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Kaunas Modernist Architecture-inspired Film to Debut in Canada

Directed by Aideen Barry, “Folds/Pleats”, presenting the modernist architecture of Kaunas, Lithuania and dedicated to the year of European Capital of Culture Year of Culture, is starting its festival journey. On April 10, the film will be screened for the first time in Canada at The Architecture + Design Film Festival (A+DFF) in Winnipeg.

The annual film event showcases critically acclaimed films focusing on the importance of architecture and design in everyday life. The festival presents a wide range of design-oriented topics from architecture and the city to graphic and product design.

It was the year 2019 when the Kaunas 2022 team decided to make sense of the modernist architecture awaiting UNESCO recognition in a unique film. The renowned Irish artist Aideen Barry, the winner of the prestigious Golden Fleece Award, whose work is exhibited in museums, contemporary art centres and private galleries worldwide, was invited to implement the idea.

The film was made through an unusual process. The artist’s creative practice is based on community involvement: the plot is based on the stories told by the citizens, and the residents of Kaunas become characters in the film. The surrealistic “Folds/Pleats” combines the city’s heritage, history, and its people’s fictional novels.

The title of the architectural film is a metaphor for the recurring elements in interwar architecture and the creative process itself: the plot is folded from thousands of photographs. Stories fold between stories, buildings between buildings. The viewers, together with the characters, peek into the interiors of the buildings, marvel at the typical rounded windows of Kaunas and the elegant staircase doors, and gaze at the ceiling as if lying on a carpet with a cigar smouldering in between his fingers.

“With the whole creative team, we waited long and anxiously to see which international festival would host the first screening. It is incredible that the magical story of Kaunas Modernism is travelling so far away, to another continent, to Winnipeg in Canada. We are thrilled,” says Viltė Migonytė-Petrulienė, the Modernism for the Future programme curator.

Link to the trailer

Lithuanian audiences will be able to see the architecture film in cinemas later this year. The first screening is scheduled for 21 September 2022 in the place where the film was born, Kaunas, at the newly renovated historical Romuva Cinema. It will then travel to cinemas across Lithuania.

The film was initiated and supported by the Kaunas - European Capital of Culture 2022 programme Modernism for the Future.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGgDVpe00vk

Photo author Martynas Plepys

by Sandra

The European Capital of Culture Forum to Adress the Legacy of Kaunas 2022 and the Preservation of Free Europe

As spring is gathering pace, the most dynamic season of the Kaunas 2022 programme is upon us. However, the year of the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) is drawing to a close with each passing day.

What should the Kaunas city and Kaunas region expect after 2022? Will the cultural life continue in the same rhythm? What can we do today to ensure the continuity of communities’ and artists’ initiatives? These and other questions will be raised and answered in discussions and informal conversations at the fifth European Capital of Culture Forum, scheduled for 19 May this year. The theme of this year’s event is “Legacy”.

This year’s European Capital of Culture Forum will occur during a very intense cultural programme and will mark the weekend of “Santaka” (Confluence), the second major event of the Contemporary Kaunas Myth trilogy. As every year, the Forum’s main aim is to raise the professionalism and vigour of the cultural sector, reminding each other how culture contributes to the development of cities and regions.

The international event, which started as one of the initial events by the team of Kaunas 2022, has over the years become an essential platform and opportunity for past, present and future ECoC teams and representatives of cultural institutions operating at the European level to meet. And, of course for cultural operators, artists, businesses, researchers, event participants - those without whom neither the Forum nor the whole ECoC programme would be valid.

“The European Capital of Culture project was planned for five years ahead, as a continuous learning and creative process. The Forum has been feeding the project and the cultural community with visions and ideas that we drew from other Capitals of Culture, and more and more from the local cultural field over time. Today, we are halfway through the Capital of Culture year and as the project reaches the finish line, the question is: what next? What vision will we have at the end of this year? What will remain after the project ends? To this end, the Forum will look at the experiences of other European Capitals of Culture, discuss the impact and sustainability of the Kaunas - European Capital of Culture project, as well as how to preserve the project's strongest asset - the active co-creation of communities and the cultural network,” says Ana Kočegarova-Maj, Head of Programme of Kaunas 2022 and curator of the European Capital of Culture Forum.

Kočegarova-Maj hopes that, as every year, the Forum will provide participants with an experience of fellowship and an opportunity to be part of a wide circle of cultural players:  “Without help and struggle, the best thing we can do in the face of war is to stay calm and do our job, building a resilient society and strong ties between them. That is why I am particularly pleased that the live circle of participants will be joined by close colleagues from the Lviv Institute for Cultural Strategy, who are the purest example of cultural activism and community mobilisation.“

Immie Jonkmann from Leeuwarden 2018 (The Netherlands), Beatriz Gracia, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool and Associate Director of the Centre for Cultural Property (UK), among others, have already been confirmed as participants in the European Capital of Culture forum.

The most pressing topic on the minds of professionals in all fields at the moment is the ongoing war in Ukraine. It is a topic that raises the difficult question: how do we preserve a free Europe? That is why a special session of the Forum will be dedicated to the war. A conversation with Yulia Khomchyn, Member of the Lviv City Council, Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art and Head of the Lviv Institute for Cultural Strategy, will focus on the latest developments and how Ukraine can be assisted.

Agata Etmanowicz (President of Impact Foundation, Poland), already well known to many people in the cultural field of Kaunas, will moderate a session on the long-term impact of the capacity building programme and audience development. She is positive that 2022 is (just) a stop on the way, not a final destination: “We are going to summarise the Audience Development Programme for Kaunas 2022 with all its ups and downs and through different perspectives. The storytellers will be organisers, individual participants, organisations and institutions. There will also be a chance to exchange experiences with Rijeka 2020. To conclude, we will also look at the scenarios for the future.”

Among the Lithuanian participants is sociologist Tadas Šarūnas, who is currently conducting an external evaluation of Kaunas 2022. “In our quest for socially and economically powerful cultural policies, we seem to have forgotten to observe the very bases on which this power stands. I will be inviting to come back to observations of everyday life. After all, this is a scene where cultural interactions make their healing touch,” he invites.

Roberto Magro (Italy/Spain) and Džiugas Kunsmanas (Lithuania) will be presenting their magical experiences in the Kaunas district. They will reflect on the foreseeable and unpredictable impacts of their artistic work in the communities of Linksmakalnis, Mastaičiai, Neveronys, and Bubiai. They describe their experience as “creating territories of lived and imaginary poetry”.

The Forum will also look at the impact of the ECoC - not only the numbers in the reports but also the profound changes and the theme of the future after Kaunas 2022. Questions that make sense to ask now are what results, at the social and cultural level, have been achieved by Kaunas and the other ECoC and what measures can be taken to maintain a sustainable continuity of such impact.

Of course, it is crucial to define the legacy, and the Forum will also allow time for this. There will be an opportunity to discuss the footprints of the Capital of Culture on cultural life - its intensification, new festivals and initiatives, innovative practices, and increased cooperation between institutions. It is also about more culturally active neighbourhoods and districts, more vibrant community contacts, changing and purifying identities of the city and the district, and an altered perception of historical events and heritage. The Forum will also look at the examples of other capitals - what results have been achieved in other cities and what measures have helped prevent the loss of heritage.

The Forum will take place on 19 May at Žalgirio Arena in Kaunas, Lithuania.

Registration: https://forms.gle/TnssBVgio1AeVLf29

Programme: https://forumas.kaunas2022.eu
Photo author Martynas Plepys

by Sandra

OPTIMISMO Festival in Kaunas Aims at Strengthening the Link Between the Urban Past and the Sounds of the Future

OPTIMISMO is a new electronic and experimental music event that will take place in Kaunas, in a former industrial quarter and other sites in the city on 3-5 June 2022. It is presented by Kaunas - European Capital of Culture 2022 and its Modernism for the Future programme, which aims to activate an emotional connection with the past and its monuments that have survived to this day.

How can we talk about positive things when the world around us is turning upside down, ideals are falling apart, meanings are changing, and we can no longer communicate? In the 19th century Bialystok, a melting pot of nations, the Polish-born Litvak Ludwik Lazaris Zamenhof searched for very similar answers. In his environment, conflicts between the ethnic groups living there broke out almost every day - the boy understood early on what happens when people cannot get along because they don’t talk to each other.

It was the idea of Esperanto, created by a man who also lived in Kaunas, that became the springboard for the creation of the city’s new festival OPTIMISMO, where the historical past and industrial heritage interact harmoniously with contemporary experimental and electronic music that is soaked with future. The optimism was shared between the Esperanto linguist and the creators of Kaunas, a city that grew sevenfold before WW2, and the belief in a more prosperous, friendlier future.

Optimism as a way to Move Forward

Kaunas’ fast pace a century ago was driven by the ambition to build a better, more vibrant and exciting future. To build with a fresh and functional modernist approach. Times have changed, and concepts of the present and the future have changed, but optimism is still perhaps the only thing that holds our collective consciousness. The festival organisers were indeed inspired by the cultural phenomenon described extensively by historian Marija Drėmaitė and colleagues in the exhibition and the accompanying book bearing the same name.

OPTIMISMO is a joint creation of two Lithuanian electronic music organisations - Digital Tsunami, which curates international events and the label of the same name, and Ghia, which finds inspiration in the industrial body of Kaunas.

“Writing about music is as difficult as dancing about architecture,” a phrase attributed to many creators, also found a place in the thinking about the OPTIMISMO programme, its setting and the artists who will come to the European Capital of Culture from many countries across Europe and the world, including Lithuania. The musical programme of the event will bring together different experiences and invite one to participate, listen and grow your understanding of sound, space and technological possibilities.

Guests of OPTIMISMO and their urban stories

Every piece of art and its creator is inseparable from a context. Thus the guests of OPTIMISMO are presented to the public not just by short musical biographies but also by their relationship with homelands and other urban contexts.

We are looking forward to discussing the importance and meaning of colonial architectural heritage, namely cinemas, in Angola with Nazar, who returned to his native country only when the 27-year Angolan civil war ended in 2002. The artist’s creative world centres around the extreme violence, injustice and omnipresence of a repressive state during and after the, while exploring hope, resilience and pride in a country torn apart by conflict.

Just as modernist architecture became an optimistic way of life and growth for Kaunas, the new yet temporary capital of reborn Lithuania, after WW1, a similar process took place in the Philippines a couple of decades later, after WW2. In the post-colonial period, the Filipino architects not only took on the pure surfaces and precise forms of modern architecture but infused the structural decisions with national elements. Thus, globally recognised architecture that still bears the national spirit is indeed a common thing between the Philippines and Lithuania.

Interestingly enough, Corin, the Filipina-Australian electronic producer, composer and performer working in performance art, sound design, theatre and club spaces, has become interested in her cultural connections to the Philippines, her mother’s birthplace and the landscape connected to it. “I’ve already begun to hear how it influences my creative output. Over the next year, I hope to produce an entire album which explores this connection”, said Corin in her recent interview with 15questions.

Yet another guest of OPTIMISMO is based in Shanghai. Osheyack is an integral member of the city’s electronic music scene that centres around ALL Club. The venue itself is located in a fascinating area near Changle Lu, a historic road in what was the French Concession between 1849 and 1943. In the 1920s, it was considered a premier residential area of Shanghai. Among new residential buildings also rose shikumen, a local architectural phenomenon – a cultural blend of the elements found in Western architecture with traditional Lower Yangtze architecture and social behaviour.

A half-Polish, half-Malian Parisian who occasionally enjoys Hungarian songs – these and more elements all add to the unique talent that calls himself Bambounou. On top of everything, he has just announced a new EP in the form of a wax candle sculpture of his body. ‘La Sagrada’, the artist says, was inspired by the beauty of La Sagrada Familia’s unfinished architecture in Barcelona, Spain.

Krikor (FR), Nick Klein (US/NL), Black Zone Myth Chant (FR), Animistic Beliefs (NL), and Pandora’s Jukebox (UK) are among the other names already announced in the OPTIMISMO program. More artists are to be revealed soon, as well as another exciting location for the festival.

Follow www.optimismo.eu for up-to-date news, tickets and other information. The design of the website and the visual aesthetics of the festival were also inspired by the modernist heritage of Kaunas. The design department consists of Tadas Bujanauskas and Aistė Ambrazevičiūtė.

by Sandra

A space to create: Kaunas to open a cultural centre empowering Ukrainians to create

As Lithuania is hosting increasingly more people of Ukraine fleeing the atrocities of war, public organizations and individuals are actively contributing to various forms of initiatives for support. One of them is the cultural field, therefore, on Thursday, March 17, “Kaunas 2022”, along with its partners, is inviting visitors to Kaunas Central Post Office where a cultural-creative space “CulturEUkraine”, dedicated to the creators and artists of Ukraine who have chosen Kaunas as their temporary home, will be opened. It is planned that organizations, communities, and other initiatives contributing to the support for the people of Ukraine will gather here.

Cultural support: a possibility to continue the work, a place to create and be visible in Europe

“Currently, all active civil initiatives, NGOs, and public institutions are joining forces and contributing to the safe arrival of Ukrainians, helping them find accommodation and providing them with the necessities. It is like a synergistic mechanism, in which the mission of Kaunas 2022 is to offer a cultural harbor, creative space, and visibility platform for creators from Ukraine,” Head of “Kaunas 2022” Virginija Vitkienė spoke of “CulturEUkraine” idea.

On 17 March the centre “CulturEUkraine” will be opened on the 3rd and 4th floor of Kaunas Central Post Office. It is planned that open spaces will be established here for creation and co-working, there will be zones for art therapy, communication, and spaces for exhibitions.

“We are striving to make this Centre a place where the voices of people of Ukraine and the news of Ukraine are heard across Europe. We hope that the creators who arrive here will be able to continue with their activities by maintaining relations both with the local artists and those who stayed in Ukraine. By providing support, it is important to ensure that their adaptation in our country is as smooth and emotionally easy as possible; therefore, we will create a possibility for them to continue their usual activities and to contribute with their creative solutions to make the war come to an end and to achieve Ukraine’s victory as soon as possible. The Centre “CulturEUkraine” will become a place to meet, communicate, create, relax or contact their relatives. We hope that various cultural partners, artists will settle down in the spaces of the Post Office. We will also contribute to the support in preparing exhibitions, meetings. Culture and creation help to overcome difficulties hence we expect that the project will contribute to the improvement of emotional wellbeing,” V. Vitkienė spoke.

Community support is essential for the establishment of the Cultural Centre 

The organizers are inviting everybody to contribute to the creation of a cosier, more functional space.

“In the processes of creation and development of the “CulturEUkraine” space, the contribution of the business sector is especially important. Therefore we are inviting the representatives of both large and small businesses to help to make the cultural spaces cosier and lay the foundation for the birth of a new community. Of course, the support and involvement in the process of creation of this space of citizens of Kaunas are also very important. Without the energy brought together by the people, without their help, support, and ideas it would be impossible to reach these noble aims, so, the involvement of each person is very important,” one of the organizers of the initiative, “Kaunas 2022” sponsorship manager Irutė Tumaitė said.

The representatives of this creative space emphasize that, currently, the most needed are the items that would help to equip a quality place for creation; and later on, once the project gains momentum, the contribution and support of the society and business could be expressed in other forms, i.e. by organizing activations, educational, well-being activities for the community.

“The most necessary items now are various household appliances – from lamps, lights, heaters, mirrors, furniture for sitting and writing, inventory for children (toys, puzzles) to those used for household chores – brooms, vacuum-cleaners, kitchenware, cutlery, and small appliances,” I. Tumaitė said.

The citizens of Kaunas are invited to bring the items to the premises of Kaunas Central Post Office from 11 March. The items will be accepted at Kaunas Central Post office (located at Laisvės al. 102, Kaunas) daily until 17 March, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. If you have large items, please contact us and we will collect them from your provided location (email for information  [email protected])

An opening ceremony of the Cultural Centre for Ukraine, gathering of the support initiatives and hospitality concert to take place on March 17

On March 17 the creative space “CulturEUkraine” will be officially opened. Organizations and initiatives providing and organizing support for Ukraine will be established on the 3rd floor. Communication, getting information and contact will be possible from 4 to 8 p.m.

The aim of this gathering is to present all the relevant information about the activities that are organized to host the Ukrainians temporarily staying in Kaunas. It is also important to show that we stand together. Visitors will be able to purchase souvenirs, symbols, pieces of art here; a space of “Kaunas 2022” will be open here too.

Both inside the post office and around it, hospitality to Ukrainians will be shown: in the evening, the historical building will be lit by a symbolic combination of blue and yellow, and nearby – at the intersection of Laisvės Alėja and Kanto Street a live concert will be held to support Ukraine and its people.

Photo author Martynas Plepys

by Sandra