Neringa Forest Architecture Residency
- Published on Thursday, 10 September 2020 11:38
Storage of 25m3 of timber cut in Neringa during 2019-2020 logging season. Photo by Julija Navarskaitė.
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Neringa Forest Architecture The research/residency programme called Neringa Forest Architecture is focused on the features of both the human-made and natural forest: its ecological rhythms, organic and industrial material cycles, timber-based material development, socio-political discourses, history, forestry and policy-making; art, design and architecture.
NAC is located on the Curonian Spit, a 98km-long sand dune shared by Lithuania and Russia, separating the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here, forests planted over the span of 200 years formed an environment dedicated to managing natural geomorphological processes. In this human-made space, actions were and continue to be planned, executed and represented by a range of state and civic agencies that translate natural processes into data, tables, systems, and regulations. The Neringa Forest Architecture analyses this cultural landscape as a case study in the context of Baltic and Scandinavian forests by tracing the relationship between ecological, recreational, representational, and industrial narratives, and by presenting the possibility to perceive the forest as an infrastructure formed by a diverse civic consensus. In this residency, the trees of the Curonian forest and all of its distinct eco-socio-political features are literally, and figuratively, the foundational material of the programme.
As discussions surrounding human intervention and activities in the natural landscape gain increasing significance, NAC’s new program positions the forests of the Curonian Spit as a foundation from which residents can analyze the broader scope of forest-as-infrastructure in the Nordic-Baltic region. This research/residency program is an attempt to align local spatial practices with an international network of creative practitioners while redefining the Neringa Forest as a conceptually expansive space: a space of, and for, thinking and producing.
Participants |
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Adomas Zubė, journalist
Agata Marzecova, researcher ecology, photography Aistė Ambrazevičiūtė, architect and artist Andrej Polukord, artist Anita Zariņa, geographer Anne Hovad Fischer, film editor Antanas Gerlikas, artist Anni Laakso, sculptor Antti Auvinen, architect colectivo amasijo, artists collective Dovilė Lapinskaitė, artist Emma Holmberg, ecologist Gabrielė Grigorjeva, spatial practitioner and researcher |
Jan Lütjohann, artist
Jurgis Paškevičius, artist Kathryn Wood, artist Laura Grabštienė, artist Mantas Petraitis, architect Milda Laužikaitė, artist Monika Janulevičiūtė, artist and designer Nina Svensson, artist Phillipp von Hase, artist and carpenter Signe Pelne, spatial researcher Riitta (Nyyskä) Nykänen, environmental educator, forest activist Sallamari Rantala, artist and researcher Toms Kokins, architect |
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The first issue of the magazine as a Journal launched by Lithuanian Culture Institute in 2021 was guest edited by NFA co-curators Jurga Daubaraitė and Jonas Žukauskas. Titled Forest as a Journal, this issue includes contributions by many participants of the NFA Residency: Aistė Ambrazevičiūtė, Laura Garbštienė, Gabrielė Grigorjeva, Monika Janulevičiūtė, Agata Marzecova, Signe Pelne, Mantas Petraitis.
Please refer to NAC website and social media announcements on updates on the residency programme and future open calls. |
| The project is co-funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture, NERINGA Lithuanian Capital of Culture 2021 and Nordic Culture Point. |