The Ülemiste Shadow

“The Ülemiste Umbrella” is a sculptural fountain created by blacksmith artists Risto Tali and Rainer Kaasik-Aaslav, which spatially reinterprets Von Bomb’s iconic mural “The Ülemiste Girl”. The work was completed in 2022 and is located in Ülemiste City on Viktor Square, where it functions both as a landmark and as an interactive element of urban space.

The inspiration comes directly from the girl with an umbrella depicted on the mural, but the artists decided not to create a realistic figure and instead focused on the most recognisable element of the image – the umbrella. “At first we tried to create the ideal iron girl, but it turned out that no one knew how to do that,” the authors have explained, which led to the idea of creating a work that the viewer can relate to themselves.

The result is an umbrella-shaped fountain weighing approximately 2.5 tonnes and reaching up to 3.5 metres in height, whose structure is connected to an elongated water feature, referring to Lake Ülemiste. Flowing water adds the dimension of movement and life to the work.

Symbolically, “The Ülemiste Umbrella” continues the same narrative that is carried by the mural – youthfulness, the development of urban space and constant change. If the mural depicts the girl in binary rain, the fountain brings this image into physical space, adding water to it as a symbol of life and movement. In this way, a dialogue emerges between the two works.

The result is a work that is a living meeting place – a point in urban space where people can pause, communicate and for a moment become part of the story of Ülemiste City.