Archive

EXHIBITION ARCHIVE

Fashion and Jewellery Art Duo Exhibition

STILL WATERS/ DEEP CURRENTS

17.06–20.08.2025

Annual exhibition of the Estonian Association of Jewellery and Blacksmiths – VAGA VESI (Still Waters)

Annual exhibition of the Estonian Fashion Designers

Association – SÜGAV PÕHI (Deep Currents)

70 Years of Estonian Television

AS WRITTEN ON TV

04.06–20.08.2025

The exhibition Kirjakunst teleekraanil offers a unique look at the intersection of calligraphy and television. Celebrating the 70th anniversary of Estonian Television, we invite visitors to remember the era of analog television, and to explore an often overlooked yet widely consumed aspect of Estonian graphic design: artistic TV program title graphics. Nearly one thousand original graphic works from the pre-digital era (1960–1990), preserved at the Estonian Broadcasting Museum, uniquely reflect the aesthetic and ideological context of their time.

This exhibition showcases works by three Estonian Television lettering artists — Erich Tali (1921–1990), Guido Pant (1922–2018), Peeter Urtson (born 1947) — among others. "Hand-created graphics were more than just beautiful lettering — they were a craft that carried both information and emotion. This field required discipline, a good eye, and a precise hand," says the exhibition’s curator.

Visitors can view original hand-drawn titles, historical footage, and hear stories from the people who worked behind the scenes of this subtle yet influential art form. The exhibition is complemented by original items from the ERR Museum's collections and reconstructions, which help illustrate the behind-the-scenes world and the technological methods of translating lettering art to the television screen.

Curator: Caroline Murumägi (Estonian Academy of Arts)
Designer: Indrek Aija
Exhibition assistant: Lilli Reinväli

The exhibition is produced in cooperation between the ERR Museum and Pärnu Museum.

Gallery of the exhibition opening

THE STORY OF THE PÄRNU ELEPHANT

20.06-20.08.2025 

Tue-Sun 10.00-18.00

In recent years, the elephant, symbolising happiness, has become a symbol of Pärnu and an integral part of the urban space almost by itself. Why is that? Is there a story behind all this?

The answer is ‘yes’. Pärnu has indeed developed a special bond with elephants and there are in fact several stories behind it.

This free exhibition is on display at the Pärnu Museum, where the Pärnu Tourist Information is also temporarily located this summer.

Exhibition authors: Katrin Suu and Indrek Aija

The exhibition is supported by the city of Pärnu.

Pop-up exhibition in collaboration with Pärnu Music Festival and Arvo Pärt Center

THE FORMULA OF LOVE

The exhibition traces Arvo Pärt’s creative journey through archival materials from the Arvo Pärt Centre. It unfolds as if narrated by the composer himself, with his own words weaving the thread that holds it all together. As a guiding image, The Formula of Love ties together Pärt’s pursuit of love and the One into a coherent worldview expressed in his music, human relationships, and the yearning for oneness between humanity and God.

For over fifty years, Arvo Pärt has recorded his reflections on music, creativity, words, silence, divinity and other topics in personal musical diaries, which he has entrusted to the centre’s archive. He has also shared extensive insights into these diary entries and his compositional process. These sources – along with sketches, drawings, diagrams and photographs – form a vast archive that The Formula of Love draws upon. The exhibition provides further context through Arvo Pärt’s biography and an introduction to the centre.

Curated by: Aile Tooming, Karin Rõngelep and Kai Kutman

Design by: Mart Kivisild

This project was initiated by Paide Holy Cross Church.

Exhibition “Weavers of Golden Skirts”

Folk costumes of Pärnumaa on the road to the great festival

21 February – 8 June 2025

Clothing has always been one of the most important expressions of identity and belonging. The regional identity of Pärnumaa began to take shape at the end of the 19th century, when the awakening nation sought the signs of being Estonian. Paradoxically, the tradition of wearing parish costumes declined during this rise of national self-awareness. Already in the early 20th century, the Estonian people needed a call not to lose their connection with the past. 

People were encouraged to collect and preserve the heritage of their ancestors. Alongside the blue-black-white flag, parish costumes became a national symbol that, through the tradition of song and dance festivals, has found a lasting place in the hearts of Estonians. Now, on the eve of another great festival, it is once again time to air out the chests and cupboards; to explore both the treasured garments of our foremothers and the costumes created in their likeness.

Pärnu Museum’s exhibition “Weavers of Golden Skirts” encompasses both the historical regions of Pärnumaa and the areas joined to it in the recent administrative reform. Parish by parish, the display presents clothing items preserved in the museum’s ethnographic collection, complete contemporary sets, as well as some folk-costume-inspired outfits designed for Pärnu choirs.

Curator: Kristiina Vunk
Designer: Indrek Aija

Exhibition "The Birth of the Republic of Estonia”

The Fate of 12 School Girls

February 21 – May 25

On February 23, 1918, at eight o'clock in the evening, the "Manifesto to the People of Estonia", which was also the proclamation of the Republic of Estonia, was read out publicly for the first time from the balcony of the theatre “Endla” in Pärnu. The blue-black-and-white ribbons made for that occasion were the first symbols of the citizens of the Republic of Estonia.

The ribbons were made and distributed by the graduating students of Pärnu Girls' Gymnasium, who represented the pro-Estonian part of the students who remained in place despite the war.

A photographic record of twelve girls gives a face to a major historical event.

The exhibition gives a brief overview of the fate of girls in the newborn Republic of Estonia. We find out who had a short life, who lived to be 93 and saw the Republic restored, who escaped by boat to Sweden, who was deported to Siberia, who became one of the first female lawyers in Estonia and who became a world champion in bridge game.

Curator: Kristiina Vunk
Designer: Indrek Aija

Exhibition of Estonian State Decorations

February 7 – May 25

Mart Org — An Artist With Three Home Shores
September 21 — February 2

In the course of the mass flight of 1944, an estimated 80,000 people left Estonia. Among them was 9-year-old Mart Org, who fled via Kihnu to Sweden with his mother Leida Org, his father Märt Org the timber merchant, and sister Mai. The first leg of the five-day voyage on rough seas took them from Pärnu to Kihnu in an open fishing boat while Pärnu was being bombed and smouldered in the background, painting the sky red. In Kihnu, the family waited for a white steamboat, which did not come, and eventually managed to trade grandmother’s golden watch and other prized possessions for seats on a feeble two-masted sailboat Jürka. 

After being thrown around by strong autumn winds, the escapees finally made it to a refugee camp in Loka Brunn and from there on to their first place of residence near Örebro, where they earned their living by growing strawberries.

Settling in a foreign land, the family had to rebuild their lives from scratch both socially and economically. For pragmatic reasons, Mart Org’s parents were not very happy to learn about their son’s artistic calling and desire to study painting at the university. Despite the opposition of his mother and father, Mart Org, having become a Swedish citizen in 1953, began studying art at the Stockholm School of Applied Arts, specialising as a drawing teacher and decorative painter. In 1955, he studied at Signe Barth’s School of Painting, whose other Estonian alumni include Ilon Wikland and Enno Hallek. After that, he enrolled at Stockholm’s Royal Institute of Art (1957–1962) and began an active period of exhibitions in the city.

Although the 1960s in the West were marked by the triumph of popular culture, and contemporary artists were enthralled by pop art, abstract art, and minimalism, Mart Org was rather fascinated by traditional painting techniques; his incontestable sympathies lay with pre-war French painting. Org’s paintings have been compared to Pierre Bonnard’s works that likewise focus on interiors, everyday scenes, and sensitive brushstrokes. His interiors frequently feature a person—most often the artist himself going about his daily business, usually sitting behind the easel. His favourite model was his friend Helga, also a painter, with whom he took creative trips to Gotland and later also to Italy.

Gotland has been a cherished place in Org’s work as well as life. The artist himself has explained this with homesickness. For him, Gotland’s nature and landscapes were reminiscent of Saaremaa, and staying at an artists’ farm there he always felt at home. Although Org was well-received as an artist in Stockholm and some of his paintings also feature urban landscapes, he was perhaps fond of depicting nature, in which he sought familiar and homely patterns associated with Estonia. Mart Org divided his life between three countries—Estonia, Sweden, and Italy; ‘home’ and ‘sense of home’ have been central keywords in his art. Org’s work should indeed be approached biographically—he loved to paint themes and people close to his heart, but also various nuances of different cultures that fascinated him abroad. He was also captivated by existential subjects such as life and death.

Mart Org’s first personal exhibition took place in 1966 in Stockholm’s Gallery De Unga, followed by an exhibition in the reputable Gummeson Gallery, a venue that has displayed works from such world-famous names as Warhol and Kandinsky. The first exhibition was praised by reviewers. Likely inspired by her son’s success, Mart’s mother Leida Org also discovered her talent for art; her large textile appliqués likewise soon made their way into renowned galleries. The high quality of the works of both the mother and the son is attested by the fact that King Gustaf Adolf bought some for the royal art collection.

Although the young artist had a promising career ahead of him in Stockholm, art stipends provided Org with the opportunity to discover the world outside Sweden. Thus, painting trips to Italy became a part of his creative process. There, Org got to know the landscapes of both Tuscany and Northern Italy as well as the grand architectural and cultural heritage of Rome. Due to his fascination with the country, the artist decided some years later to buy a house in Apricale. Thus began a 40-year period of life and work in a small mountain village on the French border, which was an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the landscape and genre painter. He continued living and working in Apricale until 2006.

Currently residing in Stockholm, the artist has not lost his connection with his birthplace Pärnu. Memories of Pärnu have a special place in his works. Even several decades after leaving, Mart Org depicted the windows of his family home on Mihkli Street. Collages inspired by the childhood home that the artist exhibited in Avangard Gallery in 2016 were later donated to the Pärnu Museum.

In the same year, the artist expressed his wish that the whole of his life's work would one day find a home in the Pärnu Museum art collection. This summer, the wish was finally granted on the initiative of gallerists Marian and Jan Leo Grau — around two hundred works by Mart Org and his mother Leida Org made their way to the Pärnu Museum. The arrival of this voluminous collection in Pärnu on the 80^th anniversary of the mass flight was also the occasion for the current exhibition. 

The works were brought to Pärnu with support from the National Archives of Estonia, the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and Pärnu Museum.

Curators: Marian and Jan Leo Grau, Indrek Aija

Special thanks to: Mart Org, Henrik Fergin, Urve Sopp, Reigo Kuivjõgi

"KOOSKÕLA"
Synoptic exhibition of Estonian female artists
June 21 - September 8

Hitherto dominated by (Baltic) German women belonging to the local elite, figurative art was taken up by Estonian women only a hundred years ago, after the Estonian independence, when the number of women enrolled in state art schools and private courses began to grow. And although the percentage of women in the artistic community kept growing vigorously throughout the interbellum, Estonian female artists came out with their first group exhibition only at the very end of this period — in 1939, eighty-five years ago from today.

The term ‘synoptic’ originates from the Greek word σύνοψις (synopsis), which can be translated as ‘whole view’. The exhibition at hand approaches the work of Estonian female artists as a whole, trying to highlight various shifts and developments by juxtaposing artworks of different artists from different eras. On the one hand, the aim is to find out whether and how the modes of visual representation have changed in the last one hundred years. On the other hand, it is also to see how female artists of different periods have perceived themselves, the society and everything in between.

The exhibition is based on collections of Estonian museums and archives of currently active artists.

Curator: Mareli Reinhold

Designer: Indrek Aija

The exhibition is brought to you with the help from Pärnu City Council and Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

Annual exhibition of the Estonian Association of Jewellery and Blacksmiths
“THIS IS ME”
July 4 – September 1

It has become a tradition for the Estonian Association of Jewellery and Blacksmiths to bring their annual exhibition to the summer capital of Estonia. In 2022, the members of the association introduced us to the world of modern jewellery. Last year, they were inspired by the museum’s own exhibition “Kings and Guards”, showcasing pieces related to the sea and Vikings. This year the artisans invite you to see who they are. Without giving them a theme nor placing them in a box, they exhibit materials and styles close to their heart. Whether it is silver, gold, iron, wood, semi-precious stone, amber, birch tree bark – each piece is unique, carrying its maker’s character. Yet, the jewellery share two common qualities: practicality and aesthetics. 

Exhibition “THIS IS ME” presents the work of 27 artists and 100 pieces.

Exhibition designers: Mari Pärtelpoeg and Kertu Vellerind
Participating artist: Jaan Pärn, Reet Salonen, Ihan Toomik, Ive-Maria Köögard, Ilona Treiman, Merike Balod, Keesi Kapsta, Viktorija Lillemets, Kairi Sirendi, Kertu Vellerind, Krista Laos, Ülle Mesikäpp, Mari Pärtelpoeg, Ene Valter, Anne Reinberg, Ane Raunam, Indrek Päi, Egge Edussaar-Eidemiller, Kadi Kübarsepp, Ülle Kõuts, Mari Käbin, Kristjan Sinivee, Raili Vinn, Riin Somelar, Margit Paulin, Alo-Allar Altmets, Andrei Balaśov The exhibition is brought to you with the help from Cultural Endowment of Estonia.