About us

Curatorial visits
CCA hosts every year 25 to 50 international curators, critics, artists and representatives of art institutions. Throughout the year CCA also replies to requests for information from art experts visiting Estonia. Curatorial visits are important to create possibilities for international co-operation for Estonian artists that can lead to participation in exhibitions, biennials and festivals, invitations to artistic residencies, articles in international publications, etc. If you have any suggestions or requests about artists, curators, critics and other professionals you would like to see in Estonia, or you would like to visit yourself, please send us an e-mail with your proposals and we will do our best to invite them to Estonia.

Participating in the WIELS residency program
In collaboration with the WIELS contemporary art centre in Brussels, every year CCA offers two Estonian artists the possibility to work in an artistic residence at WIELS for six months. The competition is open and all Estonian artists are welcome to participate. CCA will cover all the costs of the residence and pay a monthly grant. The participation of Estonian artists in the residence is supported by the Ministry of Culture and this project is one of the activities of CCA that assists Estonian artists in finding international opportunities.

Training in Estonia and abroad
In addition to creating opportunities for artists who are already active, CCA considers it very important to support young art professionals and offer them opportunities for training. Since 2013, we have organized an internship at the Estonian pavilion at the Venice Biennale for Estonian students and throughout this time we have enjoyed a lot of inspiring collaborations with many talented young art professionals. CCA organises assistants exchange programme in partnership with Nordic art institutions and offers student training in our office. Open calls for training are listed on our website but you can always contact us directly via e-mail post@cca.ee.

A Shade Colder Magazine and media collaborations
CCA publishes a magazine about Estonian art in English – A Shade Colder – which aims to draw connections between art in Estonia and elsewhere in the world by highlighting shared stories, provide deeper analysis and also capture more short-lived occurrences. A Shade Colder strives to be a useful tool for working within and introducing this part of Europe internationally. Together with a variety of artists, writers, curators, designers, performers, architects and other creative minds, based both in Estonia and abroad, we aim to critically rethink how to speak about Estonian art on the local and international level. CCA has several collaboration projects in Estonian media – every other Saturday the biggest newspaper in Estonia, Postimees, published an interview with an artist, and every other Wednesday CCA team members give exhibition recommendations in Kuku radio station.

Internet magazine and Artinfo mailing list
CCA manages the Artinfo mailing list where organizers of art events can send their information and that is open to all art connoisseurs. If you want to publish information about your events through Artinfo, please send an e-mail to artinfo@cca.ee, to subscribe please send an e-mail to artinfo-subscribe@cca.ee.

Database of Estonian artists
The database on the CCA website contains information about Estonian artists who are either active now, or have been in recent decades. The database is constantly updated and is an important tool and source of information for international and local art professionals and art enthusiast alike. Each year, the content of the database is reviewed by a special committee who offer advice about the inclusion of new names.

Archive and library
CCA owns a culturally and historically significant archive and a library that specialises in Estonian art events and the activities of Estonian artists through both print and audiovisual material. The aim of the archive is to offer relevant information to local and international art professionals. Please contact us if you want to use the archive or send us your materials.

Counselling
The CCA team of experts with international experience have created opportunities for artists since 1992. We gladly offer our expertise to artists, curators and other art professionals who might need assistance in planning their activities, seeking funding, etc. Please contact us and ask for our advice free of charge.

Artistic trips
CCA has organised special buses for exhibition openings in Tartu, Narva, Riga, Vilnius and many other smaller places in Estonia. At the end of 2018, we organised an art train to Moscow in co-operation with the Art Museum of Estonia for the opening of an exhibition of Estonian art in the Tretyakov Gallery. The trips are usually open for all interested parties. For the first time in 2019, we organised a trip for the clients of the Cobalt law office to the opening of the 58^th Venice Biennale.

Education
CCA offers training and consultations to companies and other interested parties. Please contact us for more information.

Rental of technical resources
Whenever possible, CCA rents out technical resources (video projectors, media players, speakers, headphones, etc.) to organizers of exhibitions.

Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art was found in 1992 as the Soros Center for Contemporary Arts, Estonia with the aim of integrating the Estonian art world with the international art discourse. With the support of the Hungaro-American philanthropist George Soros, similar centres were opened in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe. In the 1990s, CCA organised annual exhibitions that hold a significant place in Estonian art history by introducing the format of the curatorial exhibition and presenting contemporary developments in the international art world to the local audience.

From 1999, when the activities of the Soros Foundation were re-structured, CCA functions as an independent foundation that continues fulfilling similar aims in Estonia. CCA is mainly funded by the government and our activities are supported by the Ministry of Culture. Since 1999, CCA has been the organiser of the Estonian pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

Events archive
Estonian Pavilions at the Venice Biennale