This summer has not been exactly generous with sunny beach days, but there are plenty of cultural events to compensate. Museums and galleries offer nice entertainment in all kinds of weather and you are in serious danger of learning something new and exciting. We have put together a small selection of exhibitions, most of which are open until the end of the summer.
Exhibition TL;DR curated by Stacey Koosel
Tallinn Art Hall Gallery, runs until 23 August
The international exhibition curated by Stacey Koosel brings the latest works by nine contemporary artists to the audiences. The exhibition looks at the overabundance of information and media manipulations, and gets its name from the slang expression ‘TL;DR – too long, didn’t read’, widely used online.
Exhibition Bellevue, Beautiful View…
Kaarsild bridge in Tartu, runs until 28 August
The exhibition of historical photographs, put together by the Tartu City Museum, brings to life the lost views of the left bank of the Emajõgi river. The Second World War left the historical Ülejõe district in ruins, and the area next to the river was remodelled into a park in the 1950s and 1960s. The exhibition is part of a two-year project that aims to research and introduce the cultural heritage and modern day of Ülejõe.
Spatial installation APPARITION
Hausma beach, runs until 20 August
The spatial installation APPARITION is an attempt to revitalize a forgotten place, combining old esteemed traditions with new sustainable activities and spatial phenomena. It marks a lifeboat shed, which was destroyed during the Second World War, in its original dimensions. Like a ghostly apparition, it appears in the midsummer night, only to disappear in the autumn, and conceals the hope of restoring the old shed as the carrier of new traditions.
Tõnis Saadoja’s personal exhibition Etudes for Piano and Canvas
Tartu Art Museum, runs until 30 August
Tõnis Saadoja is one of the most important and unique artist in contemporary Estonian painting. Etudes for Piano and Canvas is a monochrome series of still-lives that portray close-ups of objects photographed on a black reflecting surface and seek a balance between the playful, literary and formal impulses of painting and photography.
Exhibition Summer by the Narva Artists’ Association Vestervall
Art Gallery of the Narva Museum, runs until 31 August
The exhibition features the fresh works by the artists of the association Vesterfall. The works created in different techniques are the fruit of the artists individual and original experiences, ideas and skills. The mood is set by sophisticated philosophies, stylised lines, colours and shapes that makes us think differently about the life around us, see it from different points of view.
Exhibition Caricatures of the Pikker magazine, 1957‒1995
Gallery of the National Archives of Estonia (Maneeži 2), runs until 4 September
The first issues of the magazine were satirical, poking fun at embezzlers, careless officials, imperialists, warmongers and those still imprisoned by bourgeois anachronisms, but it was soon complemented by humour both in both words as well as in images. The exhibition, a collaboration between the Estonian National Archives and the Estonian Humour Association, is the first extensive overview of the history of Estonian caricatures, covering war, love, sports, adventures, politics and much more. All this through the works of best Estonian cartoonists.
The second season of the Voronja Gallery
Voronja Gallery, runs until 13 September
The exhibition with the working title Comeback, curated by Mari Kartau, is open at the Varnja Town near Lake Peipus. The exhibition is dedicated to those who have been good artists once, but have long since stopped making art. Some of them have been more known, while others never managed to lodge themselves in the consciousness of the art world. All of them are characterised by creative thoroughness both in the conceptual as well as visual sense.
Hanneriina Moissseinen’s sound comics exhibition
Kondas Centre, runs until 20 September
The Finnish comics field has been characterised as experimental, well organised and strong in storytelling. Moisseinen’s work adds depth in terms of subject matter and playfulness in terms of installation – in addition to the graphic novel, archive photographs, sound art and animation form an integral part of her installation.
Folded World. Fans from the collections of the Art Museum of Estonia
Mikkel Museum, runs until 11 October
The historical 18th to 20th century fans reveal a whole miniature world as it was then. The exhibition includes unique fashion accessories from Western Europe, Russia, as well as China and Japan. The painted, embroidered and carved scenes on the fans depict the social life, but also mythology and even politics of their time.
Exhibition Night Flyers
Estonian Museum of Natural History, runs until 25 October
The exhibition takes the viewer to the miraculous night life, introducing the mysterious world of moths and owls. It dispels the myth that moths are all grey and dull. The experience is amplified by clever spatial design and interactive exhibits. You can also take your dog to the exhibition because the museum has opened a convenient dog park in its yard.
