FACE-TO-FACE: The Story of the Baltic Exchange

The book describes the installation of the same title by Salto architects Maarja Kask and Ralf Lööke and artist Neeme Külm at the Museum of Estonian Architecture and offers an in-depth overview of the unusual fate of the building, including its relocation.

The history of the Baltic Exchange goes back more than 250 years. The neoclassical building designed by Smith and Wimble was completed in central London in 1903, and has been ranked among the most beautiful examples of Edwardian architecture. Just over a century after its completion, the Estonian media dub the building an “alien structure” looking for a home in Tallinn.

The exhibition at the Museum of Estonian Architecture challenges the boundaries of the architecture exhibition as such, expanding the means of presenting architecture and ways of interpreting it. On the one hand, the exhibition offers a new kind of personal emotion of experiencing space; on the other hand, it poses a series of critical questions about the museum environment and the customary format of the architecture exhibition. For the museum, this is primarily an opportunity to create new value that speaks to the contemporary visitor with an interest in architecture.

Language: English