Events Blog

Punker - a unique punk book gallery and a venue in Tallinn's Old Town

2025-05-29T02:49:00.003+03:00

Bunker is definitely a phenomenon for Tallinn; it is hard to describe it as something certain: officially a book store, but also a music venue, a location for underground parties, and just a fun place with incredible stories and people flying in the air.

Just a performance

The owner on the right in the yellow jacket

Filled with tons of rare, old, and unusual books, it hosts unique underground events, from punk bands to speeches by people of culture.

The location is in a park at Rannavärav, 1 in Tallinn's Old Town, between the Old Town and the Estonia ship memorial.

The owner of the gallery is Denis, a man in his early 60's with a drive and lifestyle of a 16-year-old (in a good sense?). Been jailed in Russia for 3 years for book smuggling across the Estonian-Russian border, this character definitely enriches the cultural underground of Estonia and has tons of unusual stories to share over a drink.

The location has unique books that can't be found elsewhere - a true treasure for rare book lovers.

On June 8th, 2025, at 6 PM, the location is hosting a punk character with history, born in Kazakhstan, Yermen Anti - frontman of the Kazakh band ADAPTATION, with a concert in Tallinn as part of the Eurotour in support of the album "Massaraksh"

Facebook event: https://fb.me/e/37i0kpzZJ

The location is also unusual, right next to the Fat Margareta building in the Old Town of Tallinn. It can easily be missed if one doesn't know that it exists there. Go up the stairs and try to get in. If it's open. Nobody usually knows when it's open unless there is an event planned.

Regarding the opening times, they are very sporadic and depend on the whim of the owner(s).

Facebook page of the gallery: https://www.facebook.com/russow.galerii

Kaspar Aus exhibition at Põhjala tehas Stuudiomaja Valge Kuup galery

2024-09-01T23:16:00.001+03:00

The exhibition is open until September 15, 2024.

The theme of the exhibition is that it's okay not to know. Hence the Estonian title of the exhibition: "Me ei tea" meaning "We don't know" in English.

The gallery is located in an interesting district of Kopli.

One of my favorites, "The Fish."

The gallery is located in a new art and community area that's been growing a lot in the past three-four years. Now the neighbourhood hosts a labyrinth of cafes, book shops, galleries, art spaces, workshops, restaurants...

Kaspar Aus, the author of the exhibition "We do not know."

A detail.

The community garden is just next door from the art space.

Exhibition in Old Town: Dialogue between Maria Erikson and the litographic stone in Draakon gallery

2023-02-10T15:55:00.001+02:00

All the pieces are copies

Draakoni Galerii was founded in the year 1983. Since 2003 the gallery has organized Estonian and international exhibitions. They also sell Estonian contemporary art.

A great example of Art Nouveau, one of the several ones on Pikk street in Old Town.

Adventures in Balkans

2015-12-24T04:22:00.000+02:00

Instead of writing a text about my trip to Serbia and Bosnia & Herzegovina I decided to publish a photo album from the trip - photos and titles under the photos speak for themselves.

Anti-immigration rally in Frankfurt

Refugees' camp in central Belgrade

Mostarska street next to refugee center

Refugees' center

Sarajevo, Bosnia

Sarajevo Coffee

Sarajevo, Bosnia

Old Market, Sarajevo, Bosnia

Sarajevo, Bosnia

On the way to Mostar

Mostar, Bosnia

Sarajevo, Bosnia

Mostar, Bosnia

Das ist Berlin

2015-07-31T00:03:00.002+03:00

This time I visited friends in Berlin. First time in Germany, unexpectedly good impressions.

Flying to Germany through Frankfurt

View on river Spree

One of the first impressions of Berlin is that it is full of graffiti and posters. One of the most common graffiti read "No one is illegal. Immigrants are welcome", which was interesting.
In general, Berlin is a very left-wing city, this has been the most left-wing place I have ever visited and I have visited a lot of places in Europe and Asia. I guess we can find the roots for this in history.

Friedrich Wagner NOT Richard Wagner as I first thought

No man is illegal

If you are okay with spending a bit of money for tickets and interested in contemporary art, definitely visit "me Collectors Room" gallery/museum which is located at Auguststraße 68. The street has a lot of other art galleries as well. This exhibition explored women's sexuality and how it is perceived by women and others.

me Collectors Room
Auguststraße 68

The above photo in the middle has a sign reading in Russian "Foreigners Everywhere". I have probably laughed at it more than I should.

Rat on girl in the same gallery

Line marking where the Berlin Wall used to be

Brandenburg Gate

Deutsches Historisches Museum
Unter den Linden 2

Spree

Most of the time I stayed at Kreuzberg district, 2 min. walk from Neukölln district which is full of artists, hipsters, students and foreigners. Good place to live or visit on weekend if you are young.

#OXI
Kreuzberg district

Bundestag

Somehwere in Mitte district, city centre

Berlin Tempelhof Airport

Tempelhof Airport during WWII

Apart from getting robbed in a park at night by two guys with a huge knife, Berlin was awesome. Once you arrive you get feeling of security and freedom you do not really feel in other places. It may sound a bit contradicting, but visit and see for yourself. For example, we were the only people in the police station we stayed at after the robbery and I saw that they were in charge of the whole Neukölln area of Berlin. Prices are low, sometimes insanely low, so be prepared to drink and eat a lot. And there is a lot of techno music everywhere. I mean really a lot.

Flying back to Estonia.
Actually it is a photo of me flying to Berlin but it suits the conclusion.

P.S: Do not buy "Welcome to Berlin" card/pass for tourists in the airport unless you plan to visit at least a dozen museums within 2-3 days and ride on bus/U/S-Bahn for dozen of times daily. Otherwise it is a ripoff the victim of which I successfully fell right after my arrival to Tegel Airport.

new live video of Ewert and The Two Dragons

2015-06-23T15:50:00.000+03:00

New live video produced by Vita Pictura productions of one of the most well-known Estonian bands Ewert and The Two Dragons - "Circles". Produced for RedBull.

Ewert and The Two Dragons - Circles from Vita Pictura on Vimeo.

More awesome videos are going to be published this summer and autumn. Whole July is booked for festivals happening in Estonia and Finland. Stay tuned!

Here are our links:

https://vimeo.com/vitapictura

https://www.facebook.com/vitapicturaproductions

https://www.facebook.com/vita.pictura

Sign making workshop and exhibition

2015-06-19T01:35:00.001+03:00

"Beer" in Estonian

"Sweet Cherry" in Estonian

Lewis McGuffie shows off his sign making skills

Start with contours on a glass... notice a golden leaf on the table.

...almost finished

... just a few more touches and the new sign is ready

This is how it looks from the other side.

"Excellent Tobacco" in Russian (with a a typo).

Baltic trip

2015-06-04T22:35:00.000+03:00

One week trip to Latvia (Riga) & Lithuania (Vilnius)

visit to Radio Naba in Riga

Centre of Contemporary Art in Vilnius

Vilnius Castle

Art exhibition in Riga

Lithuania. Road to Vilnius

Latvian bird and Rain's shoes

Radio Naba selfie

Our largest project this year: Weekend Festival 2014 Aftermovie

2014-12-17T18:06:00.000+02:00

Presenting you our largest project this year: Weekend Festival 2014 aftermovie. The festival took place in Helsinki, Finland this year - it is the biggest festival in Northern Europe. Large amount of work done by our team - from filming on spot to full postproduction incl. editing, animation, sound design, colour correction and much much more. Enjoy!

Weekend Festival web links:

www.wknd.fi

www.facebook.com/weekendfestival

www.twitter.com/weekendfestival

www.instagram.com/weekendfestival

Special thanks to the amazing artists, city of Helsinki, all festival partners and most of all, the most incredible festival crowd in Northern Europe!

Currency chart painting

2014-11-09T21:17:00.000+02:00

Same day edit

2014-10-25T17:13:00.000+03:00

I just found out that I don't have as many memes on my computer as I thought I'd have.
So instead I am posting a video that our team produced this summer for one corporate client in Estonia. It was a three day competition with students from all over the world presenting their business ideas. Organisatio nof the event was excellent which had made video editing slightly easier for us. By the way, the edit has been completed the same day as filming.

Bachelor Frog Memes

2014-10-19T19:05:00.002+03:00

I see that my most informative and personalised blog posts are many times less popular than my posts with memes and jokes, so here you go - I will be posting a series of memes in the next couple of weeks here!

Today's theme: Bachelor Frog! The following meme describes situations from a typical underachieving university student or just a young lazy guy and some of his thoughts and realities of life.

Experience in selling stock footage online

2014-10-17T21:34:00.000+03:00

After a long break, I am back again!

As you probably noticed, most of my post for the last year have been about videos and media content produced by my company Vita Pictura productions. Do I have any visitors or followers here on Blogger who also work in media business? Or maybe some of you have hobbies, for example photography, filming or editing?

Has any of you tried selling your footage on online stock pages? I have tried Pond5 and Shutterstock. Which websites are good and why? Do you actually use any of them?

Meanwhile, register and upload your footage by clicking here and earn me some money from your sales:

And as a bonus, here is one of the latest videos our team produced here in Estonia:

Little collection of memes

2014-06-19T22:19:00.000+03:00

Just posting some artwork I found on my computer

Gangs of bikers occupy Tallinn

2014-06-07T15:52:00.000+03:00

This weekend Tallinn is full of bikers from all over Europe.

Here are some photos taken from my phone. I took most of the pictures form my balcony, so please do not criticize aesthetics of my works:

Czech bikers

Swedish, Norwegian and other bikes

Finnish brothers

More Finnish bikers in an unfamiliar motorbike model

SSF 2013: Helsinki, Finland

2013-09-04T16:31:00.000+03:00

One of the biggest productions we have been involved in this year - Summer Sound Festival 2013. Below I present you our teaser.

Featuring Faithless, Tiesto, Sander Van Doorn, Steve Angello, Knife Party, Hardwell, Axwell, Above & Beyond, etc...

Wait for the official aftermovie and stay tuned for more.

For sports fans

2013-08-29T18:16:00.001+03:00

Another Samsung cycling marathon, the last one this year will take place on 7th September. It took place in Kuremaa area of central Estonia, in a place that is well-known for its lakes that's been formed there ten thousand years ago after the glacier retreated north.

Samsung Cup - Kalevipoja Rattamaraton / 24.08.2013 from Vita Pictura on Vimeo.

Planeet

2013-08-27T18:47:00.000+03:00

Short aftermovie produced by our team this month featuring Estonian dj Planeet. The event took place in Club Hollywood in Tallinn.

Rakke bicycle marathon: Samsung Cup, 7th July

2013-08-12T18:37:00.000+03:00

Samsung Cup - Rakke Rattamaraton, 7. July (Sun) from Vita Pictura on Vimeo.

Another production made in co-operation with Taevas Ogilvy for Samsung Estonian Cup. This time bicycle marathon took place in Rakke in central Estonia.

Editor: Georgius Misjura

GrindFest2013: summer productions

2013-08-09T16:55:00.000+03:00

GrindFest Thank You Video:
GRINDFEST 2013 [Official Thank You Video] from Vita Pictura on Vimeo.
GrindFest Official Aftermovie: Two productions for Grindfest we did this July. Festival took place in Pärnu and included the following artists: Foreign Beggars, Ayah Marar, Heavyweight, Feed Me, Mord Fustang, Camo&Krooked, Friction, Gemini, High Contrast, Mutated Forms, Mhkl & K-Sein, Planeet and many many others... All videos produced by Vita Pictura productions.

One Mile Challenge

2013-08-05T21:24:00.001+03:00

Another video produced by Vita Pictura productions: one mile competition. Took place this summer near Haapsalu, a town on a shore of the Baltic Sea in Estonia. We managed to produce an amazing video thanks to helicam and a construction crane that had been installed near by.

One Mile Challenge is One Mile Top Speed Competition and the biggest top speed competition in Baltics. Please visit the website for additional information: onemile.ee. In 2013 there are two competitions held - on 8th June and 24th August. Be there and enjoy speed and fast cars!

Gumball 3000 in Tallinn

2013-08-01T11:38:00.000+03:00

Okay, below you can check out the video filmed by my company Vita Pictura productions. Starring David Hasselhoff, Tony Hawk, some cars, and lots of other things. Let me know what you think about the video! Btw it was filmed in Tallinn's Townhall Square this spring. Wait for more video uploads soon...

Gumball 3000 @ Raekoja plats [Official Aftermovie] / 21.05.2013 from Vita Pictura on Vimeo.

Honey

2013-03-23T12:05:00.001+02:00

Bonjour gentlemen and gentlewomen! Didn't write for a while and I sincerely apologize for this inconvenience So I had to write about something. Therefore this post will be as random as most of my publications here: it is about honey and honeymakers' gathering in Tallinn. I provide you with photos from the gathering:

Iisaka Farm from Northern Estonia

"Propolis", "Honey Comb"

Estonian Honey Days
(next event: 12.-13. October 2013)

Honeymaker from Lambri Talu in the Central Estonia (Tartumaa)

The fans of honey also organized a lecture about the God's nectar. The only things I remember from that lecture is that honey is good for your body, especially if you have constipation. So here you go, if you are having "stomach problems" - eat honey, or better drink it with tea. Another useful fact that was announced: add honey to a warm cup of tea only when it is 40-60 degrees celcius, since if tea is too hot it will kill most of the useful features of honey. See you soon with some more exciting and amazing stories. Amen.

E-government

2012-12-03T02:08:00.001+02:00

Estonia has been boasting about becoming a pinnacle of e-government, e-economy, e-commerce in Europe and beyond. Truly, now you can vote through the Internet (not sure who is observing the elections now), most of payments are done virtually, companies are run from computers.

However, here is a little story from reality. I registered acompany using my ID-card attached to my computer through an ID-card reader. Next day I got an e-mail stating that “the company’s name is already a registered trademark in this area of activity”. Basically I had to change the name or register a different area of activity for the company. I wanted to keep the name and changed the activity. Then I received an e-mail saying that I will get answer in the next 5 working days. After three weeks of no answer and tons of phone calls to various institutions which kept giving me different phone numbers, I decided to visit the damned registry department, analogue of the British Companies House.

I entered the old factory building where they were located and took a huge industrial elevator to the fourth floor, and entered an empty hall with couple of elder-looking women chatting in a corner. The moment I stepped in, I knew I would have to deal with predictable bureaucracy, still so common here. And as I had expected, a dull looking woman in her 60-s greeted me with concrete face that reminded me of Berlin Wall or barb wires of Gulag in Siberia. She explicitly stated that I have to change the name of a company and not the area of activity. Moreover she said that area of activity doesn’t matter at all. Following this logic, I wouldn’t be able to use any words that make sense, for my company’s name.

After couple of days of not being able to change the name through the Internet registration portal, I thought that I would lose the money spent on registration and one month’s time on nothing, I got an e-mail saying my company has been registered under the name I wanted to use in the first place. Apparently some employees do not know how to do their job.

What is needed to be said in conclusion, that you may try to act as a cutting-edge, modern and efficient e-system that revolutionaries the way we live, but you can’t ignore the silliest inconveniences in your system, because they define your system, they are your system. Once you address the issues that are basis for problems, you will be able to create a truly quality service/product. In another words, don’t fucking judge a book by its cover. If you don’t know how to do business, e-commerce will not help you, if you don’t know how to run a government e-voting is not going to make it more efficient, if you suck at filming expensive red cam is not going to help you. Amen.

On a brighter note, I provide you with fail compilation video.

Sigma (UK)

2012-06-27T00:12:00.000+03:00

Just got my new camera, so wait for new posts soon!

For now, just gonna publish an interview we filmed two weeks ago in Tartu, Estonia, with UK DJ Sigma (with Russian subtitles):

The whole footage was filmed in club Illusioon in Tartu.