Ann Mirjam Vaikla

Ann Mirjam Vaikla (b. 1990, Estonia) is a curator and scenographer based in Tallinn, working in Estonia, Norway, and beyond. Her practice is grounded in the intersection of environmental and social justice, more-than-human worlds, and decolonial approaches. She currently holds the position of Curator of Contemporary Art at the Kumu Art Museum.

In 2025, the exhibition "They Began to Talk", co-curated by Vaikla, opened at Kumu’s Contemporary Art Gallery. The exhibition addresses the experience of the body in times of environmental change and inequality. She is currently curating "Decolonial Gestures in Sámi Worldbuilding", developed as part of the broader research project "Expedition – Estonians and Indigeneity". Vaikla is a 2025 fellow of The Museums Lab, a programme focusing on Colonialism and Resistance, which fosters collaboration between African and European museum professionals.

Vaikla holds a BA in Scenography from the Norwegian Theatre Academy and an MA in Culture and Arts from Novia University, Finland. In 2024, she completed the post-master’s programme Decolonizing Architecture Advanced Studies (DAAS) at the Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm. Her curatorial projects include the 8th Artishok Biennial "Botanical Witnesses" (2022) at Tallinn Botanic Garden, and "Point of No Return. Attunement of Attention" (2021) at NART – Narva Art Residency.

She is the co-founder and a member of the curatorial team of KORDON Art Residency on Hiiumaa Island, where she co-curated the long-term residency project "KORDON LAB on Food and Energy", exploring the connections between food and the environment, and the challenges posed by global food chains. She is currently co-curating "Red Herring", an interdisciplinary collaborative project with Contemporary Art Archipelago and Baltic Art Center, addressing the intertwined ecological and societal changes affecting the shared marine environment of the Baltic Sea.


Curatorial | Corporeal

This presentation reflects on a curatorial practice positioned at the intersection of environmental justice and decolonial discourse. Recurrent methodologies in Ann Mirjam Vaikla’s work include modes of collaboration which aims at decentralising agency, and a focus on the (eco)somatic as a site of embodied knowledge and inquiry.

With a background in the performing arts and frequent engagement as a scenographer and artist, Vaikla reflects on her current position as curator of contemporary art at Kumu Art Museum in Tallinn, Estonia. There, she recently opened the exhibition “They Began to Talk”, which explores the body’s experience in times of rapid environmental change and inequality. She is currently working on “Decolonial Gestures in Sámi Worldbuilding”, an exhibition developed in dialogue with a research project on Estonia’s historical ties to Indigenous Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic peoples of Siberia and the Far North, contributing to ongoing debates around the decolonisation of Eastern European and Eurasian heritage.

Drawing on these two case studies, Vaikla brings the notion of Indigeneity to the forefront and asks: How can we decolonise our curatorial thinking? How can we recognise traces of colonial legacy and the impact of imperial power within our own cultures and heritages, obscured by amnesia? What role does (eco)somatic practice play in decolonial reimaginings of the future?