Art | Tallinn Music Week (TMW)

TMW’s art programme presents exhibitions by artists from Estonia and beyond

Aivar Tõnso’s exhibition “Light Matter in Dark State“

EKA Gallery
Opening: Thu, 3 Apr at 18:00

Exhibition open:
Thu-Sat, 3-5 Apr 1 at 4:00 – 22:00
Sun, 6 Apr at 12:00 – 18:00
Curator tour Sat, 5 Apr at 15:00

Musician, sound artist and cultural events curator Aivar Tõnso’s exhibition continues his sonic explorations that have organically evolved from his musical oeuvre. These works engage with spatial and temporal dimensions through innovative non-standard spatial sound formats, presenting compositions without defined beginnings or endings—sonic environments that visitors may enter at any moment and from any perspective.

To accentuate the distinctive character of his soundscapes, Tõnso employs his continually expanding Dissonance Speaker System, crafted from diverse physical materials. Unlike conventional speakers that strive for uniform audio reproduction across frequencies, these bespoke devices deliberately embrace the raw, unrefined characteristics inherent in their constituent materials. This approach creates a fascinating interplay where the visible, tangible elements acquire new, concealed meanings when activated by sound.

Tõnso has been a fixture in Estonia’s electronic music landscape since the early 1990s, contributing to pioneering projects including Hüpnosaurus, Kismabande, Kulgurid and Ulmer. Having traversed the fascinating borderlands between club culture and experimental electronic composition, in recent years he has flourished both as an installation artist and as the creative force behind the celebrated Üle Heli festival.

Noblessner Art Tour

Explore the history of the Noblessner area and visit Kai Art Centre and three art galleries. Noblessner’s unique milieu is created by historical industrial buildings – cultural monuments, telling the story of Estonian independence as well as the economy and art-loving real estate development.

Galleries visited: Kai Art Centre, Temnikova & Kasela Gallery, Tütar Gallery, Punctum Gallery,

Tour tickets at €20 are on sale through shop.tmw.ee
TMW Festival Pass holders need to buy a separate ticket for the tour.

Kai Art Centre

Flo Kasearu ‘BANANA – Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone’

Curator: Kari Conte

The exhibition explores the dynamics of public and private space through the lens of the NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) phenomenon. BANANA invites visitors to engage in discussions about urban and rural development, public participation, local values, and property rights. Offering visual, auditory, and tactile experiences, BANANA combines installations, paintings, video, photography, and sculpture to create narratives about the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion that define contemporary development and the complexities of land use.

Temnikova & Kasela Gallery

Anna Solal, Philipp Timischl, Johanna Ulfsak, Agnes Scherer, Joshua Citarella, Robertas Narkus “Donõt Take it Too Seriously”

Curator: Aleksander Burenkov

The group exhibition examines the boundaries between self-irony and feigned irony, asking whether irony in today’s culture serves as a refuge for avoiding taking positions. Drawing on David Foster Wallace’s observations about pop culture’s shift from seriousness to self-conscious playfulness, the exhibition addresses how new irony blurs the lines between sincerity and cynicism, humanism and indifference. What value could an exhibition have that is so self-ironic that it doesn’t even attempt to say anything to the viewer? Or is this the pretend irony characteristic of the current zeitgeist, which conceals direct statements and avoids taking positions?

Tütar Gallery

Siiri Jüris “to melt into your soil and sprout as a flower”

This exhibition focuses on coexistence in both the content and medium of her works. Can painting, which has historically been considered a symbol of high culture, exist in symbiosis with the possibilities that artificial intelligence and digital technology provide?

There is nothing unusual in using digital tools in visual art. Their wider use gained momentum in the 1990s when personal computers, graphics software and the internet made digital art more available and enabled artists to experiment with new technologies. Artificial intelligence is not a new discovery, either. As a field of study it began in the 1950s, but its wider use in creative works has gained momentum in recent years – primarily thanks to the development of generative AI and easily accessible tools. Jüris has said that she started using digital tools and artificial intelligence by asking the question of whether and how they could affect her manual work process. Curiosity led her to conduct her first experiments a few years ago.

Punctum Gallery

Julia Valtanen “What Grows Between Us”

The exhibition presents nine paintings by Julia Valtanen, which reflect her individual style and manner of painting. Valtanen’s philosophical concept is deeply rooted in her holistic understanding of the interaction between a person’s inner world and their external environment. This approach views phenomena, systems, or organisms as integrated structures where all elements are interconnected and affect each other. This approach views phenomena, systems, or organisms as integrated structures where all elements are interconnected and affect each other.

Telliskivi Creative City Art Tour

Fri, 4 Apr at 17:00
Sat, 5 Apr at 14:00

Starting point: In front of F-Hoone

Telliskivi Creative City houses a variety of diverse creative expressions and unique galleries. Art tour will take you to several locations within both the indoor and outdoor spaces of the Creative City, each with different concepts and exciting exhibitions, and introduce some street art pieces. The tour is guided by Bianka Soe, Content Manager of the Creative City.

Galleries visited: Outdoor Gallery, Dome Gallery, Three Tree Gallery, Street Gallery, Telliskivi Creative City Gallery, Juhan Kuus Documentary Photo Centre, Vaal Gallery, Fotografiska Tallinn.

Outdoor Gallery

Riina Varol “Fragments of Collective Dreams”

The works in this exhibition reflecting dreams and aspirations were captured between 2016–2024 in Pärnu, Tallinn, Narva, Nice, Naples and Procida island in Italy, Nea Styra in Greece, the Rainbow Mountains in Zhangye and in Chengdu, China.

Riina Varol is an artist and photographer who focuses in her creative approach on questions of sensory perception and functions of the subconscious, as well as animism and Eastern philosophy. Varol uses photography, video, sound, tactility, scent and site-specific multimedia installations in her works.

Dome Gallery

Marta Vaarik and Viktoria Martjanova “Flowers for Her”

Three Tree Gallery

Mikk Olli “Backward/Forward”

Street Gallery

AR Cities x Tallinn

Telliskivi Creative City Gallery

Sohvi Viik “Halves”

The exhibition stems from “fresh” motherhood. What invisible threads connect the indescribable feeling of happiness with everyday routine? How do the hidden corners of the psyche craft readiness to cope with the situation, and how does this transform routine into a looping everyday life? The photo and installation collections simultaneously aestheticize banal matter (excrement, bath foam, etc.) and connect these with traditional Madonna-like meekness.

Sohvi Viik-Kalluste is an artist who works in photography, video, sound and installation media. In her photos.

Kelli Valk “Don’t Look Back”

In our current anxious world, there is much discord. Everyone tries to find their place in a changed world. Life is a journey. Don’t look back, but always forward! We should have within ourselves that faith, that seed, so that even in the most difficult moments not everything is lost – a small prayer or wish becomes a seed.

Kelli Valk has been active with exhibitions both in Estonia and abroad, creating solo exhibitions and participating in numerous graphic art joint projects. She has been the artistic editor of the Estonian Encyclopedia Publishing House and a long-time lecturer at the Estonian Academy of Arts. She is a member of the Estonian Free Graphic Artists Association and the Estonian Artists’ Association.

The Outdoor Gallery, Dome Gallery, Three Trees Gallery and Street Gallery are located in the courtyard area and can be visited 24/7.

Telliskivi Creative City’s galleries are open Mon-Fri 11:00 – 19:00 and Sat-Sun 11:00 – 17:00.

Juhan Kuus Documentary Photo Centre

“Ingrians – Hidden Stories”

The exhibition “Ingrians—Hidden Stories” is largely based on the journey of Finnish journalists Lea and Santeri Pakkanen, father and daughter, as they explored their roots. They were accompanied by acclaimed Finnish photographer Meeri Koutaniemi, known for her focus on human rights issues. Together, they travelled through Ingria and Russia, visiting former prison camps and deportation sites. The material from their journey formed the basis of an exhibition first presented at the Finnish National Museum in 2020.

This exhibition, in collaboration with the Juhan Kuus Documentary Photo Centre and the Finnish Institute, reuses some original material but includes numerous unpublished works. Video interviews with Ingrian Finns living in Estonia, specially produced for this exhibition, provide a contemporary perspective on the Ingrian identity.

Vaal Gallery

Rühm T & Vaal 35 “Dirty Snow!

Artists: Raoul Kurvitz, Urmas Muru, Peeter Pere

Curator: Eha Komissarov

On April 27th, 1990, an unusual crowd could be seen on Väike-Karja Street trying to enter a large building through a narrow door. The opening of VAAL, Estonia’s first privately funded art gallery, was taking place. Gallery lighting was sourced from Finland and the exhibition featured works by Raoul Kurvitz, Urmas Muru and Peeter Pere, three leading artists of Rühm T.

35 years later, Vaal has invited the same Rühm T to celebrate its anniversary. Back then, this group juggled with the concept of expressionism, essentially stood against the prevailing art canon, and was armed with transcendental speculative philosophy that allowed them to select, organise and interpret their sensual experience.

At Vaal’s birthday exhibition, the artists present their newest, contemporary works alongside a retrospective section.

Fotografiska Tallinn

Elliott Erwitt “Through the Playful Eyes of Elliott Erwitt”

A retrospective exhibition celebrating the legendary photographer Elliott Erwitt (1928–2023). This exhibition explores Erwitt’s seven decades of creative photography, highlighting playful everyday moments, humorous perspectives, and thought-provoking reflections.

The exhibition features his iconic black-and-white photographs alongside lesser-known works, including some of his earliest images from 1949 and a selection of color photographs from his later creative period.

Lembit Peegel solo exhibition

In 2025, Tallinn bears the title of European Capital of Sports, and on this occasion Fotografiska has also put on its trainers, with an exhibition by the legendary sports photographer Lembit Peegel.

The exhibition offers a glimpse into the work of Peegel, featuring powerful photographs that capture aspects of Estonian sports culture from the 1970s to the 1990s, along with fragments of more recent sports moments. The black-and-white photo stories from the title competitions and mass sports events of the time are juxtaposed with the tricoloured victory moments from Estonia’s first Olympic Games after regaining independence, helping to frame the nation’s self-belief and rise. Past eras of strength sports, gymnastics, and team sports are richly portrayed through authentic frames.

Feng Li “White Nights in Wonderland”

This exhibition invites visitors to experience modern society through a surreal spectacle. Internationally acclaimed street and fashion photographer Feng Li has developed a distinctive visual language — his photos stand out in a world saturated with images for their unique ability to embrace irony and highlight the humor in everyday life.

The “White Nights” series is set against the backdrop of modern cities, focusing on the gritty, messy, and shamelessly artificial playgrounds of the streets—elements often cropped out in photos taken with smartphones.

Tour tickets at €20 are on sale through shop.tmw.ee
TMW Festival Pass holders need to buy a separate ticket for the tour.