WHAT IS THE MAIN IDEA OF THE PROJECT AND WHAT DOES THE PROJECT INCLUDE?

European artists will be invited to discover and remap Vilnius, to record the multiple urban histories and the daily environment they interact with – updating and embellishing the public and popular vision of the city. Participating artists and researchers will be invited to live in apartments in the dormitory suburbs of the city and encouraged to explore its diverse social and physical geographies.

During the 10th Baltic Triennial of International Art, the artists’ experiences will be transformed into contemporary art works: installations, film and video, as well as various artistic actions and media interventions – producing a new complex narrative about Vilnius.

The Triennial will invite about 40 artists and researchers from Lithuania and abroad. They will be housed in apartments in Vilnius’s dormitory suburbs, including: Pilaitė, Šeškinė, Naujininkai and Naujoji Vilnia. Vilnius consists of 21 neighbourhoods, and the organisers expect to locate artists in a number of them, involving municipalities in these international voyages of contemporary art. The artists will engage with representatives of different social and ethnic groups as well as municipal workers (Lithuanian, Russian, Polish, Roma and others). Furthermore, during the period of their residencies, the artists will explain the concept of the Triennial and their work to local residents. These residencies will unfold over a three-month period, and will include an exhibition at the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius (CAC); a two-week programme of events in the different areas of the city; and a publication – an alternative chronicle of the city. Residents and visitors can expect to discover art in various places: backyards of blocks of flats, parks and playgrounds, shops and cafes, railway stations, offices and local cultural centres. And through the multiple contributions of an international team of curators, artists, cultural researchers and city locals, Vilnius will acquire a chronicle of the project that may take the form of a newspaper, magazine, local radio or TV programme.

The project is organised in two phases. It started in summer 2008, when seven artists and five researchers came for an introductory experimental two-week visit in the residential parts of Vilnius. The theoretical and practical feedback of this initial phase will set the terms of the Triennial events in 2009. All the research and artistic projects will be presented in the main project exposition in September–November 2009.

Curators are: Ann Demeester (Director of De Appel, Amsterdam) and Kestutis Kuizinas (Director of CAC).

HOW IS THE PROJECT FINANCED?

It is supported by “Culture Live”, the Office of Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009; Lithuanian Ministry of Culture.