Neringa Forest Architecture Tours 2021

Tours with architect and educator Anton Shramkov

 

Forest as a Space 

In this tour Anton Shramkov explores the spatiality of the forest. The forest is understood here as a space with its laws and spatial compositions with immediate influence on us

Sunday, 26 December

Saturday, 19 June 2021.

 

Places for Meeting and Dialogue

In this tour Anton Shramkov discusses the typology of existing meeting places and spaces of public interest in Neringa. The tour focuses on the aspects of how and why we use public spaces and how we exploit them.

Saturday, 26 June 2021

 

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.

 

 

Tours with naturalists Jonė Pivoraitė and Ainis Pivoras

 

Who Built a Tree? 

For this tour, Jonė and Ainis Pivorai invite to watch how the sun, wind, rain, plants, mushrooms, worms or their intestinal bacteria design around humans. The tour takes participants to the forest in order to find out what the human role is in this group of nature architects, how to co-operate, admire and learn from these creatures.

Saturday, 13 November

 

Interpretation of plants and what that says about humans

In this tour Jonė Pivoraitė guides a short walk through the forest, followed by a discussion of plants and the human connection to them. Pivoraitė shares insights on the recognition and reflection of vegetation in daily life and written language, and what the interpretation and view of plants can tell about humans. During the tour, space for reflection and sharing of personal experiences and realizations is provided to explore the relation between flora, fauna and the human, worldview and language.

Saturday, 11 December

 

Siblings Jonė and Ainis Pivorai from Rūgšteliškis in Utena county, are a team of an ecologist and biologist respectively. They work in meadows and forests of natural science, ecology, craft and education.

 

 

Tours with forester Gediminas Virgilijus Dikšas

 

Walk in the Ancient Forest

This tour explores the old woods of Nida- this unique part of the Curonian landscape. During the tour long-time forester Gediminas Virgilijus Dikšas takes participants to the surrounding area of Angis Hill and the Witch Pit to walk around and learn more about the ancient forest.

Sunday, 5 December

Saturday, 20 November

 

The Parnidis Mysteries Tour 

Gediminas Virgilijus Dikšas tells about the shift and growth of Nida forests around the Parnidis dune and its surroundings.

Saturday, 12 June 2021

 

Gediminas Virgilijus Dikšas was born in Biržai and grew up in Klaipėda. After graduating from Kaunas Agriculture Academy, he was assigned to work in Nida. Dikšas has been living in Nida for almost 50 years now - since the 1970s.

 

 

Tours with landscape specialist Gražina Žemaitienė

 

Hike to Giedružė dune 

During this hike Gražina Žemaitienė takes participants to Giedružė Dune, a naturally formed viewing tower on the Curonian Spit. As the dune is not reachable by any touristic walkways Žemaitienė focuses the tour on the paths, their history and use for recreation in Neringa. 

Saturday, 27 November 

 

Parnidis landscape reserve 

The tour focuses on one of the Great Dunes in Nida. Nida is currently surrounded by three dunes ‒ Angis, Urbas and Parnidis. During the tour Žemaitienė discusses the stories and myths behind the Parnidis dune, why it still exists as a sand dune and hasn’t been planted as the rest of the dunes, whether we really improve the landscape with outdoor sculptures, and the five hills settlement.

Saturday, 5 June 2021 

 

Born in Šilutė, Žemaitienė studied at Kaunas University of Technology and moved to Neringa in 1989. Žemaitienė’s areas of work encompass the planning and realisation of landscape projects in the Curonian Spit and recreational objects in the forest as well as urban areas, and preventive work for visitors of the Curonian Spit.

 

 

Shepherds’ Residency Tours

 

Walk with the Curonian Spit National Park directory landscape specialist Aušra Feser

Aušra Feser leads to Grobštas reserve, where the Skudde sheep flock spent the summer of 2021 in Nida and where the valuable grey and moving dune areas are located. 

The directorate of the Curonian Spit National Park aims to revive grazing in order to preserve and restore open habitats. That becomes possible with various initiatives and efforts. The Curonian Spit meadows are expected to regain their gaudy bloom again. Meadows that are blooming and diverse in plants are also home to a variety of insects like butterflies and moths. If we do not take care of the fields, they would soon be overgrown by trees. Grazing is the oldest and most natural way to help restore meadows and forest fields.

Saturday, 30 October

 

 

Silent walk with artist Dovilė Lapinskaitė 

Dovilė Lapinskaitė:

“I would like to invite you for a little wander in the forest to have a moment for daydreaming. It is up to you to decide if you want to be led or be leading.  Is it a collective experience or individual journey? What is your role in this forest ecosystem? Are you a tourist? Observer? Shepherd? Symbiont? Let’s get lost in the woods of our own thoughts and reflect on the ongoing processes of how landscape, space, and nature are shaped and designed through our own involvement, which most of the time feels like a subconscious act.

After a walk we would like you to join us for an afternoon of music and spoken word. Let’s create our own subtle ecosystem, where communal storytelling and sharing of our personal reflections, experiences and discoveries from the walk (or evoked by it) can happen. We are not only the symbionts, we are the storytellers, archivists of memories and visionaries of the better future. Let’s daydream together.”

Saturday, 23 October

 

 

Picnic with colectivo amasijo

colectivo amasijo:

“The forest, the sheep and their relationship taught us how to interweave with the territory in a relation of exchange and horizontality. We learnt that where clearings are, herbs that heal us are born easily. Where there is humidity, we can collect fresh leaves or where bushes are, there is fruit to pick up.

We want to create a celebration, in a picnic display, to share these encounters with you. Reveal how our walks, guided by non-human agents, is a way of knowing the territory we travel. Also to make visible what the food-herbs, fruits, leaves, animals, and microorganisms- tell us about this “sand carpet between lagoon and sea”.”

Saturday, 16 October

 

 

1dikas

Walk in the old woods with Gediminas Virgilus Dikšas. Photo by Milda Laužikaitė.

4sita

Walk in the old woods with Gediminas Virgilus Dikšas. Photo by Milda Laužikaitė.

3sita

Walk in the old woods with Gediminas Virgilus Dikšas. Photo by Milda Laužikaitė.

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Who Built a Tree? Tour with Jonė and Ainis Pivorai. Photo by Milda Laužikaitė.

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Who Built a Tree? Tour with Jonė and Ainis Pivorai. Photo by Milda Laužikaitė.

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Who Built a Tree? Tour with Jonė and Ainis Pivorai. Photo by Milda Laužikaitė.

29Photo by Giedrius Globys

Walk with the Curonian Spit National Park directory landscape specialist Aušra Feser. Photo by Giedrius Globys.
24Photo by Giedrius Globys
Walk with the Curonian Spit National Park directory landscape specialist Aušra Feser. Photo by Giedrius Globys.

NFA Tour 2021.10.23 by Luka Jefremovaite 2

Silent walk with Dovilė Lapinskaitė. Photo by Liuka Jefremovaitė.

NFA Tour 2021.10.23 by Luka Jefremovaite 13

Silent walk with Dovilė Lapinskaitė. Photo by Liuka Jefremovaitė.

NFA Tour 2021.10.23 by Luka Jefremovaite 7

Silent walk with Dovilė Lapinskaitė. Photo by Liuka Jefremovaitė.

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Forest walk and picnic with colectivo amasijo. Photo by Milda Laužikaitė.

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Forest walk and picnic with colectivo amasijo. Photo by Milda Laužikaitė.

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Forest walk and picnic with colectivo amasijo. Photo by Milda Laužikaitė.