To a Friend
Jyri Kermik and Thor Magnusson, 2012
'To a Friend' is a virtual installation dedicated to the memory of Vello Soa (1955-1992), one of the leading Estonian glass artists of the generation of the 1980s. The installation connects the meaning conveyed through language (Estonian) and memory with the spatial arrangement of the object, material, light and sound. The geometry of movement is aligned with the semantic-linguistic structure of the object and complemented by the underlying rhythm of the soundspace.
The sound is composed by Thor Magnusson using ixi-audio's Drone Machines live coding system for musical improvisation. The score responds to the movement of the object, mapping those to sound. The piece starts with a fundamental frequency where a new harmonic is added for each case variation of the name Vello (there are 14 productive cases in Estonian language). The detuning of the drones creates a multidimensional space of frequencies into which listeners can tune their attention.
‘To a Friend’ was released in 2012 to mark twenty years since Vello Soa’s death.
‘To a Friend’, visualisation of the multidimensional soundspace. T. Magnusson, 2012.
Cinematographers’ Bar
Mati Leon (1940 - 2010) and Jyri Kermik, 1988
The project was undertaken collaboratively by Leon and Kermik as part of the renovation of the Cinema House (Uus Street, Tallinn). In 1989, the project received the Annual Interior Design Award (Estonian Association of Interior Architects).
Youth Theatre Project, 1987 - 1991
Architecture: Kalle Rõõmus (1955 - 2020)
Interior architecture: Jyri Kermik
The architectural project development in the Old Town (Lai Street) of Tallinn lasting for more than four years (1987 – 1991) involved Kermik to focus on architecture, acoustics and interior detailing of the main auditorium and interconnected public areas. Building works of the stage box and the auditorium, intended as an architectural volume integrated into the courtyard behind a row of medieval merchant houses, were abandoned during the recession of the early 1990s. The project was never finished.
Youth Theatre Project: plan and sectional drawings of the main auditorium and related public areas. J. Kermik, 1987 – 1991.
Digital renderings of the Youth Theatre interiors based on original working drawings. J. Kermik, 2015.
Renovation
Renovation II. Oil on canvas. Jyri Kermik, 1984
Kermik utilises techniques of 2D representation such as photography, drawing, collage and painting as means of visualizing space and to support the development of 3D objects, spaces and 4D spatial interventions incorporating moving image and sound.
Kõpu Park, 1979; Li-Lo-Lu, 1987; Glowing Line (St Catherine’s Church, Muhu), 1986; ‘1980’ (Sunday Stroll with Päratrust), 1985; Space, 1987; Tamed Dragon, 1985; Müürivahe, 1983; Enchanted Princess, 1985; Mantelpiece Collection, 2020.
Embassy Court (Rise and Set), 2012; Channel Moon (Rise and Set), 2012; White Elephant Disappearing, 1980-2016; Outdoor Loo, 2017; On-site of the Theatre Project (film by P. Brambat), 1988; Space and the Moon, 2002; Dungeon (Youth Theatre), 2015; Shadowstraw, 2020; Sunken Bunker, 2021.
Kõpu Park
Spatial installation, Vello Soa and Jyri Kermik, 1979. Photographs: J. Kermik.
Having met at the Estonian State Art Institute during the 1977‒78 academic year, Soa and Kermik developed the idea for this project as part of their evolving friendship and creative allegiance. The installation was executed in Kõpu village in south Estonia during the summer of 1979. Staged in an abandoned derelict building in the village park and constructed from a set of abstract geometric volumes, modular frames and pedestal stands, the installation investigated the temporal-spatial relationships within the changing conditions of the daily cycle of light.
