On the Verge by Keiu Koppel and Folding Facades Michael Schoorl at A-Galerii Windows

On the Verge by Keiu Koppel 

Jewelry artist Keiu Koppel’s new works are inspired by houses of cards. Through poetic, masterfully crafted objects, the exhibition raises the question of how long the more and less real constructions created by people can endure. In the exhibition On the Verge, the notions of instability, longing, and tension take form.

Value and a sense of safety last
as long as nothing unexpected happens.
As long as the table is level.
As long as no one breathes too deeply.

Collapse is not a bang.
It is the moment a hand hesitates in mid-air.
When everyone understands,
but no one wants to believe yet.

How long does what we call real life hold?
And what happens when we stop playing along?

Could the same hunger arise—
the one we have avoided at all costs?

Keiu Koppel (1988) is an Estonian jewelry artist who graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts, specializing in jewelry and blacksmithing. Her work is marked by a versatile use of materials and a distinctive visual language that brings together poetic ideas and the form of wearable jewelry. Koppel’s pieces combine traditional craftsmanship with a contemporary artistic approach. She lives and works in Tallinn, creating both wearable author jewelry and conceptual works.



Folding Facades by Michael Schoorl

Dutch artist Michael Schoorl presents a series of sculptural house-like forms installed in the windows of A-Galerii. Like a second skin, houses shape how we live, how we withdraw, and how we allow others in. Schoorl treats architecture as a language through which individuals and societies speak to the world, using domestic structures to reflect ideas of freedom, intimacy, and belonging.

The works that fold with precision into nearly solid blocks of metal function as interactive conversation starters. At first glance they resemble architectural miniatures, yet their shifting scale and weight quickly disrupts that assumption. The sculptures are forged from steel sheets, brazed together and connected by carefully crafted hinges. Schoorl draws an analogy to books: objects that can contain endless stories, conceal or reveal meaning, and are often judged by the cover. Each piece is designed to be taken from the shelf, explored, and folded back into a compact form. Layers of paint and patina create tactile surfaces that support the narrative of each piece.
Schoorl uses material and technique not to present fixed truths but to move between fiction and reality, much like memory shifts through retelling. By embedding stories into everyday-like objects, Folding Facades proposes emotional value as an alternative to disposability, encouraging care, repair, and attentiveness to the objects and built environments.

Michael Schoorl (1997) is a Dutch artist working with metal, wood, and architectural-scale sculptural forms. His recent work centers around houses and depictions of buildings that explore how craft, memory, and narratives can create emotional attachment to environments. Schoorl studied metal art at HDK–Valand, University of Gothenburg. In 2024 he additionally took a course in the Estonian Academy of Arts and soon will return there for a residency. He has exhibited across Sweden, the Netherlands, and Germany. Alongside his artistic practice, he runs De Nietsfabriek, a studio dedicated to sculptural fabrication, restoration, and custom work in wood and metal.

The exhibitions in A-Galerii are supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment.