Exhibition “Image is for Illustrative Purposes Only. Interventions in the Monumental Murals of the Old Airport Terminal’s Central Waiting Hall at Tallinn Airport”

Join us for the opening of the exhibition “Image is for Illustrative Purposes Only. Interventions in the Monumental Murals of the Old Airport Terminal’s Central Waiting Hall at Tallinn Airport” at EKA Gallery on Friday, February 20 at 1 pm! The exhibition will remain open until March 22.

What should be done with the legacy of totalitarian regimes? Should it be intervened in? And if so, in what circumstances – and how?

The exhibition grew out of a practical need to engage with two ideologically charged socialist realist monumental paintings in the old terminal of Tallinn Airport. One is View of Moscow by Viktor Karrus and the other View of Tallinn by Richard Sagrits (both 1955). The fate of the paintings is currently undecided. In 2025, in cooperation with Tallinn Airport, a competition was held to create intervening artworks, but the winning proposal was ultimately not realised by decision of the commissioning body. For the exhibition, the paintings have been loaned to the Estonian Academy of Arts to present artists’ interventions in dialogue with the original works. Additional layers are revealed through archival materials related to the airport.

The exhibition has been created as part of “How to Reframe Monuments”, a collaborative project between the Estonian Academy of Arts and Tallinn University, funded by the Estonian Ministry of Culture.

Artists: Hanna Piksarv, Kati Saarits, Anna Škodenko, Sigrid Viir, Jevgeni Zolotko and Viktor Karrus, Richard Sagrits
Curators: Linda Kaljundi, Kirke Kangro
Curator of archival materials: Jarmo Kauge
Designer: Anna Škodenko

Technical support: Erik Hõim, Mattias Veller
Graphic designer: Kristjan Mändmaa
Language editors: Phil Marsdale, Hille Saluäär
Näituse töörühm: Merike Kallas, Taavi Tiidor, Annika Tiko, Maris Veeremäe
Paint for the exhibitions at EKA Gallery is provided by Sadolin Estonia.
Opening drinks from mirai™ and Põhjala Brewery.