LIAA STUDIO at AKEE: IEVA GRAŽYTĖ AND RŪTA SPELSKYTĖ-LIBERIENĖ AT THE JULY RESIDENCY

2024-08-27

Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association (LIAA) together with Aleknaičiai Culture and Education Space (Akee) invited LIAA members Ieva Gražytė and Rūta Spelskytė-Liberienė to take up a residency in one of Akee’s studios in July 2024.

During her stay in Akee, I. Gražytė took time to develop her writing practice and participated in activities initiated by other artists in residence at the same time.

Meanwhile, R. Speskytė-Liberienė writes about her stay in Akee: “During my stay in Akee, I was drawing maps. I mapped out the relevant places around Akee by bicycle, some of which were more touristic (synagogues, quarries, sculptures) and others more practical (nearest shops, wifi).
Later I started to study the trees in the Akee area. I was able to map most of them, to see the distribution. This part was also kind of educational, because I realised that I hardly know a poplar from an aspen, and it was a chance to work on this unawareness.

The second part of the activity consisted of distilling scents. I started with flowers, herbs, leaves and needles, then moved on to mushrooms, cut wood, charcoal, clay and rain. This part was both enjoyable in its process and also surprising in the result, the strength of the smells, the temporariness, sometimes the absence, the effect of time on the process, and the sniffing mode of everything.”

LIAA activities are funded by Lithuanian Council for Culture.