Gallery: Tartu Urban Festival gets underway with 'Pool II' installation on Emajõgi River
Last Friday, August 8, a pre-event for the 2025 UIT Urban Festival took place in Tartu, with a new work entitled "Pool II" by German artist duo heidundgriess unveiled on the Emajõgi River. The festival itslef takes place from August 13–17, with a series of new installations set to be created throughout Tartu.
The installation, which is located in the river between the Freedom Bridge and Kroonuaia Bridge fits I with the overarching theme of this year's UIT Urban FestivaL: "Playful City." The work invites city dwellers to play, while also reflecting on whether and why we need comprehensible structures and boundaries in public space. "Pool II" additionally draws attention to how our perceptions of space and its boundaries are shaped by social and cultural beliefs.
heidundgriess are an artist duo from Hamburg created by Alexandra Griess and Jorel Heid that has been working primarily interdisciplinarily in the field of installation art. With diverse professional backgrounds in art, architecture, and design, they create large-scale and mostly site-specific installations.
Estonian audiences have previously had the opportunity to see heidundgriess' work before during the 2024 exhibition "Wild Bits" at Maajaam, South Estonia.
The opening of the work marks the introduction to the 2025 urban festival UIT, which takes place in Tartu from August 13–17. Nine new playful installations will be created in different locations throughout the city. During the festival, there will also be several alternative city tours that invite visitors to discover Tartu's exciting architectural heritage and recreational opportunities.
More information about the 2025 UIT festival, inckuding the full program of events, is available here.
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Editor: Annika Remmel, Michael Cole
