17-21st of May, 2012, Nida Art Colony, Neringa, Lithuania, www.nidacolony.lt

Over 30 curators, art & residency centres directors and project managers as well as artists are comming together to Nida to discuss and reflect on working and living in remote areas,  on the theme of “remoteness”, with an emphasis on community building, interaction with local inhabitants, and site specificity. 4 days will role on with lectures and workshops, discussions and chats with tea, performances and site-specific artworks.

Day 1 (Thursday, 17 May):
Arrival and warm up: sea, lagoon, dunes, sand and wind

Day 2 (Friday, 18 May):

Day 3 (Saturday, 19 May):

Day 4 (Sunday, 20 May):

Day 5 (Monday, 21 May):
Goodbye Breakfast and departure

More info at info@nidacolony.lt

Curated by Vytautas Michelkevičius and Rasa Antanavičiūtė

Team Linas Ramanauskas, Yulia Startsev, Sophie Bellot and others

Partners

National Park of Curonian Spit

Neringa FM

Supported by

Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture

Lithuanian Ministry of Culture (Programme for Culture in the Regions)

The symposium is a part of a project of the Baltic-Nordic Network of Remote Art & Residency Centers; however, it is open to participants from all over the world. Through the symposium we hope to build a network of remotely located centers, and learn different approaches to these unique places. For more information, and to see the other participating partners, please visit the project blog at http://remotenet.nidacolony.lt/

The symposium is a 3-day-long event (May 17-20). The contributors are invited to share their experiences working and living in remotely located art & residency centers as directors and cultural managers, and as practicing artists and participants. We are looking forward to proposals from a variety of cultural disciplines on the theme of “remoteness”, with an emphasis on community building, interaction with local inhabitants, and site specificity.

The format: The format is open; proposals can vary from lectures and workshops to performances and site-specific artworks. We are able to provide accommodation and catering to a limited number of participants. Travel expenses are subject to availability.

Deadline: Please send a short proposal (up to 500 words + visual material if needed) by March 31, 2012 to info@nidacolony.lt with subject line “proposal for symposium”;

Interested individuals who would prefer to take part as audience members may apply as “passive” participants by submitting a request with a short motivation letter. Unfortunately, we will be unable to cover your participation costs.

PARTICIPATING CENTRES from the Network

1. Centre for Art and Social Practice MoKS (Mooste, 4 hours away from Tallinn, Estonia, www.moks.ee)
2. Sanna Culture Manor (Sanna, 4 hours away from Tallinn, Estonia, www.kultuurimois.kultuuritehas.ee)
3. Interdisciplinary Art Group SERDE (Aizpute, 3h away from Riga, Latvia, www.serde.lv)
4. Nida Art Colony of the Vilnius Academy of Arts (Nida, 5h away from Vilnius, Lithuania, www.nidacolony.lt)
5. Kultivator (Färjestaden, 5h away from Stockholm, Sweden, http://kultivator.org)
6. Nes Artist Residency (Skagaströnd, 5h away from Reykjavik, Iceland, http://neslist.is)
7. Art and Nature Center Mustarinda (Hyrynsalmi, 8h away from Helsinki, Finland, http://mustarinda.fi)
8. Center for visual Art Skaftfell (8h away from Reykjavik, Iceland, http://skaftfell.is)

GUEST PARTICIPANTS

Wysing Arts Centre (UK), Donna Lynas, artistic director
Grizedale Arts (UK), Adam Sutherland, director
Residence Botkyrka/Botkyrka Konsthall (SE), Joanna Sandell, Director

First Inter-format Symposium, May, 2011

My new discovery from my visit to Reina Sofia Museum bookshop in Madrid is the book ARTocracy, authored by Claudia Zeiske and Nuno Sacramento. It provides insight into the organisation of collaborative projects through hands-on practice and applied examples. It provides practical guidance – from the definition of each theme to the selection of artists, as well as key strategies for funding, marketing, education, and artistic output – paying tribute to the precarious balance between artistic quality and social consequence.

Click here for a pdf of what’s inside.  You can also watch Claudia and Nuno present the book at Glasgow School Of Art in early 2011 by clicking here.

Now available from online shop.

Trans Artists devoted their December newsletter to ‘The Notion of Remote’. Check out their recommendations on remote residencies.

Stepping through the door

In autumn 2002 I made a somewhat irrational and radical decision, to make a tour on a very small budget, through Poland and the Baltic states. I started from Berlin where I was living at the time and traveled by local trains and busses through Wroclaw, Krakow, Warsaw, Vilnius, Riga, Tartu and back. The pretense was to show screen and present my latest collection of sound/video works at the time, but my other agenda was to research parts of eastern Europe I had not been before, namely the Baltics. Looking back, that was one of the most important decisions of my life because within one year I had moved to Estonia and joined MoKS. It was also a very symbolic decision, to leave the “center” and move to the “periphery”.

Making this trip from Nida to Mooste and back was also symbolic, something like a second phase of my Baltic adventures. If the Baltics are somehow in the periphery of Europe, then what is the cultural situation in the peripheries of the Baltics?

I’d like the think that the situation is changing from the migratory movements to the urban centers of 10 years ago. According to the number they’re not, but in the interests of certain individuals, it is. What we’re facing at the current moment is at least a change in attitude and practices. With a little ambition and work a center can be developed anywhere as is evidenced by who and what we encountered on this journey. Hopefully this is only the beginning and the territories we explore expand.

Time and planning, thats what it takes to get to Nida. If you miss the ferry, too bad. So for some, a sacrifice of convenience might too much. For others, its a return to a more natural rhythm of life.

arrival to Serde, one of the oldest and spirited places I have been in the Baltics. nothing better than fresh soup after a long drive

adaptive re-use, one the core philosophies of Serde. they have this down to an artform, like with these beautiful old tables and passenger train benches on the patio.

One of the common rooms on the second floor of Serde, also a well chosen and arrange collection of reclaimed furniture. this is the definition of “cozy”

nature and village… the integrated landscape of central Aizpute is one of the most balanced I’ve seen anywhere. In the summer this must be a public paradise.

The second floor common space at MoKS. As a long time member I could write a novel about my time there and it would never say enough. Rather, I prefer to hear about MoKS through others who create their own experience there. As we know with all dedicated cultural workers, never enough credit is given to them (if any). Here are some of the most dedicated people behind our centers, Signe, Siiri and Rasa. If only the world revolved more around people like these.

Evelyn, the heart and soul of MoKS. Besides taking care of the of all the administration for the last 10 years, she has also managed to  develop her amazing artistic work. Staying creativity is key.

Vytautas the strategist. I could say a lot about gender politics in the Baltics… but all I’ll say is there seems to be a healthy balance in each of our centers.

In terms of cosmic periphery, the earth is pretty far out there. This is illustrated clearly in the true to scale solar system model at Sänna Kultuurimõis in South Estonia. Pluto is actually 12km away and they do walks there as part of the concept.

Walking to the sun (on a cloudy day) with Sänna manager Hendrik Noor. I didn’t take many photos at Sänna but its important to mention how strong the D-I-Y community spirit is. Hendirk and Kadi stay very busy and are involved with all aspects of running the “culture manor”. It certainly is establishing its place as the center of many local projects in the area.

We finished up our visits with a surprise presentation at Total Dobze in Riga. Not too many people attended which shows it can be just as hard to find audiences in the “centers” as it s in the “periphery”. Remote is only a mentality.

No photo essay would be complete without a tribute to the “Baltic light”, one of the first things I clearly remember noticing on my first trip back in 2002. This was the sunset that greeted us back to Lithuania after a short but informative trip.

When we arrived it was pitch dark, so the building, one of the main heroes of the story, was not visible. Signe was waiting for us with hot soup and a selection of home brewed beer – Serde specialty. Signe does not live in the house. She and her family have a house in Aizpute, walking distance away.

Serde is settled in a three-hundred-year-old wooden house, which has a ground floor and an attic. The house belongs to the municipality, but Serde has a rental agreement for 90 years. The house seems to be alive, similar to the building in Miyazaki’s animated film Howl’s Moving Castle. Walking in it may seem like walking in a constantly changing maze: you never know what happens behind you. Inclined floors, windows and spaces of various shapes, ages of usage make the house soft and organic. Thus, someone has to feed this live and changing organism constantly, and Signe and Ugis do that for already a decade. I guess this feeding sometimes looks like a fight, because the house has its own character and the owners have to fight for its spaces conquering them by repairing and cleaning.

Serde is difficult to use during the cold season (roughly October to April): the house is not tight and it is a 24-hour job to fill numerous fire stoves with wood and briquettes. Two big old clay stoves and two small modern brass stoves were trying to keep us warm. We had two cozy rooms next to the big hall and did not get cold. The hall had a grand piano, sound equipment, wireless internet, a little library and a big space, which could be used for meetings, concerts, workshops and parties. I spent half of the night in the hall at the computer, but the house did not want to talk to me – no squeaks, no laments, no ghosts.

In the morning we went out to look for breakfast. I wonder now if all small towns in Latvia (Lithuania?) have so many treasures? We found a big, recently reconstructed synagogue, used as local culture center, a park with symmetrical pools, a 13^th century church, a water mill, a brand new catholic church and many small, but fascinating details. We did not find a cafeteria, but a supermarket corner with baked swans and other beauties was just fine.

Breakfast was followed by a guided tour of the house and its annexes. Signe started from the porch with Leonardo’s Madonna and Child and benches from an old regional train. Recycled or rather resurrected things, like these benches, which were about to be thrown out, are characteristic to the house. The building itself is resurrected from oblivion and negligence. I can see how this porch is the heart of Serde in summer. ‘There is a direct entrance from the porch to the kitchen, and this is so convenient’, Signe says…

During the tour Signe’s husband Ugis was mentioned very often, but we did not see him in flesh – he was taking care of their daughter, who had fever. Ugis was substituting the mother, who was stolen by us and taken away to Estonia. Ugis is the beer expert (we have tried chokeberry and black currant beer), and building expert (he has revived the house), and engineering expert (made all the brewery equipment himself), and electronics expert (we saw his fancy seed vendor machine in the workshop). Ugis was present everywhere. In Lithuanian Ūgis is height, so I imagine him as a kind giant, who can do everything, starting with comforting a little girl and finishing with carrying huge logs for the house repair…

On the attic of the main building are rooms for visitors. Many rooms, I have even lost the number. Is it 30 people you can accommodate at a time, Signe? Almost all beds are covered by hand knitted quilts. A local woman, a friend of the Center, decided to contribute this way. Thus she knits and brings the quilts to Serde. Signe says that this sort of cooperation with locals is now usual – they bring things they do not need any more, but Serde could use. The Center is there for already ten years and you can feel it – it has its place in the local routines. However, the window of the ceramics workshop was broken and Signe said ‘ah, locals do that…’

Serde has four workshops: ceramics workshop looked great to me, although I am not a specialist; beer brewery with all the Ugis-made vessels and equipment, just like a small professional factory, not to compare with the big cauldron, which is standing in the middle of the courtyard and is usually featured in Serde pictures; a wood and metal processing workshop in the barn – spacious and comfortable; and a recent acquisition – brand new dark room with ancient Soviet equipment, films, chemicals and papers – a gift of a well known Latvian photographer. Serde also possesses a kiln on an island in the nearby pond. Should be very special to go to burn stuff there.

Signe & Ugis are mainly occupied with workshops: beer brewing, herb and healing recipes collecting from the local area, ceramics, analogue photography, etc. Sometimes they also accommodate students of the Latvian Academy of Arts for their summer practice. As I understood, residencies are few and do not last more than a month due to rather rough living conditions, however, I think there would be many people willing to stay there longer. I still don’t know what Signe and Ugis does for living. Is it possible to keep up the building from space rent? Or does it suck their personal savings?

Serde is a love project – Signe, Ugis and the house are one body, fed by enthusiasm and love. We have asked what Serde means in Latvian and Signe explained that it is a core or a heart. 

 In the early afternoon we left Aizpute and headed towards Sanna Culture Manor in Southern Estonia.

I was planing to write a travel diary during the trip, but it was just one of those plans, which stay in the prematerialization stage. So, after two weeks, i am starting the trip anew. Replay.

We left Nida Art Colony later than planned. As always. But we left it after all to go 4 hours and to reach Aizpute – a little town in Latvia with a strange name, which sounds a bit nasty if translated in to Lithuanian. There were three of us – John, Vytautas & me. The initial plan was to go to Serde, take Signe with us, go to Sanna, take Hendrik and/or his wife Kadi with us, then go to MoKS, pick Evelyn and go back straight to Nida with full van to spend a couple of days there. At least one night in each place. We have also invited Nordic centers to join us. Apparently, planing is much more easy than leaving duties, deadlines & families behind. Only the initial group of three made the whole trip. 

Signe joined us for the trip to MoKS & Sanna, and parted from us in Riga, on our way back. Long live Signe! Thanks to her we had great presents to bring back – she showed us a road side restaurant ???, which was selling home made bread, cookies, sweets and what not… Thanks to Signe we also had gender balance as well as nice and calm insight into the discussed topics. John MoKS (let me call him this way) was our guru starting with English grammar (because we were writing messages to our spring residents on the way) and finishing with the principles of operation of remote art & residency centers. Vytautas & me were nagging each other for quite some time, although in general there were no big differences in our attitudes. So, this was our team.

After Estonia we came back through Riga and we stopped in TotalDobže where we have been invited to make a presentation on Nida Art Colony and Remote Network. TotalDobze is located in industrial area (former VEF factory) in Riga and is run by artists (Kaspars Lielgalvis and his friends).

Since TotalDobže is a bit off the city centre and is run by artists, we can consider it  being remote.

We have also visited Sanna Culture Manor on our way back from Mooste to Riga.  These are the artistic residencies:

No, no, of course not. These are strange little houses for bees or unknown Estonian mamals, which we found walking around Sanna Manor.  The true residencies are here:

And also here:

Not bad, ah?

In the morning Signe is showing her partner’s Ugis beer brewery where he experiments with various beer recipes.

Beer brewing pot in the yard

Signe is preparing aqua vitae from vodka and Traditional Lithuanian Mixture of herbs Three Nines (27 herbs) which she got as a present from Vytautas mother Herbal pharmacy “Sirdazole”  in Vilnius

Lounge corner in SERDE