King of the Castle: Justin Tyler Tate
- Published on Thursday, 03 April 2014 11:57
Justin Tyler Tate (CA) is THE returning resident of Nida Art Colony: we've lost count, but it might be his third residency period in NAC, though he's also been here during the Symposiums 2013 and 2012, and will be coming to the Symposium 2014. The locals seem to appreciate Justin's social approach to art and still recall both "Lemonade Stand" project in the dunes and last winter's "Tiki-Hut", serving mohito in February to keep you warm when it's -20 outside.
Justin came to the Colony for February month only, hoping to use the ice-scapes for his short video about a contemporary Yeti. But the winter in Nida this year was a real disappointment - meaning only a few days with temperatures below -15 and extremely little snow, thus Yeti ended up dancing in the woods instead of bouncing in the piles of snow (but this would perhaps be our version!).
Anyway, it all ended up with Justin staying throughout March and making several great projects.
The gothic part of NAC community is cheering about the "DIYING FREE" project J.T.T.'s been working on throughout this period. It's a Do-It-Yourself coffin project. You basically download the file, get it cut out of sheets of cardboard and assemble your perfect eco-friendly and really cheap coffin according to the instructions provided. Neat, isn't it? Lovely.
And the intello' part of NAC community is cheering about the "Secret Castle" project, which is both beautiful and useful. It is basically a chess-board, fastened to a table and two seats, installed in a secret location, in the forest. Its location was revealed to the few lucky ones in mid-March, that had participated in the "Secret Castle" chess tournament.
Anyone willing to participate was invited to register for the chess tournament, the participants were then assigned times and places on the map where they'd meet their opponent at a chess board. Each match took place at a different location, which was chosen according to the time of the day and the view at the location at a certain hour. Thus you could, say, have your first match in the woods, and the second one - in the dunes, with the sunset at your side. Or you could start your day early with a chess match at the Curonian lagoon, water whispering by your side, morning sun warming you up.
The Secret Castle was firstly disclosed to the finalists of the tournament, the ones that had their final battle for the head of the king, then - to all of the participants as a special treat for their enthusiasm and engagement.
We believe that over the coming months it'll become a secret meeting place for gamers, chess-players, secret lovers, drunk squirrels, fairies of the forest and ghosts. If you do manage to find it, you can also let Justin (or NAC) know, we're eager to see how it goes.
These days Justin is finalizing his residency by building a mini model of a Strandbeest, which will be presented in the Interformat Symposium in May. Awesome, we're looking forward to it!