Inherited games. Open call for members of the Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association

Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association (LIAA) together with Akee, invites members of LIAA to submit ideas for a 4-day student education program.

“Akee” is a space designed for rural children’s education, which operated as a school from 1937 to 2000. It was active during four different periods of ideologies (interwar Lithuania, Nazi Germany, Soviet occupation, and finally the restored independence) and their educational systems, whose material legacy and changes are still observed in the remained teaching materials and children’s drawings and on the school walls. The new adult generations, changing and adapting inherited educational systems and seeking the most suitable ways to ensure the continuity of their cultures and communities in the future, offer children new learning rules and spaces.

Meanwhile, children, driven by evolutionary curiosity, become acquainted with a new and unfamiliar world and learn how to act within it through play. Children play and reinvent any proposed learning and game rules, regardless of who created them: on screens, where virtual stars are awarded for completing game tasks well; in safe modular swings in new residential quarters; or in “children’s rooms” in Western European refugee centers, where children are integrated into a new cultural environments through play. Games and their rules, not created by children themselves, are often less interesting and relevant to them and do not go beyond the boundaries of situations created by adults. In contrast, the ways in which children create and pass on games, ways of exploring and being together from generation to generation in multi-storey courtyards, school corridors and dining rooms testify to children’s natural curiosity and their ability to create and adapt to any conditions.

In this context of constant change in educational systems and play environments, we invite artists and researchers to participate in the developing new experiential and educational methods following Akee inspired theme “Inherited Games” . By proposing ideas for the day camp program, we invite you to take into account the idea of inherited games and the natural ability of children to play and “reshape” existing conditions, and to explore the circumstances of their creation, choices encoded within their plays.

Through an open call, we will select two artists who will be invited to create and implement the day camp program together with the project curator, Vilius Vaitiekūnas.

Project conditions:

– Possible dates for the camp: 19-22 June, 26-29 June or 21-24 August. Duration of one day of camp: from 10 am to 4 pm.
– Expected age group: 8-10 years or 11-15 years.
– During the programme, the artists will be assisted by Simona Čemoškaitė, a local teacher with an artistic background.
– If necessary, the selected artists will have the opportunity to stay at Akee.
– Fee per artist: €500 including taxes
– Participants will be covered for accommodation, meals, travel and tools for the educational activities

The application form includes:
– a description of the educational programme (no longer than one A4 sheet)
– a preliminary estimate for the implementation of the educational activities
– a free-form CV and portfolio.

In the application form you are also invited to indicate with which age group of students you would like to implement the programme and which dates of the camp would be most suitable for you.
Applications are invited by 7 May (inclusive) to info@letmekoo.lt with the subject line ‘Paveldimi zaidimai. First name Last name”. The selected designers of the future day camp programme will be announced by 20 May.