"Biotoopia's art program is not a separate entity, but rather binds our topics into a whole, and this year, for the first time, it will be taking place all over Estonia," Peeter Laurits, curator of Biotoopia's art program, said according to a press release. "Viinistu is nevertheless still the focal point, welcoming an illustrious company of known and respective creatives."

The main conference-forum and related three-day art program will take place at Viinistu Art Harbor on August 17-19.

On Wednesday, August 17, Biotoopia's on-site art program will be opened by Jaanika Peerna, a New York-based artist known for focusing on natural phenomena-related themes and whose exhibition "Glacier Elegy in the Sea Chapel" feels like an acceleration of climate change as it worships the last block of ice.

"Peerna's exhibition will be made special by the performance on the second day, where the audience will finish off the accelerator together with the dancers," Laurits added.

That same evening, award-winning American musician and biologist David Rothenberg will give a unique concert, "Secret Sounds of Ponds," together with aquatic insects, highlighting their sound fields.

The on-site art program will also feature plant-inspired interpretations in dance by Karina Laurits. Out in the yard, Tuomas A. Laitinen and curator Ki Nurmenniemi of Finland will be setting up a stationary ultrasound installation to facilitate communication with other life forms. This installation will be accompanied by a performance-lecture aimed at helping viewers understand the creative process behind the work and form a connection with the artists' outlook.

On Friday, August 19, the third and final day of the event, guests will be taken to the nearby Mohni Island, where they are invited to get lost on purpose while searching for a location-specific and web-connected NFT-related installation created by Jila Svicevic.

Jan van Boeckel, a Dutch promoter of art education, will also be holding a workshop providing participants with the opportunity to get closer to nature.

Biotoopia to extend beyond Northern Coast

In a first this year, Biotoopia's three-day art program will be expanded via various exhibitions hosted by collaborators across Estonia.

From May through October, several exhibitions will be open at different locations, including Edgar Tedresaar's "Anthropocene" at Tartu Art House, Peeter Laurits' "Sacred Baths" at Vaal Gallery, "Varvara and Mar" at Kanal Gallery, an exhibition by the Association of Estonian Printmakers at Rüki Gallery, the opening of the sculpture garden at Voronja Gallery, an exhibition at Kordon Gallery, as well as the 8th Artishok Biennale, "Plants as Witnesses" at the Tallinn Botanical Gardens.

Biotoopia is an international hybrid conference-forum taking place at Viinistu Art Museum on August 17-19. The program includes presentations, art and music programs, workshops and nature hikes. The first two days of the conference can also be accessed online.

The themes of this year's event are ecoasthetics and reconciliation ecology.

The conference-forum will be held in English.

Click here for the full program and more info.

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