Baltic Doctoral Gathering 2020

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Photo by Vytautas Michelkevičius.  
 
 
  

Practice as Art and Research

 

August 25–30, 2020

 

Nida Art Colony (NAC) of Vilnius Academy of Arts
E. A. Jonušo str. 3
LT-93127 Nida
Lithuania

 

As due to the pandemic the international Nida Doctoral School was postponed to 2021, in August 2020 a KUNO PhD seminar was organised with the participation of 13 PhD candidates in art, design and art history from five academies from the Baltic States: 

 
Vilnius Academy of Arts
Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy
Latvian Art Academy
Liepaja University
Estonian Academy of Arts

This year it is a smaller scale gathering with peer-to-peer exchange and sharing your practices both as art and as research. Some tutors have already participated in previous NDS and will bring learnings both from them and from their PhD trajectories, exposition and defence procedures. Around dozen participants will have 45 min dedicated time to present their practice and get collective feedback as well as get some  individual  consultation time from their peers. Doctoral candidates are asked to present their practice both as research and art or (art) writing. We also ask to treat your presentation not as a formal powerpoint-no-interaction slide show but to make an exposition with an artefact you have brought and use the available white or green cube spaces in Nida.

Research community is an important element in every doctoral studies and we aim to make international and unbiased working environment. Nida Art Colony as a venue and surrounding site is a perfect place for community building and in depth-exchanges at a seminar table or in the artist studio, during collective cooking and dining, discussions by the fire or in sauna, swimming or taking a walk in the forest or dunes with no goal.

One of the goals of this gathering is to share and exchange various research cultures and methodologies around Nordic-Baltic region. We have noticed over time that the differences could be crucial and one could learn a lot from each other. Moreover the duality of practice as art and research needs more discussions. When and how artist & writer practice can be treated as research and how to avoid doing a double dissertation?

Tutors of the gathering were the twelve participating doctoral students themselves as well as artists who are recent practice-based doctors: 
Dr Akvilė Anglickaitė (Vilnius Academy of Arts)
Dr Varvara Guljajeva (Estonian Academy of Arts) 
Dr Lina Michelkevičė (Art Research Institute of Vilnius Academy of Arts)
Dr Darius Žiūra (Vilnius Academy of Arts)

Moderator and commissioner of the gathering: 
Assoc. prof. dr. Vytautas Michelkevičius, Head of Doctoral Programme in Fine Art at Vilnius Academy of Arts
Guest speaker
Dr Georgios Papadopoulos (Athens School of Art, Creator Doctus Network) 
 
Students: 

Ieva Baltrėnaitė (Vilnius Academy of Arts)

Miglė Bereikaitė (Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy)

Rita-Legcilina- Broka (Latvian Art Academy)

Sirja-Liisa Eelma (Estonian Academy of Arts)

Marta Frejūtė (Vilnius Academy of Arts)

Barbora Gediminaitė (Vilnius Academy of Arts)

Evelina Januškaitė (Vilnius Academy of Arts)

Karolina Jašinskaitė (Vilnius Academy of Arts)

Valentinas Klimašauskas (Vilnius Academy of Arts)

Darja Popolitova (Estonian Academy of Arts)

Milda Sokolovaitė (Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy)

Gundega Strautmane (Liepaja University)

Simona Žemaitytė (Vilnius Academy of Arts)