Neringa Forest Architecture Tours in February
- Published on Thursday, 02 February 2023 15:47
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Gražina Banienė tour ‘What Curonian Spit pines murmur?’ Photo by Jonas Žukauskas.
NAC continues winter season Neringa Forest Architecture tours with foresters, landscape planners, biologists, artists, architects, and designers. Every Saturday, 12 pm professionals from various fields lead the tours in Curonian Spit, sharing their experience and knowledge about its history, landscape, features, and imagined future of infrastructure.
Tours are free of charge and open to everyone. Registration is mandatory via email
Upcoming tours: Saturday, 25 February, 12 pm
Neringa small-scale architecture: benches
The public spaces tour presents different ways in wich small-scale architecture shapes us, our habits, movement trajectories, and landscapes. Small architectural elements fill our daily lives with forms, building social and spatial relationships. Anton Šramkov focuses on these aspects as he leads the tour along the pathways with benches.
Meeting point: Nida Solar Clock-Calendar, Parnidis dune, Nida
Anton Shramkov was born in Moscow and graduated in architecture from the Moscow Institute of Architecture. He worked as a lecturer in Russia and Sweden. He has been living in Preila since 2007.
Saturday, 18 February, 12 pm
Forest as a Space
In this tour Anton Shramkov explores the spatiality of the forest. The forest is understood as a place with its features and spatial compositions and immediate influence on humans.
Meeting point: Neringa Sport School, Lotmiškio str. 2, Nida Anton Shramkov was born in Moscow and graduated in architecture from the Moscow Institute of Architecture. He worked as a lecturer in Russia and Sweden. He has been living in Preila since 2007. Saturday, 11 February, 12 pm.
Greenkeepers of Nida dunes
In the Curonian Spit, the dunes were forested to tame the desertification. This is a product of the hard labour and dedication of people. The Nida Greenkeepers' old cemetery is separate from the other burial grounds. During the tour, Gražina Žemaitienė answers the questions. Who were the planters of dunes in Nida and why are their tombs located separately from the rest of Nida's inhabitants? Where did they lived? What does Urbo hill represent today and what was its significance in the past?
Meeting point: Bus stop next to Nida Greenkeepers' old cemetery (G. D. Kuverto str. 16, Nida) Gražina Žemaitienė, born in Šilutė, studied at Kaunas University of Technology, moved to Neringa in 1989. Gražina's areas of work include the development and implementation of landscape projects in the Curonian Spit, planning of recreational facilities both on forest land and in urbanised areas, and preventive maintenance work for visitors to the Curonian Spit.
Saturday, 4 February, 12 pm
Architecture of Curonian Spit pinelands
The Curonian Spit's greatest assets are sand, sea, wind, forest, and people. During the tour, through the eyes of the forester Gražina Banienė the pinelands and mountain pine forests are explored. The woodlands of the Spit are heavily influenced by human activity, as more than 90% of the pine forests are planted. Along the walk, the messages left more than a century ago by the planters of the Curonian Spit pinelands will be read and forest structure analyzed.
Meeting point: Parking lot next to monumental pillar to Liudvikas Rėza, Pervalka
Gražina Banienė was born in Seiniai, Poland and continued her studies at Lithuanian University of agriculture. Applying her knowledge of silviculture in practice, she works as a forestry specialist at Valstybinė miškų urėdija. Every spring, Gražina organises the National forest planting festival, inviting the public to get to know the forestry profession by planting trees.
In collaboration with Nida Culture and Tourism information Center “Agila” and Curonian Spit National Park NAC is launching a series of free Neringa Forest Architecture tours.
As discussions surrounding human intervention and activities in the natural landscape gain increasing significance, NAC is hosting a new research and residency programme called Neringa Forest Architecture. The project positions the Curonian forest as an experimental case study; an opportunity for participants to analyze the broader scope of forest-as-infrastructure including topics such as growth, transformation, policy making, management, technology, art and design in the Baltic-Scandinavian region.
As a part of the programme, NAC is facilitating a series of guided tours. Using the onsite woodshed as a literal and figurative departure point (the shed houses Neringa timber and is itself an object and location made using local wood), this series of walking expeditions is designed to cultivate inquiry and discussion about the unique juncture between ecological, political/managerial, recreational and industrial narratives associated with the Curonian woods, landscape and the built environment.
Guided by forestry and national park experts, and architects living and working in the Curonian Spit in dialogue with pupils from Nida Gymnasium, Neringa Forest Architecture Tours facilitate conversation as well as exploration and education. The excursions, while an opportunity to observe the unique qualities of the Neringa Forest, are also a chance to engage in critical dialogue with professionals and pupils while traversing shifting geographical landscapes. Discussions will focus on the Curonian forest and its distinct eco-socio-political features including the complex legal and managerial processes behind its picturesque façade: How were the forests of Neringa planted? Why does the Neringa Forest and its pathways look this way? Why do trees need to be cut down? How does the local (human and animal) community participate in the making of Neringa Forest? What state and civic agencies and institutions are responsible in shaping it? What architecture is envisaged but currently not built? What do people in Neringa desire most in terms of infrastructure and why can it not be realised?
The excursions are free of charge but with a limited number of places available. Registration is mandatory by email
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Neringa Forest Architecture is co-funded by NERINGA Lithuanian Capital of Culture 2021, Lithuanian Council for Culture and Nordic Culture Point.  |