Maarja Mäemets and Evelina Lindström "Through"

On 18 June at 6 PM, Maarja Mäemets and Evelina Lindström will open the joint exhibition Through at the Hobusepea Gallery. The exhibition will remain open until 19.07.2026.

The exhibition brings together two different approaches to memory that have taken form as delicate ceramic and glass art pieces. Evelina Lindström addresses memory through Henri Bergson’s concept of duration (durée), while Maarja Mäemets views it as a spatial structure.

According to Bergson, time in lived experience does not flow linearly or evenly, instead it moves in different rhythms and intensities. Memory is not an archive of the past, but a continuously active and ongoing variable. In Lindström’s works, this idea is expressed in recurring pearl shapes, implying how an irritation or a foreign body, such as a grain of sand, can over time develop into something enduring and coherent .

In the works of Mäemets, memory appears as a space where remembrances have been stored, relocated or partially lost. The viewer encounters stairs that lead nowhere, empty containers and objects raised above eye level and hand’s reach, turning memory into something fragmented and only partially accessible. In her installations, Mäemets draws on the ancient Greek method of loci or the memory palace technique, which means that memories are placed at different locations within an imaginary architecture. While this technique is traditionally used to organise knowledge and memorise complex information, Mäemets uses it to map emotions, memories and personal experiences.

Together, the works of Lindström and Mäemets form two complementary approaches to memory: seeing it on the one hand, as a lasting and continuous experience, and on the other, as a spatial structure in which some memories will always remain inaccessible. 

Maarja Mäemets (b. 1991) is an Estonian artist based in Stockholm whose work explores manual practices through narrative objects, working primarily with glass, as well as with installation and text. Through material-based storytelling, her practice investigates gaps and uncertainties in personal memory, searching for traces of hope and courage within what remains. She holds BA and MA degrees in glass art from the Estonian Academy of Arts and is currently pursuing an MFA in CRAFT! at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. Her work has been presented internationally, including at major European design and craft platforms, such as the Milan Design Week and the Venice Glass Week. Since 2025, she has been the main organiser of the next Tallinn Applied Art Triennial.

Evelina Lindström (b. 1990) is a Swedish, Stockholm-based artist working primarily with sculpture and image-making in clay/ceramics. She holds an MFA from the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm and a BFA from the art academies of Umeå and Vienna. Through her artistic practice, Lindström explores impermanence and the fragility of life. Her works give form to the emotional landscapes embedded within experiences of transience, addressing themes of melancholy, grief and consolation. Working with materials that carry both vulnerability and resilience, she creates sculptures and images that evoke the fragile balance between loss, memory and care.

Curator:
Lilian Hiob-Küttis

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia

Exhibitions in the Hobusepea Gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, the Estonian Ministry of Culture and Liviko AS.

The gallery is managed by the Estonian Artists’ Association.