2025
ANDRIUS ARUTIUNIAN
Andrius Arutiunian (g. 1991) – an artist and composer of Armenian-Lithuanian origin who works with hybrid forms of listening, exploring esoteric and vernacular histories and contemporary cosmologies.
In his work he often experiments with temporality and resonance and uses alternative methods of world-making. Exploring hypnotic and enigmatic forms, Arutiunian rethinks concepts of deep time, political and sonic resistance and disappearance in his installations, sculptures, films and performances.
In 2022 Arutiunian took part in the 59th Venice Biennale representing Armenia with the solo exhibition „Gharīb“, and also held solo exhibitions at the Lithuanian Artists’ Association art space “Medūza” in Vilnius, and at the Magdeburg Museum of Art.
The artist has taken part in the 14th Shanghai, 15th Gwangju and 17th Lyon Biennials and the 15th Baltic Triennial. He has presented his work at various international art institutions: the Centre Pompidou in Paris, MHKA in Antwerp, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Stroom in The Hague, the PinchukArtCentre in Kyiv, Survival Kit 13 in Riga and FACT in Liverpool.
Photo by Claudio Fleitas.
JANINA SABALIAUSKAITĖ
Janina Sabaliauskaitė (g. 1991 m.) – is a photographer and independent curator living and working between the United Kingdom and Lithuania. Her work is intimate and feminist, exploring the body, queer relationships, and themes of identity, sexuality and disability.
The artist works with analogue photography and queer feminist archives, and also creates her own. She is a co-creator of the LGBTQI+ magazine published by the Vilnius queer festival “Kreivės”, co-organises “Sapfo Fest”, an independent queer feminist festival in Lithuania, and teaches analogue photography at “The New Bridge Project”, UK. She is also a co-founder of the Lithuanian Photography Art Society.
Solo exhibitions: “Sending Love”, Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland, UK, 2022; “Trust”, Drifts gallery, Vilnius, LT, 2023; “Love Diaries”, “Hear Queer” archive, Vilnius, LT, 2024; “Pleasure”, Radvilos Palace Museum of Art, Vilnius, LT, 2025.
During the residency the artist created a series of photographs “Flirting with Nature”, made for the first Klaipėda Biennial exhibition.
AGNĖ JOKŠĖ
Agnė Jokšė (g. 1993) – is a Vilnius-based artist who combines video works, text, performance and language research in their practice. Drawing on autoethnography and narratives of collective memory, Jokšė examines themes of love, intimacy, friendship and queer experience. In Jokšė’s work, the voice acts as an affective, bodily medium that lends the works intimacy. Their works have been presented at „Centre Pompidou“, „Palais de Tokyo“, „Kunsthalle Münster“, KINDL, Šiuolaikinio meno centre Vilniuje, GIBCA, „e-flux screening room“ and elsewhere.
A reading performance created during the residency was presented at the first Klaipėda Biennial. Agnė Jokšė’s new text-based performance is an experiential journey inspired by the artist’s relationship with the LGBTQIA+ community of Western Lithuania and its stories. The non-binary language in which this text is written is an important programmatic tool and aim of Jokšė’s work. The artist developed this language inspired by the Samogitian dialect.
RAIMUNDAS MALAŠAUSKAS
Raimundas Malašauskas, growing up in the capital of Soviet Lithuania, dreamed of becoming the head chef of a transatlantic ship, but chose instead to study art history and theory at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. He was particularly interested in the 16th-century Mannerist era, but ultimately wrote art criticism of the 1970s and 1980s.
From 1995 to 2006 Raimundas Malašauskas worked as an exhibition curator at the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius, and later began to live, travel and work abroad – as he himself puts it, driven by an “intellectual wanderlust”, he has spent time in Bangkok, Brussels, Delhi, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Paris, San Francisco, Vilnius and other places. During his travels he always loved to write — both as an exhibition curator and as a participant in everyday life.
During the residency a lecture was held at the KCCC Exhibition Hall “My Methods”.
MALKA SULTAN
Malka Sultan (g. 2001) – is an interdisciplinary artist working in Vilnius and Mumbai. Using performance, culinary and sound art, she explores themes of exclusion, identity and migration.
Drawing on an autofictional and biographical style, the artist reflects on personal and collective experiences in constantly shifting cultural contexts. She has conceived and realised both collaborative and individual projects, including the collective performative dinner “Palestinian Sufra” (2024) and the immersive food-and-sound performance “Night Picnic” (2025). Sultan’s work is dominated by community rituals that link historical memory and contemporary social dynamics, and by the politics of food and space.
The concept of the performative dinner “Sunset Every Two Years”, created during the residency, was realised during the first Klaipėda Biennial. This immersive dinner-performance experience creates a temporary ecosystem in which transit and transformation become both the central themes and the method itself. Guests share food served on tree leaves and take part in a subtle choreography of touch, taste, sound and space.
VIKTOR TIMOFEEV
Viktor Timofeev (g. 1984) – a Latvian-born artist living in New York. In 2008 he graduated from Hunter College in New York, and in 2017 from the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam. In his work he explores forms of representation and systems of control and structure. He has taken part in solo and group exhibitions in London, Vienna, Prague, Paris, Amsterdam and elsewhere.
The work Viktor Timofeev created during the residency is a site-specific two-channel projection with sound, “A Window Without a Building”. A cityscape painted on the wall imitates a view as if seen through the window of a neighbouring building. Matter and non-matter, exterior and interior swap places here. Frozen rays of light glide through the architectural void, a clock turns its hands backwards, and its digits, made from 32 Cyrillic letters, turn into a dystopian, hieroglyphic form of writing. Inversion and figurative performativity are the cornerstone elements of the work. The strict structure of materiality here becomes a starting point for spontaneity and multiplicity of meaning.
The work was exhibited at Klaipėda railway station during the first Klaipėda Biennial.
Photo: Anna Dave
2024
1 January – 1 February. Auridas Gajauskas “A Study of the Southern Part of the City of Klaipėda”
Auridas Gajauskas is an independent curator and humanities scholar. During the residency he studied the city and its various districts and took part in meetings with Klaipėda artists and creators. A meeting was organised at which he presented his study of the southern part of Klaipėda. Based on the research carried out in Klaipėda, the article “On Social and Cultural Exclusion in the Southern Part of the City of Klaipėda. An Outline of Symmetrical Anthropology”. was later published. It is available online here.
14 February – 3 March. Kristiana Karklina “The Life Cycle of an Art Festival”, “All My Dogs”
Kristiana Karklina is a curator and musician based in Riga. She is one of the content and programme curators of the Riga Sculpture Quadrennial.
During the residency she gave a talk titled “The Life Cycle and Production of an Art Festival” and presented the audiovisual performance “All My Dogs” at the KCCC Exhibition Hall.
16 April – 19 May. Tata Frenkel ,,Grand Synth‘‘
Tata Frenkel is an artist-researcher and educator from Vilnius. A theremin player, she works in the fields of electroacoustics, experimental radio and cultural education. In 2023 she won the main prize of the JCDecaux Award.
During the residency, Tata Frenkel and Jan Glöckner invited audiences to a live broadcast of an episode of the radio show “Grand Synth”, featuring a live experimental electronic concert by KCCC residents Tata Frenkel and Jan Glöckner.
3 March – 23 March. Justina Semčenkaitė “Wearable Protest: What Is Fashion Activism”
J. Semčenkaitė is a clothing designer, a lecturer in Sustainable Fashion at the Vilnius Academy of Arts and a fashion critic, currently developing the theme of fashion activism in her design doctorate.
During the KCCC residency she gave a lecture titled WEARABLE PROTEST: WHAT IS FASHION ACTIVISM. The creative workshop that followed allowed participants not only to try on the activist garment in theory but also to contribute to its creative process.
4–27 June. Austėja Platūkytė “SeaLeather”
Austėja Platūkytė is a creative researcher working across the disciplines of materials design and science, technology and craft. Austėja is a pioneer of materials design and of the Zero Waste philosophy in Lithuania, founder of the Biomaterials Library — the first and only collection of sustainable materials in the Baltic States — and the creator and designer of the SEAWEED FOAM project.
During the art residency at the Klaipėda Culture Communication Centre (KCCC), Austėja met researchers from the Marine Research Institute of Klaipėda University and, using seaweed washed ashore that she collected during field research, created the SeaLeather installation, reflecting the problem of eutrophication in the Baltic Sea.
28 June – 8 July and 28 July – 7 August. Laima Kreivytė Participation in the project “Phenomenon M”
Laima Kreivytė has curated over 50 exhibitions in Lithuania and abroad, including the Baltic Pavilion at the 3rd Prague Biennial, the Lithuanian Pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale and the permanent 20th–21st-century exhibition of the National Gallery of Art. She is a laureate of the Government Culture and Art Prize (2018). During the residency an artistic study of Klaipėda was carried out, resulting in a performance shown as part of the project “Phenomenon M”.
9–27 July. Karina Kazlauskaitė Participation in the international art triennial “Unpredictable Futures. Water”
A selected resident of the 2nd international art triennial “Unpredictable Futures. Water”. The artist creates conceptual jewellery, original art objects and installations, incorporating photography, drawing, light effects and video performance. Her work explores the oppositions of nature and culture, premonitions of ecological threats, reflections on and searches for identity, and a critique of power and force. During the residency the artist created video performances and objects from items found in Klaipėda.
9–31 August. Emilija Škarnulytė Collaboration with researchers from the Marine Research Institute of Klaipėda University
Working in the field of interdisciplinary art, the artist experiments with the possibilities of the video medium, balancing between documentary and fiction; for filming she often chooses places, objects and subjects that demand great effort and courage, thereby opening up to the viewer a space previously unseen, unexperienced and unconsidered. During the residency the artist collaborated with researchers from the Marine Research Institute of Klaipėda University and searched archival material for her future work.
6 September – 29 September. Juan Duarte. Project and exhibition “Augury”, an experimental music concert in Klaipėda
Juan Duarte (born in Mexico) is an artist-researcher in the field of environmental sound, living in Finland. His central research concerns the relationship between the atmosphere, the act of listening and the concept of deep tuning. His mission is not limited to conventional, exceptional or deterministic ways of understanding the relationship between nature and technology. Duarte’s research revolves around exploring the symbiotic relationship between nature and technology through environmental sound. The artist’s works present artefacts that resonate with atmospheric energy. In his approach he proposes various technologies designed to adapt to nature. In 2024 Juan Duarte took part in artist residencies at the Titanik gallery (Finland) and the Nida Art Colony (Lithuania). He exhibited his project “Augury” at the Klaipėda Culture Communication Center and also presented an experimental music concert during the residency.
1–26 October. Patricija Gilytė ”POSTFOAM SYSTEM’s SECRETS‘‘
Patricija Gilytė is an artist living and working in Munich who raises questions about the limits of exploiting the environment and nature, using light and flexible materials and experimenting with the latest digital technologies. She is the founder of the FESTLAND_ALLIANCE platform for local artistic research and the initiator of the cooperative project FESTLAND, funded by the foundation of the Bavarian Ministry of Science and the Arts. During the residency the artist invited audiences to the creative workshop POSTFOAM SYSTEM’s SECRETS. Rezidencinės nemigos popietė.
29 October – 30 November. Indrė Liškauskaitė Artistic doctoral research “Human Behaviour”, creative workshop “Time-Planning Instructions”.
Indrė Liškauskaitė is an artist and curator living and working in Vilnius, Lithuania. She holds a BA in Painting and an MA in Textiles and is currently pursuing a doctorate in fine art at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. In her practice, Liškauskaitė works with various media — drawing, writing, sound and video. Systems of notation, maps and drawn diagrams are an important part of her creative process and are often incorporated into her installations. Rezidencijos metu ji toliau plėtojo doktorantūros studijų projektą Human Behaviour, taip pat menininkė pakvietė fotografijos studentus į kūrybines dirbtuves Laiko planavimo instrukcija.
2023
2 January – 28 February. Aaron McLaughlin “Still Making Art. Klaipėda”
Aaron McLaughlin is an artist and curator from Ireland working across various interdisciplinary fields — text writing, sculpture, performance art and more. During the residency the curator staged one of the first institutionally supported exhibitions, “Still Making Art. Klaipėda”, a continuation of the original platform model.
10–31 October. Aleksandra Jakubczak “A Study of the Baltic Sea Region”
Aleksandra is an artist working in the field of performing arts, between theatre, installation and performance. In her work she explores the ecology of gifts and ephemeral communities. The KCCC residency is one of the first stages of her new project “A Study of the Baltic Sea Region”.
9 May – 4 June. Marie and Bram “Sound Diplomacy”
Marien and Bram – — a musician and a permaculturalist — have for many years devoted most of their attention to sound. Their work moves between the visual arts, field sound recordings, experimental music and ecology. At the KCCC the artists presented the sound installation “Sound Diplomacy” , sukurtą rezidencijos metu.
23–28 April; 2–9 May. Meryem Bayram “Spatial Performances”
Meryem Bayram is a multidisciplinary artist, stage designer and curator. Her works include installations, performances and scenography. During the residency she staged her performance, which could be seen at the KCCC Exhibition Hall.
22 June – 6 July. Gemma Hansson Carbone. Collective walk “To Die Like a Country”
Gemma H. Carbone is a Swedish-Italian artist and director. During the residency she presented the project “TO DIE LIKE A COUNTRY”, inviting Klaipėda residents and visitors on a collective walk through the city’s historical and geographical landscapes.
28 August – 11 September. Mary Marinopoulou “Absorb Ensemble” / “Collective Identification”
Mary Marinopoulou explores the sense of self in relation to place: physical, geographical and mental states of mind, as well as imagined and memory spaces. During the residency the artist invited audiences to the creative workshop “Absorb Ensemble” / “Collective Identification”.
25 September – 8 October. Tereza Nováková “The Flutter of a Butterfly’s Wings”
Tereza Nováková is an independent contemporary art curator and critic from the Czech Republic. The main theme of her work is art in public space and the transformation of spaces for cultural purposes. During the residency the artist held a workshop in the Sculpture Park titled “The Flutter of a Butterfly’s Wings”, focusing on placemaking, fostering sensitivity to the environment and exploring the meaning of art in public space.
6–18 June. Monika Dirsytė “Creative Performance Workshops”
Monika Dirsytė is one of the most prominent performance artists in Lithuania, most often working at the crossroads of installation and performance. The artist invited city residents to performance workshops where participants could try out the performance genre in practice. The workshops were based on the methodology of the artist’s own performance “The Ball”.
31 July – 5 August. Domas Rinius “Analogue Photography Workshops”
Domas Rinius is an artist and photographer working with analogue photography. During the residency the artist invited people to a week-long workshop where residents could see how an analogue darkroom works, and everyone had the chance to be photographed with the old photographic technology of vintage bellows cameras.
17–22 April; 14–27 August. Robertas Narkus “Gut Feeling”
R. Narkus is a Vilnius-based artist working with various media, including performance, photography, video, collage and advanced technologies. During the residency the artist developed ideas from the project “Gut Feeling”, presented at the Lithuanian National Pavilion of the 59th Venice Art Biennale in 2022. Klaipėda — like Venice — sits by the sea. Narkus’s works, having travelled from Italy, were shown in the port city specially adapted to new spaces and the context of the Lithuanian coast.