And beauty is born. In the midst of brown mud, slush and mire: a hum, a tremor, germination, multiplication, flourishing. This is the force of nature, lower than the grass, taking root in dark depths, reaching toward the tender warmth of light to bloom. And it cannot be held back, and spring awakens, and summer bends in abundance… once, and always, and forever.
The NATURE’S UPRISING exhibition can be visited from March 20 in the A-Gallery showroom and will remain open until June 30, 2026.
Participating artists:
Anneli Tammik, Ene Valter, Erle Nemvalts, Ester Faiman, Guntis Lauders, Harry Tensing, Henry Mardisalu, Hyrv, Katrin Kosenkranius, Keesi Kapsta, Keiu Koppel, Kertu Tuberg, Krista Laos, Krista Lehari, Liisbeth Kirss, Lisa Kröber, Margit Paulin, Mari Pärtelpoeg, Merike Balod, Michael Schoorl, Robert Idvani, Riin Somelar, Tanel Veenre, Urve Küttner, Viktorija Lillemets, Ülle Voosalu
On Friday, January 23 at 6 p.m., exhibitions by Keiu Koppel (EST) and Michael Schoorl (NLD) opened in the windows of A-Gallery.
ON THE VERGE
Jewellery artist Keiu Koppel’s new works are inspired by houses of cards. Through poetic, masterfully crafted objects, the exhibition raises the question of how long the more and less real constructions created by people can endure. In the exhibition ON THE VERGE, the notions of instability, longing, and tension take form.
Value and a sense of safety last
as long as nothing unexpected happens.
As long as the table is level.
As long as no one breathes too deeply.
Collapse is not a bang.
It is the moment a hand hesitates in mid-air.
When everyone understands,
but no one wants to believe yet.
How long does what we call real life hold?
And what happens when we stop playing along?
Could the same hunger arise—
the one we have avoided at all costs?
Keiu Koppel (1988) is an Estonian jewellery artist who graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts, specializing in jewellery and blacksmithing. Her work is marked by a versatile use of materials and a distinctive visual language that brings together poetic ideas and the form of wearable jewellery. Koppel’s pieces combine traditional craftsmanship with a contemporary artistic approach. She lives and works in Tallinn, creating both wearable author jewellery and conceptual works.
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FOLDING FACADES
In FOLDING FACADES, Michael Schoorl presents a series of sculptural house-like forms installed in the windows of A-Galerii. Like a second skin, houses shape how we live, how we withdraw, and how we allow others in. Schoorl treats architecture as a language through which individuals and societies speak to the world, using domestic structures to reflect ideas of freedom, intimacy, and belonging.
The works that fold with precision into nearly solid blocks of metal function as interactive conversation starters. At first glance they resemble architectural miniatures, yet their shifting scale and weight quickly disrupts that assumption. The sculptures are forged from steel sheets, brazed together and connected by carefully crafted hinges. Schoorl draws an analogy to books: objects that can contain endless stories, conceal or reveal meaning, and are often judged by the cover. Each piece is designed to be taken from the shelf, explored, and folded back into a compact form. Layers of paint and patina create tactile surfaces that support the narrative of each piece.
Schoorl uses material and technique not to present fixed truths but to move between fiction and reality, much like memory shifts through retelling. By embedding stories into everyday-like objects, Folding Facades proposes emotional value as an alternative to disposability, encouraging care, repair, and attentiveness to the objects and built environments.
Michael Schoorl (1997) is a Dutch artist working with metal, wood, and architectural-scale sculptural forms. His recent work centers around houses and depictions of buildings that explore how craft, memory, and narratives can create emotional attachment to environments. Schoorl studied metal art at HDK–Valand, University of Gothenburg. In 2024 he additionally took a course in the Estonian Academy of Arts and soon will return there for a residency. He has exhibited across Sweden, the Netherlands, and Germany. Alongside his artistic practice, he runs De Nietsfabriek, a studio dedicated to sculptural fabrication, restoration, and custom work in wood and metal.
Exhibitions in A-Galerii are supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment.
On Friday, 17 February at 18:00, Keiu Koppel will open the exhibition A GIFT OF BLEEDING HEARTS at the A-Galerii VAULT. The exhibition will stay open until 30 March.
Bleeding hearts or Dicentra spectabilis are farm flowers familiar to many from summers spent in the countryside at their grandmother’s house as a child. Supple, delicate, pink, lovely and with a name so dramatic that a more striking one would be hard to come up with. A row of small white or pink split hearts fluttering in the warm breeze. In Estonian the plant is known as the broken heart, another very direct reference to its teardrop shape that seems to be split in the middle. Bleeding hearts are fragile and at the same time strange and special, embodying exactly that human vulnerability and brokenness as well as a genuine beauty that is often kept only for oneself. It is a delicate flower within us that must be protected from the world.
Bleeding hearts. A certain meaningful intrigue could be perceived in this name even in childhood. Most likely a naive and cinematic idea of how intense certain strong feelings might be. Today’s concerns have become completely different and have redrawn former imaginings with shades that could not be found in a child’s palette.
Nowadays it is polite to be beautiful, happy and satisfied. However, there is another side, which we see rarely and briefly, when cracks finally fracture and compositions have permanently decomposed.
February has been the month of Valentine’s Day for our people for nearly 30 years. This western holiday of bubbling hearts and sweet chocolate sums up why our generation has been accurately described as the sad generation with happy faces. All this is present in Valentine’s Day today: the pressure to consume and celebrate, a prerequisite for a happy relationship and love. As a sharp contrast, all this is carried by the reality of lonely people and sad statistics.
Keiu Koppel is a jewellery artist who graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts, majoring in jewellery and blacksmithing, whose creations inspired by an admiration for nature combine detail, meaningful thoughts and a high level of goldsmithing. Keiu’s playful works have inspiring stories and details and with their spatiality and mobility, offer the wearer a kinetic jewellery experience. A GIFT OF BLEEDING HEARTS is Keiu Koppel’s third solo exhibition at A-Galerii VAULT.
The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
