23-29th August
Nida Doctoral School 2026 brought 16 doctoral candidates and 7 tutors from 9 art schools across Europe to the Lithuanian sea-side. Organized by the Doctoral department of Vilnius Academy of Arts in a collaboration with Nida Art Colony, it gave opportunities for the participants to explore unique environments, to make new connections, learn and advance in their personal research. With the aim of expanding horizons of experimental educational development by intersecting with a diversity of disciplines and experiences the goal of Nida Doctoral School was to provide time, space and conceptual framework for participants to gain an insight into their field of research as well as to broaden and diversify their outlook and methodological tools.
Throughout the week doctoral candidates as well as tutors shared their experiences and research interests with the help of Pecha Kucha exercise of sharing 20 slides, each for 20 seconds as well as in informal conversations. The programme also featured input from the professionals that provided opportunities for practice:
Dr. Vytautas Michelkevičius provided Exercise of Collective scripted walk in several groups to contemplate what is a gift and what is a trap in the doctoral studies and to express their feelings through a creative act. Ending it on a group discussion and a reflection of the walk.
Dr. Irina Gheorghe curated a workshop of Staging Artistic Investigations: Performative Presentations in Research where doctoral candidates were able to learn in theory and in practice.
Dr. Mika Elo gave a lecture on Impulse that highlighted some theoretical issues related to questions of evidence in artistic research. The lecture was followed by a workshop where participants were invited to discuss their own strategies of evidencing in small groups and to compile key points of this discussion in a collective diagram.
The scripted workshops were supplemented by collective exercises of writing and advancing in their thesis, informal time of sharing knowledge and experiences and time to explore surroundings and other activities. Furthermore each doctoral candidate had a possibility to have a one to one consultations with their selected tutors to receive valuable insights from different professionals.
Participants also took a collective olfactory walk provided by a researcher in residency Dovilė Džervutė Laurinkienė where they explored different places of Nida in an evening setting.
Partners
In 2026 NDS is joined and co-funded by nine partnering PhD in Practice programmes:
University of Arts Helsinki
Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy
Vilnius Academy of Arts
The Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb
Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA)
University of the Arts London
Gothernburg University
Academy of Fine Arts Prague
University of Applied Arts Vienna (Angewandte)
Programme curator dr. Vytautas Michelkevičius
Tutors
Dr. Mika Elo
Dr. Olga Lapina
Dr. Vytautas Michelkevičius
Dr. Lina Michelkevičė
Dr. Alison Green
Dr. Irina Gheorghe
Dr. Miya Yoshida
Participants
Arja Kärkkäinen (University of the Arts Helsinki)
Antti Turkko (University of the Arts Helsinki)
Dominykas Vaitiekūnas (Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy)
Dovilė Džervutė-Laurinkienė (Vilnius Academy of Arts)
Justė Tarvydė (Vilnius Academy of Arts)
Dainius Bendikas (Vilnius Academy of Arts)
Eglė Počiuipaitė (Vilnius Academy of Arts)
Ivana Bajcer (The Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb)
Karolin Poska (Estonian Academy of the Arts (EKA))
Maria Andrews (University of the Arts London)
Tim Stephens (University of the Arts London)
Emiliano Battista (Gothenburg University)
Sanskriti Chattopadhyay (Gothenburg University)
Hana Chmelikova (Academy of Fine Arts Prague)
Marie Reichel (University of Applied Arts Vienna (Angewandte))
Carrick Bell (University of Applied Arts Vienna (Angewandte))
Nida Doctoral School (NDS) comprises an intensive one-week programme for DFA and PhD candidates in visual and performing arts, design, architecture and spatial practices, media, the humanities and social sciences.
