On Tuesday, December 2, the Estonian Academy of Arts will host the opening of two exhibitions and a discussion evening, focusing on the ability of contemporary art to rethink complex history and heritage.
At 5 pm, the exhibition “New Frames of Monuments: The Past as Art Material” (02.12.2025–25.01.2026) will open in the EKA Outdoor Gallery, presenting artists’ proposals for the preservation and re-framing of three monumental works of art that are at risk of destruction. This will be followed by a guided tour of the short exhibition “Monument and Fairy Tale” in the EKA lobby led by Kirke Kangro and Ülo Pikkov (1.12.–5.12.2025).
At 6 pm, a science café will begin in the EKA lobby event area, with a discussion group inspired by the artistic interventions introduced at the exhibitions and experiences gained during the creation of the works. The event will be in Estonian.
We live in a time when monuments cannot be ignored. Their meaning is being debated around the world, as is whether and how to display controversial monuments in public spaces. Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine has brought one of the epicenters of monumental conflicts to Eastern Europe. In Estonia, a large number of Soviet-era monuments, especially World War II memorials, have now been removed.
The discussion group examines the ability of contemporary art to deal with dissonant legacies and the memory conflicts hidden behind them in public spaces – and through this explores the social potential hidden in contemporary art. We draw on three competitions for artistic intervention designs conducted as part of the project “New Frames of the Monument”, which experimented with ways to reframe different types of controversial heritage – memorial, painting and sculpture. To date, only one of the artists’ interventions has materialized, the reframing of the Tehumardi Memorial.
A total of 17 artists have participated in the three art competitions in 2024–2025. Kirke Kangro, Neeme Külm, Anna Mari Liivrand, Johannes Säre, Kristina Norman and Taavi Piibemann participated in the conceptualization of the Tehumardi memorial complex in Saaremaa, which has now been partially removed.
Anna Škodenko, Hanna Piksarv, Jevgeni Zolotko, Kati Saarits and Sigrid Viir proposed their solutions for the transformation of the monumental paintings completed in 1955 in the old passenger terminal of Tallinn Airport.
Trevor Kinna, Bob Bicknell-Knight, Hasso Krull, Camille Laurelli, Samuel Lehtikoinen, Ülo Pikkov and Yiyang Sun created digital artworks inspired by the memorial in Tartu “Vjatško and Meelis in Defense of Tartu” (1950/1956).
Discussion leader: Gregor Taul (Estonian Academy of Arts)
Participants in the discussion group: Kirke Kangro, Neeme Külm, Ülo Pikkov, Sigrid Viir and Anna Škodenko
The exhibitions and discussion group are part of the joint research project “New Frames of Monuments” (2024–2026) of the Estonian Academy of Arts and Tallinn University. The aim of the project is to create new solutions for rethinking monuments and other dissonant heritage, bringing together knowledge and skills from different fields (historical and art historical research, conservation heritage studies and contemporary art and creative research practices) and involving different interest groups and communities.
To participate, please pre-register no later than 28.11.2025 HERE.
The event is free and all interested parties are welcome.
Drinks and snacks await in the science café.
Event on the EKA website, on Facebook