We are welcoming the spring with our residents! Emilija Škarnulytė (LT), Sandra Kosorotova (EE), Susanna Flock (AT), Leonhard Muellner (AT), Laura Pugno (IT) and Ai Sugiura (JP) will live, work and explore the surroundings of Nida in March.

Emilija Škarnulytė (b. 1987) studied sculpture (BA) at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Italy and Fine Art (MA) in Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art in Norway.

The artist’s work consists of a series of politically active visions, in which she investigates reality with a political and poetic approach. Emilija explores questions of the beginning of the universe in relation to deep time, invisible architecture and larger systems of power. Her films look into a relation between art and science, storytelling, truth and poetics of language created by science.

During the residency, Emilija will work on a film production in collaboration with marine scientists. She is interested in resources’ extraction conditions in the circumpolar areas of the North. One of them is deep sea mining. The artist will reconstruct the mythologies and beliefs of the past by looking underwater to the Ocean Basin from future alien archeology perspective - when humans will be alreadyextinct and the landscape will be seen as a body carved with the human left artifacts of impressive architecture of oil rigs and mines. Combining research material, landscape shots and archival footage, she will reflect over the changing image of the North, as a site where violence, desire, greed, and emotions are played out.

Sandra Kosorotova (EE) (b. 1984) studied Graphic Design (BA) and Fashion Design (MA) at Estonian Academy of Arts. From 2013 to 2015 she co-led NGO New Russian Culture in Estonia (UVKE), which was aiming to bring together Estonian- and Russian-speaking communities by organizing cultural events.

Kosorotova’s textile and text-based practice can be located between the margins of art and design. Most of her artworks act as such only in the exhibition spaces, otherwise they function as wearable clothes, accessories, and interior textiles.At Nida Art Colony Sandra will be working on book Inadmissible Lyrics (working title), comprised of texts and images by the artist and quotes from other authors. The publication will take a physical form of a collection of scarves and will be issued as limited-edition prints with the music label Serious Serious. During the residency the artist will be simultaneously writing and designing the book.

Susanna Flock (AT) (b. 1988) and Leonhard Muellner (AT) (b. 1987) is an artist duo from Austria.

Susanna Flock studied Video and Video-installation at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and Experimental Art at the University of Arts and Industrial Design Linz. She is working with installation, video, audio, photography, and graphics. In her artworks, she is dealing with the questions about the role of language in the current context of digital communication and the relationship between the body and its technologically-mediated environment.Leonhard Muellner studied Experimental design at the University of Arts and Industrial Design Linz in Austria. His projects combine a conceptual approach with a humorous ease. He mostly works collectively and in a public space.

During the residency at Nida Art Colony, Susanna and Leonhard will work on a project ‘Breaking the Brink’ focusing on the intended tension. The artists are planning to explore temporal, structural, and formal dimensions of the breakdown as well as discuss the phenomenon in a larger narrative.

Laura Pugno (IT) (b. 1975) practice focuses on challenging traditional vision by analyzing how humans establish their relationship with the natural environment. Through photographs, videos and sculptures, Laura is investigating the sociological and cultural factors which shape the feelings and emotions people experience in everyday life as well as influence their perception of the world. The artist’s intent is to create works that offer an alternative perspective of reality, emphasizing influences and providing an escapefrom culturally determined rules.

During the residency, Laura will be developing a project Mis_Love investigating  the association between nature – namely indoor plants – and the world of design. How does one take care of a plant? How much love does it need? The actions on the plants will be performed in the landscape surrounding Nida Art Colony. The process will be photographed and included in an archive that will become a handbook on Mis_Love, containing information on plants and places, and user’s guide.

Ai Sugiura (JP) (b. 1982) studied Sculpture at Musashino Art University in Japan.

The artist’s work is mainly an assemblage of everyday materials, found objects, and images in a daily life. Through her works, Ai Sigiura reconsiders and reconstructs familiar sights and things from different viewpoints and creates different objects. The artist tries to create a new relation by combining familiar matters, as forms and colours, with the original meanings and functions.At the residency Ai Sugiura will look for nostalgic elements, ponder the background of newly found things and will try to find new ways of archiving those elements into her artwork.She is planning to create images for weaving the things and ideas that were handed down from the past to the future in our daily life taking into consideration the relationship between things that will be encountered.