[spectre] Open Call for Contributions to the 8th Inter-Format Symposium on Rites and Terrabytes, Nida Art Colony, Lithuania, 20-24th June, 2018

[andrew gryf paterson]

Open Call for Contributions to the 8th Inter-Format Symposium on Rites 
and Terrabytes


Deadline: 15th of March, 2018
Dates: 20-24th June, 2018
Location: Nida Art Colony, Lithuania

http://nidacolony.lt/en/projects/symposium/inter-format-symposium-2018


‘Rites and Terrabytes’ refers to the peculiar situation where we 
increasingly feel or desire a connection with rituals and practices of 
old despite living in a profoundly mediated ‘post-contemporary’ world. 
In other words, to reconcile the imagined universes of archaic rites and 
the ubiquitous terabytes of digital information, we need some firm 
rooting and grounding (terra), whether in our surviving local indigenous 
culture or in some newly engineered indigeneity.

We welcome contributions to the Symposium programme by visual and sound 
artists, cultural practitioners, researchers and theorists who 
critically revive, reinvent, question, and facilitate traditional 
knowledges, practices and beliefs, (post-)folk culture, as well as 
notions of indigeneity and localism within the field of contemporary art 
and culture. The Symposium is scheduled to take place in Nida, 
Lithuania, around the traditional Lithuanian Midsummer celebration 
(Rasos) on June 21–24, 2018.

It is argued there is notable widespread disaffection with the 
‘neoliberal’ globalisation processes and the perceived obliteration of 
national cultural distinctions. These sentiments have recently led to a 
reactionary and conservative retreat into essentialist notions of 
‘indigeneity’ and ethnocentric cultural superiority in many countries 
across Europe, including Lithuania and the rest of the Nordic-Baltic 
countries. This is a topical subject as the Baltic States and Finland 
celebrate centenary anniversaries of independence throughout 2017-2018. 
The dangers of xenophobic idolisation of traditional national culture 
are not new, but their new forms and contexts suggest it might be the 
time to consider them again in the field of cultural politics.

However, ages-old ‘indigenous’ ways of thinking and making can also 
inform and inspire much more inclusive, critical, and progressive 
contemporary practices. There is indeed a trend of reinterpretation of 
all sorts of cultural archetypes inside and outside the white cube. In 
particular, these new artist-led approaches seek to place traditional 
knowledge within the context of the emerging concerns and challenges the 
humankind faces, such as the issue of the Anthropocene, climate 
change/breakdown, gender and species equality, eco-centric thinking and 
displacement. Other strategies may instead focus on what could be the 
appropriate language and meaning of ‘folk culture’ today.

What can we learn from contemporary art, music and new media, as well as 
inter- & transdisciplinary hybrid practices that reinterpret older ways 
of creating, making and doing into new forms, incorporating them into 
new rites and rituals that constitute our contemporary ‘native’ culture? 
Does the omnipresence of smart digital devices and social media signal a 
new form of pantheism?  Can one’s roots become universal, timeless and 
de-territorialized, but at the same time resist vague mysticism and 
lifestyle trends? How is our relationship with nature, our ecosystem, 
and gastronomy going to change in the future? What is perceived as 
‘authentic’?

Inter-format Symposium is a yearly event of Nida Art Colony of Vilnius 
Academy of Arts which fluctuates between a form of conference and art 
festival since 2011. Every year it has a different theme (e.g. critical 
tourism, techno-ecologies, hybrid natures, etc.) and production: a 
website, a book, a documentary film, etc. A group of about 40 artists, 
philosophers, scientists, ritualists, musicians and other kinds of 
practitioners are invited to reflect on the symposium’s issues and to 
exchange knowledge and experiences during performances, lectures, 
screenings, discussions, rituals, etc.

Join us to explore and perform these questions around Midsummer, during 
the longest days of the year!

Keywords: Roots, neopagan, traditional knowledges, ethno-futurism, 
digital shamanism, eco-sex, ethno-appropriation, authenticity, 
contemporary pantheism, (re)constructed pasts, indigenous futures, 
northern ecologies, pagan anthropocene, feminist pedagogies, engineered 
indigeneity, seasonal sensibility,  xenophobic rootedness, cyber-paganism.

..

Curators and participants

Symposium is curated by Andrew Gryf Paterson (SCO/FI/LV), Vytautas 
Michelkevičius (LT), Jurij Dobriakov (LT) and Jogintė Bučinskaitė (LT)

8th Inter-format Symposium is organised by Nida Art Colony of Vilnius 
Academy of Arts in collaboration with Inter-PAGAN network (including 
partners from Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Norway, Scotland and Poland).

CONFIRMED PARTICIPANTS: artist and biology researcher Dr. Špela Petrič, 
musicians SKELDOS (LT), SALA (LT), writer and curator Kristen Sollee, 
writer and activist Dougald Hine (Dark Mountain Project), philosopher 
Jurga Jonutytė, philosopher and Professor of Asian Studies Audrius 
Beinorius, artists Zane Cerpina and Stahl Stenslie (Anthropocene 
Cookbook), artist Žilvinas Landzbergas (LT), tba...


HOW TO APPLY

Types of applications:
*Contributor to the symposium (10-15 places):
*Production residency 1-2 months (May and/or June) with contribution to 
the symposium (3 places)

All selected contributors are provided with limited support for travel 
(up to 250 EUR), accommodation in Nida Art Colony and catering during 
the event. Production residents receive 700 Eur/month fee plus 
allowances for materials.

Please indicate in your proposal (up to 388 words plain text and 3 
images) preferred format, location and length of your contribution. 
Please link URL to your CV and portfolio if relevant (if needed attach 1 
PDF file).

Please send the application to info at nidacolony.lt, indicating in the 
subject the type of your contribution ‘participant symposium 2018’ or 
‘production resident symposium 2018’ by 15th of March.

For the reference deciding upon the format and location, please check 
programmes and documentation of previous symposiums.

http://nidacolony.lt/en/projects/symposium

Symposium is organized by NGO MENE in collaboration with Nida Art Colony 
of VAA. Supported by Lithuanian Council of Culture and The Ministry of 
Culture of the Republic of Lithuania.