Anniversary programme 2026

Kumu Art Museum in Tallinn, Estonia, will turn 20 in 2026. For twenty years, Kumu has been home to the world’s only permanent exhibition of Estonian art and has organised international and Estonian art exhibitions spanning from the 18th century to contemporary artists.

Kadi Polli, director of Kum Art Museum: “Since its opening, new media and technological art have been two of Kumu’s focal points, which is why the opening exhibition of the anniversary year, Triumph of Galatea: Art in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, focuses on the current connections between art and artificial intelligence. But we are also highlighting Estonian artists and women with contemporary artist Kristi Kongi’s powerful solo exhibition and display one of Estonian prominent modernists, Karin Luts’s travel pictures. In addition, we are organising a large exhibition of international contemporary art on issues related to motherhood, and presenting a research project with a decolonial perspective on the heritage of the Finno-Ugric peoples and the Sámi.”

Programme 2026:

February 13–August 9, 2026 
Triumph of Galatea: Art in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
The international group exhibition Triumph of Galatea, which refers to the myth of Pygmalion, examines the changes and developments in human experience in culture and society in connection with the onslaught of new technologies.

Curator: Anders Härm. Participating artists: Andreas Albrectsen, Maria Arnal, Tilman Hornig, Olga Jürgenson, Marge Monko, Bernard Picart, Darja Popolitova, Jon Rafman, Sten Saarits, Jens Settergren, Timo Toots and Jan Zuiderveld.

March 20–September 6, 2026 
Karin Luts: Pictures from Travels
The exhibition, which introduces the work of one of the most outstanding Estonian women artists at the beginning of the last century, focuses on watercolours and sketches from trips to Italy, Spain, France and her new homeland, Sweden.

In cooperation with the Tartu Art Museum, curator: Mare Joonsalu

Mary 22–October 11, 2026
Kristi Kongi: Chromatic Drift
The large-scale solo exhibition of the painter Kristi Kongi (1985) offers an immersive spatial experience. In the new works created for this exhibition, colour emerges as the central element, with its fields of meaning unfolding in physical, emotional, and semantic ways.

Curator: Ann Mirjam Vaikla

September 11, 2026–March 14, 2027
no beginning, no end: Decolonial Gestures in Sámi World-building
The exhibition highlights the complex journey of the Sámi peoples as they strive for Indigenous justice and self-determination in decolonial worldbuilding. The works of contemporary artists trace the Sámi struggle for land rights, language preservation, and cultural sovereignty.

Curator: Ann Mirjam Vaikla. Participating artists: Carola Grahn, Snowchange (Pauliina Feodoroff & Kaisu Mustonen), Marja Helander, Jenni Laiti & Invisible Flock, Britta Marakatt-Labba, Hans Ragnar Mathisen, Alo Paistik, Outi Pieski, Suohpanterror and Lada Suomenrinne

October 2, 2026–April 4, 2027
Expedition: Finno-Ugrians and the Power of Images
The exhibition departs from the expedition as a means of producing knowledge and power. By examining visual culture, film footage, and Finno-Ugric heritage from Estonian museum collections, it also thinks through the relations between Estonians and the Indigenous peoples of Siberia and the North.

Curator: Linda Kaljundi

November 6, 2026–April 4, 2027
Who Is Afraid of Motherhood?
The exhibition of Central and Eastern European contemporary art focuses on motherhood as a personal experience and also looks at it from a broader social perspective. The theme is mainly interpreted through the motif of fear. The exhibition looks for ways to overcome fears and broaden the concept of motherhood.

Curator: Eda Tuulberg. More than 40 participating artists, including Renate Bertlmann, Miriam Cahn, Andrea Fajgerné Dudas, Aneta Grzeszykowska, Maria Kapajeva, Lenka Klodova, Kateryna Lysovenko, Maternal Fantasies and Jaan Toomik.