Erki Kasemets | «Kunstnikud on kohal» (Estonia)

Bio

Erki Kasemets (1969) is an artist working with installation, painting, performance and theatre. His work includes trash art, polygon theatre performances, systematic documentation of personal life, focus on material, kinetic art, set and stage design, and activities in artist groups Vedelik and P.E.A.. Kasemets views his practice and method as bricolage, often creating art works from broken, useless or discarded everyday objects. Many of his works address themes like time and memory from a subjective standpoint.

Kasemets studied scenography (BA, 1993) and fine art (MA, 1996) as well as obtained a PhD in art and design (“Outside the Ordinary: Party, Garbage and Polygon Theatre”, 2017) at the Estonian Academy of Arts. He has also studied at Aalto University and the University of the Arts Helsinki. In 2002 Kasemets received the Konrad Mägi Prize. He has taught painting, installation and composition at the Estonian Academy of Arts, and from 2007 to 2012 he worked as the chief scenographer at Rakvere Theatre. His works belong to the collections of the Art Museum of Estonia, Tartu Toy Museum and the Estonian Theatre and Music Museum.

Project

He is participating in the school residencies program “Kunstnikud on kohal / Artists Are Present” in Narva in spring 2026. Within this framework, he meets with students and introduces them to his artistic practice. Many of his previous projects can be repeatedly reactivated; each time they are used, the outcome is different and unpredictable. For example, participants may paint on standardized packaging surfaces, create a unique image based on the rules of Structor-5, and analyse the result in relation to others. They practice one-line drawing — creating an image with a single uninterrupted line — and collaboratively construct a pixel image as a collective work. Through exchange and creative interaction, the aim is to create a different kind of learning experience, one that unfolds outside conventional classroom formats.