Teaching period: February 27 - March 4, 2023
Location: Nida Art Colony (VDA), Lithuania
Teacher(s):
Anastasia Sosunova
ECTS: 3 ECTS
Number of available places for KUNO students: 10
Level: BA and MA
Course description: A seminar and multiple activities like reading group sessions, workshops, excursions and site visits led by artist Anastasia Sosunova, curator and NAC director Egija Inzule and invited guest lecturers are aimed at exploring the meshings of sacred and secular in contemporary politics and culture. From occult economies in late Soviet period to corporate spiritualism in the neoliberal capitalism, from national cults to everyday magical thinking, students will be introduced to these topics through the lens of anthropology, sociology, feminism and critical as well as postcolonial theory.
The participants will be encouraged not only to explore sacralization patterns in their immediate environments (e.g. social taboos, public spaces; authority structures) and critically address them but also employ this knowledge in creating counter-relics of their own and reclaiming the ritualistic and myth-making practices while resisting dominant narratives.
The seminar is based on Anastasia Sosunova’s research methods and topics that emerge in her artist book Express Method and various art projects since 2018. By inviting guest researchers and writers, the seminar is aimed at acquainting participants with the tools that help to work across disciplines and fields, paying homage to academic research and modern critical thought while applying first hand experience and autoethnography exploring rites of a secular age.
The Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts and the Curonian Spit will partly act as a case study of the seminar’s investigations through various activities. However, the themes will extend far outside of Nida and Lithuania, touching upon the riddles of the Baltic region and contemporary society.
Anastasia Sosunova is a visual artist based in Vilnius. Sosunova’s multidisciplinary practice, combining video, installation, graphics and sculpture, grows from personal histories and their entanglements within broader cultural, economical and spiritual structures. Through a process of distortion and the interweaving of elements belonging to old mythologies, hybrid entities and the surveillance society, Sosunova creates alternative forms of ‘contemporary folklore’. Spanning lifestyle concepts to pillars of belief, these new folklores are at once a play with notions of home and belonging, a questioning of existence and coexistence, and a critical view on structures of power and the psychology of collectivity. Her work serves as a proposition for new ways of living by rules, ethics, codes and agreements between beings.
Application deadline: 13th of February, 2023
How to apply: Candidates should apply by sending one single pdf (1-2 pages) with CV and a 200-word motivation letter outlining how your interest pairs with the course’s focus to the course tutor.
Additional information:
The workshop will take place at the Nida Art Colony of the Vilnius Academy of Arts, E. A. Jonušo St. 3, Neringa LT-93127, Lithuania.
The teaching period starts on Monday morning (February 27) and ends on Friday evening (March 3). Arrival on Sunday, February 26 and Departure on Saturday, March 4. Travel, accommodation, and meals are to be paid by the participants.
Accommodation prices: a room with shared bathroom costs 16€ / person / night or a room with private bathroom 24€ / person / night. Rooms are shared by 2-4 students. Shared and self-funded cooking in the group will be planned for specific days as part of the study process.
Financial Support by KUNO:
Travel support between countries: 330 € (except 660 € to/from Iceland)
Subsistence: 250 € -1st week (5-7 days)
In case of any questions please contact egija.inzule@nidacolony.lt
