Rural Matters. Season Closing at the National Gallery of Art

Rural Matters is a public programme organised by the culture and education space Akee, inviting visitors to take a closer look at the changing rural areas, the rhythm and pace of life, and the role of creativity in cultivated landscapes. The four-part programme presented in August and September invites us to turn our attention to this rural bustle and explore its multiple layers. On 25 September the fourth and the last event of this year’s programme will take place at the National Gallery of Art of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art.

Cultivated fields and towering factory giants alongside meadows and forests bear witness to diverse passage of time. Compared to the pace of city life, the countryside often appears as a serene and natural space creating an impression of purity – a place to slow down. However, as one of the programme participants, Fernando García-Dory, points out, this idealised image of the countryside conceals complexity of such areas: behind the mask of a tranquil oasis lies an intense rhythm of labour, infrastructural tensions, dependence on city’s economy, and cycles of nature.

25 SEPTEMBER

6:30 PM AN APPROACH TO THE RURAL FROM ECO-SOCIALLY ENGAGED ARTS – LECTURE BY FERNANDO GARCIA-DORY.

Fernando García-Dory’s work engages the relationship between culture and nature, as manifested in multiple contexts, from landscape and the rural, to desires and expectations in relation to identity, crisis, utopia and social change. Interested in the harmonic complexity of biological forms and processes, his work addresses connections and cooperation, from microorganisms to social systems, and from traditional art languages like drawing to collaborative agro-ecological projects and actions.

Fernando García-Dory studied Fine Arts and Rural Sociology and is preparing his PhD on Art and Agroecology.  In 2009 he started the collaborative platform INLAND-Campo Adentro, where up to now he is focusing most of his practice. Today INLAND works as a para-institution to open space for land-based collaborations, economies and communities-of-practice. INLAND’s activities include study groups, publications, training schools for shepherds, peasant leaders and craftsmen, newly commissioned projects by artists and farmers, involvement in local politics and solidarity networks. INLAND Europa publishes books, produces shows and makes cheese with traditional local techniques. It also advises as consultant for the European Union Commission on the use of art for rural development policies and is recovering an abandoned village for collective artistic and agricultural production. 

The lecture will delve into different questions related to art in rural areas, drawing on various projects as case studies. It will create a space to share visions, challenges, and experiences on how we can build land-based cultural projects that go beyond instrumentalisation and representation, while rethinking the dynamics and economics of the cultural field.

7:45 CULTURE IN CHANGING TERRITORIES: WHEN THE FIELD OF ART IS A MEADOW – DISCUSSION BETWEEN FERNANDO GARCIA-DORY AND VILIUS VAITIEKŪNAS. MODERATED BY MONIKA KALINAUSKAITĖ.

Vilius Vaitiekūnas is a curator and cultural practitioner, founder of the Aleknaičiai Culture and Education Space (Akee). He holds a BA in Visual Arts from Minerva Academy in the Netherlands, has completed a pre-Master’s programme in Art and Cognition at the University of Groningen, and is currently studying for a master’s degree at Aalto University in Helsinki, where he explores how traditional ways of transmitting knowledge are changing in contemporary culture within rural contexts. Vilius has also participated in Rupert’s Alternative Education Programme and the Inland Academy. Presently, Vilius is the head of educational programmes at the Stasys Museum and collaborates with the cultural complex SODAS 2123 and the Architecture Fund as a curator.

Monika Kalinauskaitė is a writer and curator based in Vilnius. She holds an MA in Curatorial Practice from the University of Bergen, Norway, and frequently publishes her texts in cultural press, exhibitions catalogues, and other publications, including the anthology Mirror Mirror (published in 2017 by The Baltic Notebooks of Anthony Blunt). She is currently working as a curator at the Radvila Palace Museum of Art.

21:00 CLOSING OF THE AKEE SEASON AT THE ART AND MUSIC SPACE DRAUGŲ VARDAI (Konstitucijos pr. 12, Vilnius). MUSIC BY HILDA.

Documentation by Dominyka Gurskaitė:

Curator: Vilius Vaitiekūnas
Graphic designer: Kornelija Žalpytė
Communication coordinator: Aistė Marija Stankevičiūtė
Translator: Ignė Smilingytė
Photographers: Dominyka Gurskaitė and Paulius Bogavičius

Project partners: National Gallery of Art of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Confederacy of Villages, Inland
Media partner: Artnews.lt
Sponsors: MB Lairent, UAB Medicus LT
Project funded by: Lithuanian Council for Culture