIOON“
7.–17.06., Tallinn, Tartu, Narva FESTIVAL „TADAA!“
8.–10.06., Haapsalu INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY CIRCUS FESTIVAL „HOOG 2018“
8.–10.06., Uuri BUSHCRAFT FESTIVAL ESTLAND 2018
8.–10.06., Luige FESTIVAL „SWAN’S BEAK“
9.06., Virtsu ART FESTIVAL „TOORTUUMIK“
9.–10.06., Haapsalu NARGENFESTIVAL’S KREEK DAYS
9.–15.06., all over Estonia TALLINN GUITAR FESTIVAL 2018
10.06., Tallinn THE VERY SHORT MOVIES FESTIVAL 2018
11.–17.06., all over Estonia STREET ART FESTIVAL „STENCIBILITY“
13.–15.06., Saue 21ST DAYS OF CREATION AND IMPROVISATION
13.–16.06., Tartu NATURE FESTIVAL
14.–17.06., Hiiumaa SÕRU JAZZ
16.–17.06., Vastseliina XXIV COUNTRY FOLK FAIR
16.–17.06., Tartu TARTU STREET FOOD FESTIVAL
16.–23.06., Põhja-Sakala Parish 21TH SUURE-JAANI MUSIC FESTIVAL
20.–22.06., Kihnu Island KIHNU KNITTING FESTIVAL
22.–24.06., Tartu 18TH INTERNATIONAL STUDENT SONG AND DANCE FESTIVAL „GAUDEAMUS“
25.06.–08.07., Pärnu, all over Estonia 32ND PÄRNU FILM FESTIVAL
26.–30.06., Peipsimaa V PEIPSIMAA ORGAN FESTIVAL
27.–30.06., Haapsalu HAAPSALU TCHAIKOVSKY FESTIVAL
29.06., Tartu TARTU CITY DAY
29.06., Tartu GYPSY FESTIVAL „ROMANÕ TŠERGEN“
29.–30.06., Vana-Vigala HARD ROCK CAMP
29.–30.06., Värska SETO FOLK
29.–30.06., Kaiavere FESTIVAL „PUNK’N ROLL“
29.–30.06., Pühajärve village RETROBEST FESTIVAL 2018
29.06.–15.07., Ida-Viru County 20TH „THE MUSIC OF SEVEN CITIES“ FESTIVAL
29.06.–5.08., Kabli KABLI SUNSET FESTIVAL
30.06.–1.07., Narva 3RD NARVA MEDIEVAL FESTIVAL
30.06.–7.07., Peipsimaa 3RD LAKE PEIPUS FESTIVAL

JULY
July, Jõhvi INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL „SLAVIC LIGHT“
July–August, Pärnu, Riga PÄRNU PRINTMAKING IN FESTIVAL „HEAVENS UNDERGROUND“
4.–6.07., Tallinn ÕLLESUMMER FESTIVAL
4.–7.07., Rakvere INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF PERFORMING ARTS „BALTOSCANDAL“
4.–7.07., Tallinn 8TH HORTUS MUSICUS SUMMER FESTIVAL „IN HORTO REGIS“
4.–8.07., Haapsalu 25TH HAAPSALU EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL
4.–8.07., Sänna FINNO-UGRIC FILM FESTIVAL
4.–8.07., Saaremaa FESTIVAL „THE SONOROUS SOUNDS OF THE ORGANS OF SAAREMAA“
5.–7.07., Pärnu PÄRNU OPERA DAYS
5.–8.07., Muhu Island, Kuressaare, Tartu, Tallinn 22ND MUHU FUTURE MUSIC FESTIVAL „JUU JÄÄB“
5.–8.07., Tallinn 19TH MEDIEVAL DAYS
5.–8.07., Võru 24TH VÕRU FOLKLORE FESTIVAL
5.–8.07., Äksi SAADJÄRV FESTIVAL 2018
5.–9.07., Pärnu PÄRNU HARMONICA FESTIVAL AND COMPETITION „BALTIC-NORDIC OPEN“
6.–7.07., Kohtla-Nõmme FESTIVAL „THE MOUNTAIN SOUND“
6.–7.07., Pärnu BEACH FESTIVAL „BEACH GRIND“
6.–7.07., Toomasmäe SETO MIDSUMMER EVE BONFIRE
6.–8.07., Kihelkonna 23RD KIHELKONNA CHURCH MUSIC DAYS
6.–8.07., Kihnu Island KIHNU SEA FESTIVAL
6.–8.07., Kikkaoja ELECTRONIC MUSIC FESTIVAL „KÕU“
7.07., Laiksaare VÕNGE 2018. THE TRAVELLING MUSIC FESTIVAL
7.07., Valga VALGA COUNTY FESTIVAL OF TRADITIONAL CULTURE „SÄDE GARDEN PARTY“
7.07., Lindi village COASTAL VILLAGE FESTIVAL „FEAST OF OUR VILLAGE“
7.–8.07., Tartu TARTU HANSEATIC DAYS
7.–8.07., Tallinn 1ST ESTONIAN PIANO FESTIVAL „CAPTIVATED BY THE PIANO“
8.–14.07., Viljandi NOTAFE 2018
9.–14.07., Põlva County STREET ART FESTIVAL „RURAL URBAN ART: PÕLVAMAA“
10.–15.07., Viljandi VILJANDI VANAMUUSIKA FESTIVAL
10.07.–13.08., Tallinn ALION BALTIC FESTIVAL
11.07.–8.08., Pärnu SUMMER ARIA. SYNTHESIS OF THE ARTS 2018
12.–15.07., Orissaare I LAND SOUND 2018
12.–17.07., Tartu FESTIVAL „GLASPERLENSPIEL“
13.–14.07., Kanepi FESTIVAL „BEER CAMP & ROCK’N’ROLL“
13.–15.07., Haapsalu AMERICAN BEAUTY CAR SHOW
13.–15.07., Kilingi-Nõmme KILINGI-NÕMME TOWN DAYS
13.–15.07., Tallinn TALLINN MARITIME DAYS
13.–15.07., Pärnu 6TH PÄRNU INTERNATIONAL SAXOPHONE MUSIC FESTIVAL „SAX.FEST ’18“
14.07., Venevere PANDIVERE MUSIC FESTIVAL SUMMER RAGER 2018
14.–15.07., Hiiumaa HIIUMAA CHAMBER MUSIC DAYS
14.–15.07., Roosiku HEART MUSIC FESTIVAL 2018
18.–21.07., Narva BALTIC SUN 2018
19.–22.07., Hiiumaa 14TH HIIUMAA FOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL „HIIU FOLK 2018“
19.–22.07., Valgeranna SURF CAMP 20
19.–28.07., Kuressaare SAAREMAA OPERA DAYS
21.07., Haapsalu FESTIVAL „ROCK IN HAAPSALU“
21.07., Hingu MOTONOSTALGIA 2018
21.07., Põltsamaa PÕLTSAMAA CASTLE DAY
21.07., Pärnu ESTONIAN VILLAGE MUSICIANS’ REUNION
21.07., Pärnu HAPPY CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL
26.–29.07., Viljandi 26TH VILJANDI FOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL
26.–31.07., Hiiumaa, Tallinn 13TH HIIUMAA HOMECOMING FESTIVAL
26.07.–5.08. Rapla County 26TH RAPLA CHURCH MUSIC FESTIVAL
27.–28.07., Tartu MUSIC FESTIVAL „PUNK & ROCK 2018“
27.–28.07., Võsu VÕSU BEACH FESTIVAL „POWER ON THE BEACH 2018“
27.–29.07., Vormsi Island ST. OLAF’S DAY
27.–30.07., Pärnu PORCELAIN DAYS
27.07.–5.08., Tallinn EUROPA CANTAT XX TALLINN 2018
28.07., Valga 10TH INTERNATIONAL VALGA MILITARY HISTORY FESTIVAL
28.07., Narva-Jõesuu EAST BEACH FEST 2018
28.–29.07., Haapsalu YOGA FESTIVAL
28.–29.07., Võru VÕRU CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL „EARTH RINGS OF JOY“
28.07.–12.08., Tallinn 32ND TALLINN INTERNATIONAL ORGAN FESTIVAL
29.07., Tallinn LASNAMÄE PIE FESTIVAL
30.07.–5.08., Hiiumaa HIIUMAA DANCE FESTIVAL
31.07.–4.08., Kuressaare 24TH KURESSAARE CHAMBER MUSIC DAYS
the end of July or the beginning of August, Vormsi Island VORMSI SURFING DAYS

AUGUST
2.–5.08., Haapsalu AUGUST BLUES
3.–4.08., Põlva INTSIKURMU FESTIVAL
3.–4.08., Palupera LEIGO LAKE MUSIC FESTIVAL 2018
3.–4.08., Rõngu ESTONIAN HIPHOP FESTIVAL
3.–5.08., Narva-Jõesuu FESTIVAL „GROW AND DECAY“
3.–5.08., Eivere, Paide 6TH EIVERE PIANO FESTIVAL
3.–5.08., Suuremõisa PÜHALEPA MUSIC FESTIVAL 2018
3.–5.08., Tartu TARTU FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL
3.–5.08., Tartu TARTU SUMMER SWING
5.–11.08., Pärnu PÄRNU MUSIC FESTIVAL 2018
7.–12.08., Lihula 8TH LIHULA FLOWER EMBROIDERY FESTIVAL
7.–12.08., Mustvee VM FEST MUSTVEE INTERNATIONAL SACRED MUSIC FESTIVAL 2018
8.–12.08., Uhti 2ND POTTER’S WHEEL FESTIVAL KEDRAFEST 2018
9.–11.08., Kuressaare KURESSAARE MARITIME DAYS
9.–12.08., Haanjamaa SMOKE SAUNA WEEK IN HAANJA
9.–18.08., Tallinn BIRGITTA FESTIVAL
10.08., Elva ELVA FESTIVAL OF EXPERIENCES
10.–11.08., Paide OPINION FESTIVAL
10.–11.08., Pärnu 21TH PÄRNU GUILD DAYS
10.–11.08., Puhja ROCK@ULILA 2018
10.–12.08., Käsmu VIRU FOLK
10.–12.08., Tartu 13TH INTERNATIONAL WIND BAND FESTIVAL „MÜRTSUB PILL“
10.–12.08., Tartu RIVER EMAJÕGI FESTIVAL
10.–12.08., Tõstamaa TÕSTAMAA DAYS
10.–12.08., Narva HISTORY FESTIVAL „NARVA BATTLE 2018“
11.08., Pärnu PÄRNU FIDEOFEST
11.08., Pärnu NATIONAL MINORITIES’ SUMMER FESTIVAL „MULTICULTURAL PÄRNU“
11.08., Kose FESTIVAL OF MILD MUSIC 2018
12.08., Haapsalu CHILDREN’S CULTURE FESTIVAL „CHILDHOOD MAGIC“
12.08., Anija MANOR CULTURE FESTIVAL
13.–18.08., Tartu TARTU LOVE FILM FESTIVAL TARTUFF
15.–19.08., Lüganuse parish RIVER FESTIVAL „PURFEST“
15.–19.08., all over Estonia C-JAM CELLOFEST 2018
15.–20.08., Võru town and Võru County E. TAMM VÕRU WIND INSTRUMENT FESTIVAL
16.–18.08., Pärnu WEEKEND FESTIVAL BALTIC
17.08., Rakvere ESTONIA’S FIRST POETRY FESTIVAL
17.–18.08., Rapla 3RD INTERNATIONAL SENIOR DANCE FESTIVAL „NEIGHBOUR, COME TO DANCE!“
17.–18.08., Võru VÕRU TOWN DAYS
17.–18.08., Univere village URISSAARE KANTRI 2018
17.–19.08., Pala SKENERAATOR FESTIVAL 2018
17.–19.08., Ruhnu island RUHNURAHU FESTIVAL
17.–19.08., Põlva County ECOFESTIVAL
18.08., Alatskivi LITERARY FESTIVAL „ESTONIAN READER“ 2018
18.08., Haapsalu STREET FOOD FESTIVAL „PROMENADE OF FLAVOURS“
18.08., Järva-Jaani FILM ROLL FESTIVAL
18.08., Varnja VARNJA SAUNAFEST
19.–20.08., Valga FESTIVAL „STARS OF AUGUST IN VALGA“ 2018
19.–31.08., Tallinn 14TH TALLINN CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL
20.08., Tahkuranna village TAHKURANNA CUCUMBER FESTIVAL
23.–26.08., Tallinn FESTIVAL „TOWERS OF TALLINN“
24.08., Laulasmaa 7TH ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S DAY’S GEMS
24.–26.08., Haapsalu WHITE LADY FESTIVAL
25.08., Tallinn TELLISKIVI FLEA MARKET FESTIVAL
25.08., Tallinn CULTURE NIGHT
25.–26.08., Peraküla NÕVA FLOUNDER FESTIVAL
25.–26.08., Tudulinna END OF SUMMER FESTIVAL „TUDULINNA LIGHTS“
31.08.–1.09., Tartu FESTIVAL IN APARAADITEHAS

SEPTEMBER
1.–2.09., Tallinn UUS MAAILM DISTRICT STREET FESTIVAL 2018
1.–9.09., Narva NARVA OPERA DAYS „CONTEMPART“ 2018
3.–9.09., Tartu ESTONIAN THEATRE FESTIVAL „DRAAMA“
3.–9.09., Saaremaa SAAREMAA FOOD FESTIVAL
7.–9.09., Haapsalu NOSTALGIA DAYS
8.09., Tallinn LITERARY STREET FESTIVAL
8.09., Otepää CHANTERELLE FESTIVAL 2018
10.–16.09., Tallinn 13TH TALLINN DESIGN FESTIVAL
14.09., Tallinn FESTIVAL OF STRANGE FILMS
14.–15.09., Rapla CULTURE FESTIVAL „SÄRIN“ („SIZZLE“)
14.–15.09., Tihemetsa MUSHROOM FESTIVAL
17.–23.09., Hiiumaa HIIUMAA FOOD AND ART FESTIVAL
19.–21.09., Tallinn WALKING LIGHTS FESTIVAL 2018
19.–23.09., Lihula, Haapsalu 16TH MATSALU NATURE FILM FESTIVAL (MAFF)
19.–23.09., Rakvere KAMALAMMAS FOOD FESTIVAL
20.–22.09., Tallinn SOUND PLASMA FESTIVAL FOR MICROTONAL MUSIC
20.–22.09., Tallinn 6TH INTERNATIONAL IMPROV FESTIVAL TILT
21.–22.09., Tallinn ECOMESS 2018
21.–23.09., Narva STATION NARVA 2018
22.–23.09., Tartu JAPANESE POPCULTURE FESTIVAL „ANIMATSURI 2018“
24.–30.09., Tartu TARTU STUDENT DAYS: AUTUMN
27.–29.09., all over Estonia RESEARCHERS’ NIGHT FESTIVAL
28.–30.09., Kihnu Island KIHNU VIOLIN FESTIVAL
29.09., Tallinn APPLE FESTIVAL

OCTOBER
4.–10.10., Tallinn TALLINN FASHION FILM FESTIVAL „MOEKUNSTIKINO“
5.–6.10., Viljandi FOLK MUSIC HARVEST FESTIVAL
5.–7.10., Tartu INTERNATIONAL AUTHOR’S SONG FESTIVAL „MUSIC OF THE FALLING LEAF“
5.–12.10., Tallinn 11TH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL KLAVER 2018
6.10., Nõo FESTIVAL OF LIGHT
8.–28.10., all over Estonia FILM FESTIVAL „CINEMA TO THE COUNTRY“
9.–12.10., Tallinn TALLINN COMEDY FESTIVAL
9.–14.10., Viljandi VILJANDI GUITAR FESTIVAL
9.–17.10., Tallinn, Viljandi, Sillamäe, Narva GOLDEN MASK IN ESTONIA
10.–28.10., all over Estonia PAN-FINNO-UGRIAN DAYS
11.–13.10., Tartu TRADITIONAL DANCE FESTIVAL „SABATANTS“
11.–14.10., Tartu 7TH INTERNATIONAL A-FESTIVAL
11.–14.10., Tõrva TÕRVA DOKFEST
12.–14.10., Tartu 23RD INTERNATIONAL EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL „ORIENT ET OCCIDENT“
13.–28.10., all over Estonia CHILDREN AND YOUTH MUSEUM FESTIVAL „OPEN PLAYGROUNDS“
17.–20.10., Tallinn TALLINN FASHION WEEK
19.–24.10., Tallinn AUTUMNFEST
20.–28.10., Tallinn VII NU PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL
25.–27.10., Tallinn TALLINN FOODFEST
25.–28.10., Tallinn FESTIVAL „ÜLE HELI“
25.–28.10., Tartu ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING AND LIGHT FESTIVAL TAVA 2018
27.10.–2.11., Tartu, Tallinn 17TH INTERNATIONAL MODERN MUSIC FESTIVAL „AFEKT“
31.10.–2.11., Tallinn INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL „NAKS“

NOVEMBER
November–December, all over Estonia CHRISTMAS JAZZ
5.–8.11., Tartu MEDICAL FILMS FESTIVAL MEFF 2018
5.–11.11., Viimsi VIIMSI HAPPY JAZZ FESTIVAL
6.–28.11., Tallinn SKULPAKUU
8.–9.11., Tartu FESTIVAL „CRAZY TARTU“
8.–10.11., Tallinn 22ND ST MARTIN’S DAY FAIR
9.–11.11., Tartu 3RD TARTU YOUTH FOLKLORE FESTIVAL
9.–12.11., Tartu, Narva 8TH TARTU INTERNATIONAL JAZZ AND RHYTHM MUSIC FESTIVAL „IDEEJAZZ“
12.–17.11., Ida-Viru County NORDIC CULTURE WEEK 2018
16.–25.11., Tallinn, Tartu CHILDREN’S AND YOUTH FILM FESTIVAL „JUST FILM“
16.11.–2.12., Tallinn, Tartu TALLINN BLACK NIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL
23.11.–1.12., Väike-Maarja 10TH VÄIKE-MAARJA MUSIC FESTIVAL
24.11.–2.12., Tallinn, Tartu EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL „TALLINN FEAT. REVAL“

DECEMBER
2.12.2018–7.01.2019, all over Estonia CHRISTMAS MUSIC FESTIVAL „CHURCH HOLIDAYS IN ST MARY’S LAND“
2.12.2018–10.01.2019, Tartu CHRISTMAS CITY TARTU
7.–9.12., Rakvere FESTIVAL „DARKLAND FIRE 9“
9.–15.12., Tallinn THEATRE FESTIVAL „MIDWINTER NIGHT’S DREAM“

Read more about upcoming festivals in Estonia in 2018!

If you love contemporary art and motocross, thought-provoking documentaries, choral music, Christmas fantasies, Estonian National Male Choir or Bach, this week is just for you. Enjoy!
Marco Laimre’s solo exhibition “Motor”
16 Dec – 28 Jan
Tallinn Art Hall
Marco Laimre’s solo exhibition “Motor” brings together contemporary art and motocross, garage and landscape, sport and technology. The artist poses several questions in his exhibition: How can we combine the process of art with motorsport? How can we create a symbol of the landscape from the perspective of a motorcyclist? What happens when ‘garage poetics’ is transferred to the context of an art exhibition or vice versa? How is repairing things different from creation as a process? Does an engine have a face? The exhibition is curated by Indrek Köster and Taavi Talve (Johnson&Johnson).
Lost in Lebanon – movie night and discussion
18 Dec
The Club of Different Rooms
December 18 is International Migrants Day. To celebrate the day, IOM is organizing the Global Migration Film Festival which is going to take place in over 100 countries around the world. In Estonia, IOM is screening the movie “Lost in Lebanon”. The film portrays the stories of four Syrian refugees living in Lebanon, a country only a quarter the size of Estonia where every fourth person is a Syrian refugee. The film shows us the reasons why people have fled from Syria and the possibilities they now have in Lebanon, where ca 70% of Syrians have no legal rights to work, obtain education nor have an access to health care.
Christmas concert of chamber choir Head Ööd, Vend
19 Dec
Tallinn Dome Church
Chamber choir Head Ööd, Vend invites every friend of choral music to a pre-Christmas concert, where beautiful choral music will be performed, which awakens Christmas spirit in everybody. The concert will be accompanied by a string quartet consisting of Hains Tooming (violin), Kristjan Rudanovski (violin), Kristjan Kannukene (viola) and Ruslan Petrov (cello). Marten Altrov will play the clarinet and Kristiina Veerde the flute. Programme includes music by Kõrvits, Kodaly, Walters, Biebl, Holten, Ehala, Górecki, Kreek, Sisask, Uusberg.
Christmas concert of Estonian National Male Choir
20 Dec Tartu St John’s Church
21 Dec Võru Culture Centre Kannel
22 Dec Valga Culture and Hobby Centre
23 Dec Tallinn St John’s Church
The Christmas concerts feature songs about life, faith, and love – authors include John Paul Rudoi, Timothy Takach, Ola Gjeilo, Rene Eespere, Pärt Uusberg and Rasmus Puur.
Liisi Koikson’s Christmas concert at Instrument Museum
21 Dec
Intrument Museum
Christmas concert with Liisi Koikson, Marek Talts and Christian Harrysson.
Christmas Fantasy. Pärnu City Orchestra
21 Dec Pärnu Concert Hall
22 Dec Viljandi Baptist Church
Pärnu City Orchestra
Soloist Maris Liloson (soprano)
Pärnu Chamber Choir and Mixed Choir Endla
Conductor Mikk Murdvee
The programme includes well-known and loved Christmas music.
Bach. Mass in B minor
22 Dec Tartu St Paul’s Church
23 Dec Estonia Concert Hall
Concert series “Oratorio”
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Tallinn Chamber Orchestra
Conductor Kaspars Putninš
J. S. Bach’s Mass in B minor is one of the most important sacred compositions within world music literature, as well as the crowning jewel of Bach’s work. This was Bach’s last major choral composition, and the author was still working on it during the final year of his life.

 It is time for the Üle Heli Festival again, that is researching the area of physical space and  sound this year. The main organizer Aivar Tõnso agreed to answer our questions and  it sounds like the festival is bigger than ever this year.

What is Üle Heli Festival and how long it has been held in Estonia?
Üle Heli Festival explores the meaning behind music and sound and tries to link it to other art fields by focusing each year on a specific theme. The theme of this year’s festival is sound and space, and the entire programme deals with the issues of sound and space from different angles. Attention is given to both the physical space and how music affects our thinking and consciousness.
Who are the most exciting foreign and local performers this year?
One of the foreign highlights is Jimi Tenor, who for the first time in Tallinn gives a solo concert, showing himself as a one-man orchestra. This is how he became known in the 90s. Certainly, he will present some pieces from that period as well, but it definitely will not be a performance focusing only on the past. One of the main performers is Ninos Du Brasil from Italy, who links Brazilian rhythmic culture with electronic club music. One of the most magnificent activities of this year festival is the cooperation with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, who presents some new music, largely written especially for the festival, which links electronic music of Estonian composers with choral music.
What events would you suggest to the audience who is visiting the festival for the first time, and for those who have been at the festival before?
It’s hard to say, rather, it does not depend on the past visits, but on people’s preferences, and in this sense the festival offers choices between different extremes. During the day and early evening, the emphasis is on a more intellectual programme, you can visit the installation at the Loewenschede Tower, various discussions and concerts of more thoughtful character. At night, however, you can feel more freely on Friday with the funky mood at the club Laine and on Saturday, there are techno vibes at the club Hall. However, the final evening of the festival at Kirimäe manor is for those who want to experience something dreamlike in real life.
Are there any other similar festivals in Estonia? If so, which ones do you recommend?
There are no similar festivals in Estonia. However, there are several festivals that share some common elements. For example, the festival Uit, Kukemuru Ambient, Kalana Saund and in its own way the festival Afekt and Estonian Music Days. Also, the fragment of Üle Heli Festival can be experienced in the framework of the all-inclusive Tallinn Music Week.
 

There is a lot of music coming from all over the country this Sunday,  so keep your eyes and ears open! The ones of you, who hate music, there is also information about other kinds of events. Enjoy!

Vox Clamantis ‘You and I’
30 Sep
Niguliste Church
Our own Grammy winning ensemble is going to perform another premiering piece by a well known and much loved Estonian composer. The conductor and artistic director of Vox Clamantis is Jaan-Eik Tulve.
Kumu Documentary: “Revolution: New Art for a New World”
27 Sep
Kumu auditorium
During the years following the Russian Revolution, the artistic scene in Russia underwent a profound shift. A plethora of artists began to create art for the new utopian regime, pioneering new modes of art and new methods of production. It is a legacy that ranges from Kandinsky’s abstraction to the bold artworks of the Socialist Realist movement.
International Music Day
01 Oct
All over Estonia
There will be about 120 free concerts taking place in different parts of Estonia. Over 750 musicians will be representing different genres from classical music and jazz to traditional music. As the music day wishes to offer a music experience for free to as many people as possible, concert halls are also selected accordingly. So the music will be playing at concert halls, culture centers, shopping malls, trams, the railway station and the market.
Photographic Art Fair 2017
29 Sep – 01 Oct
Telliskivi Creative City
The International selection committee has announced the artists, galleries and project spaces participating in Estonian Photographic Art Fair 2017. Artists exhibited at the gallery section of Estonian Photographic Art Fair 2017 are Peeter Laurits (Vaal), Giulia Marchi (IT) (Matèria), Arne Maasik (Haus), Diana Tamane (KOGO) and Alan Proosa (Okapi).
Ann Mirjam Vaikla, Lærke Grøntved ‘Uncanny You’
26/28/29/30 Sept
Kanuti Gildi SAAL
On a sunny spring day in 2017, one could read the newspapers about the biggest conventional explosive of humankind – The Mother of All Bombs. In ‘Uncanny You’ the character Mother Bomb becomes the center of the media storm. It makes everybody sweat as if they were under the frying desert sun. All this attention and admiration by the masses brings her together with the Lonely Visitor – together they begin the journey into the uncanny valley.
The science cafe of the Estonian Academy of Arts
26 Sep
Von Krahl Theatre
Fashion designer and EAA senior researcher Reet Aus, EAA Ph.D. student & textile designer Miina Leesment, textile artist and Head of UT Viljandi Culture Academy’s Estonian Native Crafts Department Ave Matsin will discuss research into textiles in the arts and the society, tradition, innovation and the future of textiles. The talk will be moderated by Liina Siib, head of EAA art and design Ph.D. programme. The discussion will be held in Estonian. Free of charge, all are welcome.
 

This week we will connect you with comedy, folk-culture, pop-culture, documentary films, art and the Estonian language! Have a wonderful week!
The Fifth Annual Tilt International Improv Festival presents: The Moment (FIN/USA) – “Here, Now” / Rocky Amaretto (NLD) – “Everybody has one”
23 Sep
St Catherine’s Church
Improv differs from classical theatre in that the entire performance is invented on the spot, inspired from suggestions given by the audience. Every performance is unique and will never be seen again, because it’s not possible to improvise the same story twice. Tilt brings you the best improv actors and teachers from Estonia and all over the world! Tilt: Theatre like never before (And also never again.)
Japanese Pop Culture Festival “AniMatsuri”
23 Sep – 24 Sep
Tartu
This festival is dedicated to Japanese animation and pop culture and takes place in Tartu for the 11th time already. It’s a two-day festival aimed primarily at youngsters, bringing enthusiasts together from Estonia as well as abroad.
XIII Estonian Islands’ Folk Days “Instrument and playing”
22 Sep – 24 Sep
Vormsi
The Estonian islands come together and already on Friday evening, the concert of the talharpa band Puuluup will be held in Vormsi’s only tavern. On Saturday there is a parade, a church is being examined, and it’s possible to get a little more information about the Vormsi’s ancient instrument talharpa. After a collective lunch, you can do exciting things in several workshops. Most of the activities are for both children and adults.
15th Matsalu Nature Film Festival (MAFF)
20 Sep – 24 Sep
Lihula Community Centre/Tallinn Zoo Nature Education Centre/Ilon Wonder Land
The MAFF is an annual nature film event. It has been named after the nearby Matsalu National Park, which is one of largest bird sanctuaries in Europe. The festival promotes nature-oriented and sustainable ways of life and respect for the nature-connected traditions of indigenous people. The MAFF showcases a variety of new international films about nature, wildlife, expeditions, environment, sustainability, biodiversity, conservation – films that depict nature in its diversity and films about the coexistence of man and nature.
Kumu Documentary: “Listen to me Marlon”
20 Sep
Kumu auditorium
With exclusive access to his extraordinary unseen and unheard personal archive, including hundreds of hours of audio recorded over the course of his life, this is the definitive Marlon Brando cinema documentary.
Estonian language cafe for (foreign) students
21 Sep
The O. Luts Tartu Town Library
At the language cafe “Know the city of Tartu” you can practice Estonian and make new acquaintances. Everyone who wants to manage with the Estonian language in everyday communication is welcome!
Holger Loodus’s solo exhibition “Journey to the End of the World”
08 Sep – 09 Oct
Tallinn Art Hall Gallery
Holger Loodus’s exhibition Journey to the End of the World at the Art Hall Gallery revolves around three events that initially seem unrelated: the trip of Matthew Henson, a black explorer, to the North Pole with Robert Peary in 1909; the simultaneous arrival of artist Joseph Beuys’s shamanistic myth creation and social activism on the 20th-century art scene more than half a century later; and the anonymous flows of refugees, which during a short but intensive period, moved through the Arctic region from Russia to Norway two years ago. These events are connected by the North Pole, the beginning and end of journeys; and the various means, which that have changed over time, for arriving there