The Festival of Books and Voices brings together book-related practices and the presence of voice, the two strands that have been visible and active at PUBLICS throughout the years, evolving through our public events and Library program. The festival continues the tradition of bringing attention to books and emphasising the context of our Library, a crucial and ever growing part of PUBLICS identity. At the beginning of each month, a scheduled event program will be announced.

SEPTEMBER SCHEDULE

Opening event of the Festival of Books and Voices
August 31st, Thursday, 5-7pm

The Festival of Books and Voices opens on the 31st of August, Thursday, 5-7pm.
We are launching the program with a presentation by Indrek Sirkel focusing on Lugemik Publishing & Bookshop. The exhibition Lugemik 100 Books, a window installation by Marge Monko, and an audio archive installation by Dear Friend: Tracks as Envelopes will be installed in the space.

Lugemik is an independent publishing initiative based in Tallinn, Estonia, founded in 2010 by designer Indrek Sirkel and artist Anu Vahtra.

Marge Monko’s work revolves around gender – emphasising the body and its photographic representation. Many of her works have a link to history and are influenced by psychoanalysis, feminism, and the theory of visual culture. Depending on the subject, Monko has employed methods such as documenting, staging, and appropriating existing images, often through a combination of these different approaches.

Tracks as Envelopes was an on-site recording & broadcasting session hosted by oH radio at the Dear Friend exhibition at EKA Gallery in September 2022. 44 letters were read from the Dear Friend archive by the visitors of the exhibition. This audio archive was designed and developed by Paula Buskevica with support from Alejandro Bellón Ample. oH radio lives within the Graphic Design MA program at the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA). oH radio was initiated in 2021 by Paula Buskevica. Thanks to all the voices of the letters. See the project here.

Helsinki Design Week X Festival of Books and Voices
September 8th 3pm-8pm

We are a part of Helsinki Design Week 2023! PUBLICS is participating in an open studios event on the 8th of September. During the event, we will tell more about our Library, projects, activities and much more. Register for the tour at the link below.

You can register for the event here

You can read more about the event here

Reading Group with Indrek Sirkel
September 27th 5-7pm

This Autumn, our Reading Group coincides with the Festival of Books and Voices and we are turning our attention towards Publishing in its all forms and stages. The theme emerges from an essential part of PUBLICS, our Library, and its key element, books. Working with and around books for years has brought together different ways of building a Library, some of them stemming from listening to our local audiences, some of them from inviting international guests and contextualising our current focus internationally. Focusing on publishing in our reading sessions is a way of sharing and exchanging this knowledge. The Reading Group follows the structure of an informal gathering, where we meet monthly to read the selected publications together out loud and discuss them on site. Each month, the Reading Group will be led by an invited guest or guest group, each session encompassing a subtopic relevant to the invitee. 

BIOS

Indrek Sirkel (1984, Estonia) is a graphic designer, educator and publisher based in Tallinn. After graduating from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam in 2007 and a one-year residency at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht in 2008, he received his MA degree from the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) in 2014. Since 2007, Sirkel has been teaching and co-organising the programme at the Department of Graphic Design of the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA). In 2015, he became the head of the department and in 2020 was elected to be the professor of Graphic Design. Since September 2022 he is a junior researcher and a doctoral student at the Doctoral School of EKA.

Marge Monko (b. 1976) is a visual artist who lives and works in Tallinn. She has studied at the Estonian Academy of Arts, University of Applied Arts Vienna, and Higher Institute for Contemporary Art (HISK) in Ghent. Monko works with photography, video, and installation. Her works are inspired by historical images and theories of psychoanalysis, feminism, and visual culture. She works as a professor in the Department of Photography at the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Ott Kagovere (1983, Estonia) is a graphic designer living and working in Tallinn, Estonia. He has studied graphic design in Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) (2013–2016) and philosophy at Tallinn University (2004–2011). He designs books, exhibitions, identities and websites in collaboration with various publishers and institutions. Most recently with Rab-Rab Press, Pyke Presje, Lugemik, Artishok Biennial. Since 2017, Ott has been teaching and co-organising the programme at the Department of Graphic Design of the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA). In 2022 he became the head of the department and in 2023 was elected as professor of graphic design. Occasionally Ott is writing about design in various media outlets (Sirp, Vikerkaar) and his self initiated work verges from design to literature, often incorporating performative elements  and public spaces. — ottkagovere.com

Sandra Nuut (1987, Estonia) is a curator based in Tallinn working at the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design. She studied Art History at the Estonian Academy of Arts (2012) and graduated from the MFA Design Criticism program at the School of Visual Arts (2014). Nuut’s work includes lecturing, writing, and curatorial projects, like the Dear Friend exhibition and symposium (2022) together with Ott Kagovere at EKA Gallery, Acting Things VIII – Silent Negotiations by Judith Seng (2021) at Tallinn Art Hall Gallery, and the symposium Making Public and Publics – Art Publishing in Context (2019) at the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design. Prior to her appointment at the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design in 2022, she worked as a lecturer at the Estonian Academy of Arts (2017–2022) and gallery associate at the New York-based gallery Chamber (2014–2017). Her writing on design and visual culture has been published in Sirp, Müürileht, and Design Observer.