30.10.2025 | Culture

Sirje Runge’s Life’s Work on Display at Kai Art Centre

Text Susanna Poikela 
Photos press material

At the Kai Art Centre, the exhibition “On a Fragile Surface. Sirje Runge and Light” brings together the work of painter and designer Sirje Runge, spanning five decades of artistic exploration. The exhibition follows the artist’s lifelong journey in studying light, colour and perception. The works on display include her early geometric experiments as well as later large-scale pieces. The exhibition is curated by Mėta Valiušaitytė.

“On a Fragile Surface” brings together, for the first time, works from Sirje Runge’s series “Landscape” from 1981–1994, and “Light” from 1979–1995, along with visual reconstructions related to her teaching, and recollections from her students.

Also shown for the first time is “Suur armastus / Kaunis lagunemine”, or “Great Love / Beautiful Decay” in English, from 2003–2021, a video piece that captures—in accelerated form—the slow transformation of a ten-metre long silver fabric under the influence of nature.

Guided tours of the exhibition will take place on Thursday, 30 October at 18:00 and Saturday, 8 November at 14:00, led by Elen Lotman, and Laura Arum-Läätse, respectively. The tours will be conducted in Estonian.

At present, Elen Lotman is working on a documentary film about Sirje Runge, portraying the artist’s life and work in its most direct and honest form. Runge commented on the film project in the latest issue of Areen:

“Along with Elen Lotman, we are making a film about my death. It’s a process whose end no one knows. You can’t write a script about a person who is beginning to die.”

If you understand Estonian, you can also watch the cultural programme “Plekktrumm”, hosted by journalist Joonas Hellerma, featuring Sirje Runge as the latest guest.

The exhibition is open from 11 October 2025 to 22 February 2026 and is part of the main programme of this year’s Tallinn Photomonth.