Kintai.Kitaip is a residency program dedicated to experimental sound practices, running since 2022. In its first editions, the residency each year welcomed two invited sound artists from Lithuania and abroad. This year, the project has grown – expanding with partners from across the Baltic region. For the first time, the residency hosted artists selected through an open call: Kris Kuldkepp, Agita Reke, and J Mo‘ong Santoso Pribadi.
The two-week-long residency invites its participants to explore the local soundscape along with the natural and cultural aspects embedded within it, to reflect on its transformations. The individual and open-ended interpretations of these encounters become the foundation for the sound compositions and performances presented at the end-of-the-residency events.
From 2022 to 2024, each residency programme explored a different thematic thread through specific approaches to sound technology. In 2022, Marija Rasa Kudabaitė and Audrius Šimkūnas focused on extremely quiet environments, working with sounds that are barely, or not at all, perceptible to the human ear. The 2023 edition turned to unconventional sound engineering, with Simonas Nekrošius and Kamilė Dambrauskaitė constructing “DIY sound objects” and presenting performances with them in Kintai. Last summer, the residency shifted to the opposite end of the technological spectrum, digital sound and coding, featuring works by sound artists Elif Gülin Soğuksu and Adomas Palekas.
This year’s residency happens to bring together themes explored in previous editions. Sound artist Kris Kuldkepp investigates the electromagnetic and shortwave radio signals present in Kintai, alongside recordings from extremely quiet sites in the wilderness. Meanwhile, J Mo‘ong Santoso Pribadi builds instruments, performing together with site-specific field recordings, while Latvian artist Agita Reke creates multichannel compositions using field recordings and coding technology.
Considerably various sound practices reunites under a shared foundation of the residency, based on composer Pauline Oliveros’ concept of “sonic awareness”: the ability to consciously focus attention upon environment and musical sound, to practice continual alertness to sound and an inclination to be always listening. An open interpretation of the interplay between “attention and awareness” becomes the starting point for the participants’ creative process.
The results of the residency will be presented in two events:
on Saturday, August 23 at 19:00 in the Great Church of Kintai, and
on Tuesday, August 26 at 19:30 in the Lithuanian Composers’ Union Hall in Vilnius.
Kris Kuldkepp is an experimental musician and performance artist originally from Estonia, currently based in Hamburg, Germany. Kris’ work investigates the perception, materiality, and behavior of sound, emphasizing its resonance within physical spaces. With a background in classical and early music performance on the double bass, Kris now works with experimental practices that incorporate improvisation, deep listening, and a focus on singular sounds and noise. The resulting sonic works are characterized by the interplay of string basses, modular synthesizers, found objects, field recordings, and live electronics, realized through live performances, installations, and music theater works.
Since 2019, Kris has collaborated closely with music theater director Lisa Pottstock to develop innovative and thought-provoking performative music theater pieces that critically engage with contemporary political discourses. Recent projects include “industrial Mechthild” at Theater Magdeburg and “Der Geheimnisvoller Koffer von Herrn Benjamin” at Tübingen’s State Theater. Other collaborators include experimental musician Jeff Surak, the Ensemble of Estonian Electronic Music Society, and MOLJEBKA PVLSE.
Alongside artistic work, Kris is part of the curatorial team for Hörbar, an association for experimental music in Hamburg, and starting September 2025, will assume an academic position at the Sound Arts and Creative Music Technology Lab at Musikhochschule Lübeck. As a research fellow at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Immersive Audio Lab (2019-2023), Kris has given lectures and workshops across Europe and the US on topics such as interactive technology, spatial sound, and free improvisation.
https://www.kristinkuldkepp.net/ [1]
https://kris-kuldkepp.bandcamp.com/ [2]
Agita Reke is a Latvian electroacoustic music composer and a sound artist. Her artistic practice encompasses fixed media, live performances, multimedia performances, and sound installations. As a composer, she has been collaborating with acoustic, contemporary music ensembles, like L’Esemble Multilatérale (Paris), Fractales (Belgium), Names (Salzburg),
Ensemble for New Music Tallinn (Tallinn), Latvian Radio choir (Riga), and Sinfonietta Riga (Riga). As a performer, she has been a member of an electroacoustic experimental project/group Systema Solaris (Riga), and the electronic duo flowerpower. Participant in the Venice Biennale Musica College as an experimental performer in 2021. Performed in festivals “Skaņu Mežs”, “Tallinn Music Week – Skaņu Mežs & Üle Heli”, “Ung Nordisk Musik Reykjavík”, “Afekt (Tartu)”.
J. “Mo’ong” Santoso Pribadi is an experimental music composer and instrument builder. Born in Bangkok and raised in Java – Indonesia, he is currently based in Vilnius, Lithuania. His work focuses on decolonial music, seeking to reconnect with and reinterpret the sounds of the Archipelago—”Indonesia”. Mo’ong’s practice is driven by a profound desire to reshape cultural expressions, honoring their origins while adapting them to modern contexts.
Mo’ong’s work spans diverse genres and multidisciplinary collaborations, including modern dance, theater, contemporary puppet theater, installation art, and performance art. In 2015, he launched the Limbah Berbunyi project, composing music from instruments made of found objects and waste materials. He also initiated the Sound-Making Objects project, pushing the boundaries of unconventional materials in music-making. As part of the experimental duo Raja Kirik [4] with musician/composer Yennu Ariendra, Mo’ong explores the war of narratives during the Dutch occupation of Indonesia. His latest project, Takkak Takkak [5], a collaboration with Shigeru Ishihara (DJ Scotch Egg [6]), merges experimental sounds and cross-cultural influences into genre-defying performances
Website : www.moongpribadi.com [7]
The “Kintai.Kitaip” sound art residency programme is organized by Kintai Arts, in partnership with the Lithuanian Music Information Centre, ASTE. Art, Science, Technology, Education (Latvia), and MTÜ Mooste KülalisStuudio (Estonia)
Kintai Arts is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.
The “Kintai.Kitaip” residency program is sponsored by UAB “Megasonus”.