Call for the Residency Archaeomythologies: Currents for LIAA members

2026-07-03

In 2024, the Italian association Flusso invited the Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association (LIAA) to become a partner in developing a new residency programme dedicated to Marija Gimbutas’ work in Old Europe. We are delighted to announce the second open call, available exclusively to LIAA members. Through this call, two LIAA members will be selected for a residency in Apulia this autumn. The full programme description is available via the link in English.

We invite applications until 28 July 2026. Should you have any questions, please contact us by email.

Location: Apulia Region, Putignano, Italy
Curators: Denisas Kolomyckis and Erika Lastovskytė, Flusso Association

Selection Committee:

Ilaria Gianni (independent curator, art critic, and educator; founder of IUNO research centre for contemporary art and Magic Lantern Film Festival).

Justė Kostikovaitė (curator and cultural strategist based in Vilnius, Lithuania; co-creator of Gimbutas Street Band and co-founder of Art&Potatoes platform).

Louise O’Kelly (independent curator specialising in interdisciplinary and performance-based practices; founder of Block Universe performance art festival; curator for the National Pavilion of Lithuania at the 61st Venice Biennale).

Lithuanian Partners: Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association, National Museum of Lithuania
Italian Partners: Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio BAT e Foggia, Istituto Italiano di Archeologia Sperimentale, Città di Putignano, Museo Romanazzi Carducci, Il Sedile

About the Host Organisation

Flusso is a non-profit cultural organisation based in the Apulia region of southern Italy. Operating as a platform for artists, researchers, curators, and cultural professionals, the organisation fosters international collaboration, interdisciplinary exchange, and the development of new creative practices. The core focus of Flusso’s activities is the creation and implementation of residency programmes that provide practitioners with opportunities to work in new cultural and social contexts, develop artistic and research projects, establish professional connections, and engage in critical dialogue with local communities and international partners.

About the Programme

(see full description in English via the link)

This art and research residency programme invites participants to explore potential connections between archaeology, rivers, and contemporary art, seeking new creative perspectives and developing interdisciplinary practices. The residency is centred on gaining a deeper understanding of the work and ideas of the renowned Lithuanian archaeologist Marija Gimbutas. Her research on the cultures and civilisations of Old Europe fundamentally transformed our understanding of prehistory, cultural memory, and the origins of European civilisation. The residency aims to create an environment for experimentation and dialogue across disciplines, cultures, and temporalities.

The programme invites artists, researchers, and curators to reflect on archaeological heritage and rivers as spaces for contemporary artistic inquiry, critical thought, and the creation of new narratives.

Participants will have the opportunity to:

  • visit archaeological and cultural heritage sites in southern Italy;
  • work in a studio and individual workspaces dedicated to the residency;
  • access the residency’s infrastructure, including a library, archive, photographic and technical resources, and work equipment;
  • engage with the historical, cultural, and natural contexts of the region through organised research trips;
  • participate in individual consultations, lectures, and meetings with archaeologists, art historians, curators, artists, and specialists from other fields.

Residents will also receive curatorial support to help develop their individual research and artistic projects. At the end of the programme, participants will have the opportunity to present their working processes or newly developed works to the local community through a public presentation, open studio, lecture, exhibition, or another format agreed with the organisers.

Residents and Collaborations

The residency programme contributed to Eglė Budvytytė’s artistic research for her new work animism sings anarchy, presented at the Lithuanian Pavilion of the 61st Venice Biennale. Another resident of the programme, composer Kristupas Bubnelis – a doctoral candidate at Columbia University in New York – investigated sound ecology and the mythopoetic resonances of Marija Gimbutas’ legacy. The work developed during the residency premiered at the festival Muzikos Ruduo in Vilnius in autumn 2025. In autumn 2025, LIAA member Kamilė Krasauskaitė participated in the residency and will present the outcomes of her research in Apulia this summer in the form of an exhibition. 

The programme has also established collaborative relationships with the University of the Highlands and Islands in Scotland and the Dutch Art Institute’s Roaming Academy COOP: Tending Forests in Our Minds.

Residency Outcome Expectations

Participants are expected to share a brief reflection in free form, which may be featured on the organiser’s forthcoming website and included in a publication documenting the residency. They are also invited to present aspects of their artistic or research practice to the local community through a talk, workshop, screening, open studio, lecture, exhibition, or another format agreed with the organisers.

Key Information for LIAA Members

(see full details via the English-language link)

Application period: 3–28 July 2026
Announcement of selected artists: 24 August 2026
Residency period: 1–31 October 2026
Duration: 1 month
Number of residents: 2 (simultaneously)
Accommodation: Historic centre of Putignano

Fee: EUR 1,000 per person (inclusive of taxes) for the full residency period, plus a per diem of EUR 15 per day. Organisers will additionally cover travel and accommodation expenses, and residents will have access to a car during the residency.

Selection Criteria

  • Relevance of the applicant’s artistic practice and/or research experience to the themes and aims of the residency;
  • Originality and potential of the proposed research direction or project idea within the residency context;
  • Ability to develop an independent, research-led artistic practice and critically engage with the proposed themes;
  • Motivation to participate in an interdisciplinary process and engage with the local context and experts from different fields;
  • Driving licence (preferred due to limited public transport and accessibility of sites in the region).

Application documents

  • CV
  • portfolio
  • motivation letter (up to 500 words), briefly describing how your artistic practice and/or research align with the themes and aims of the residency programme, indicating the disciplines you intend to work with and any anticipated production needs.

Please send the documents as a single PDF file by email to info@letmekoo.lt no later than 23:59 EET on 28 July 2026.

More information www.flussoproject.org, @flussoproject and by email info@flussoproject.org.

Image: From a field trip, 2026. Photo by Dino Frittoli.