Hey there,

In the wake of quite relieving news for our dear friends and colleagues in the UK, there is quite a lot I have to tell you: it almost feels like the summer, the snowstorms are finally over, Hanna is preparing for a research trip with our alternative education participants to velnio duobė (devil’s pit) next week, Demelza is curating a screening at the CAC later this month, local experimental musicians Patricia Kokett and Vladas Dieninis are going to present their new live performances at Rupert, a new group of artists and curators has been selected for July – December 2017 and and… *needs to take a breather*. We’re thrilled to have just opened the exhibition at ArtVilnius’17 presenting works by former residents, alternative education programme alumni, local and international artists James Lewis (UK/AT), Jenine Marsh (CA), Anna-Bella Papp (RO/BE), Miša Skalskis (LT/NL), Anastasija Sosunova (LT), Andrea Zucchini (IT/UK).

The exhibition is set up so that its scaling remains contingent and potentially the spectator’s vantage point is not the only one completing the interpretational field of it. The anthropocentric gaze is fired back upon another more speculative layer of non-situational presence contemplating materiality and the ambiguous status of how exhibitional space, material and biological forms are distinguished, individuated and evaluated, if you’re around Vilnius this weekend, drop by! (Main image: ‘Untitled’ by Andrea Zucchini, glass, 2017 / photo: Andrej Vasilenko)

On top of all that, we are pleased to announce the selection of the following group of artists and curators to take part in Rupert Residency Program for the period of July – December 2017. Candidates were selected through a public Open Call and by invitation. Final selections jury consisted of Inga Lāce, curator at Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art (Riga), Rupert director Justė Jonutytė and Rupert Residency and Alternative Education Programme curator Adomas Narkevičius. We are happy to welcome the following group to the program (in alphabetical order):

Jenni Crain (US), Barbara Cueto (ES/DE), Maurin Dietrich (DE) & Kate Brown (CA/DE), Nicolas Fleming (CA), Nina Fránková (CZ/NL), Dorota Gaweda (PL/CH) & Eglė Kulbokaitė (LT/CH), Johanna Kotlaris (CH/NL), Rachael Melanson (UK), Claire Tolan (USA/DE), Luca Vanello (IT/DE).

We are also happy to announce the recipients of the Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture residency grant. In the upcoming period: Ragna Bley (SE/NO), Jussi Koitela (FI/BE), Simon Dybbroe Møller (DK/DE) were selected through an Open Call and by-invitation through upcoming collaborations. Hanna Järvenpää (FI) was selected as part of Rupert collaboration with TAIKE (Arts Promotion Centre Finland), supporting North Karelian artists abroad.

That’s that for the month, folks,

hopefully we can catch up in architectural or organically formed places in the sunshine,

all my best,

Rupert

IN RESIDENCE

Martin Kohout

Martin Kohout (b. 1984, Czech Republic) is an artist and publisher, who lives and works in Berlin and Prague, currently he is involved in a London-based project. In his practice, he often examines the habits and effects related to technology and contemporary forms of communication. Kohout was originally trained in film-making before studying fine arts at Universität der Künste Berlin and Städelschule in Frankfurt, Germany. Kohout also produce sound and music pieces under the name of TOLE. During his residency at Rupert he will be editing and animating his new video piece shot in London earlier in the year.

IN RESIDENCE

Hanna Laura Kaljo

Hanna Laura Kaljo (b.1989, Tallinn) is a curator and writer based in London. She is the co-director of Jupiter Woods in South East London and a graduate of the MFA Curating course at Goldsmiths College. Her curatorial and writing practice often foregrounds the hidden, embraces the mystical and intends to employ intuition as a mode of research. At Rupert, she will begin a new research that bridges feminine psychology and curatorial practice, as well as work towards a series of semi-fictional texts.

IN RESIDENCE

Daria Melnikova

Daria Melnikova (b. 1984, Riga, Latvia) has graduated from the Art Academy of Latvia, Visual Communication department. Her recent exhibitions include Yesterday Is The New Tomorrow, ISSMAG gallery, Moscow (solo); Dedication, Exploitation & Haute Collaboration, Silberkuppe, Berlin and the Dancing Specularity at kim? Contemporary Art Centre, as an outcome of Melinkova’s recently started collaboration with her sister Agata Melnikova.  Daria is the first laureate of the kim? Residency Award. During her residency at Rupert she will work on her artistic project The Architecture of Taste – a series of artworks, objects on scaffolding-like constructions.