Tallinn Applied Arts Triennial: Everything you missed

“Artists from the Baltics were the most imaginative, and Finland sent the most applications and showed works of the highest quality,” explains Maret Sarapu, curator of the Tallinn Triennale of Applied Arts. A record number of 470 artists from the Baltics and Nordic countries applied and 27 artists made it through. Her works are exhibited at the Kai Arts Center, a centuries-old former submarine factory and the cultural heart of the Noblessner port complex on the Tallinn coast.

Triennale of Applied Arts in Tallinn

Pieces range from textiles and glass to ceramics, jewelry and installations. Topics include self-care and sustainability, as well as experimenting with materials. Unsurprisingly, the conflict in Ukraine and the history of Soviet rule over the region are omnipresent, not least because Estonian artist Krista Leesi’s wool scarves scream: “Putin Warship, go f**k yourself” (words of a Ukrainian border guards on the first day). of the war). Ieva Baltrėnaitė-Markevičė’s exhibition of Lithuanian women’s clothing from the 1940s to the 1970s shows how women made outfits from what they could find – the ball gown made from the lining of a men’s suit; the wedding dress, sewn from fabric bought back from exile in Siberia.

“Through the works in the Open Call, artists are looking for a place for materials that have previously been marginalized or forgotten,” says Sarapu. Take Ketli Tiitsar, who rescued old fabrics used as insulation from her 19th-century Estonian country house and turned them into brooches, and Lithuanian artist Severija Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė, who turned old soccer balls and sports equipment into carpets and trophies. “Many are using slow technologies, which raises the question of whether crafting as a calming activity is a basic need or a luxury or, paradoxically, both,” says Sarapu.

Old techniques are being optimized by technology to modernize them. Swedish artist Sofia Björkman’s baskets are woven from threads made from wood dust passed through a 3D pen. Lauri Kilusk 3D prints clay from an Estonian quarry, recognizing its potential as a building material, and Finnish artist Alves Ludovico takes found objects and spins them into sugar polymer sculptures. For Estonian ceramicist Margit Terasmees, a wood kiln is her firing method of choice. It produces unexpected, beautiful results.

The Triennale was first launched in 1997 and until recently took place at the Estonian Museum of Applied Arts and Design in Tallinn’s Old Town. On display here is an enchanting collection of the country’s rich design traditions from the early 20th century to the present.

Galleries all over the city are participating with their own satellite exhibitions. At the HOP Gallery, built 100 years ago specifically for jewelers, glass artist Tiina Sarapu creates abstract landscapes that address the pollution caused by war with its metal-spewing weapons on powerless soil. At nearby A-Galerii, the work of four Baltic jewelers is added to the permanent collections, and an exhibition at Vabaduse celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Association of Estonian Fashion Designers. And once you’ve ticked off everything at the Triennale, Tallinn’s bombastic Soviet architecture and quaint medieval backstreets ensure there’s plenty more to see and do.