Do abandoned places remember people?

There is nothing eternal in this world. All life is in constant motion, at the mercy of life and death. This also applies to man-made landscapes and sites as well as layers of relationships and memories attached to them. Once centers of life, areas of cultural and environmetal value, production buildings, meeting points and road networks – everything disconnects, fades away, is forgotten and grown over after a certain number of breaths in history. Memories and (sites of) memory keep on flickering for a moment like halos of stellar explosions before dying away. Name is the last to disappear.

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Curator Elo Liiv

Uku
Sepsivart
EST

Sculptor

Uku Sepsivart is a sculptor who is interested in the relationship between nature, animals and humans.

Samuelle

Green

USA

Multidisciplinary mediums

Samuelle Green’s work has always been multidisciplinary and focused on nature’s interaction with the human-made world.

Elena

Redaelli

ITA

Researcher and nomadic creator

Elena Redaelli's practice lays on the sculpture and installation created through a deep relationship with a place and society.

Michele Seffino
ITA

Composer and sound artist

Michele Seffino works primarily on sound installations and time-based art.

Merle
Karro-Kalberg
EST

Landscape architect

Merle Karro-Kalberg is a landscape architect, architectural editor of the cultural newspaper Sirp and a certified journalist.

Together with landscape architects Anna-Liisa Und and Karin Bachmann, she is leading the project “Curated Biodiversity” in Tartu, the aim of which is to bring more life to the parks of Tartu city center. This is both in terms of biodiversity and in terms of creating more opportunities for city dwellers.

With Anna-Liisa and Karin, Merle has curated exhibitions, published the landscape architecture magazine "Õu" and twice been a guest editor for the architecture magazine "Maja".

Together with Heiki Kalberg and Tanel Breed, he has done reconstruction projects for Tallinn's Kase Park and Pae Promenade.

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"WHY SHOULD BIODIVERSITY MATTER TO US?

In the presentation, landscape architect and journalist Merle Karro-Kalberg talks about plants and animals and why humanity needs them. She also offers ideas on how to bring more insects, plants and animals to cities.

Külli
Kõiv
EST

Potter

Külli Kõiv graduated from the ceramics department of Tallinn University of Arts (EKA).

As a founding member of the company Asuurkeraamika, Külli's creative path is closely intertwined with this creative group.

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In this creative group, she developed her characteristic meditative strip technique where tightly intertwined clay strips form a sculptural form - sometimes abstract, sometimes narrative. Her clay creations and other activities are twisted in a complementary and enriching way like clay strips in her works, forming her unique pattern, where every detail is crucial in the means of the whole.

The 14 years of activities in the organizing team of the Kohila Symposium means to her a lot. 

"WOOD-FIRING: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE ASHES"

Wood-firing ceramics nourish the artist's soul: here meet the cooperation and joint effort, time-consuming work, the material, therapeutic effect of activity on the artist and coincidence that determines the result - a work of art with a unique flame language. As we use a significant amount of wood for wood-firing, forest regeneration and biodiversity are very important for us. This year, at the Kohila Symposium, we will pay special attention to reducing our ecological footprint and plan various activities to support the environment. We aim to turn the attention of the artists dealing with wood-firing ceramics to the sustainability of the field.

Siim
Preiman
EST

Contemporary art agent and curator

Siim Preiman is a contemporary art agent and a curator at Tallinn Art Hall who also operates the mobile art platform galerii galerii.

His curatorial projects explore the possible role that art can play in resisting global powers, focusing on the ethics of making art and on micro-narratives circulating in society.

He studied Art History at the Estonian Academy of Art.

Preiman’s latest curatorial projects include galerii galerii presents: a concise anthology of mobile art platforms at 1st March Gallery, Tallinn (2021), Memory Palace by Maria Valdma at Tallinn City Gallery (2021) and Endless Story by Mihkel Ilus and Paul Kuimet at Tallinn Art Hall (2020).

"WHAT DOES ART WEIGHT?"

Although tackling the ecological, social, and economic components of the amorphous global crisis is common in art, artworks and exhibitions often don’t direct attention towards their role in the ruinous sequence of events. While the value of each artwork or event cannot be judged based on its ecological footprint alone nor indeed on its social impact, we can still judge the ethical balance between the form and content of a single artwork. In his presentation, curator Siim Preiman will share experiences in curating near-zero waste exhibitions on an institutional level.