Tartu's outdoor art exhibition. Credits @Silver Siilak.
Tartu's first ever outdoor art exhibition opened
27 Jul 2020On July 20, the first ever local SmartEnCity outdoor art exhibition, explaining and hightlighting Tartu's wall paintings, was opened in Tartu, on the iconic arch bridge that crosses the river Emajõgi. The exhibition is called “Smartovka murals” and the descriptions of the murals are coming in both, in Estonian and English language.
As commissioning artwork was one of the requirements for housing associations when joining the SmartEnCity project, 12 out of 17 houses have so far received their murals.
“We’ve had the idea for an art exhibition for a long time now, since art is one of the most visible and attractive parts of our project,” the local art coordinator Andra Somelar commented. “Since every artwork in our project is so different, we wanted to share their origin stories with citizens and visitors of Tartu.”
Another argument for the exhibition being launched in July, was the "Tartu Freedom from Cars Avenue" initiative that was launched beginning of July. The initiative focuses on closing down one of the major roads of Tartu and to reclaim the space for pedestrians and cyclists for the purpose to offer the citizens of Tartu a pleasant recreational area, which was much needed after the spring pandemic. As the Avenue draws in crowds from all over Tartu, the Arch Bridge which crosses the river and connects to the Avenue, is one of the major contact points to reach the downtown area. Thanks to the increased foot traffic on the bridge, the art exhibition is seen by all those who cross the bridge. Read more about the Freedom from Cars Avenue here: https://www.themayor.eu/en/welcome-to-freedom-from-cars-avenue-in-tartu
The graphic designer and curator of the art exhibition is Evelin Zolotko (artist name Huupi), who is also one of the art curators of SmartEnCity project. According to Evelin, the unique nature of each mural is reflected in the design of each plaque. “I built the design on the color schemes of the murals, which means each plaque has its own color combination that was borrowed from the mural or the house itself,” explains Evelin and admitted that some color combinations that she would not have created at first, ended up working very well together. Each plaque follows a central, simple, and coherent layout.
The art exhibition is open until mid-August. 
The information boards are explaning the murals in Estonian und in English language. Picture@Silver Siilak.