In August 2025, Andrus Kasemaa’s (1941–2016) secco-technique mural “Mahtra War” (1984) was dismantled from the wall of the Peri village centre (former office-club of the E. Vilde collective farm) near Põlva. The removal of the large-scale work was inevitable: the depreciated building is scheduled for demolition and the mural, which was in a dilapidated state, was about to be destroyed.
Today, with the support of students and lecturers from the Estonian Academy of Arts and Pallas Art School, the nearly 60 m² mural has been almost completely removed from the wall and conserved. The fragments of the work have been transferred to new mobile stands, which will allow them to be exhibited in different places in the future.
On November 8 at 1:00 p.m., an exhibition will open in the large hall of the Peri village centre, where new independent works of art made from fragments of the Andrus Kasemaa mural will be exhibited. At the same time, a seminar will be held, involving the artist’s friends and colleagues, members of the local community and art experts. The discussion will focus on how Kasemaa’s work relates to the Estonian monumental art tradition, whether a fragment can sound as eloquent as the whole, and how the panel could live on in a new form and spatial context.
The speakers will be EKA Rector Hilkka Hiiop, Gregor Taul (EKA), Andrus Laansalu (EKA), summer internship students Rasmus Randla and Ekke Valner (EKA), members of the Peri Village Society and anyone else who wishes to share their thoughts or memories.
To participate in the event, please register here.
Peri Village Center (Pargi tee 2/1, Peri, Põlva parish)
Saturday, November 8 at 1:00 PM
A bus will take you to and from the exhibition from Tallinn and Tartu (5 € in cash, pre-registration required). Departure at 9:00 AM from the EKA (Põhja pst 7) and from the lower parking lot of the Vanemuine Theater (Ülikooli tn) at 11:30 AM
Elis Kuuse’s video of the dismantling: