Villa Lituania is a building in Rome that served as an embassy for Lithuania during the interwar period but that was appropriated by the USSR after Lithuania’s occupation. Artists, the recipients of the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts, Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas drew attention to the fact that to this day the building still belongs to Russia by organizing a symbolical pigeon race between Venice and Rome. The project includes architectural model of Villa Lituania and video works, which represents history of ambassadors Lozoraitis’s family, the research of graffities in Rome which protested Lithuania occupation and pigeon breeders’ situation in Lithuania.
The artwork represented Lithuania in the Venice Biennale in 2007 where it received an Honorable Mention by the jury. The project will be reconstructed at MO Museum.
Authors: Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas
Coordinators: Ugnė Paberžytė, Deima Žuklytė-Gasperaitienė
Architects: Jurga Daubaraitė, Jonas Žukauskas, Justinas Dūdėnas
Exhibition installation by: Antanas Gerlikas, Rokas Valiauga, Aistis Kavaliauskas
In coloboration with: Algirdas Baniulis, Eros Carboni, Liučija Čarneckytė, Julija Fomina, Giedrius Ilgūnas, Gorelov Vladimir Albertovitch, Giedrė Jankevičiūtė, Saulius Kubilius, Kęstutis Kuizinas, RIP Kazys Lozoraitis, Lithuanian Pigeons Sport Federation, Sondra Litvaitytė, Petras Mazūras, Gediminas Meiliūnas, Vytas Narbutas, NODE Berlin Oslo, Simon Rees, Julija Reklaitė, Vytautas Sabaliauskas, Gediminas Stoškus, Sandra Straukaitė, Saulius Švirmickas, Dalius Žižys, Sculpture department of Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts, Kazys Lozoraitis‘ family archive, The Office of the Chief Archivist of Lithuania and Archive of LRT.
