Tallinn Music Week 2024 takes place on 3 – 7 April. The city festival programme will be announced in steps from February.
Until then see below for last year’s programme:
Wed, 10 May – Sun, 14 May
TMW 2023 art programe offers our signature gallery tour curated by the Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center (ECADC) with new exhibitions by artists from Estonia and beyond, sound art exhibitions in cooperation with the art festival “I Don’t Understamd” (“Ma ei saa aru”) in Telliskivi Cretive City as well as light installations by the students of the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) in the former industrial quarter.
ECADC Gallery Tour
Sat, 13 May 12:00 – 17:00
As part of TMW, The Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center (ECADC) hosts a special gallery tour. The participating galleries are Tallinn Art Hall Lasnamäe Pavilion, Okapi Gallery, Temnikova & Kasela Gallery, Gallery Positiiv, Juhan Kuus Documentary Photography Centre, Vaal Gallery and Telliskivi Creative City Green Hall. The programme includes exhibitions introducing new works by both Estonian and foreign artists as well as meetups with the gallerists and artists.
A dedicated bus makes moving from gallery to gallery easier during the gallery tour. Entry to the bus at every stop is based on a first-come-first-served policy.
12:00 Tallinn Art Hall Lasnamäe Pavilion (J. Koorti 24)
Spring Exhibition 2023
The works at the Estonian Artists Association’s annual spring exhibition in the Lasnamäe Pavilion of the Tallinn Art Hall are selected by the jury from 274 applications. Artists based in Estonia participate in the exhibition with paintings, graphic works, sculptures, installations, video and photo or digital print made in 2022 and 2023, united by modernity, internationality, high level of curation and intergenerationalism.
An Estonian-language tour will take place onsite.
13:15 Okapi Gallery (Niguliste 2)
Taavi Tulev “Thought Patterns”
Taavi Tulev creates precision-based geometric art, which is inspired by different states of mind or the possibility to recreate different mindstates through seeing these pictures. Spiralling patterns are presented quite often. One could say that these pictures might be algorithmic, but they’re technical drawings.
Taavi has created electronic music since 2000. Besides art and music, he’s recording the sounds of nature and has recently released an LP of the sounds of thunder. He has created many soundscape designs, some quite huge, mainly for museums and different exhibitions.
14:00 Temnikova & Kasela Gallery (Peetri 12)
Sevina Tzanou and Toni Schmale “Final Fantasy”
The joint exhibition “Final Fantasy” is based on the deconstruction of corporeality. Two artists criticising gender roles are Greek-born painter Sevina Tzanou and German artist Toni Schmale with his installation sculptures. At first glance, these opposite creators both deal with bodies and desires, ideas of strength, discipline, tension and letting go. The exhibited works contain references to burlesque and training equipment.
14:30 Positiiv Gallery (Roo 21a)
Anneli Ivaste & Kristel Schwede’s duo exhibition “Flowed Out of Silence”
The exhibition reflects on the inspiration of creative people and the limits of joint creation. Living everyday life with an open mind, we consciously or unconsciously see, collect and store different sounds and words, colours and sensations that mix with our inner world. A creative impulse can be given by the ordinary life around us or by retreating into silence. These experienced impulses start a new creative chain.
Anneli Ivaste and Kristel Schwede will be present at the gallery tour.
15:15 Vaal Gallery (Telliskivi 60a/5)
Kadri Toom “The Glasshouses and a Balloon”
“The Glasshouses and a Balloon” combines graphic prints and spatial installations by Kadri Toom. The exhibited works reflect the human attempt to intervene in natural processes, to design and imitate them. The artworks refer to the search for something unprecedented and mystical. The exhibition space is transformed into a simulacrum, which is accompanied by Johanna Kivimägi’s musical composition.
15:45 Juhan Kuus Documentary Photo Centre (Telliskivi 60a)
„Touch. Small Photo, Big Story“
A photo exhibition with a purpose to tell touching, important and interesting tales of documentary photography through a micro-format. The show, offering surprising discoveries and unexpected perspectives, features 56 Estonian and European authors who present more than 200 works in mini-format. Curators were interested in the challenge of what photo stories photographers create in a small format and want to present to the audience and what kind of experience small images can evoke in the exhibition hall. Through the themes chosen for display, the exhibition sheds light on the rich human experience in the living environment around us, which can often be overlooked in a busy world.
16:15 Telliskivi Creative City Green Hall
“Sound Speaks” by Estonian sound artists
The sound art exhibition as part of the art festival “ I Don’t Understand” (“Ma ei saa aru”) will bring seven Estonian artists to the Green Hall of the Telliskivi Creative City, who will create a spatial soundscape in the hall of a former industrial building. Artists Raul Keller, Liisa Hirsch, Taavi Suisalu, Sten Saarits, Erik Alalooga, Katrin Enni and Mari-Liis Rebane will participate in the exhibition. Various ideas related to sound art are made to sound as a complete work, which can be experienced as sound events at different points in the room while moving around inside it. Although the perceptual experience related to sounds is at the center of the exhibition, the visual appearance that binds the entire environment into a single whole is not overlooked.
The curator of the exhibition is Aivar Tõnso, an Estonian alternative soundscapes specialist and an organiser of the music and sound art festival Üle Heli.
Open: Thu-Sat 12:00 – 22:00, Sun 12:00 – 17:00
Openings of the art festival “I Don’t Understand” (Ma ei saa aru”) exhibitions in Telliskivi Creative City
Martin Recker and Paul Hauptmeier: “Time Lines”
Corridor of the B building
Thu-Sat 12:00 – 22:00, Sun 12:00 – 17:00
The 60-meter sound art installation Time Lines by German artist duo Martin Recker and Paul Hauptmeier explores the fleeting nature of events and the passage of moments within the context of a multidimensional perception of time. It touches upon the impending tipping points of global climate change as well as personal experiences of disorientation in time. The audience embarks on a journey through a dreamlike corridor of sound, rhythm, light, and water. The elements create a surreal, dystopian rainforest, where water drips onto metal plates from a height of six meters, lights stretch and reverse the perception of time and sounds pass you as musical shadows.
Paul Hauptmeier caught the attention of the festival organisers’ in 2022 at the Venice Biennale, where he participated with the site-specific work Diaphanous Sound. Both Recker and Hauptmeier are co-founders of ZiMMT, a music and technology center in Leipzig.
“Sound Speaks“ by Estonian sound artists:
Telliskivi Creative City Green Hall (Roheline saal) (Telliskivi 60a/5)
Thu-Sat 12:00 – 22:00, Sun 12:00 – 17:00
The sound art exhibition as part of the art festival “ I Don’t Understand” (“Ma ei saa aru”) will bring seven Estonian artists to the Green Hall of the Telliskivi Creative City, who will create a spatial soundscape in the hall of a former industrial building. Artists Raul Keller, Liisa Hirsch, Taavi Suisalu, Sten Saarits, Erik Alalooga, Katrin Enni and Mari-Liis Rebane will participate in the exhibition. Various ideas related to sound art are made to sound as a complete work, which can be experienced as sound events at different points in the room while moving around inside it. Although the perceptual experience related to sounds is at the center of the exhibition, the visual appearance that binds the entire environment into a single whole is not overlooked.
The curator of the exhibition is Aivar Tõnso, an Estonian alternative soundscapes specialist and an organiser of the music and sound art festival Üle Heli.
Ticket for one exhibition: 4€ / 3€* (*student, teacher (with ISIC and ITIC card), senior, pensionär, member of Estonian Artists’ Association, people with Ukrainian citizenship).
Family ticket: 10€
Free entry for children up to 8 years old and people with disability.
Sound Speaks and Time Lines ticket: 7€ / 5€* (*student, teacher (with ISIC and ITIC card), senior, pensionär, member of Estonian Artists’ Association, people with Ukrainian citizenship).
Family ticket: 15€
Other exhibitions in Telliskivi Creative City
Johannes Luik:” Space for the Everyday: Object 4 (Chandelier)”
Kuppel Gallery
Open: 24/7
The object (Chandelier) hanging in the middle of the space is part of a series Space for the Everyday that works with everyday objects and the space around them. The spherical glass dome holds approximately 82.5 cubic meters of space.
Photo exhibitions at Fotografiska Tallinn
(Telliskivi 60a-8)
Miles Aldridge “Virgin Mary. Supermarkets. Popcorn”. Photographs 1999 – 2020
A recurring theme in Miles Aldridge’s work is the false promise of luxury. His photographs depict psychedelic interiors furnished with the seemingly trapped comforts of mid-century American suburbia: shiny kitchen appliances, candy-coloured telephones and well-groomed pets – all with the aim of expressing personal success. His photographs of homelike environments are often underlined with a bittersweetness which is a personal reflection of Aldridge’s childhood memories of his mother after a devastating divorce.
Aldridge’s work interweaves historical motifs with contemporary ones and subtly references art historical canons. He rarely allows the real world to intrude into the imaginary – through his lens, even reality appears artificial.
Andres Serrano: “Infamous”
Through his work, Andres Serrano confronts the racist history of the United States. In 2019, the artist discovered that the objects that normalise blackface culture live a life of their own on eBay. He began buying and photographing these objects to remind people of how racism has been and continues to be in various forms.
“Black people have been portrayed in popular culture as pitiable exotics, cannibalistic savages, hypersexual deviants, childlike buffoons, obedient servants, self-loathing victims, and menaces to society. These anti-Black depictions were routinely manifested in or on material objects: ashtrays, drinking glasses, banks, games, fishing lures, detergent boxes, and other everyday items. These objects, with racist representations, both reflected and shaped attitudes towards Black Americans.” – Dr. David Pilgrim, the founder and curator of the Jim Crow Museum
Snezhana Von Büdingen-Dyba: “Meeting Sofie”
Through mesmerising portraits, the exhibition tells the story of Sofie’s coming of age, living with her family in a secluded 16th-century picturesque mansion in the small village of Eilenstedt in Germany. The photographs focus on her daily life there and the ups and downs of teenage years – first love, first heartache. With this exhibition, Snezhana von Büdingen-Dyba wants to show the beauty and complexity of ‘the unusual’ and thereby contribute to deeper social acceptance and inclusiveness. The exhibition gives the viewer the opportunity to participate in ‘Sofie’s world’ through the lens of the artist. Snezhana keeps in touch with Sofie to this day and their collaboration continues.
For holders of the TMW 2023 Festival Pass and PRO Pass or tickets for the TMW Indie Shuffle showcase in Fotografiska, the exhibition ticket costs 10 euros.
Exclusively, on Saturday, 13 May the exhibitions are open until 23:00, with the discounted ticket price 8 euros between 21:00 and 23:00 p.m..
Light installations “The Glow of Krull“ by EKA students
11 – 14 May
Krulli District (entrance from Kopli 70a)
The stundents of the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) open an exhibition of light installations in the new Krulli District in Kalamaja. The area is named after Franz Krull’s metal and machine manufacturing company, which product range included cast iron, steel castings and steam boilers as well as steam locomotives and even a liquor production equipment.
The installations give a new lease of life to the former industrial colossus. Visitors will be taken on a trip through the whole block and its memory lanes, trapped in the glow which takes shape, absorbs, vaporizes, flows, ripples, shimmers and shines. Unforgettable will be revealed, the darkened windows will once again come to life. The timeless tale glows, holding and protecting both internal and external reflections, showing the way to exciting future.
Participating students: Kristi Tšernilovski, Caitlyn Kesa, Saskia Krautman, Frank Kuresaar, Karl Perens, Triin Indlo, Madli Rööp, Eva Maria Põldmäe, Triinu Väikmeri, Kadri Vahar, Anna Minchenkov, Aasa Ruukel, Elle Lepik and Vivian Ilves. Mentor: Elo Liiv.
Architectural lighting of the light path by Kristi Tšernilovski, Elo Liiv, Janno Siil and Rinald Kodasma
Supoorters: Cultural Endowment of Estonia, TMW, MTÜ Valgusklubi, Bergsi Consult OÜ, Krulli Kvartal AS
Karl Perens, Saskia Krautman, Frank Kuresaar: “At the End of the Tunnel”
An experience born of the integration of light and sound, in which a person, reaching the light at the end of the tunnel, travels through the memories of a lifetime (of the entire Krull quarter) within a few minutes. The experience begins with a red glow in an abandoned building at the end of a long alley. When a visitor enters the room, the light recedes before the darkness, giving way to birth. Through the cycle of life, light in sync with sound depicts life’s struggle and striving for something greater, until a new cycle begins with the new petrson entering the room.
Triin Indlo, Madli Röop: “OV aka Ode to Water”
Water. The most versatile playmate.
Takes shape, absorbs, evaporates, flows, ripples, shimmers, shines and lets you look through it.
Just one drop, and a soothing play of patterns emerges from the mirror-glaze surface.
Eva Maria Põldmäe, Triinu Väikmeri: “Sheaves”
One of the central buildings of the Krull district is an old factory which has been nicknamed as “The Cathedral” due to its monumental architecture. The building has high ceilings and large windows, but due to the size of the room, the natural light doesn’t light up the room entirely. Inspired by chandeliers and divine light, installation “Sheaves” is monumental by its size, as well as gentle by the thin and delicate rays of light.
Kadri Vahar, Anna Minchenkov: “Safe Space”
A space blanket is an especially low-weight blanket made of heat-reflective, thin, plastic sheeting. They are used both on the exterior surfaces of spacecraft for thermal control, as well as by people. Surrounded by spacecraft material you get to experience a Safe Space for your inner and outer reflections.
Aasa Ruukel: “Existing”
Like it or not, there tend to be moments in life when our inner light seems dimmer than usual, whether it is to ourselves or to external observers. Yet what is ostensible is not actual, and what is dull has not yet faded. As long as we’re existing, there is also light. And who knows – maybe the light will remain even when we ourselves are no longer there.
Katriin Maitsalu, Laura Susanna Lätte, Annika Emilie Viigand: “Pundar”
The vibrations of the sounds create a cocoon around us and inside us, a tangle of security, which eventually makes us forget our surroundings. Yet the same knot is interwoven within all of us with a sense of injustice to enjoy the fruits of a good and safe life and experience joy. Let’s enjoy the embrace of the sounds and experience their beauty, but let’s also accept our soul life in all its tangles.
Elle Kannike, Vivian Ilves: “River of Silent Sound”
How to perceive sound if you can’t hear it? Some don’t hear because they can’t and others because they don’t want to. The rhythmic games of movement, light and shadow reflected
in the sound river are an attempt to perceive sound through visual experience. Helijõgi connects the non-hearing with the hearing, includes and invites to a shared space of experience
Supporters: Andres Glass Solutions OÜ, Altarex OÜ.
Created as part of personal exhibition “A generator on standby”.
