Ilja Jakovlev (2003) is an Estonian artist and curator born in Narva. Since 2024 - official member of Tartu Artist`s Union. He graduated with honours from Tartu Art Colledge's decorator major and Narva Art School, but he also completed his training at Ljubljana School of Design Technology and Lisbon University. Currently he is studying Art History and Visual Culture Studies BA at Estonian Art Academy. Being an independet cultural worker with artistic background, currently he is working more in the curatorial and contemporary art managment fields.
In 2023, he curated his personal exhibition "Narrative" in the Tallinn City Museum (Tallinn Nations Museum), in 2023 the exhibition "Turgor" in Berlin at the roam art association, in 2024 exhibition “And I leave, and bird will sing” at HAKI gallery, Tartu. In 2023, he was also one of the founders of the "Signatura" project and curated some group exhibitions in Tartu and Tallinn. In 2023/24 he also worked at the "Look Into My Ice" project, what was a part of Tartu 2024 - European Culture Capital offcial programm.
In 2025/26 he curated as his own personal shows at EKA Lainurg and Täisnurga galleries, as bigger exhibition projects at OKAPI gallery in Tallinn. In 2026 he also curated a part of 75. anniversary exhibition of Tartu Art Colledge at Pallase gallery and became a founder of ENAKO project.
As an artist he was presented in over than 20 group exhibitions in Berlin, Tallinn, Tartu and Narva and had 10 personal shows. His artworks belong to private collections in Estonia, Germany and Portugal.
who can apply? when? what should you send?
the new issue will be published every four months on this website.
send your proposal text to this email address: trashcase.text@gmail.com. Our team will review your text and let you know our decision within a few weeks of receiving your email. The deadline for submissions is one month before the publication of a new issue.
please provide us with a couple of sentences about who you are and what you do. You can also include your CV or a link to your portfolio or website. For young and lesser-known authors, we may add some professional information alongside the text.
texts can be in Estonian and English.
apx. number of published texts in one issue is between 10 and 15.
*by submitting your text on our website you automatically agree on our terms of use, which you can find in the end of this page.
regulations
we are waiting for any texts (short essays, poems, drafts, cuts of bigger works, manifestos, analyses, short researches, critiques) dedicated to the field of contemporary art and culture in Estonia (or, in some exceptional situations, abroad as well).
we are welcoming authors who have never been published before (students, teenagers, young professionals), as well as major and more well-known authors who are struggling to get published in the main Estonian media due to political, personal, financial, or other significant reasons.
afterword
authors are fully responsible for their published texts, as there is no editing; only selection is carried out by the platform team. In general, we are open to everything except political propaganda, racism, homophobia, and violence.
our aim is to become a strong and visible community of open-minded people who are systematically ignored. Let’s build a new society together!
trashcase
an independent media platform
trashcase is an independent media platform that was created in 2026 by Ilja Jakovlev & Villem Saar while drinking vermouth at Casa Rula in León, Spain, with the aim of providing an affordable web space for creators to share their thoughts, texts, and manifestos in an institution-free environment. Basically, here you can publish everything that usually goes to the trash.
we stand against bourgeois, bureaucratic, capitalistic, and political approaches to media, especially when it comes to publishing texts in the fields of art, theatre, music, culture, cinema, architecture, and literary criticism.
we invite all creators who struggle to get published or are systematically ignored by publishers to join us and submit their texts. No editing, no censorship, and no fees for authors, the platform, or readers — everything is free.
The first issue will be published here on 01.12.2026.
Contacts
trashcase
email: trashcase.text@gmail.com
Ilja Jakovlev: ilja.kunst@gmail.com
Villem Saar: villem.saar@artun.ee
we are sorry, but currently this website is available only in computer version
Villem Saar (2003) is an art critic and part-time journalist born in Kalamaja, Tallinn. Studies Art History BA in Estonian Academy of Arts. Currently based in León, Spain as an exchange student. He has helped to conceptualize and co-curate art projects in Tallinn and Vienna, mainly working with up and coming artists. He recently interned in the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM) for their jubilee exhibition.
His writings have been published in major Estonian art and cultural magazines, such as Sirp and Kunst.ee, among others. He is a big fan of working with archival materials and has participated in workshops and discussions related to archival research, more specifically relating to Eastern European underground publications.
He has completed 11 months of military service in Jõhvi, Estonia. Deriving from that and the unfolding of current events, his main areas of interest at the moment relate to fragileness of masculinity in art and architecture, and cultural analysis of political unrest in Europe.