Visiting Professors: Kristi Kongi – The Scream of Silence
An artist talk and lecture about thinking through colour.
About the lecture and Kristi Kongi
Kristi Kongi is an Estonian painter, Professor and Head of the painting department at the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA). Kongi focuses on colour, light, text and space in her works: paintings that take the form of installations and are created for specific settings. For Kongi, painting is a way of documenting different spaces and objects of personal importance and thereby capturing time. Her works, often reconstructions of specific places, are closely engaged with the mechanisms of emotional memory, offering an opportunity for experiencing colour and light of bygone situations.
The lecture will offer the artist’s personal perspective on the power of colour and will surely be enriching for those who work with colour across different disciplines, as well as for anyone interested in colour, in other words, for almost everyone.
The lecture is for anyone interested about painting, colour and contemporary art.
Words from the inviting professor Tarja Pitkänen-Walter
“Kristi Kongi was invited by the study area of painting to lead a course module focused on colour. Kristi’s own artistic practice is fundamentally centred on colour. She is also one of the individuals interviewed in Harald Arnkil’s doctoral research, Exploring Colour in Contemporary Art (2025). Kristi will lead workshops for students of both the Academy of Fine Arts and its partner academy EKA. These workshops will take place in both Tallinn and Helsinki, and Kristi’s exhibition at KUMU will be included as one of the course visits.
In Kristi’s work, colour, as a central element of painting, takes on a distinctive expression and extends beyond the traditional rectangular format into expanded spatial painting. I hope that both the workshops and the visit to Kristi’s KUMU exhibition will inspire students to explore the possibilities of colour in their own work with confidence and curiosity.
The lecture will offer the artist’s personal perspective on the power of colour and will surely be enriching for those who work with colour across different disciplines, as well as for anyone interested in colour, in other words, for almost everyone.”
Visiting professors
In the Visiting professor programme, distinguished international artists and art experts are invited to teach and share their knowledge at the Academy of Fine Arts for a fixed period. The visit also includes a lecture that is open for the audience.
About the lecture and Kristi Kongi
Kristi Kongi is an Estonian painter, Professor and Head of the painting department at the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA). Kongi focuses on colour, light, text and space in her works: paintings that take the form of installations and are created for specific settings. For Kongi, painting is a way of documenting different spaces and objects of personal importance and thereby capturing time. Her works, often reconstructions of specific places, are closely engaged with the mechanisms of emotional memory, offering an opportunity for experiencing colour and light of bygone situations.
The lecture will offer the artist’s personal perspective on the power of colour and will surely be enriching for those who work with colour across different disciplines, as well as for anyone interested in colour, in other words, for almost everyone.
The lecture is for anyone interested about painting, colour and contemporary art.
Words from the inviting professor Tarja Pitkänen-Walter
“Kristi Kongi was invited by the study area of painting to lead a course module focused on colour. Kristi’s own artistic practice is fundamentally centred on colour. She is also one of the individuals interviewed in Harald Arnkil’s doctoral research, Exploring Colour in Contemporary Art (2025). Kristi will lead workshops for students of both the Academy of Fine Arts and its partner academy EKA. These workshops will take place in both Tallinn and Helsinki, and Kristi’s exhibition at KUMU will be included as one of the course visits.
In Kristi’s work, colour, as a central element of painting, takes on a distinctive expression and extends beyond the traditional rectangular format into expanded spatial painting. I hope that both the workshops and the visit to Kristi’s KUMU exhibition will inspire students to explore the possibilities of colour in their own work with confidence and curiosity.
The lecture will offer the artist’s personal perspective on the power of colour and will surely be enriching for those who work with colour across different disciplines, as well as for anyone interested in colour, in other words, for almost everyone.”
Visiting professors
In the Visiting professor programme, distinguished international artists and art experts are invited to teach and share their knowledge at the Academy of Fine Arts for a fixed period. The visit also includes a lecture that is open for the audience.