Thing-finding

Ieva Kotryna Ski and Ignė Narbutaitė

14.06 – 31.08.2024

Video installation: 
Preila’s Community House
Preilos g. 27, Preila

Video on view: Monday–Sunday, 4pm–1am

Text-based artwork: Various locations around Preila

Plastic garden chairs like lazy sunbathers observe the serene landscape. The sun-heated sand makes the body tingle. A pleasant dizziness leads you into a dream. Suddenly strange sounds disturb the calmness of the lagoon. The mystery of the lost treasure unfolds like in the detective stories from the local library. 

In 1998 Richard Pytch with the help of German television NDR came to Preila to dig for lost treasure that had been hidden in the fish vaults near the lagoon in 1944. The unknown contents of the hidden boxes excited the public imagination and brought back the grim events of the period in which they were hidden.

Thing-finding is an installation by Ieva Kotryna Ski and Ignė Narbutaitė on view in Preila for the duration of the summer and organised by Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts in collaboration with Nida Culture and Tourism Information Centre “Agila”. It offers a first glimpse of the ‘Preila project’ [working title] that dives into mysterious searches for lost treasure in the Curonian lagoon and the carefree state of vacationers in relation to the Curonian Spit’s realities. Ieva Kotryna Ski and Ignė Narbutaitė play with the notion of the urban legend phenomenon and the state of daydreaming when the slightest event becomes a spark for fantasy.

The title for this year’s installation Thing-finding is borrowed from a book “Pippi Longstocking” by Astrid Lingren read a long time ago in childhood and is used here to suggest the idea of looking for all kinds of trumpery whilst strolling along the beach. Through the video that can be viewed from the street through the window of Preila’s Community House and fragments of text displayed on posters around the village, the artists invite viewers to go on a search for missing parts of the story and construct their own narrative.

The project came out of Ieva Kotryna Ski and Ignė Narbutaitė’s personal bond with Preila and was initiated during their residency at Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts in 2022 (within the framework of the Neringa Municipality Scholarship). Following its presentation in Preila, the project will evolve into its final form, where it will be shown at the Pamario Gallery of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Juodkrante, next summer.

Excerpts from articles: 
Lobis Kuršių marių dugne ties Preila? / Janina Bačiliūnaitė // Kauno diena. – ISSN 1392-7639. – 1998, rugpj. 4.
Savaitė Preiloje: visi pavargo laukti / Raimonda  Norkienė – Iliustr. // Klaipėda. – ISSN 1392-558X. – 1998, rugpj. 21.
Ko tikėtis: Gintaro kambario ar Prancūziško vyno? / Klaipėda. – ISSN 1392-558X. – 1998, rugpj. 21.
Preila tapo dar paslaptingesnė : [apie lobio paiešką, Neringa] / Nijolė Koskienė – Iliustr. // Šiaulių kraštas. – ISSN 1648-4010. – 1998, rugpj. 26.
Paskelbta dar viena Preilos lobio versija/ / Aušra Pilaitienė // Lietuvos rytas. – ISSN 1392-2351. – 1998, rugpj. 15.
Bus atnaujintos lobio paieškos / Rūta Skatikaitė – Iliustr. // Vakarų ekspresas. – ISSN 1392-7590. – 1998, rugpj.12.
Lobio paieškos primena civilinės saugos pratybas / Rūta Skatikaitė – Iliustr. // Vakarų ekspresas. – ISSN 1392-7590. – 1998, rugpj. 15.
Preilos lobis slapta išgabentas į užsienį : [apie “Gintaro kambario” paieškas] / Ferdinandas Kauzonas – Iliustr. // Respublika. – ISSN 1392-5873. – 1998, rugs. 5.

Video credits:
Images shot by Ieva Kotryna Ski, Ignė Narbutaitė, Jonas Narbutas
Editing: Ignė Narbutaitė, Ieva Kotryna Ski

Thanks to: Beatričė Mockevičiūtė, Laurynas Skeisgiela, Ona Juciūtė, Paulius Andriuškevičius, Sandra Matulienė, Skaistė Marčienė, Vytautas Narbutas, Vytautas Kazimieras Narbutas

Partners: Nida Culture and Tourism Information Centre “Agila” and Pamario Gallery of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Juodkrante

Funded by: Lithuanian Council for Culture and Neringa Municipality

Graphic design: Nerijus Rimkus
Photo documentation: Laurynas Skeisgiela
Communication: Yana Ustymenko
Installation coordination: Yana Ustymenko
AV installation: Lukas Tarvainis
Translation to Lithuanian and proofreading: Austėja Banytė, Deimantė Česokaitė
English proofreading: Gemma Lloyd

Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts: Anton Shramkov, Asta Jackutė, Dalia Filatova, Dalia Jokūbauskaitė, Egija Inzule, Gabija Naikauskaitė, Lilija Dulkė, Nomeda Bepirštytė, Oksana Kirpanova, Rasa Bliakevič, Tetjana Volosiuk, Valentinas Kuznecovas, Vasilisa Filatova, Yana Ustymenko