Group exhibition 'Joie de Vivre'

On Thursday, 30 July at 6:00 PM, the group exhibition Joie de Vivre will open at the Tallinn City Gallery, featuring the artists Andre Joosep Arming, Katrin Enni, Aksel Haagensen and Silvia Sosaar.

The exhibition observes life as a process, wherein growth and decay, invasion and extinction are parts of the whole, striving for balance yet perhaps not achieving it. The four participating artists each tackle these subjects based on their own practices. Personal memories, bodily experiences, absurdity and environmental tact converge to produce an exhibition that is in bloom and in collapse, playful and melancholic.

Andre Joosep Arming’s installation ∞ miracle combines personal memories with a desire for visibility and presence. Experiences detailed on bed sheets portray new locations, fears and relationships as parts of everyday change. The work tackles life as a cycle in which experiences are collected, cleansed and forgotten, in order to start over again.

Katrin Enni’s interactive sound sculpture and series of abstract paintings are inspired by organic proliferation. They consider growth as a power that expresses itself physically and spatially, a power that is both wonderful and unsettling.

Aksel Haagensen’s hundreds of biodegradable frogs confront a silent sense of impending doom. Their installation becomes a quiet memorial to amphibians as indicator species within ecosystems. As extinction becomes a daily occurrence, our future becomes one of mundane absence.

Silvia Sosaar’s work centres around her interpretation of a local ritual: the sprat sandwich. Her portraits of sprats coated in nail varnish are ironic, intimate and grotesque, and address the polluted state of the Baltic Sea, patriotic cuisine and the modern pseudo-order of liberty. Are synthetic conveyors of identity as trustworthy as organic ones? Who is allowed to use national colours or wave the national flag?

Andre Joosep Arming is a Tallinn-based artist who studied photography (BA) and contemporary art (MA) at the Estonian Academy of Arts. In his art, Arming mostly uses the mediums of Polaroid, video and diary. His work often draws on such themes as birth and death, experimentation, timelines and cyclical processes. Arming is a member of the Estonian Union of Photography Artists and has participated in various group shows. Arming is also a member of the non-profit Siirdatud Süda.
www.andrejooseparming.com

Katrin Enni is a sound and visual artist based in Tallinn and Helsinki. In her installations and paintings, organic forms expand beyond the boundaries of media. A pattern may begin as a painting, continue in an interactive system and shift into sound. Enni is interested in how growth and repurposing connect the living and the technological. She studied installation and sculpture (BA) and contemporary art (MA) at the Estonian Academy of Arts, and is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of the Arts Helsinki.
www.katrinenni.com

Aksel Haagensen is an Estonian-Australian artist who studied installation and sculpture (BA) and contemporary art (MA) at the Estonian Academy of Arts. They have participated in group exhibitions in Estonia, as well as abroad, and had several solo exhibitions in Estonia. In their art, they try to reignite a sincere childish joy in the natural world and find hope, despite the extinction crisis and climate change: balancing a wide-eyed, bushy-tailed joy with the fucking bleakness of it all. 
akselhaagensen.com

Silvia Sosaar is an artist based in Tallinn who studied photography (BA) and contemporary art (MA) at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Sosaar’s practice is varied: she has focused on the autobiographical aspects of everyday life, tried the photographic analysis of femininity through neo-pop, organised street level disruptions, collaborated with amateurs in performances, produced a video piece about mental health based on a literary work, carried out an anthropological study of a vocation etc. Sosaar is a member of the Estonian Artists’ Association and the Estonian Union of Photography Artists. She has participated in exhibitions in Estonia, Latvia, the UK, Italy, France, Pakistan and elsewhere. Her artworks are in private collections in Estonia, Latvia, the UK and Brazil.

Graphic design: Mette Mari Kaljas
Exhibition install: Hans-Otto Ojaste

Special thanks to: Cultural Endowment of Estonia, City of Tallinn, Hanno Soans, Holger Loodus, Saskia Lillepuu, Mariliis Lintnermann, Eva Labotkin, Joosep Kivimäe, Grete Tuiken, Reimo Võsa-Tangsoo, Madis Kurss, Sven Eelmets, Triin Rebane, Eesti Kunstiakadeemia, Artproof, Kiu Stuudio and Tempest

On Thursday, 6 August and 10 September from 5:00–7:00 PM, a tour introducing all of the exhibitions of the Estonian Artists’ Association’s galleries will be held. 

The exhibition Joie de Vivre will remain open at the City Gallery until October 2, 2026.

The gallery is supported by the Estonian Ministry of Culture, the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and Liviko Ltd, Tallinn City.
The activities of the Tallinn City Gallery are managed by the Estonian Artists’ Association.