Every week I receive information about artist-in-residence programs and am intrigued by the most far-flung of these; the Arctic Circle Residency, and another in Newfoundland stand out. The most unusual so far is the Nida Art Colony, located on the Curonian Spit, a 98 km long peninsula separating Lithuania’s Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. The Curonian Spit is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as one of the most beautiful and unique cultural landscapes of Europe. With applications for 2012 programs due October 15, this seems like a good time to spread the word about this magical place.

Left: Softwood Basketball Court by Justin Tyler Tate. Right: Collective Kitchen, Trans Gastronomy (or the art of site specific cuisine) by Nicolas Thys Wilde.

A place between two waters, colored by grayish gold sand, big silvery blue sky and patches of mossy green pine forest. You have to take a ferry to get there. This water crossing is a border between everyday and Nida: streets, bars, friends, enemies, work, home are left behind. You enter the only Lithuanian ‘island’ – a piece of land confined by water and Russia. Worries come over here with you.

However, isolated from the routine, they are weaker, clearer and easier to confront. The lack of people and action leaves you with yourself, but if it's too tough, Nida offers comfort in beauty. How long can you enjoy nature and your own self? A week? Two weeks?

The Colony was initiated and developed by the Vilnius Academy of Arts as a retreat for (teaching) artists and students, as a place to focus and work, and as a base for innovations in art education. It had been nurtured for almost two decades and finally opened in March 2011. The Colony's name derives from the Nida artists' colony formed in the 19th century by professors, students and alumni of the Koenigsberg Art Academy.
—Executive Director Rasa Antanaviit.

The invitation to Nida Art Colony included the following keywords: “Fluxus and sand, the Baltic sea as a medium, labyrinths of forest paths, smoked fish, solitude, landscape meditation, mind massage, ten-meter-high studio space, migration from water to water, media lab, beaches and breeze, reinventing tradition, creative sunbathing.”

The landmarks that connected these kinds of activities were attention to the location, working with the community, use of the findings, encouragement of participation, a dialogue with nature and culture. It looks like there are no conceptual and practical limits. On the other hand, it is literally a colony, almost a commune where everyone comes together to eat, play, drink tea, or chill in the sauna. The artists have their separate studios, but the focus is not on dissociating oneself from the world in order to contemplate brilliant ideas, but rather on settling inside the space, creating communication rituals and giving them a shape. It does not matter so much if you studied painting, sculpture, photography, or video art – by coming here, the artist also becomes a designer, an explorer, and a participant in the aesthetics of connections.
—Art critic and curator Laima Kreivyt, who teaches at Vilnius University

I don't actually know where to begin talking about the Softwood Basketball Court. It's relational aesthetics but not just that - you can't hide behind relational aesthetics. We can talk about it in relation minimalism, conceptualism and land art of the 1960/1970/1980's; something related to Richard Serra, Robert Smithson, Jeff Koons or Carl Andre or all of the above.

Then of course you could just talk about the experience you have while playing on the court; the feel of it all and how the typical experience of playing a game is changed and how you are changed while playing; people seem to become more aggressive, like wild animals while playing on the court (is it just the people or is it the court?). We could talk about this hybridity of nature and urbanism, but that's kind of boring for me. Maybe it is interesting that the court and game are defined by the environment; the height of the hoops changing with the growth of the trees and the surface of the court being modified by ferns and grasses.

What is the Softwood Basketball Court? Minimalism/installation/ conceptual/performance/participatory art, relational aesthetics, monumental sculpture, or something else, or all of the above? Also we could talk about how the structure of the installation acts as a bridge between two points in nature while also bridging countries and enthusiasts; Basketball was born in Canada but is the national sport of Lithuania, basketball's relationship to these countries is similar to my own geopolitical movement, and there is also the bridge created between art and team sport (two subjects whose participants aren't known to mingle). So, where do we start? Shoot to see who goes first?
—Justin Tyler Tate, a Canadian/American artist who lives and works in Tallinn, Estonia

  09262011