from sand to sea, curonian forest in between

This entry contains a variety of material documenting my two month residency at the Nida Art Colony on the western coast of Lithuania. The colony was opened in spring of 2011 as a branch of the Vilnius Academy of Art, which purchased the original building in the early 1990s, but invested recently in a completely reconstructed facility. The new building houses five residency studios for visiting artists and an array of guest rooms, kitchens and conference rooms to accommodate a variety of events, workshops and symposia.

For the focus of this residency I proposed the following:

sound – subject / object – site

This two month residency concentrates on sound and the signification resulting from the merging of material objects, affects the elements and positioning within the landscape. By listening in to this process we expand the connections to our environment by taking the role of wanderers, seekers, collectors and instigators. Daily field excursions around the Curonian Split involves phonographic studies, short sound actions and temporary installations that become the basic frames by which to listen and document. The collected materials will be edited and composed into an audio/visual film along with an exhibit containing the physical objects. Collaborations were welcome to open this working format into a continual creative dialogue between objects, spaces and the local environment.

Spring 2014 update: I have returned to the Curonian Spit for a second period of 9 days of recording/filming. From the material gathered during the initial residency, I decided to make a ‘sound film’, but wanted to visit during a different season. nearly 2.5 years later I was able to do this and now will begin the editing phase. My aim is to complete the final edit of the film in late 2014 / early 2015 for a film festival premiere.

gallery of objects and interventions

several colleagues came for short visits to collaborate, namely Yiorgis Sakellariou, Evelyn Müürsepp, Max Shentalevs, and Andrius Rugys.

From December 2-4 I gave a sound workshop for students from VMU in Kaunas. Thanks to Tautvydas and the Colony for coordinating this. The b&w photos are from Eglou Baltruvais.

Excerpts of 2 sound exercises:

exercise – open narrative

exercise – word association

This video is meant for the workshop students to illustrate how different type of microphones sound

changing light, seaside and lagoon of the Curonian Split

surrounding landscapes of the Curonian Split

In addition to all of this, I produced six episodes of a weekly radio show entitled the “Sound Seed Transmissions” on the local radio station Neringa FM. You can listen to all the shows here.