In the 1970s and 1980s, the façade of the Auvere power plant was decorated with a giant metal panel representing either a star or a sparkle. The project team has not yet been able to identify the author. The work was assembled from several pieces and mounted on the façade using two identical metal frames … Auvere power plant metal panel
Sculpture “Vyachko and Meelis defending Tartu” (full title “Prince Vyachko of Polotsk and Meelis, son of Lembit, defending Tartu in 1224. “) is a memorial to the characters of the story “Meelis” by the writer Enn Kippel (1901-1942). Meelis, the son of Lembitu, the elder of Sakala, and Vyachko, the former prince of Koknes, who, … Vyachko and Meelis defending Tartu
Just a few minutes’ walk from the passenger terminal of Tallinn Airport is the old passenger building, which was in use from 1954 until 1980, when a new building was completed for the Moscow Olympics. Later, this Stalin-era building has served as office space for Tallinn Airport AS. In spring 2019 – before the Corona … Tallinn Airport’s old passenger building
A book on war monuments in Russian-occupied Ukraine by historians Mischa Gabowitsch and Mykola Homanyuk was recently published by the Central European University Press. Professor Mischa Gabowitsch of the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz presented the working version of the book at the Summer School “Disentangling Eurasia” at Tallinn University in the summer of 2023. … Open access ebook: Monuments and Territory. War Memorials in Russian-Occupied Ukraine
Maaleht writes that Tapa will be the last town in Estonia to receive a downtown Freedom Monument. The future monument will replace the statue of Kalevipoeg in Kirikupark (Kalju Reitel, 1991), which has been accused of being depressive. The competition for the new monument was won by young architects Henri Kopra and Iiris Tähti Toom. … Maaleht writes about the Freedom Monument in Tapa (29.10.2024)
We invite all interested parties to participate in the public discussion, which will take place on 7 October at 18.00 in Saaremaa, in the large hall of the Salme community centre. We will discuss the future of the Tehumardi Memorial and the surrounding area, in order to jointly consider the best possible solutions. The event … Public discussion on the Tehumardi Memorial and surrounding area
Delfi writes about the so-called “Red Monuments Act”: “In March last year, Alar Karis did not promulgate the Red Monuments Act, as the Head of State considered it unconstitutional. Alar Karis said that the removal of the so-called Red Monuments Act had not been a priority for the committee. The chairman of the Riigikogu’s economic … Delfi: There is no rush to adopt the “Red Monuments Act” (19.09.2024)
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has sparked debates and conflicts over Russian and Soviet monuments in the former Eastern Bloc and has also revitalized global discussions about dissonant heritage. This has created a new need and a new framework for comparisons – for comparing monuments, as well as their toppling and rebuilding in different parts … Presentation of the results of the international workshop “How to Reframe Monuments: Case Studies for Thinking Through Dissonant Heritage” on September 6 at EKA and EKA TV.
Team members: Diāna Meldere, Natali Käsk-Nõgisto, Gytis Dovydaitis, Alberto Governo, Eglė Jasaitytė, Kora Równicka. Mentor: Triinu Väikmeri Case study overview by Triinu Väikmeri: Narva Kreenholm 1872 Streik Monument Year of completion: 1972 Address: Ida-Viru county, Narva, Joala 17A Sculptor Kalju Reitel, architect Boris Kalakin Not protected as a monument Kreenholm Manufactory The construction of the … Monument to the Kreenholm Strike of 1872
Students Andrijana Vansevičiūtė, Mariia Chudna, Siiri-Liis Huttunen, Paolo Zacchigna, Birkan Argün. Mentor. Oksana Denisenko. Case study description by Any Soojärv: Ornament in 2012, still attached. EVM F 455:898 Background: With the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Soviet heritage fell under scrutiny in Estonia. The metal spark was removed from the facade of … Sparkle ornament on the facade of the Auvere power plant
Students: Kristīne Santa Zariņa (University of Latvia, Research and Protection of Cultural and Environmental Heritage); Dovilė Joneliūkštė (Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Cultural Heritage and Tourism); Elisabetta Romano (University of Trieste, History); Danielė Buterlevičienė (Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Creative Industries); Rafał Lizak (University of Silesia in Katowice, Art education) Mentors: Riin Alatalu and Anu … Monuments in Sillamäe as an example of dissonant heritage
Students Daria Tarasenko (Institute of Art History in Leipzig, Art History and Digital Humanities, BA), Myriam Helena Raich (Leopold-Franzens University of Innsbruck, Art History, BA),Natalia Czapla (University of Silesia in Katowice, Game and Virtual Space Design, MA), Nikolay Petroussenko (Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, Graphic Design, PhD), Skaistė Balkytė (Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Art … Reframing the Lenin monument in Narva
At the end of August, the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) confiscated a copy of the Lihula monument from a van transporting it from Tallinn to Lihula. The monument had been planned to be taken to the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the dismantling of the former memorial, according to the PPA. According … Media outlet Delfi on the position of the Minister of Interior: “I do not want to see the bust of any occupying power in Estonia”
During the workshop, students from Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Bulgarian and Albanian universities Katariina Kesküla, Rūta Zemīte, Jovita Ambrazaitytė, Ugnė Žaleniakaitė, Yoskan Mehmedov, Fatjon Mlloja and their supervisor Gregor Taul focused on the industrial landscape of Ida-Viru County and discussed the Püssi ash heap as a monumental heritage that deserves to be re-framed. In a situation … Rethinking the ash heaps: the Püssi ash heap case study
An anti-war sticker on the defaced sign of the Lenin Park in Helsinki, 2022. Photo: Hannu Häkkinen, Finnish Heritage Agency. Pavel Petrov, a Master’s student in History and Eastern European Studies at the University of Helsinki, wrote this text as part of his internship at How to Reframe Monuments (July-September 2024) project. Besides publishing this … The statue that never was – the persisting and vanishing Lenin Park of Helsinki
Pavel Petrov, a Master’s student in History and Eastern European Studies at the University of Helsinki, wrote this text as part of his internship at How to Reframe Monuments (July-September 2024) project. Besides publishing this and other texts on our blog, Pavel assists at the international workshop at Narva Art Residency. In 1979, the town … Failed reframing of the Lenin monument in Kotka
On 23 July, a pop-up exhibition “New frames for the monument: the Tehumardi Memorial” was opened in the dock area of Kuivastu harbour. The exhibition, a collaboration between artists, historians and heritage conservationists, invites the public to reflect on the meaning of the Tehumardi monument and the possibilities for reinterpreting it. To this end, five … An exhibition dedicated to the Tehumardi Memorial was opened in Kuivastu Harbour
During the Soviet era, the Battle of Tehumardi and the monument were the subject of official, ideologically “correct” stories constructed by the political leaders of the party and the army. Estonian Red Army soldiers were portrayed as convinced Bolsheviks. However, to approach the monument and the experience of the rifle corps solely in terms of … The value of the Tehumardi as a historic site today
The myth of the Tehumardi was cast in concrete in 1967 – the fiftieth anniversary of the October Revolution – when the current memorial was built near the battle site to replace the modest monument. Later, a field of memorial stones was added. The monument was unveiled on the 25th anniversary of the founding of … Tehumardi as a place of memory of Soviet Estonia
The special issue of the magazine kunsttexte.de, War on Monuments: Documenting the Debates over Russian and Soviet Heritage in Eastern and Central Europe. Documenting the Debates on Russian and Soviet Heritage in Eastern and Central Europe, edited by Kristina Jõekalda. This issue of the open access online journal kunsttexte.de (https://doi.org/10.48633/ksttx.2024.1) contains 14 articles on the … Special issue of Kunsttexte.de War on Monuments: Documenting the Debates over Russian and Soviet Heritage in Eastern and Central Europe
The night battle of Tehumardi between units of the Red Army’s Estonian Rifle Corps and a retreating German battalion in the late evening of 8 October 1944 was a casual and strategically insignificant encounter – it was bloody, but without major military results. The battle took place in the final phase of the war here, … Battle of Tehumardi
At the end of June, the removal of the grave markers of the Red Army soldiers buried in Tehumardi in Saaremaa began. A sword-shaped obelisk remains, but some of the text on it will be covered up. Broadcast on ERR: https://www.err.ee/1609385786/galerii-tehumardil-algas-punaarmee-sodurite-hauatahiste-eemaldamine On Monday, the removal of the grave markers of the Red Army soldiers buried … Removal of grave markers of Red Army soldiers in Tehumardi began
Location:Narva Art Residency (NART) Start Date:31.08.2024 Start Time:10:00 End Date:06.09.2024 Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has sparked debates and conflicts over Russian and Soviet monuments in the former Eastern Bloc and has also revitalized global discussions about dissonant heritage. This has created a new need and a new framework for comparisons – for comparing monuments, … International workshop “How to reframe monuments: case studies for thinking through dissonant heritage”
Antanas Kmieliauskas, Hope, 1982. Fresco. Pharmacy Vilties (Hope) in Kaunas. Courtesy of Gregor Taul. Photo from 2020. On 1 July at 11:00 Gregor Taul will defend his thesis “Monumentality Trouble. Monumental-Decorative Art in Late Soviet Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania” (“Sekeldused monumentaalsusega. Monumentaal-dekoratiivkunst hilisnõukogude Eestis, Lätis ja Leedus”) The public defence will be held in EKA … PhD Thesis Defence of Gregor Taul
Uncontactable Gustav. Intervention of an anonymous art student from the course Art and Public Space, Spring 2024. I teach a course at EKA on Art and Public Space which on the one hand deals with monuments, interventions and street art in urban space, and on the other hand looks more broadly at the position of … Monumental Disputes
The conference “Cultural heterologies and democracy II” will take place at the Estonian Academy of Arts (Põhja puiestee 7, Tallinn, Estonia). Confirmed keynote speakers and their abstracts:Marju Lauristin (professor emeritus, University of Tartu, Estonia)Dorota Kołodziejczyk (University of Wrocław, Poland)Gulnaz Sharafutdinova (King’s College London, UK) The conference will be held in English. To register, please fill out this form. Registration deadline June 10, 2024. … Cultural Heterologies and Democracy II. Transitions and Transformations in Post-Socialist Cultures in the 1980s and 1990s
We publish Karin Paulus’s review of the debate on the Tehumardi Monument, published in the weekly journal Sirp on 24 May 2024. The Tehumardi monumental ensemble (Allan Murdmaa, Riho Kuld, Matti Varik, the pillar was completed in 1966, the second phase of the cemetery was completed in 1975) is protected as an artistically complete memorial … Adaptation or surrender?
On March 4, 2024, an annual event called PhD Vitamin took place at the Estonian Academy of Arts (EAA). It is a conference and meetings where artists and designers who are interested in doctoral studies gather. At EKA, doctoral studies take place in four disciplines: art science and visual culture studies, heritage protection and conservation, … Monumental Vitamin
Discussion of the research project “How to Reframe Monuments” at the Estonian Academy of Arts On 7 May at 18.00, the Department of Heritage Conservation and Conservation and the Department of Installation and Sculpture of the EAA invite you to a discussion on the research project “How to Reframe Monuments” on the Tehumardi Monument in … How to Reframe Monuments – Tehumardi debate
How can this monument be less Soviet, but instead more contemporary, and become so without the reluctant feeling that we are censoring/decimating something? The form of the gravestones is inserted between the existing rows in such a way that there is no (walking) space left. The new, ‘white sheet’ keyed wreaths will be without inscriptions … Taavi Piibemann. A further development of the Tehumardi Monument
A research project by the Estonian Academy of Arts and Tallinn University explores how to deal with complex heritage while creating new qualities in public space and preserving the important role of controversial heritage as a carrier of history. The first case study of the project is the Tehumardi Memorial in Saaremaa. Dedicated to the … Tehumardi memorial
Straws The design concept entitled “Straws”, proposes a solution to preserve the integrity of the memorial by covering the grave markers with dolomite slabs. In turn, bronze/brass lines inspired by the windswept landscape surrounding the memorial, in particular the red rhododendrons that grow there, are attached to the slabs. In this way, the grave markers … Anna Mari Liivrand. Tehumardi Night Battle Memorial. Design Concept “Straws”
The thirty slabs of the Tehumardi memorial will be covered with tiles similar to the existing ones. Instead of Soviet symbolism, the tiles will carry new visual information – a graphic novel chronicling what happened at Tehumardi. In a comic-style creation, the viewer can see the tragic story of the Battle of Tehumardi, the subsequent … Kirke Kangro. Tehumardi – Alternative Information Space
If the elements referring to the Soviets are neutralised, the memorial should either remove the textual part in its entirety or retain the dates 1941 and 1945. A sketch of this solution is presented in the accompanying photograph “The memorial”. Consideration could also be given to installing a smaller viewing platform on the seaward side … Johannes Säre. Proposal for the revamping of the Tehumardi Night Battle Memorial
On March 4th and 5th, the PhD Vitamin event will once again be hosted at the Estonian Academy of Arts. PhD Vitamin aims to support and pave the way – and inspire artists with a research approach on their way to doctoral studies. The goal is to introduce artistic research and advise potential candidates for … PhD Vitamin 2024
In 2024, the three-year research project How to Reframe Monuments was launched, with the aim of creating new solutions for reinterpreting monuments and other dissonant heritage. The interdisciplinary project received funding from the Ministry of Culture’s new research and development programme. It is led by the Estonian Academy of Arts in cooperation with Tallinn University, and partners … Research project creates new solutions for reinterpreting monuments