Urmo Vaikla opens exhibition on Hiiumaa’s military heritage

Artist and architect Urmo Vaikla has opened a solo exhibition on Hiiumaa’s military architectural heritage at the Draakoni kõht gallery in Tallinn, ERR reported.

“An Island Is Not an Island. Shades of Dark Heritage” opened on August 27. It is the first exhibition resulting from Vaikla’s practice-based doctoral research, which examines military architecture in the context of Hiiumaa and its impact on the island’s landscape, local community and collective memory.

Hiiumaa was fortified with defensive lines and military installations before and during both world wars. Its military heritage also reflects the 50-year Soviet occupation, when the island was the westernmost border zone of the Soviet empire.

Traces of that history remain visible in the landscape, including former border strips running through coastal forests, networks of defensive trenches and pieces of barbed wire. Abandoned bunkers, coastal battery firing platforms, border guard towers and training grounds also remain scattered across the island.

Vaikla’s research focuses on spatial conditions in the post-traumatic period, examining how architectural heritage persists and adapts amid social and political change. The project seeks to map and investigate spatial values and to ask whether, and how, dark heritage can be interpreted and reused.

The exhibition draws methodologically on two curated international artist residencies focused on military heritage, Time Lap and Pinhole, held at the Kordon artist residency on Hiiumaa between 2024 and 2026. The programmes addressed political trauma through bodily experience, personal objects and individual experiences.

The exhibition presents a visual and poetic summary of material collected and experienced during the collective research process, as well as creative projects developed on its basis. It will remain open at Draakoni kõht until September 26.