Birgit Kaleva, Keiu Maasik, Mark Raidpere
Greetings from Kanepi! Wish u were here
30 January — 28 March 2026
A father’s diary from the 60s, postcards from Kanepi, Colin McRae Rally 2.0. Abstracted movements, run down household appliances, a ghost car. Driftwood Songs, a spider plant, a life stored in virtuality.
The works of Birgit Kaleva, Keiu Maasik and Mark Raidpere open up insights into the stories of family lines, or rather into fragments or excerpts of these stories. The (auto)biographical is intertwined with fiction, perhaps we cannot know for certain what is based on real life and what is imaginary — and maybe it doesn’t matter either.
In Birgit Kaleva’s photo series Weizenbergi 51 (2026), we see views of the artist’s birthplace in Kanepi – a parish in South Estonia – where she still lives with her parents. To work through the shame that stems from living with her parents, Kaleva directs her gaze to the space around her instead of hanging her head in embarassment. Keiu Maasik‘s video work A Ghost Story tells the story of a son and father that took place in an old rally game. A story where after his father’s death, the son at some point found his father’s ghost car in the game – a seemingly living part of his father stored in virtuality. Mark Raidpere‘s video Seaven Teares / Driftwood Songs (2017) combines abstracted movements with the longing diaries of a young man written in the 1960s, Tõnu Kõrvits’s arrangement Driftwood Songs and seven tears, e.g John Dowland’s Lachrimae or Seaven Teares from the late 16th century.
The title of the exhibition is borrowed from the accompanying text of Birgit Kaleva’s work Weizenbergi 51 (2026).
The exhibition will remain open until 28 March 2026.
Birgit Kaleva (b. 1996), working under the artist name 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢, uses herself and her immediate surroundings as the basis of her artistic practice. Through a spontaneous and angular approach, she reframes autobiographical material, creating distance from personal experience and offering a clearer perspective on its underlying structures. Her work is informed by an interest in visual rawness and awkwardness in unexpected compositions. Kaleva graduated from the Pallas University of Applied Sciences with a degree in Photography (2024).
Keiu Maasik (b. 1992) has degrees in Photography (BA) and Contemporary Art (MA) from the Estonian Academy of Arts. In her work, she has explored themes such as the impact of documentation on memory, identity and interpersonal relationships. In her recent projects, Maasik has focused on the virtual world, using computer game recordings or similar aesthetics in her video works and installations to reveal the different aspects of virtual life. She is one of the nominees of the Köler Prize 2026.
Mark Raidpere (b. 1975) is a photographer and video artist, exploring the dilemmas and fears of the human soul, insurmountable loneliness and the tragedy of fate with great sensitivity and insight. Raidpere’s research often draws on his family’s universe, but sometimes takes on a social dimension, focusing on the marginalized, urban violence and street life. In 2005, Raidpere represented Estonia at the 51st Venice Biennale. His works have been exhibited in numerous international group and solo exhibitions and he has received several prestigious awards both in Estonia and abroad.
FOKU Gallery is a gallery-showroom focused on contemporary lens-based art. FOKU Gallery is run by the Estonian Union of Photography Artists (FOKU).
Supporters:
Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Peenjoogivabrik Nudist
Partner:
Rüki galerii
Technical support:
Reigo Nahksepp
Thanks to:
Artproof, Estonian Artists’ Association, Karel Koplimets, Madis Kurss, Tõnu Kõrvits
Advent Salon
5.—21. December 2025
In December, FOKU Gallery will again turn into an Advent Salon where you can find a wide selection of photography art, limited edition prints and books!
Participating artists:
Johanna Adojaan, Andre Joosep Arming, Cloe Jancis, Hedi Jaansoo, Tõnis Jürgens, Maria Kapajeva, Triin Kerge, Mari-Leen Kiipli, Joosep Kivimäe, Karel Koplimets, Paul Kuimet, Keiu Maasik, Marge Monko, Tanja Muravskaja, Krista Mölder, Birgit Püve, Kertu Rannula, Liina Siib, Silvia Sosaar, Roman-Sten Tõnissoo, Ruudu Ulas, Mirjam Varik, Riina Varol, Sigrid Viir, Mari Volens, Kristina Õllek
Supporter:
Cultural Endowment of Estonia
Partners:
Rüki Gallery, Foto Tallinn Art Fair
Technical support:
Karel Koplimets
Thanks to:
Artproof, Stuudio Stuudio, Temnikova & Kasela Gallery
Tallinn Photomonth’s main programme exhibition
just juuri nüüd nyt
25 September — 29 November 2025
Artists:
Andre Joosep Arming (EE), Andrey Bogush (FI), Saara Ekström (FI), Noora Geagea (FI), Cloe Jancis (EE), Maria Kapajeva (EE), Karl Ketamo (FI), Karel Koplimets (EE), Maija Tammi (FI), Kristina Õllek (EE)
Curator:
Hertta Kiiski (FI)
Open:
Hobusepea: Mon, Wed–Sun 11:00–18:00; From October Wed–Sun 12:00–18:00
FOKU: Thu–Sat 12:00–18:00
Opening:
25.09.2025, 18:00
Public Programme:
25.09.2025, 17:00
Curator’s tour (in English). Starting at the FOKU Gallery
26.09.2025, 14:00
Discussion panel with the artists (in English). Moderated by Marten Esko. FOKU Gallery
25.09.–19.10.2025
Hobusepea Gallery (Hobusepea 2)
25.09.–29.11.2025
FOKU Gallery (Väike-Karja 10)
For the first time, the Estonian Union of Photography Artists (FOKU) collaborates with the Finnish Association of Photographic Artists (VTL) within the framework of Tallinn Photomonth. The joint exhibition taking place across Hobusepea and FOKU galleries displays works by both Finnish and Estonian photographic artists that have been selected by a jury of professionals from both countries. The exhibition focuses on the question of what photography means in the context of contemporary art at the present moment and how artists are constantly redefining its essence through their work. The exhibition highlights currently relevant topics, as well as different ways in which contemporary photographic art is presented – from the selection of original materials to the use of experimental formats.
The aim of this exhibition project is, among other things, to strengthen the cooperation between the photographic artists of the two countries, and to exchange experiences in exhibition-making and contemporary art practices. The exhibition will be accompanied by a gathering and discussion panel aimed at the fields’ professionals of the immediate region. The exhibition series that takes off from Tallinn, continues in 2026 in Finland.
Thanks to: Marten Esko, Marina Rusakova, Anna Niskanen, Henna Harri, Anna Airaksinen, Anna Mustonen
The exhibition is part of the Main Programme of the 8th Tallinn Photomonth
FOKU gallery is run by the Estonian Union of Photography Artists (FOKU). The gallery’s partner is Rüki gallery.
Supporter:
Cultural Endowment of Estonia
Technical support:
Karel Koplimets
Johanna Adojaan, Paul Kuimet, Krista Mölder
Contemplated Distances
8 August — 20 September 2025
The exhibition Contemplated Distances is a visual poetic mapping of natural, mediated and personally experienced landscapes, distances and closenesses. The common threads connecting the works of the three artists are quiet frames, sensitivity to detail, surfaces and currents underneath or behind; vibrations between the visible and the invisible, looking and observing.
In Krista Mölder’s photo series, we encounter landscapes, air, birds, butterflies and airplanes again and again. On the one hand, Mölder’s frames are almost weightless, frozen in time and full of emptiness and silence, on the other hand, framed with extreme precision and under the control of the artist’s incredibly sensitive and sharp gaze. Using the possibilities and limitations of analog techniques, Paul Kuimet has created a series, a kind of static narrative, where different (emotional) states — and the shifts between them — exist as if simultaneously. In her especially delicate aesthetics, Johanna Adojaan reflects on luck and magical thinking. Although today’s world is disenchanted and guided by rationality and pragmatism — or perhaps precicely because of it? — magical thinking will never disappear, the artist believes.
The exhibition will remain open until 20 September, 2025.
Johanna Adojaan (b. 1996) is inspired by abstract and magical thinking, intimate aspects of human experience, and biological and social drives of human behavior. She holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Fine Art Photography from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. Adojaan works as a photographer, graphic designer, illustrator, second-hand treasure dealer and a ceramic artist.
Paul Kuimet (b. 1984) works with photography, 16 mm film, and installation comprising of these media. Although his work is often described by a technological way of seeing, his practice places emphasis on the movement and presence of the beholder in the exhibition space. Since 2013, his work has been interested in modernist forms. In his latest works he has concentrated not so much on the forms of modernism, but on its materials, such as steel and glass, and their relationship to the development of modern capitalism since the mid-nineteenth century.
Krista Mölder (b. 1972) focuses on universalized space and viewer experience or, to be more specific, on the transference of a personal (and constructed) viewer experience through which the viewer has a chance to identify with the artist’s view and frame of mind. Her melancholic series often rely on the active position of viewers, whilst her site-specific exhibitions take her interest in spatial context beyond the content of the photographs themselves.
FOKU gallery is run by the Estonian Union of Photography Artists (FOKU). The gallery’s partner is Rüki gallery.
Supporter:
Cultural Endowment of Estonia
Technical support:
Karel Koplimets
Thanks to:
Artproof, ArtSmart, Kristiina Hansen, Mikk Heinsoo, Irina Korzjukova, Temnikova & Kasela galerii
Liina Siib & Riina Varol
Fig Leaves and Dear Stones
25 April — 12 July 2025
FOKU Gallery is on summer break from 13 July until 6 August 2025!
The exhibition Fig Leaves and Dear Stones can be visited by appointment until 30.07.2025. If you wish to visit, please contact us via e-mail: hedi.jaansoo@foku.ee, or call +37255944447.
On Thursday, 24 April at 6 PM the exhibition Fig Leaves and Dear Stones by artists Liina Siib and Riina Varol will be opened at FOKU Gallery (Väike-Karja 10, Tallinn).
The exhibition features works by Liina Siib from 2003—2006/2025, mostly not exhibited in Tallinn before, and a newly completed photo series by Riina Varol.
Liina Siib’s works, photographed in museums and a botanical garden, revolve around questions on morality and ethics, taboos and ideals, ways of representation and politics of representation. Riina Varol focuses on stones, fossilization, source material and imitation, collecting and leaving behind. Siib’s and Varol’s photo series are linked by bodies molded into solid material, the (artificial) preservation of the organic and the natural, and the different layers and dynamics of displaying.
Liina Siib (b. 1963) is a visual artist, filmmaker, educator, curator and editor, based in Tallinn. Her works strive for ambiguity and open-endedness. She deals with topics, characters, spaces and situations which tend to go unnoticed due to their ordinariness, or are silenced or ignored. In 2011, her project A Woman Takes Little Space represented Estonia at the 54th Venice Art Biennale. Since 2015, she works as the Professor of Graphic Art at the Estonian Academy of Arts.
Riina Varol (b. 1979) is an Estonian artist and photographer who concentrates her creative approach on issues of sensorial perception, the functions of the unconscious, animism and eastern philosophy. Her work spans a range of media including site-specific multimedia installations, photography, video, sound, tactility and smell.
FOKU gallery is run by the Estonian Union of Photography Artists (FOKU).
Supporters:
Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Põhjala Brewery
Partners:
Rüki gallery
Thanks to:
Craftrag, Mikk Heinsoo, Kauri Kallas, Lauri Kilusk, Karel Koplimets, Tanja Muravskaja, Valerio Sarnataro, UBS Repro, Tiina Varol
Inside Out – Youth Art Program Exhibition
April 17–19, 2025
‘Inside Out’, an exhibition that has grown out of a youth art program created to offer space for exploring and questioning the binaries young people face in society.
Led by artists Maria Kapajeva and Nadežda Tjuška, and supported by the British Council in Estonia, the program brought together a group of young participants to create, question, and imagine alternatives through artistic expression.
The exhibiting participants:
Ameliaaa!, Arina, disco pallid, Jaana Lillepea, Jelizaveta, Katja, Kroplya, Lana, and Rodion Furs
Karel Koplimets, Ruudu Ulas, Tarvo Varres
Works On Balance, Fragment, Loneliness
15 February — 12 April 2025
In the exhibition Works On Balance, Fragment, Loneliness by Karel Koplimets, Ruudu Ulas and Tarvo Varres, phantom neons meet reflections of the sun, warped scaffoldings with chopped up words, blue skies cast in concrete with car parts dropped on asphalt. The works of Koplimets, Ulas and Varres speak of silence and loneliness, of fragments and functions, of the city and the individual.
Karel Koplimets often works with the themes of urbanity, paranoia, prejudice and criminality. His recent works analyze loneliness and fears associated with it. Ruudu Ulas focuses on the dynamics between individuals and their environment, highlighting the tensions and glitches that emerge at the intersection of public and personal spaces. In recent years, Tarvo Varres has created spatial installations and text based works that revolve around the themes of silences, loss and contemporary taboos, while considering questions of the fragile and the fragmentary.
FOKU Gallery is the showroom and community space of the Estonian Union of Photography Artists in Tallinn Old Town. The aim of the gallery is to bring works of contemporary Estonian photography out of the archives and into new circulations. We also wish to create conditions for the sale of artworks and to highlight the value of photographic art. In addition to the main exhibit, visitors will have the opportunity to explore and purchase artworks and prints by members of the Estonian Union of Photography Artists at various price levels, buy art books, drink good coffee, meet artists and friends.
Karel Koplimets (1986) is an artist based in Tallinn, who works with photography, video and installation. He has an MA degree in Photography (Estonian Academy of Arts, 2013) and has finished a two year postgraduate programme at HISK (Higher Institute for Fine Arts, Belgium, 2021). Koplimets has recently participated in the group exhibition Coup de Ville (Belgium, 2024), the Videobrasil Biennale (Brazil, 2023), the main exhibition of the 7th Tallinn Photomonth Trance at Tallinn Art Hall (2023) and held the solo exhibition One Is the Loneliest Number at (AV17) Gallery (Vilnius, 2022). His works are in the collections of several museums, including Kiasma, Musée de l’Elysée and Kumu Art Museum. Karel Koplimets was one of the recipients of the Ministry of Culture’s artist’s salary for years 2020–2022. In fall 2024 Koplimets worked at the ISCP residency in New York.
Ruudu Ulas (1987) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Berlin. In an attempt to make sense of the everyday world, Ulas’ practice includes photography, object-making, performative actions and text works. Working within the expanded field of photography, Ulas’ investigations often take the shape of large-scale installations encompassing the architecture of entire rooms. Ulas holds a Master’s degree in Photography from the Royal College of Art in London (2021) and has also studied at the Glasgow School of Art and at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig (HGB). In 2023, she was selected as one of The Photographer’s Gallery New Talent artists and is a member of FUTURES (2024), an international photography platform promoting emerging artists.
Tarvo Varres (1970) researches the concepts of non-self and nonlinear time in his work. He has created photographic series, videos and installations, also using sound, light and text. As a dedicated reader, he also explores both contemporary and early literature and philosophy, which sometimes become part of his art. Varres began exhibiting in public in 1991 with the group show Guide to Intronomadism at Tallinn Art Hall, and has worked as a visiting lecturer at the Estonian Academy of Arts and Tartu Art College (1996–2016). He has been awarded the Young Photographer’s Prize of the Estonian Filmmakers’ Union (1992), the Annual Prize for Visual and Applied Arts by the Estonian Cultural Endowment (1996, as a member of Group T), and has been nominated for the Köler Prize 2018. His works are included in the collection of contemporary art in the Art Museum of Estonia.
Estonian Union of Photography Artists (FOKU) is a support platform and representative voice for professional artists working primarily with camera-based art. The aim of FOKU is to introduce and develop contemporary art, to increase interest in visual culture, and to enhance the recognition of Estonian artists both locally and internationally. The most extensive activity of the union is the management of the contemporary art biennial Tallinn Photomonth. In 2010, FOKU also initiated Estonia’s only art fair – the Estonian Photographic Art Fair, which has since evolved into art fair Foto Tallinn, organised in cooperation with the Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center (ECADC).
Visual identity:
Kersti Heile
Supporters:
Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Põhjala Brewery
Partners:
Rüki Gallery, Estonian Academy of Arts Press, Lugemik Publishing, OPA! Publishing, Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Kunst.ee, The Brick Coffee Roastery
Thanks to:
Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center (ECADC), International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP), Mikk Heinsoo, Kaisa Maasik, Ian-Simon Märjama, Maria-Kristiina Ulas
FOKU Gallery
Väike-Karja 10, Tallinn
Thu—Sat 12—18
And by appointment
Additional information:
hedi.jaansoo@foku.ee
+37255944447
www.foku.ee
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