2022 Tiina Sarapu and Julija Pociūtė DUST at Tartu Art House

On Friday, 2 September at 6 p.m. Tiina Sarapu and Julija Pociūtė opened their joint exhibition “Dust” in the large gallery of Tartu Art House.

The exhibition explores forgetfulness: the forgotten spatial practices and forgotten places; actions preserved as scattered memory images, or actions, dreams, completed for yourself and packed away in a box.
“Dust, the symbol of forgetting, reveals hidden dimensions of the banality of everyday, moments and places considered insignificant. Dust accompanies glass artists while working, being a remnant of their work, but also hiding the transparency of the glass,” the curator Karin Paulus explains.
Dust also refers to something being worn out and forgotten, marking the inevitability of reality and the constant changing of the world around us.
With their installations, the artists always reconsider the material reality and search for the meanings of the relationship between man and the environment. Julia Pociūtė shows the contradiction of dust by creating enchanting capsules where she stores stories and objects. Tiina Sarapu reflects on the path and work of a person: where does a journey that has come from primeval nature, passed through cultivated meadows, and probably passes by solar parks takes us?
Julija Pociūtė (b 1981) is a Lithuanian interdisciplinary artist. She obtained her master’s degree at the Vilnius Academy of Arts in 2007. Since then, she has actively participated in art field: participated in group exhibitions, in art festivals, organised more than ten solo exhibitions in Lithuania and abroad. Her works are in the collections of several museums of Denmark, Spain and Lithuania.
Tiina Sarapu (b 1971) graduated the Estonian Academy of Arts, specialising in glass art, and worked there as an associate professor (2003–2017). She has participated in many exhibitions both at home and abroad receiving recognition at international glass art competitions. Her works are in several museum and private collections. In 2019, Sarapu’s solo exhibition “Case Study 2” was held in the monumental gallery of Tartu Art House.
The exhibition is dedicated to this year’s International Year of Glass.

Graphic design: Meelis Mikker
Thanks: Klaasissepa OÜ, ECCOM OÜ, Department of Interior Architecture of the Estonian Academy of Arts
The exhibition was created with the support of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Lithuanian Council for Culture and Nordic Council of Ministers.
In a collaboration with Gallery Meno parkas.
The exhibition is open until 2 October.

Audience program at the exhibition:
There will be a meeting with the artists on 2 September at 5:00 p.m.
There will be a curator tour on 7 September at 5:30 p.m

2022 Kai Koppel jubilee workshop GRAND PARTY and exhibition THINGS ARE UNNECESSARY

To celebrate Kai Koppel’s 70th jubilee, glass artists gather at the Eveld Okas Museum in Haapsalu for the hot glass workshop GRAND PARTY.

Also on the programme: opening of Kai Koppel’s exhibition THINGS ARE UNNECESAARY.

Participants:
Kai Koppel, Petr Kuchta, Remigijus Kriukas, Anda Munkevica,
Viivi-Ann Keerdo, Eve Koha, Ingrid Allik, Sofi Arshas,
Kairi Orgusaar, Herbert Orgusaar, Merle Kannus, Erki Kannus,
Kai Roosaar, Kati Kerstna jt.

Workshop: 2.-6. 08
Exhibition opening: 7. 08 at 16.00
Exhibition stays open 9.-19. 08

2022 Tiina Sarapu and Sirja-Liisa Eelma BLACK MIRROR at Draakoni Gallery

Sirja-Liisa Eelma and Tiina Sarapu
BLACK MIRROR
31.05 – 25.06.2022

Black surface absorbs light and colours; while looking at black surface, one can see info infinity, unknowing, solitude and protective tenderness. Mirror gives you the honest truth. The danger to get stuck in reflections and in the reflections of reflections is as big as the temptation to touch the snoozing screen of a smartphone in order to open completely different kind of worlds.
Landscape painter of 17th century Claude Lorrain made use of black mirror as an optical aid. Compared to a clear mirror, the details are more subtle and the reflection of black mirror is more simplified. The black reflection brings forth the tonal range as well as reduces the intensity of tones.
The encounter of the reflecting and painted worlds refers to the multilayeredness of existence. The layer of glass in front of the painting is protecting the artwork but also creating the distance between the painting and the viewer. This way, the viewer misses the opportunity of directly experiencing the materiality, fragrance and smell of the paint. The reflections, flickers of light and shadows of the glass function either as disturbance or as an unstable and captivating finesse on the surface of painting.
Sirja-Liisa Eelma (b. 1973) is a conceptual painter whose visual language is characterized by visually minimalistic structures. Her painting series, based on the slow transformation of a repetitive image, focus on the themes of emptiness, ambivalence of meanings as well as defining the visible and the invisible.
Sirja-Liisa Eelma has graduated from the department of painting at the Estonian Academy of Arts (MA, 1996). Since 2018, she has been studying in the doctoral school of the Estonian Academy of Arts. In 2016, her artistic practice was recognized with Konrad Mägi Award. Eelma’s artworks belong both to private collections as well as the collection of the Art Museum of Estonia. She has held numerous personal exhibitions as well as participated in group and curatorial exhibitions both in Estonia and abroad.
Tiina Sarapu’s (b. 1971) artistic practice can be characterized by minimalistic approach towards form. The perfectly composed form is almost always extremely simple and well interpreted. While having been exhibiting her artwork mainly as an installation artist during the past few years, Sarapu has often transferred the meanings of an initial idea to various contexts (several installations with music stands and mirrors), created illusory spaces, visualized sounds, extended the borders of perception. As an conceptual artist, Tiina Sarapu is using glass in order to express the idea of the multilayeredness of life while working with the oppositions present in glass as a material. (Reeli Kõiv)
Tiina Sarapu has obtained MA degree in the department of glass art at the Estonian Academy of Arts in 1996. In 1996–2017, she was teaching in the same department and in 2003-2017 worked there as an associate professor. Sarapu has participated in numerous exhibitions, symposiums and workshops both in Estonia and abroad. She has received acknowledgement in international competitions of glass art. Sarapu’s artwork belongs to the collections of several museums and private collectors. She received the honorary title of Acknowledged Glass Artist 2005–2005 and Acknowledged Glass Artist 2018–2019; in 2007, Sarapu received Kristjan Raud Art Award, in 2019 she deserved the Annual Award of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and was awarded the Artist Laureate Salary in 2021–2023.

Exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
Exhibitions in Draakon gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian

2022 Kati Kerstna VALUES 1 & 2 at HOP Gallery

Kati Kerstna VALUES 1 & 2 
1.07 – 26.07.2022

Kati Kerstna is an artist who mainly works in the media of glass, light and graphic design. She represents the voice of enviromentalism in her artistic practice. In order to forward her ideas and messages, Kerstna combines various materials and media. During the recent years, the artist has been focusing on the themes of environmental pollution, global warming, deforestation etc.
With her present exposition, Kati Kerstna raises the following questions: What is really valuable? What are real values? The possible answer would be an imaginary vision addressing the future without evaluating a specific phenomenon or object.
How valuable, diverse or poor would the world or a specific environment be if …. would be missing? Or if there would be more ….? Would it be possible to exist at all?
The artist states that in order to enrich the concept of diversity one could automatically interpret this as a diversity of species and life, intelligence and emotion. Instead of a heap of material things.
VALUES 1 is about bees – it might already sound as a cliché and we all have heard it for too many times – but without bees life would not be possible on this planet. And staying alive depends on the diversity of species.
VALUES 2 presents the plants of the famous square metre of Laelatu wooded meadow, Estonia. In 2001, 76 different plant species were listed there, that making the exact spot the second leading square metres in the world famous for its diversity of species (the first place goes to a square metre located in the mountains of Argentina with its 89 different species). The plant species in the whole Lealatu wooden meadow is reputedly the most diverse plant community in both Estonia and the whole Northern Europe.
Kati Kerstna has used glass as material both from recycled sources as well as from her previous artworks. She mostly expresses herself through kinetic installations where glass has been combined with other materials, electronics and light. Involvement of light is an important part in forming a whole – concerning both single installations as well as light design at various exhibitions.
Kati Kerstna (b. 1970) has graduated from the department of glass art at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Since 1995, she has participated in exhibitions in various galleries and museums both in Estonia and abroad. Kerstna has also curated several extensive exhibitions (both domestic and international) in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Germany and Russia.
Thank you: Toomas Kukk (magazine Eesti Loodus), Cultural Endowment of Estonia and Erki Kannus (EKDesign)
Exhibitions in HOP gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Ministry of Culture and Liviko Ltd.

2022 Rait Prääts CHIP CRISIS at HOP Gallery

Rait Prääts
CHIP CRISIS
6.05.- 31.05.2022

According to the artist, a rapidly developing world of artificial intelligence (AI) has been formed inside of the naturally evolutionized word. Augmented reality is born. Through his current exhibition Chip Crisis, Rait Prääts attempts to examine this new form of reality as well as find intersections and differences. The artist’s research is not completed yet, but the first outcome can be already revealed.

Most of pleasures and some of temptations belong only to the natural world. For instance, there are no such things as the abundance of fragrances and tastes, the pleasure of touching, enjoying nature, soft caress of spring breeze, passion of kisses, excitement of sex, awareness of being mortal, relaxation from smoking a cigarette, pleasures experienced with narcotic substances and alcoholic drinks in artificial world. At the same time, more and more experiments attempt to enter the evolution of natural world. It can be stated that the human species increasingly looks at nature and other information on various screens. Changing the genetics of species is in its baby steps, lots of species have already been changes and some species already extinct. Today it is unknown whether algorithms and chips develop more towards progress or destruction. At the present day, natural and AI worlds share numerous intersections that can be called augmented reality. The latter can be conceived as an extraordinary development leap that has brought along both good and evil – for instance, the crisis of truth, increasing desire for wealth, ethical crisis, wars, hybrid wars, destruction of technology and nature, energetic crisis, crisis of primary products, chip crisis, the possibility to delete everything by pushing a button. If trying to find anything positive in the abovementioned crises, then the chip crisis is currently intensely blocking the abilities of the bloody aggressor in the War of Independence in Ukraine. There are signs that Ukraine is able to protect its independence when receiving hi-tech support. For making final conclusions the studies are still in a very early phase. But it can be stated with confidence that augmented reality is born to stay and to develop.

 

Rait Prääts (b. 1952) has graduated from the Estonian State Art Institute in 1975. Prääts is a member of the Estonian Artists’ Association, Estonian Glass Artists’ Union and Estonian Sculptors’ Union. He has participated in exhibitions since 1975 both in Estonia and abroad. The artist has held 21 personal exhibition. Together with his wife, graphic artist Sirje Eelma, Rait Prääts has held an exhibition series „In one house“ consisting of 16 parts. Rait Prääts’s artwork are also in several public places in Estonia, Finland, Georgia and France. He has taught at the Estonian Academy of Arts and organized the festival Kunstisuvi (Summer of Art, 1995–2008). Prääts’s artwork are in numerous private collections and various museums.

 

Special thanks: Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Estonian Artists Association, Gallery Okapi.

Exhibitions in HOP gallery are supported by the Estonian Ministry of Culture, Cultural Endowment of Estonia and Liviko Ltd.

2022 Annual Exhibition COLOUR – RED 2.0

Kohtla-Järve Oil Shale Museum’s  White  Hall
15.05 – 11.06. 2022

This is a second edition of the travelling exhibition, whose first instance could be seen at the ARS Project Space, Tallinn, in 2020.

Participants: Aleksandra Ehrensvärd, Anna-Maria Vaino, Birgit Pählapuu, Eili Soon, Kai Kiudsoo-Värv, Kairi Orgusaar, Kati Kerstna, Kersti Vaks, Malle Karik-Hallimäe, Maret Sarapu, Merle Kannus, Piret Ellamaa, Piret Uibotalu, Rait Lõhmus, Riho Hütt, Tiia Põldmets, Tiina Sarapu, Sofi Aršas. 
Curator and organizer: Maarja Mäemets

Sponsored by the Cultural ENdowment of Estonia.

Photos: Rait Lõhmus

2022 GLASS MAKERS at the History Museum

11.2.2022 – 31.12.2022

The exhibition “Glass Makers: The History of the Estonian Glass Industry” provides a comprehensive overview of the history of the Estonian glass industry and the most important producers of glass. Visitors can get to know glass in all its beauty – the exhibition begins with the oldest glass objects found in Estonia and ends with today’s glass production.

The exhibition features products from all the most important glass workshops and factories in Estonia, which allows the viewer to notice the technical and artistic development of glass production and see how shiny mirrors and crystal objects are achieved from the initial opaque glass sheets. The extensive exhibition of items is based on the unique collections of the Estonian History Museum, but also includes the finest examples from other museums and private collections. In addition to the exhibited items, it is possible to see unique archive footage that introduces the development of glass production and how glass is produced at the Järvakandi glass factory today.

There are also exciting interactive areas at the exhibition that offer the opportunity to consider the value and properties of glass. Mirrors, adventures in the world of coloured glass, shards of glass – glass is fragile after all. In addition to the perception of glass as a material, the interactive areas offer visitors the opportunity to preserve their likeness in the beauty of glass.

Glass production is the local industry with the longest history. For four centuries, this material with its complex technical and unique physical properties has been produced in almost every corner of Estonia. The production of industrial glass began in 1628 in Hiiumaa in the Hütti glass factory, which belonged to the Swedish landowner Jakob de la Gardie, but by the 18th century similar workshops were being established all over Estonia. The golden age of our glass industry came after the birth of statehood, when factories based on local capital were established and the first Estonian masters were trained. Domestic glass production reached world standards in 1934, when the progressive industrialist Johannes Lorup established a modern factory in Tallinn, where semi-crystal and crystal items were produced for the first time, in addition to glass. After the implementation of the Soviet regime, the Lorup company was nationalised and renamed Tarbeklaas.

Today, the only glass manufacturer in Estonia is the Järvakandi Glass Factory, which mainly produces glass containers.

The exhibition is open in the Maarjamäe stable building of the History Museum from 11th of February 2022.

Exhibition curator: Anne Ruussaar

Design: Anne Määrmann, Kristi Prinzmann,  Bob & DokoDoko

Graphic design:  Motor 

Project team: Krista Sarv, Kärt Kelder, Laura Kipper, Peeter Mauer, Galina Zaitseva, Tiina Sakemaa, Aime Andresson, Riho Ints, Helene Tedre, Ruth Laidvee, Piia Sinisalu, Sigrid Huik and other membes of Estonian History Museum team.

Cooperation partners:

Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design

Tallinn City Museum

Tartu City Museum

Tallinn University

Järvakandi Glass Museum

Järvakandi Glass Factory

Private collectors – Kalle Kimsto, Epp Eelmaa, Sylvia Kesa, Kalle Oja, Toomas Plaan, Toomas Zupping, Marek Kuul, Ilona Ringas, Silja Põder, Sigrid Huik, Ene Hiio, Salme Jugaste, Maie-Ann Raun

With thanks to:
Järvakandi Glass Factory