On 27 August, the Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center (ECADC) hosts a gallery night with extended opening hours called Tallinn Thursday. The participating galleries are Kai Art Center, Temnikova & Kasela Gallery, EKA Gallery, the Juhan Kuus Documentary Photo Centre, Gallery Positiiv, Okapi Gallery, Haus Gallery and Vaal Gallery. The programme includes exhibitions introducing new works by both Estonian and foreign artists as well as meetups with the gallerists and artists.
A special bus makes moving from gallery to gallery easier during the Tallinn Thursday. Entry to the bus at every stop is based on the first-come-first-served policy.
Schedule of the gallery night:
17:00 Kai Art Center (Peetri 12)
Kris Lemsalu Malone & Kyp Malone Lemsalu “Love Song Sing Along (Once Again With Feeling!)”
New and previously unexhibited works by Kris Lemsalu Malone & Kyp Malone Lemsalu will be on view together with a large-scale installation that was exhibited earlier in the year at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin. “Love Song Sing Along (Once Again With Feeling!)” is a comeback of the Berlin exhibit, as well as the very first post-crisis exhibition at the Kai Art Centre. Taking on the roles of archetypal Adam and Eve, the artists tackle the world’s creation myth, giving central roles to characters such as a swan, rabbit, and jaguar. In the artists’ words, “It’s a work that’s taken from the personal in real time then abstracted through myth, some borrowed, some improvised. A cosmogony of our relating to one another.” On Tallinn Thursday, Kai Art Center’s programme coordinator Triin Metsla will introduce the exhibition.
17:20 Temnikova & Kasela Gallery (Peetri 12)
Kaido Ole “All Together”
Kaido Ole’s solo exhibition comprises three new works and three paintings previously shown at the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga in 2019. In the series, Ole finds himself in a museum dressed in overalls putting together an imaginary exhibition which brings together works by his Estonian colleagues, international contemporaries and modern classics. With help from various invented characters from his own oeuvre over the years, Ole performs the roles of an artist, curator, installer and museum director. On Tallinn Thursday, Temnikova & Kasela’s gallerist Lilian Hiob will introduce the exhibition.
18:00 EKA Gallery (Põhja puiestee 7)
International group exhibition “Resemblance Through Contact. Grammar of Imprint”
The exhibition focuses on printmaking as a process that is cultivated through contacts between forms and counterforms (negative space), and by the tension produced by these interactions. The artists are not so much interested in specific images, proofs, shapes or manners as in printed matter’s ability to introduce the new space that emerges between matrix and multiplicity. They focus on forms, and their dissemination through various statements and manifestations of printmaking in the post-disciplinary era.
The exhibition features artists from Europe and the Americas. On Tallinn Thursday, curators Liina Siib and Maria Erikson from the Department of Graphic Art at the Estonian Academy of Arts will introduce the exhibition.
18:30 Juhan Kuus Documentary Photography Centre (Telliskivi 60a)
Group exhibition “Outlook – 40 Years of Street Photography in Estonia”
Juhan Kuus Documentary Photography Centre presents the first comprehensive exhibition of Estonian street photography. The exhibition gives an overview of the Estonian street photography over the last 40 years, featuring over 90 works by 40 different artists. The exhibition is curated by Airi Leon, Kristel Aimee Laur, Tanel Verk, Toomas Järvet. On Tallinn Thursday, at least one of the curators and one participating artist will be introducing the show.
19:00 Gallery Positiiv (Roo 21a)
Kristel Schwede & Kadri Pettai “Behold”
The duo show by Kristel Schwede and Kadri Pettai, open on the windows of gallery Positiiv looks at the world on the outskirts of the city where every house has as many stories to tell as many dwellers it has had. Kristel Schwede has photographed houses, streets and yards between the houses, which, when processed, look like illustrations of a novel. Her work is accompanied by Kadri Pettai’s dramatically shadowed plant photos, which add humorous excitement. On Tallinn Thursday, both artists will be present at the gallery.
19:30 Okapi Gallery (Niguliste 2)
Pop-up art sales day
Okapi gallery will host a pop-up art sales day. There is a wide selection of artworks by contemporary photographic and graphic artists available for purchase at the gallery. On Tallinn Thursday, many of the artists will be present at the gallery accompanied by a DJ Tarrvi Laamann.
20:00 Haus Gallery (Uus 17)
Vano Allsalu “Of Nature” / Elvi Rangell “Life is Good” / Elina Laurinen “Colour Appeals”
During the gallery night, Haus Gallery presents three exhibitions. Vano Allsalu’s solo show “Of Nature” is open on the upper floor of the gallery. Downstairs, visitors are welcome to explore Elvi Rangell’s “Life is Good” and Elina Laurinen’s “Colour Appeals”.
On Tallinn Thursday, gallerist Piia Ausman will introduce the exhibitions.
20:45 Vaal Gallery (Tartu maantee 80L)
Piret Karro & Laura Põld “Shedding Skin”
The exhibition features drawings and an installation by Laura Põld and poetry and short prose by Piret Karro. “great, there’s no one in the kitchen, / new people, new rules, clean up, / don’t bother, do you have a razor, i don’t need much furniture”. On Tallinn Thursday, the exhibition’s opening event will take place.
You can find the entire Tallinn Music Week’s Art program here.