Movie Night: Soviet Era Book Printing & Talk with Researcher Maria Muuk

Wednesday, 8th of May we continue with our printing films movie nights with a Soviet Estonian special.

Even though print- and bookmaking was an honorable art in the Soviet times, there’s not a lot of historical film material about it. We will be showing two more notable short films, which give a curious overview of Estonian printing history as well as the status of printing work in Soviet Estonia:

– “350 aastat Eesti trükikunsti” (“350 Years of Estonian Printing”), 1981, Tallinnfilmi Ringvaade (Tallinnfilm Thematic Review)
– “Inimene inimeste seas” (“A Human Amongst Humans”), 1977, Tõnu Aru ja Jaak Järvise 16mm amatöörfilm trükikojast Kommunist, Eesti Filmiamatööride Liit (16mm amateur film of the Kommunist printing house by Tõnu Aru and Jaak Järvine, Estonian Film Amateurs’ Union)

*The films are in Estonian and have English subtitles.

As a special guest, we’ve invited researcher and graphic designer Maria Muuk to share her research about Soviet print design through the oeuvre of book designer Jüri Kaarma, as well as her current research on the wood type at TYPA and the lineage of Estonian printing houses.

Maria Muuk is a freelance graphic designer and researcher. She holds a BA from EKA GD (2016) and an MA from the Critical Studies Department at the Sandberg Instituut in the Netherlands (2019), and is mainly practicing as an editorial graphic designer within various Estonian cultural institutions. She has been researching Estonian print design heritage since 2020, co-curating the exhibition“A Book Designer’s Studio. Jüri Kaarma and Late Soviet Graphic Design” at the Estonian Applied Art and Design Museum (winner of the best temporary exhibition award 2022).