The artist run initiative Verpėjos is inviting creators from different fields to an artistic residency in the Varėna area (South Lithuania) from July to October 2022 to rethink the relationship between contemporary humans and the environment in the epoch of the Anthropocene.
The residency is designed to focus on the slow process of artistic research and the long-term value for the participating creators and audience. The organisers will propose the artists reside in one of the farmhouses in the village of Kabeliai, that is a Lithuanian traditional small cabin with a courtyard, garden, and various outbuildings. An authentic rural experience and the opportunity to work closely with the local people and neighbors will be provided. The selected artists will also have access to various outbuildings and outdoor spaces on the farm for their creative process. One of the barns will house sheep, which will need to be let out to graze, kept from wandering into other people’s territories, and given water.
At the end of the residency, artists are not expected to have completed their art projects, but rather to have gained experiences, communities, and discoveries that will help them in their further creative work. They will be asked to produce text and/or images for the project’s publication and to participate in open days to present their work to the public.
Applications can be submitted until 20 May. More information can be found here.
Verpėjos (The Spinners) is an independent art initiative founded in 2017 that aims to explore and rethink the themes of traditional rural lifestyle and nature conservation, to empower discourse on processes and changes both locally and globally. The residency program is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.
