At the sunniest place in Lithuania, Nida, our resident Haruka Yamada (JP) has carried out her site-specific project Sun of the City.

The drawing on the southern wall of the Taikos str. 4A building functions as a sun dial. By using already existing urban elements (wall and satellite dish antenna), the artist has provided a possibility to tell time in an archaic method, with the assistance of the sun. The ciferblate of the sun dial consists of lines of hours and days that show time all year long and also of a gnomon (satellite dish antenna) that casts a shadow on the scale. As the sun passes through the firmament, the shadow points to the hours marked on the ciferblate.

H. Yamada is interested in the role and the influence of the artist present in the context of a fluctuating urban society as well as in the approaches of inviting the spectator to re-experience what things are felt by her in relation to the city, nature and the human. By completing this site-specific installation, the artist is researching the possible influence of artistic practice to the local community as well as  the possible transformation of the city space with the use of an art-work that was created by also taking into account the cultural identity of the citizens.

After graduating from Musashino Art University in Tokyo in 2009, Haruka Yamada (b. 1986) received a Bachelor’s degree in Space Design in 2012 and a Master’s degree in Art in 2014 at the National School of Art and Design in Dijon, France. The artist currently lives and works in Tokyo.

The project was supported by: PLLC Neringos Komunalininkas and PLLD Neringos Energija