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Kail Timusk (2000) on Eesti skulptor ja installatsioonikunstnik, kelle looming liigub skulptuuri, heli, installatsiooni ja performance’i piirimail. Teda huvitavad mälu, ruumi ning une ja ärkveloleku vahelised seisundid. 2026. aastal lõpetas ta Eesti Kunstiakadeemia skulptuuri ja installatsiooni eriala ning pälvis Noore Skulptori Preemia. Ta on osalenud näitustel ja kunstiresidentuurides nii Eeuroopas kui ka Kanadas.
Kail Timusk pälvis 2026. aasta Noore Skulptori peapreemia. Vaskjala Loomeresidentuur on võõrustanud Noore Skulptori Preemianäituse laureaate alates 2021. aastast.
Kuidas algas Su loominguline teekond?
Algul läksin Pallasesse fotograafiat õppima, suurte ootustega, aga esimese semestri jooksul sain aru, et see ei ole päris see keskkond, kus tahaksin edasi õppida. Tundsin, et soovin midagi avatumat katsetada ja ka arusaam kaasaegsest kunstist oli seal minu jaoks teistsugune, kui olin oodanud.
Miks valisid algul just fotograafia?
See tundus loogiline, sest olin väiksest peale palju pildistanud ja mu vanemad on samuti fotograafiaga seotud. Esimese aasta jooksul Pallases sain aga aru, et tehnika on mul juba käes ning õppeainete fookus ei läinud päris kokku sellega, mida ise õppimiselt otsisin. Tundsin, et soovin rohkem katsetada ja liikuda vabamalt erinevate meediumite vahel.
Kuidas jõudsid Tartust Tallinnasse EKA-sse?
Elasin ise Tartus ja päris paljud tuttavad õppisid EKA-s, nii et läksin lõpuks ka ise sinna katsetele. Esimesel korral ei saanud sisse, Pallasesse aga võeti mind vastu maksimaalsete punktidega. Hiljem läksin uuesti EKA katsetele ja mõtlesin, kas minna foto- või skulptuuriosakonda.
Miks valisid lõpuks skulptuuri kasuks?
Olin kuulnud, et skulptuuriosakonnas on palju vabadust, materjali ette ei anta ja saab rakendada mis tahes oskusi, olgu see foto, video või midagi muud. See tundus palju avaram kui foto õppimine eraldi meediumina.
Milliste materjalidega Sa tegeled?
Võtsin eesmärgiks katsetada võimalikult paljude erinevate asjadega, mitte kohe kindlat suunda valida. Üritan mitte olla kinni ühes meediumis. Teen performance’it, fotot, videot, skulptuuri ja installatsioone, ainult maalimiseni pole jõudnud. Esimene suurem töö oli kolme jalaga monstrum, mille kõhus oli kinoprojektor, mis projitseeris pidevalt üle ruumi pilti, ja peas olid peeglikillud, mis peegeldasid valgust laiali.
Sul on ka pikem kogemus Noore Skulptori Preemianäitusega.
Olen osalenud mitmel aastal. Ühel korral olin residentuuris Islandil Erasmusega ja jäin kõrvale, teisel aastal ei võetud mind vastu, sest ei usutud, et jõuan valmis suure klaastekiga voodi. Esimesel EKA aastal saingi teise koha, vastukaaluks eelnenud aastale, mil tegin Tartus kunstifestivali Aparaaditehases. See oli keeruline kogemus, sest kommunikatsioon oli raske ja noorte kohalike kunstnike motivatsiooni oli keeruline üleval hoida. Asi sai ikkagi tehtud, aga kogu aeg oli tunne, et pean läbi takistuste võitlema.
Räägi Islandi residentuurist lähemalt.
Läksin sinna Erasmuse praktikaga neljaks kuuks, kohaliku kunstnike ühenduse juurde, kus samal ajal olid ka Taavi Suisalu ja teised. Mul oli just siis tekkinud suur huvi Taavi loomingu vastu ning kui ma teda seal tutvumispäeval nägin, oli see mulle suur üllatus, et tema ka seal osaleb. Residentuuris uurisin turismi teemat: turismimaks aitab hooldada kaitsealasid, aga massiturism on just see, mis neid kahjustab, lisaks jää sulamine ja korterite hinnad, mida Airbnb üles kruvib. Käisime ka liustikel ja tegime endale isegi töökojas materjali jääkidest jääkirkad valmis.
Praegu oled uues residentuuris. Mis siin sünnib?
Siin on hea katsetada midagi kergemat, vastukaaluks eelmisele aastale, mil tegin lõputöö ja Noore Skulptori Preemianäituse teose, mis mõlemad puudutasid Eesti okupatsiooni ja Ukraina sõda. Leidsin siit alanurgast vana lagunenud klaveri. See oli 2018. aastal loodud Simon Whethami teos, mis oli tuule ja päikese jõul mängiv klaver. Plaanin teha midagi, mis astuks dialoogi teose algse loojaga. Lammutasin klaveri jäänused laiali ja otsustasin selle uuesti kokku panna. Arvatavasti tuleb vähemalt kaks tööd ja kindlasti ka kontsert.
Kohtumiseni 28. juulil kell 17.00 Vaskjalas!
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Kail Timusk (b. 2000) is an Estonian sculptor and installation artist whose work moves between sculpture, sound, installation, and performance. He is drawn to memory, space, and the states between sleep and wakefulness. In 2026 he graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts with a degree in sculpture and installation and received the Young Sculptor’s Award. He has taken part in exhibitions and art residencies across Europe as well as in Canada.
Kail Timusk won the 2026 Young Sculptor’s Award grand prize. Copper Leg Residency has hosted the Young Sculptor’s Award winners since 2021.
How did your creative journey begin?
At first I went to Pallas to study photography, with high hopes, but during the first semester I realized it wasn’t quite the environment I wanted to keep studying in. I felt I wanted to try something more open, and my sense of what contemporary art meant at Pallas turned out to be different from what I’d expected.
Why did you choose photography at first?
It seemed logical, since I’d been taking photos since I was little and my parents are also involved in photography. But during that first year at Pallas I realized I already had the technical skills, and the coursework didn’t really match what I was looking for from my studies. I felt I wanted to experiment more and move more freely between different mediums.
How did you end up moving from Tartu to the Academy of Arts in Tallinn?
I was living in Tartu, and quite a few people I knew were studying at the Estonian Academy of Arts, so eventually I applied to EKA. I didn’t pass the first time, while Pallas had accepted me with the maximum points. Later I tried to apply to EKA again and was thinking whether to go into photography or sculpture.
Why did you choose sculpture in the end?
I’d heard that the sculpture department had a lot of freedom, that you weren’t handed a set material, and that you could draw on whatever skills you had, whether that was photography, video, or something else. That felt much more open than studying photography as a separate medium.
What materials do you work with?
I set myself the goal of trying out as many different things as possible rather than settling on one direction right away. I try not to get stuck in a single medium. I work with performance, photography, video, sculpture, and installation. The only thing I haven’t gotten to yet is painting. My first larger piece was a three-legged monster with a film projector in its belly that kept projecting an image across the room, and mirror shards in its head that scattered the light around.
You also have a history with the Young Sculptor’s Award exhibition.
I’ve taken part several times. One year I was on a residency in Iceland through Erasmus and had to sit that round out; another year I wasn’t accepted because they didn’t believe I’d finish in time, a huge bed covered with a blanket made of glass. During my first year at EKA I did get second place, which was a nice counterbalance to the year before, when I organised an art festival in Tartu at Aparaaditehas. That was a difficult experience, communication was hard and it was tough to keep the young local artists motivated. It got done in the end, but the whole time it felt like I was fighting my way through obstacles.
Tell me more about the Iceland residency.
I went there for four months on an Erasmus internship, joining a local artists’ collective. Taavi Suisalu and others were there at the same time. I’d just developed a strong interest in Taavi’s work, so it was a real surprise to run into him there on the introduction day. During the residency I looked into the subject of tourism: tourist tax helps maintain protected areas, but mass tourism is exactly what damages them, on top of the glaciers melting and Airbnb driving up apartment prices. We also went out onto the glaciers, and even made our own ice axes in the workshop from scraps of material.
You’re on a new residency now. What’s taking shape here?
It’s good to try something lighter here, as a counterbalance to last year, when I made both my graduation piece and my Young Sculptor’s Award piece, both of which dealt with Estonia’s occupation and the war in Ukraine. Here I found an old, decayed piano from the garden. It was a piece made by Simon Whetham in 2018, a piano played by the wind and the sun. I’m planning to make something that steps into dialogue with the original creator of the piece. I took the remains of the piano apart, and then decided to put it back together again. There will probably be at least two pieces, and definitely a concert too.
See you on July 28th in Copper Leg!