Lithuanian Artists’ Association, in cooperation with the Centre Of Contemporary Art In Toruń (Poland) and the Academy of the Senses organization from Reykjavík (Iceland) started implementing an international project Common Ground/ComG (it began in 2020 and will continue until 2023) which aimed at considering and contemporizing these issues via artistic means, thus contributing to positive changes and awareness raising. The topics of the project are focused on a social discourse: challenges of migration, interactions between different cultures, integration of ethnic minorities and local communities, mutual understanding while creating a favourable microclimate for all. In the face of ecological, economic, environmental and forced displacement crises, the “common ground” must be rethought in order to reflect the changed situation in this ever-changing world.
The project included residencies, exhibitions and accompanying activities in Reykjavik, Toruń and Palanga. Its participants consisted of 18 artists, 3 researchers from each country, 6 cultural field managers and a large creative team of participating institutions. During the residencies, artistic-social research and open direct dialogue were developed, which became material for the project participants to refer to with works of art. These studies are presented in the form of a group exhibition at the [Up]rooting exhibition in the Arka Gallery in Vilnius which is about relocation as a processual event. About the fact that location is not necessarily defined by unchanging location coordinates, but rather functions as a place of existing state and experience. After all, what a homey place refers to is everyone’s autonomous and individual experience, which can be transferred to another place each time and still not lose that sense of homeyness. The term uprooting can mean both settling in (to put down roots) and moving away (moving elsewhere) as well as displacement (the forced moving away) and at the same time, the repetition of these sensations in any part of the world.
The exhibition invites you to think about the search for a place to establish yourself, about the fact that the concept of land is both the physical place that a person occupies (Land), and the relationship with the land that is important to Lithuanian consciousness, i.e. the soil in which something is sown, in which something sprouts, grows (Ground), and the earth as the human planet, which reminds us that each unique medium of life is also a global entity and an interdependent organism (the word plantae – the Latin name for the plant kingdom – is an anagram of the word Planet!).
The sustainable dialogue between the artists of the three countries, which was raised primarily as one of the goals of the project, finally showed that the main goal and the achieved result are connections between people, nature, environment and ideas. It is a communication that creates coexistence, an opportunity to communicate, travel, discuss, get to know and experience space and time. It is a place not only around us, but also in our consciousness, dedicated to protecting these connections as well as cultivating them. It’s as if you were constantly replanting, in other words – rooting – plants that have grown beyond the limits of their space. This exhibition is not about a place but about its creation here and now based on connections.
Event program:
On Friday, December 16, Lithuanian Artists’ Association invites you to the international mobility project Common Ground event program at Aušros Vartų St. 7.
The program starts at 3 p.m. in the 2nd hall of the In Vino Cafe, where an open discussion-seminar Common Ground. Common Roots will take place. The session is moderated by Dr. Skaidra Trilupaitytė, the discussion will be held in English. Duration: 1 hour.
The video documentation exhibition of the Common Ground project will be opened at 5 p.m. at the Lithuanian Artists’ Association’s project space (Vokiečių St. 4/2).
5:45 p.m.: A vocal performance by project participant Sylwia Gorak (PL) will take place in the Arka Gallery.
6 p.m.: The official opening of the [Up]rooting exhibition in the Arka Gallery.
7 p.m.: Reflective Dance with the Earth performance by Marija Griniuk (LT/DK).
7:30 p.m.: The evening will continue with musical opuses.
Organizers of the project: Lithuanian Artists’ Association, Centre of Contemporary Art In Toruń Znaki Czasu, Academy of the Senses organization.
Organizer of the exhibition: Lithuanian Artists’ Association’s Arka Gallery.
Artists: Andrii Dostliev, Sylwia Gorak, Maciej Kwietnicki, Ala Savashevich, Wiola Ujazdowska, Joanna Małecka, Páll Haukur Björnsson, Sindri Leifsson, Pétur Magnússon, Anna Sigríður Sigurjónsdóttir, Ragnhildur von Weisshappel, Kristín Reynisdóttir, Tomas Andrijauskas, Andrius Grigalaitis, Marija Griniuk, Solveiga Gutautė, Živilė Minkutė, Julija Pociūtė.
Art director of the project: Anna Eyjólfsdóttir.
Project managers: Evelina Januškaitė, Paulina Kuhn, Ragnhildur Stefánsdóttir.
Coordinators in Lithuania: Eglė Ganda Bogdanienė, Monika Valatkaitė.
Exhibition architect: Darius Baliukevičius.
Exhibition design: Asta Ostrovskaja.
Sponsors: Kūrybiška Europa program, Lithuanian Council for Culture.
Information partner: Institute of Polish Culture in Lithuania.
The exhibition at the Lithuanian Artists’ Association’s Arka Gallery will run until January 18, 2023.
