Leonhard Lapin. Process (2020)

This film portraits Leonhard Lapin, a creator born in an Estonian small town called Räpina in the 1950s, who becomes one of the most outstanding avant-garde artists on the Soviet Estonian art and architecture scene. In the second half of the 1960s, deep in the middle of the Soviet era, Lapin went to the capital to study architecture at the Art Institute. Lapin is especially inspired by pre-war Estonian funk architecture and Russian constructivists. In contrast, the bleak mass production on the actual building arena provokes protest and anger. He finds many like-minded people, and his artistic circle of friends is diverse and active. Several groups grow out of Lapin’s inner circle, among them the legendary group of architects that the Finnish architect Markku Komonen started calling ‘the Tallinn school’. The rebel Lapin becomes the leading avant-garde artist of Soviet Estonia, whose diverse portfolio includes paintings, graphics and architectural drawings, architectonic works and architectural projects, performances and happenings, writings and poetry, and his own theory of architecture and colour. His fiery temper gets him into conflicts with the authorities as well as passionate human relations.