Valdek Laur (1980) is an artist working in the fields of jewellery and metal art as well as digital art. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Jewellery and Blacksmithing (Estonian Academy of Arts) and in Advertising and Media (Tallinn University). Valdek has exhibited his work in both solo and group exhibitions in Estonia, Latvia, and elsewhere in Europe. His main interests include prehistoric mythologies, speculative political science, and futurology. Valdek Laur has published articles on technology and generative machine learning models and is a lecturer at the Tallinn School of Economics and the Estonian Academy of Arts.

In his bachelor’s portfolio (2023) from the Estonian Academy of Arts, he writes the following:

“The urge to create is not a blessing. It is a curse… An itch that doesn’t settle, a draining and relentless craving. Not a choice, but an inevitability. A drive that chisels away at time — hours, days, and years — just for the sake of reshaping the present toward unpredictability. But what cannot be avoided must be harnessed.

Seeking meaning in an increasingly complex world is a daunting challenge for anyone who dares to look behind the curtain of social structures and ideological filters. In my works, I question the cultural norms and stereotypes taken for granted by society, reflecting on alternative possible ways of being, and trying to find meaningful connections that link forgotten pasts with unimaginable futures. My focus is on the feedback loops that influence and direct the development of humankind.

As a proponent of posthumanist philosophy, I consider the detachment from self-importance to be essential for forming an empathetic relationship with the surrounding world, which includes not only human experience but all living things. I am a gardener, planting seeds of ideas that could bring meaningful change to this limiting world.

I am not an author but a bard.”