Still open call: interpreting modernism through design and visual arts

Still open call: interpreting modernism through design and visual arts

Kaunas modernist heritage in architecture is core to the program of Kaunas 2022, European Capital of Culture. This unique legacy dating from the times when the city served as temporary Lithuanian capital, is also highlighted as part of the UNESCO Design cities network and the current application of Kaunas to the UNESCO World Heritage List. Kaunas 2022 thus commissioned a variety of projects around the interpretation of modernist architecture so as to build a common narrative around the historical significance, social experience and contemporaneity of this heritage in the European context. This narrative, supported by a wide range of initiatives by local and foreign artists, designers and activists, is placing the emphasis on peoples’ own experiences of those landmark buildings, also paying attention to more vernacular traits and interpretation practices.

As part of those initiatives, Kaunas 2022 commissioned a collective residence devoted to interpreting modernism through design and visual arts to Kolektiv Cité Radieuse, a curatorial group based at UNESCO-listed Le Corbusier Housing Unit in Marseille. Kolektiv Cité Radieuse invited four European designers to come to Kaunas and share their success stories and insights in making modernist heritage part of the popular culture through graphic design, textile design, photography and other multidisciplinary practices.

Interwar and post-war modernist architecture is no longer a topic for specialists but has become part of the collective memory and vibrant urban social fabrics in a number of places, from Tel Aviv to Rotterdam, Kyiv or Warsaw. To explore local interpretations of modernist heritage, we invite up to 24 designers, visual artists and architecture practitioners from Kaunas and Lithuania to attend this collective residence and get inspired. Whether you are an advanced student or a professional working in graphic design, product and textile design, interior design, visual arts or architecture with a taste for production-oriented projects and a true interest for Kaunas modernist heritage, please fill in your application!

Selected candidates will be invited to attend the program of the 3 days residence scheduled in October 2021 with our guest practitioners. They will receive master classes on how to meaningfully translate modernist heritage into contemporary graphic design, product design, photography and visual arts and meet public interest. Along with these inspirational practices from Czech Republic, France, Poland and Ukraine, they will receive a comprehensive brief about what makes Kaunas modernism distinctive, and an overview of the initiatives devoted to interpreting modernism with and for people living in modernist buildings. Finally, they will be coached through co-design workshops to fine-tune their own, personal design or visual interpretation, and be invited to submit their prototypes by early December 2021.

Prototypes will be featured in a group exhibition for the launch of Kaunas 2022 on January 22^nd 2022, and up to four projects will be selected by an international jury to be produced in limited series and showcased throughout the European Capital of Culture year. By prototypes, we intend printable high-resolution posters, 3D models in various material such as plastic, ceramics, porcelains, glass, 3D printed objects, large-dimension pieces of textile, etc.

Creative workshops will be held in English.

REGISTRATION FORM: https://forms.gle/WFN4FxrVVShSNqmUA

MORE INFO: https://modernizmasateiciai.lt/en/open-call-interpreting-modernism-through-design-and-visual-arts/