Mutual Empathies

Rupert Centre for Art, Residencies and Education, Goethe-Institut Vilnius, and the Academy of the Arts of the World (Akademie der Künste der Welt, ADKDW) announce the collaborative international artist development project Mutual Empathies. The inaugural edition of this programme includes residencies, production, and public events in Vilnius, Cologne, and online between November 2024 and February 2025.

The principle of Mutual Empathies is in the shared values of our three organisations; connecting artists from different origins and privileges to foster greater understanding and cooperation. Practice and implementation of empathy are critical to imagine positive solutions for our mutual tomorrows. In sharing our three organisations’ networks, resources, and perspectives, we intend to platform individuals and communities who would not otherwise meet.

The programme aims to facilitate artistic positions that meaningfully and playfully address the complex, ongoing impacts of the climate catastrophe on diverse regional communities, and respond to the countless, difficult ecopolitical questions looming for global society.

Artists were externally nominated by a panel of cultural experts based in Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa. From this group, two interdisciplinary artists were chosen, one based in Germany, and one from a region outside Europe under-represented in Lithuanian and German cultural fabrics.

For the 2024/25 programme, an independent jury of Rupert alumni including artists Murat Adash, Yiou Penelope Peng, and curator Kotryna Markevičiūtė, with non-voting representatives of the partner institutions, selected artists Saroot Supasuthivech of Bangkok, Thailand, and Vanja Smiljanić of Cologne, Germany. Each will receive financial (stipends, travel, and production), curatorial, and artistic support to develop their proposals.

The artists will begin a one-month research phase in November 2024, followed by parallel two-month residencies at Rupert in Vilnius, Lithuania in December and January. In February, immediately following their Rupert stay, both will travel to Cologne for three weeks at the Academy of the Arts of the World. Public programming for Mutual Empathies takes place in Vilnius, at Rupert and other local partner organisations, then in Cologne at the Academy of the Arts of the World’s exhibition space ADKDW Studio, the artist-run space Gold&Beton, and other local institutions. Dates and locations for these events will be announced well in advance.

→ Saroot Supasuthivech (Bangkok TH, 1991) reimagines place by merging chronologies and perspectives. He accounts for ways sites are situated and depicted in memory and discourse, beyond geography and politics. Supasuthivech challenges popular and official narratives to examine the corruption and deterioration of history and identity, alongside ancient traditions. He uses installation, image, and sound to construct intense, sensorial hyperrealities. Supasuthivech aims to unearth marginalised oral histories and buried memories, evoking the sacrosanct and creating rites of remembrance.

Saroot Supasuthivech (photo by Sareena Sattapon)

Supasuthivech graduated with a BA in mixed media arts from Silpakorn University Bangkok (2015). His recent solo exhibition ‘If I can make one wish…,’ took place at Nova Contemporary (Bangkok TH) last year. Also in 2023, Supasuthivech was chosen for the NTU Singapore SEA AiR cohort, taking up a residency at Kunstlerhaus Bethanien (Berlin DE). He’s also contributed to exhibitions at NTU Centre for Contemporary Art, Singapore (2023); the Discoveries section at Art Basel Hong Kong (2022); plus screenings at MMCA Korea, M+ Hong Kong, MAIIAM Philippines, and MCAD Thailand (2021). He is based in Bangkok.

Saroot Supasuthivech ‘Spirit-forward in G major’, ‘Passages’, NTU CCA. Singapore 2023

His proposal builds on a past exploration of Thai diasporic funeral rites as a foundation to study the legendary narratives of Baltic belief systems, folkloric deities, and regional religious architecture, integrating light and sound with augmented reality (AR) technology.

→ Vanja Smiljanić (Belgrade RS, 1986) is a visual and performance artist based between Cologne and Lisbon. Smiljanić focuses on interdisciplinary projects  integrating visual arts, video, and performance. She often uses a performance-lecture model bridging fiction and experience, with  technical instruments, consulting diagrams, and ‘sci-fi povera’ sculptures. Vanja’s work testifies how ideologies are born through  alienation, employing her body as a narrative vessel, shifting roles between oracle and storyteller.

Lecture Performance: Vanja Smiljanić: ‘Waves of Worship (WOW)’. Im Rahmen der Ausstellung ‘Der Alt-Right-Komplex – Über Rechtspopulismus im Netz’, HMKV im Dortmunder U, 30.3. – 22.9.2019. Foto: Daniel Sadrowski

Smiljanić completed her post-master studies at A.pass, Brussels (2015), received an MFA at the Dutch Art Institute, Arnhem (2012) and Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln (2019), and is a graduate in Fine Arts from the Faculdade de Belas Artes de Lisboa (2009). Her work was featured in festivals and institutions such as Deichtorhallen (Hamburg DE), MAXXI (Rome IT), Kunsthalle Wien (AT), Kunsthaus NRW (DE), HMKV (Dortmund DE), KAI10 Arthena Foundation (Düsseldorf DE), Schauspiel Köln (DE), Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (DE), Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea (Milan IT), and others.

Vanja Smiljanić, still image from ‘Labyrinth riders in disremembering Altantis’

Her proposal connects seven years of intensive research on the Salton Sea in the American Southwest (with collaborator Lukas Marxt) to hydrological sites in Vilnius and Cologne, using lullabies as a palliative ritual for climate catastrophe and ecological collapse.

…

Mutual Empathies is a programme by Goethe-Institut, Rupert Centre for Art, Residencies, and Education, and the Academy of the Arts of the World. The 2024/25 edition is possible through the generous support of Goethe–Institut Vilnius. Rupert’s residency programmes are supported by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Tech Zity. The Academy of the Arts of the World is funded by the City of Cologne and the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The Mutual Empathies programme is designed and led by JL Murtaugh (curator, Rupert, Vilnius), Anna Maria Strauß (director, Goethe-Institut Vilnius), and Paulina Seyfried (strategic consultant, Academy of the Arts of the World, Cologne, until October 2024). The project coordinator is Aistė Frismantaitė (Rupert). Communications are managed by Aistė Marija Stankevičutė (Rupert) and Janna Dittmeyer (head of communications, Academy of the Arts of the World). Additional administrative leadership is provided by Viktorija Šiaulytė (director, Rupert) and Monika Kerkmann (managing director, Academy of the Arts of the World). The Mutual Empathies identity is by artist and designer Marijn Degenaar (Rupert).