Project “Lavkė. Slow and sandy expedition” presentation at SODAS 2123 cultural complex
On 7 December 2021, at 18:00, the art initiative Verpėjos, together with the Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association and SODAS 2123 cultural complex invites you to the presentation of the project “Lavkė. Slow and sandy expedition” at the cultural complex SODAS 2123 (Vitebsko g. 23, Vilnius). The presentation will be attended by the expedition participants who lived in the Kabeliai village school during this summer and autumn – Andrej Polukord, Dovilė Bagdonaitė, Pojūčių teatras (Karolina Žernytė, Šarūnė Pečiukonytė, Saulė Norkutė), Gabrielė Vetkinaitė, Agota Zdanavičiūtė, and Živilė Lukšytė as well as the team of the project curators and coordinators – Laura Garbštienė, Danutė Gambickaitė, Lina Rukevičiūtė, Indrė Liškauskaitė.
The village motor-shops, or “lavkė”, well-known to many, regularly supply the inhabitants of remote villages with essential food products, and the arrival of the lavkė itself is also an opportunity for people to gather and talk. In the “Slow and sandy expedition”, the idea of the travelling lavkė was applied by the artists through collecting materials for their works, creating them, and then presenting the work to the residents of remote areas in the vicinity of Šilų Dzūkija, visiting the villages of Kabeliai, Marcinkonys, Musteika, Piesčiai, Daržinėlės, Šklėriai, Grybaulia, Ašašnykai and elsewhere. The creators were actively consulted by the local people: gatherers of natural goods, farmers on biodynamic farms, botanists, naturalists, ethnographers, beekeepers, herbalists, craftsmen, and public figures.
The expeditions took place in June–October, and the artists who participated resided and traveled on the Šilų Dzūkija routes for 1–2 months. The materials gathered and works created during the expeditions were presented to local residents when travelling on the routes to remote settlements, as well as at the final event in the village of Kabeliai in Varėna district on 30 October 2021.
“Well, it was really a challenging period for me. For the first time, I drove across nearly all of Lithuania in a car I wasn’t entirely sure how to control. Burning firewood for heat was a first for me too. Well water, morning shivers are also really memorable. But, you can get used to practically anything, you can learn how to do everything, and then the beauty of nature, the kindness of people outweighs everything. The sense of community in the countryside left a deep impression. Just a month later, I felt as if I knew everyone and everyone knew me,” remembers the artist Gabrielė Vetkinaitė, who participated in the expeditions. More impressions about Šilų Dzukija will be heard directly from the creators themselves during the presentation of the project in Vilnius.
Date and time of presentation: 7 December 2021, 18:00
Location: SODAS 2123 cultural complex, Vitebsko g. 23, Vilnius (2nd floor event hall)
You need the National Certificate and registration to attend the event. Link to register: https://forms.gle/MYY2tzW2R8jSqhRf6
The expeditions are organised by VšĮ Verpėjos in cooperation with the following partners – the Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association, Marcinkonys Multifunctional Centre, Varėna Cultural Centre.
The project is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.
Photo by Vitalij Červiakov.