Category: Nature
June 1st – Children’s Day
June 2nd – Jubilee: singer Kare Kauks 70
June 4th – National Flag Day. Jubilee: poet Karl-Martin Sinijärv 50
June 8th – jubilee: theatre director Ingo Normet 75
June 14th – Day of Mourning and Commemoration. Commemorating the victims of Soviet deportations in 1941 and 1949.
June 15th – Saint Vitus Day. A saying goes that it was not worth planting cabbage after this day, but sowing buckwheat was recommended. Jubilee: actor, playwright and poet Taavi Eelmaa 50
June 18th – birth anniversaries: composer Roman Toi 105, director and scenographer Tõnu Virve 75. Jubilee: humorist and journalist Gaute Kivistik 50
June 19th – birth anniversary: writer and composer Enn Vetemaa 85
21 June – summer solstice
23 June – Saint John’s Eve. Saint John’s Day is a day of beauty and happiness for all and the day set for remembering Saint John the wise. All animals and people alike had to be blessed with light. And a huge bonfire had to be made. All over Estonia, private and public bonfires are made and parties held
June 26th – birth anniversary: singer Jaak Joala 70. Jubilee: journalist Rain Kooli 50.
27 June – Saint Sampson’s Day. Not much is known about Saint Sampson’s Day. Old people say that its Estonian name ‘Seven Sleepers’ Day’ refers to the occasion when seven brothers fell asleep in church or on the way to church.
June 28th – birth anniversary: singer Vello Orumets 80. Jubilee: singer Anne Velli 75
Folk calendar via Estonian Open Air Museum
Until June 17th
CCPM Manifestal. Festival on Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre.
On May 13th, the new contemporary performance festival CPPM Manifestal will be launched, celebrating the development of our two-year MA in Contemporary Physical Performance Making (CPPM) students at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. Looking back at their 99-hour production “Where Do We Go From Here”, which received widespread international attention last September, there is certainly reason to expect exciting experiences, a surprising creative approach and bubbling innovation from them. All these 13 new productions presented at the festival result from their artistic research projects undertaken to complete their master studies.
The CPPM Manifestal is born in cooperation with our incredible partners: Kanuti Gildi SAAL, Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava, Uue Loomingu Maja, Elektron, Estonian Dance Agency and Estonian Academy of Arts. The festival is supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment.
When: Through May and June until June 17th
Where: several locations
Whole month
The idea for the exhibition “Jazz Idealism 1967” comes from the Tallinn ’67 jazz festival. Through the recollections of the festival participants, the visitor is invited on an audio-visual journey, where against the historical background to the event, we are called to consider timeless topics such as idealism and reality and the relationship between power and the human spirit, and to reflect on what it means to be human.
The idea of the exhibition is based on the materials collected by the curator of the exhibition, music historian Heli Reimann, in the course of her research on the Tallinn ‘67 festival and a soon to be published monograph about the event. The programmes and activities accompanying the exhibition are managed by Risto Lehiste, head of the Chamber of Celebrities in Estonian Music.
When: May 11th – October 3rd
Where: Maarjamäe stables, Pirita tee 56
Ticket: 8-20 €
Whole month
Applied art exhibition “Translucency”
Applied art in its many forms is taking over Kai Art Center this summer!
The extensive applied art exhibition “Translucency” includes 21 artists from the Nordic countries, the UK, the Netherlands, the US, Lithuania and Estonia.
The show, curated by the Danish art historian and glass artist Stine Bidstrup, focuses on the phenomenon of translucency – the mysterious and multifaceted area between transparency and opacity. Artworks exhibited at Kai are conceptual, playful and experimental. The artists look at themes like presence and absence, the private and the public, individuality and collectivity, time and temporality, politics and language, material decay and structural defects.
The exhibition features a variety of fields, techniques and materials: glass, textile, ceramics, garments, photography, sculpture, installation, jewellery, video, furniture, 3D printing, digital design etc. Alongside the international main exhibition, the 8th Tallinn Applied Art Triennial also has an exciting satellite programme, including over 20 satellite exhibitions, installations and other events taking place in various locations all over Tallinn.
When: May 29th – August 15th
Where: Kai Art Center, Peetri 12
June 1st – Sune 9th
Joanna Kalm’s performance “UITKEHA” / “BIG YAWN”
Joanna Kalm’s performance “UITKEHA” / “BIG YAWN” is of fluidity, openness and volatility of being a human organism. Softly choreographed through a body – in this case my own, Joanna’s – so to observe the subtleties of sensing and perceiving which organize one’s being.
I allow time for the body to be expressed in space.
If it is recognized that all possibilities of language – spoken and written – are already given in the world, then what kind of expression is already given in the body?
I find myself in a mist of quickly disappearing dance, which cannot be grasped by hand nor fixed into the form of it. The sensations slip through my fingers and it is not possible to step into the same river twice. A body-self is a process consisting of personal material, the environment and you in it. I am left to follow the (dis)order of my body.
BIG YAWN is part of Joanna Kalm’s anthropology master’s degree (Tallinn University) research focused on embodied holistic self-regulation based on somatic movement. Coming from contemporary dance, she chose to deepen her awareness by delving into Body-Mind Centering® (BMC) practice founded by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen.
When: June 1st, 7th, 8th and 9th at 7 p.m.
Where: Sakala 3 rehearsal studio, 5th floor
Tickets: 10-14 €
June 5
This is the first market in Põhjala factory this year. If you want to sell art, crafts or just make space in your closets, you’re welcome to join. Additional information and registration for selleks – events@pohjalatehas.ee.
You’re also just welcome to find new fascinating things to buy or just browse through!
When: June 5th 10a.m – 3 p.m.
Where: Põhjala factory, Marati 5
Ticket: Free
June 10th
Jazz Idealism ‘67 Concert Programme: Tõnu Naissoo Acoustic Trio
As a satellite to the Estonian History Museum’s exhibition “Jazz Idealism ‘67”, this jazz concert celebrates the ongoing work of Tõnu Naissoo, a legitimate grand old man of Estonian jazz. Having turned 70 this year, he recorded his first jazz album as a teenager. Back then, he was the first in Estonia to used synthesizer in jazz music. He is a legendary jazz pianist, masters synthesizers, Hammond organ and is a composer who has written scores for movies and theatre, a lot of music to jazz ensembles and orchestras as well as choir and chamber music.
When: June 10th, 7 p.m.
Where: Maarjamäe stables, Pirita tee 56
Ticket: 25 €
June 5th – July 18th
EKKM exhibition Letters From a Foreign Mind
“Letters from a foreign mind” focuses on values in social context and explores themes like scarcity, neglect and care, highlighting in the process the many changes in EKKM’s recent past and near future. The building of EKKM has seen countless repairs and spatial renovations during its lifetime but is nevertheless tired and slowly crumbling. The physical and symbolic cracks are the subject matter and the habitat for artistic ideas, for visitors’ memories, its employees’ proposals, an abundance of dust and artworks that have been left behind. As a prologue to the exhibition, EKKM established a community garden in its backyard last spring, allowing to explore the openness and the wider use of space within the institution.
Where: Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM), Põhja pst 35, Rumbi 3.
When: June 5th – July 18th
Ticket: Free admission
From June 19th to September 5th
Exhibition “Modern Love (or Love in the Age of Cold Intimacies)
The exhibition Modern Love looks at love and human relations in the current age of the internet, social media and high capitalism – the first age of “cold intimacy”. The exhibition looks at how the digital world, technology giants and neoliberalism have changed love and social relations, while at the same time diluting the separation between the public and the private. The exhibition also looks at how the current issues of time and space have influenced the way we communicate with one another and how the virtual has become entwined with reality. These are still two quite distinct things, although the opposite is announced. Modern Love deals with human pathologies connected to the commodification of feelings and the negative expressions of love (e.g. love for money), and for comparison it also delves into meaningful and transformative forms of love, from the personal to the political.
Where: Tallinn Art Hall, Vabaduse väljak 8
When: June 19th – September 5th
Tickets: 0 – 12 €
The creation of this calendar is supported by the city of Tallinn and Kodurahu programme
May 1st – Spring Day, International Workers’ Day
May 6th – 90th birth anniversary of Estonian literary scholar Ülo Tonts
May 9th – Mother’s Day, Saint Nicholas’ day, Europe day. Jubilee: actor and director Toomas Suuman 70.
May 15th – Tallinn’s Day. 100th birth anniversary of director Vello Rummo
May 18th – International Museum Day
May 21st – Jubilee: writer Ira Lember 95
May 24th – Saint Urban’s Day
All month
The largest spring-time movement event, Tallink Maijooks, which was supposed to take place on 22 May at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds unfortunately cannot happen this year in a normal format.
Everyone who has already signed up and want to keep the spring-time tradition alive can support the organisers by participating in the Tallink Maijooks virtual race that takes place 1-31 May.
Where: online/ participant’s choice
When: whenever
Ticket: 10 – 20 €
May 3rd until May 30th
Estonian Artists’ Association’s Spring Exhibition 2021
The long-awaited Spring Exhibition 2021 of the Estonian Artists’ Association is returning to its roots: approached from different angles, artworks completed in 2020/2021 will be exhibited at three exhibition venues of Tallinn Art Hall. The main exhibition of works selected by the jury will be displayed at Tallinn Art Hall, while two curated satellite exhibitions will be on view nearby at Tallinn City Gallery and the Art Hall Gallery.
Where: Vabaduse väljak 8 and Harju 13
When: Until May 23rd and May 30th
Ticket: Free admission or 4-12 €
From May 3rd
An exhibition of Bruno Linneberg, an Estonian navy and intelligence officer in Seaplane Harbour
Bruno Aleksander Linneberg joined the Navy during the Estonian War of Independence. Being only 19 years old but growing into one of the most gifted and bright officers in Estonian naval forces granted with both the gift and a curse to live in a historically complicated era.
The personal exhibition “UMUK UDŽD OTB. An exhibition of Bruno Linneberg, an Estonian navy and intelligence Officer” in the Seaplane Harbour, based on research by the Estonian Maritime Museum. The exhibition explores the life and choices of an extraordinary Estonian man during the most hectic decades of the 20th century that shaped Estonia’s destiny and the entire world. Through the career of Bruno Linneberg, we get to know the story of the Estonian Navy between the two world wars and witness the destruction of an extraordinary life’s work.
Where: Vesilennuki 6
When: From May 3rd onward
Tickets: Ticket information
May 4th until May 16th
A rescripted visit to EKKM’s collections
The opening project of the 2021 season, A rescripted visit to EKKM’s collections turns the exhibition space into a series of art storage spaces and invites visitors to take part in guided tours, conducted by the production platform RESKRIPT (Maarin Mürk and Henri Hütt). Invited by EKKM, Reskript has taken stock of EKKM’s collections, retrieved from garages and storage and gathered folklore related to the artworks and what has been left behind. This research has resulted in restructuring of EKKM’s collections, establishing of several new collections and developing suggestions for new future-oriented collecting principles.
Tours are held in Estonian, the video work and publication will be translated into English.
Tour schedule and booking: https://fienta.com/et/s/reskript-ekkm
Where: Põhja pst. 35 / Rumbi 3, Tallinn, 10415
When: May 4th until May 16th
May 13th
Opening of the exhibition Janis Rozentāls: The Dance of Life
From folk life scenes to Symbolistic visions, in an exhibition of the most popular and versatile Latvian artist of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Janis Rozentāls (1866–1916), the spirit of the era merges with his own “dance of life”. The first ever Janis Rozentāls’ exhibition in Estonia has been organised in cooperation with the Latvian National Museum of Art and marks the 155th anniversary of the birth of the artist.
Kumu Art Museum has the honour to open the exhibition Janis Rozentāls: The Dance of Life, organised in cooperation with Latvian National Museum of Art. For this summer, the exhibition brings to Tallinn the greatest masterpieces of the beloved Latvian artist and one of the symbols of Latvian culture – Janis Rozentāls (1866-1916).
The exhibition is opened by Sirje Helme, CEO of the Art Museum of Estonia, Sirje Helme; H.E. Mr Raimonds Jansons, the Ambassador of Latvia to Estonia; Māra Lāce, the Director of Latvian National Museum of Art; Kadi Polli, the Director of Kumu Art Museum, and the curator of the exhibition, Aija Brasliņa. Music is played by the ensemble Una Corda.
Where: online on Facebook live
When: May 13th at 6 p.m.
From May 13th
The Contemporary Performance Festival CPPM Manifestal
On May 13th, the new contemporary performance festival CPPM Manifestal will be launched, celebrating the development of our two-year MA in Contemporary Physical Performance Making (CPPM) students at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. Looking back at their 99-hour production “Where Do We Go From Here”, which received widespread international attention last September, there is certainly reason to expect exciting experiences, a surprising creative approach and bubbling innovation from them. All these 13 new productions presented at the festival result from their artistic research projects undertaken to complete their master studies.
Where: Different locations
When: From My 13th until June 17th
Tickets: Ticket information
May 15th
Traditionally, Tallinn Day is celebrated on May 15, this year the events take place on May 10-16.
The tradition of celebrating Tallinn Day was founded in 2002. This marks the granting of the Lübeck Law to Tallinn in 1248, which associated Tallinn with the Hanseatic League, a confederation of trading cities around the Baltic Sea.
The purpose of celebrating Tallinn Day is to value the history of the hometown and being a Tallinner, and also to introduce the history and present of the city.
Where: many places in Tallinn
When: May 15th all day
Exhibition Isolation dialogues
PHOTOGRAPHER’S HOLD ISOLATION DIALOGUES IN PICTURES
More than 120 Estonian photographers are participating in Isolation Dialogues – a large-scale project of the Tallinn Museum of Photography.
In order to provide creative output during the quarantine period and record the sense of the weird situation we are in at the moment, the Museum of Photography invited photographers and photo artists to hold photographic dialogues between themselves. The project that will run until the end of the emergency situation (17 May) is a constantly updated wordless dialogic reflection of isolation available at dialoogid.fotomuuseum.ee/. Time and again, the viewers can come back to the Isolation Dialogues and see how the emotions in seclusion have developed.
Where: Online, from 21st of May in Jaani Seegi Gallery at Rävala 2/Väike-Pääsukese 5, Tallinn
Last week, the foundation Teeme Ära held the Clean World Conference 2017 in Tallinn to prepare for the worldwide cleanup day. On September 8, 2018, a total of 380 million people is expected to come together to collect waste. Whether the objective will be fulfilled, only time can tell, but Estonia’s reputation will certainly benefit from the initiative.
Delegates from more than 60 countries arrived at the conference and the main objective of the event seems to have been inspiring the local leaders of the other countries to not give up on the cause and try to involve as many new people as possible. The bar is set high. It will not be easy to exceed it.
Essentially, this was not a scientific event, rather a meeting of activists, which at times resembled a rite, where people affirmed their faith in the possibility of a better world. While a song dedicated to Mother Earth was sung in the energy circle on Friday morning, in the evening everyone spontaneously joined in during John Lennon’s programmatic vision of the future, „Imagine”, which sounded at the end of a presentation.
Dreams are beautiful, but life is tough, sceptics or realists would say to that.
One of the foreign guests, Antonis Mavropoulos, the president of International Solid Waste Association, who has worked with respective projects for decades and in dozens of countries, emphasised that waste is the result of inefficient production and inefficient consumption and that technology in itself has never been a problem or could be a solution to the problem.
„History is still written by humans, no matter how developed machines are,” Mavropoulos, said, adding that the task of humans was to lead technology, use it for the right purposes.
Something like this is attempted by Litterati, the founder and manager of which, Jeff Kirschner, said that their vision is to create a waste-free world. For this noble cause, they ask people to take photos of litter on the streets and upload them with data regarding the product, its brand and location onto the web. This creates a large database, which is then sold to companies.
Kirschner noted that the companies are actually interested in such data to better organise their activities. Litterati has spread all over the world and gathered around 320 thousand photos by today. More than half of those are from the United States of America, especially from California, where the initiative started, but there are quite many also from Holland, for example.
Kirschner suggested that one of the potential uses for the images collected would be organising art exhibitions at schools. He said that pupils might write essays on the topic of collected waste, tell stories in class followed by discussions on how this specific waste ending up on the street could have been prevented.
The eastern coast of the USA was represented by Asher Jay, an international adventurer, whose career took him from the fashion world to art projects intended to increase people’s awareness of the environmental issues. When asked how “Let’s Do It, World!” could create as wide a resonance as possible, Jay thought a competition could be organised between countries on who collects the most waste on the global cleanup day. As people love to compete, this sort of competitive approach may engage them better.
A panel discussion in the afternoon was attended by Kersti Kaljulaid, the President of the Republic of Estonia, who seemed to share the gathered people’s dream of a waste-free world.
Presentations were also made by the initiator of „Let’s Do It!”, Rainer Nõlvak, and some other local organisers, who introduced World Cleanup Day 2018, the new masculine brand and the undertaking’s technical side. Nõlvak remarked that if his initiative had failed in Estonia in 2008, this conference would never have taken place.
This is probably true. In this sense, honour and praise. What disturbed me a little is that all the selected performers were from the so-called developed world, the perspective of the developing countries was not represented by anyone on this stage, they only fulfilled the role of the audience. The conference was financed by the development cooperation budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and it was organised very professionally.
Also, at times it seemed that cleanliness meant something bordering on sterility. It was actually a little scary. For example, a slide show includes photos where the grass growing between stone slabs on the pavement was removed (fighting against the nature, not human-generated waste) or children of the developing countries playing on decayed mattresses outside (giving a hint of those having to be collected as waste although the children were certainly enjoying them).