Marija Nemčenko Arzanych at Akee studio at the end of June – beginning of July

2025-06-26

In collaboration with Akee (Aleknaičiai Culture and Education Space), LIAA continues the successful experience of the previous years and invites its members to use the remote Akee studio for creative work during the summer season. The second artist residing at Akee studio this summer is Marija Nemčenko Arzanych.

Marija Nemčenko Arzanych is a researcher and multidisciplinary artist working across film, installation, and creative-critical writing. Her multilayered practice explores themes of migration, land, and transnationalism, with a critical focus on the construct of “periphery”—particularly in relation to Eastern European and SWANA histories and geographies.

Marija exhibited internationally, including David Dale Gallery in Glasgow, Orlando Museum of Art in Florida, Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton, Gallerie delle Prigioni in Treviso, Glasgow International Biennial in Glasgow, Swallow gallery in Vilnius, Kaunas Artist House in Kaunas,  A.M. Qattan Foundation in Ramallah and more.

During the Akee residency, Marija is working on interviews and stories collected in the West Bank, Palestine, in 2019, as part of her long-term project on migratory white storks. Amid the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people and the erasure of their identity, these indigenous voices assert enduring ties to the land.

Akee is a cultural and educational space in Aleknaičiai, created in a former village school. It is a community initiative of Aleknaičiai, which aims to enrich the Lithuanian and international cultural discourse related to rural areas, to create favourable opportunities for cultural creators to implement socially sustainable projects, and to increase the quality of cultural education. The Aleknaičiai community carries out its activities in the premises of the Aleknaičiai village school, which was in operation from 1939 to 2000. Inspired by its educational, community inclusion and socio-cultural activities, Akee aims to continue the tradition of curiosity, sharing and cooperation that was previously fostered in this place.

LIAA activities are financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.