Together with the cultural centre SODAS 2123, we invite architects, designers, urban activists, and researchers to a funded 2-month-long artist-in-residency programme in Vilnius, Lithuania.

The residency programme seeks researchers and practitioners who react to (geo)political, ecological, and social issues and their impact on spatial relations. We are interested in spatial research and practises that focus on at least one of these directions:

• imagining the new forms of more than human coexistence;
• aiming for a systematic and physical design that is inclusive and responsive to the needs of the most vulnerable social groups;
• exploring resources, energy, and materiality and their innovative (re)use and application.

The programme is open to various applied research formats. Creatives with various backgrounds are welcome to apply.

Architektūros fondas is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation that brings together a network of people, initiatives, and ideas, aiming to develop interactions between society and architecture and to expand the involvement of architecture in the processes of spatial change. Residents will be invited to participate in Architektūros fondas ongoing educational programme "Experiments’ Platform" and publication platform "Aikštėje".

The SODAS 2123 cultural centre is a self-governing community-based space operated and curated by the Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association. It brings together creators and researchers from different fields, with practises based on experimentation and developing unexpected formats.

With over 50 artists’ studios, rehearsal studios for bands, offices for design, film and visual arts organisations, exhibition spaces, event spaces, various workshops, a café, a public outdoor garden space, a public allotment, and more, SODAS 2123 provides space for a variety of art and cultural disciplines, and each resident of the centre is open to sharing, learning, and craftsmanship.

By giving the residency programme participants curatorial support, consulting residents about their artistic projects and research, and organising studio visits to local artists’ studios, project spaces, exhibition spaces, and other residency centres, the SODAS 2123 residency programme aims to build long-term relations between visiting artists and the local art scene.

Residency starts August 1, 2023, and ends September 31, 2023.

The residency grant is 1600 EUR per resident (tax inclusive). The residency also covers travel expenses to and from the residency up to 200 EUR.

Three applicants will be selected and invited to live and develop their residency projects in the cultural centre SODAS 2123.

Only applicants from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, and Latvia (as well as the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland) are eligible.

Residents will be living in the studio apartments at SODAS 2123. The centre is located in a repurposed school building about 15 minutes walk from Vilnius Old Town, in a calm and friendly neighbourhood called "Rasų kolonija". The residency provides individual rooms (28 m² individual room with kitchenette and bathroom or 27 m² and 19 m² individual rooms with shared kitchen and bathroom) and the opportunity to work in a shared studio.

Applicants have to fill out the Google application form by April 27, 2022. Applications will be evaluated by the SODAS 2123 and Architektūros fondas curatorial teams. The main selection criteria will be the applicant’s creative practise and experimentation experience, the relevance to the main residency directions, the necessity to develop residency projects in SODAS 2123, and their relation to Architektūros fondas activities.

If you have any questions, please contact SODAS 2123 residency programme curator Indrė Liškauskaitė residency@sodas2123.lt.

This residency is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture. The activities of SODAS 2123 are supported by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and the Vilnius City Municipality.