Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas: Award for the Contribution to Liberal Arts Education

Above images:
Futurity Island: Plant Community workshop with Prof. dr. Remigijus Daubaras (VMU Kaunas), 16th International Architecture Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia, 2018 © Swamp School, photo: Nomeda Urbonas

The Urbonases started their collaboration with VMU in 2016 by organizing International Congress on Public Spaces that focused on the role of aesthetics in shaping and resisting global urbanization. Titled Industries of Crisis and Aesthetics Of Dissent, the Congress staged a series of interdisciplinary events dedicated to exploring changes in democratic participation and discussed role that culture and aesthetics play in developing citizens involvement and everyday right to the city. Situating the Congress between the University, National Gallery of Art, and The Centre for Civil Education the Urbonases brought renowned speakers including Saskia Sassen, professor in sociology (Columbia University); Jodi Dean, professor in political science (Hobart and William Smith College); Rick Lowe, artist and founder of Project Row Houses in Houston; Marina Teresa Otero Verzier, director of the Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam; Doina Petrescu, professor in architecture (University of Sheffield, UK); Gintautas Mažeikis, professor in political science at the Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania; Skaidra Trilupaitytė, senior researcher at the Lithuanian Culture Research Institute, Lithuania; Sasha Costanza-Chock, associate professor in CMS at MIT; as well as activists and community leaders actively shaping preservation of public spaces in Lithuania and elsewhere.

Building on the success of their collaboration the Urbonases invited VMU scholars and students into co-making of their curated Swamp School realized as Lithuanian pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition at Venice Biennale in 2018. Conceived in three chapters – Swamp Radio, Futurity Island and Commonism – The Swamp School organized workshops to support experiments in design, pedagogy and artistic intelligence and brought together over 200 designers, scholars and researchers from diverse disciplines ranging from architecture, art, philosophy, anthropology, sociology and others from more than twelve international schools across the globe. In exploring the imaginary of a swamp—a living organism in which borders defined by social, political and cultural factors are porous and permeable—participants investigated an open artistic/architectural form and effective workshop and publication methodologies.

There, working with Dr. Remigijus Daubaras, director of VMU botanical garden and professor in biology and expert of wetland restoration, they transplanted the large model of a living raised peat bog from Lithuania to Venice. Nested in the larger ecosystem of Venetian lagoon this community of plants offered an inquiry into a complex ecosystem contributing to understanding of the interdependencies between wetlands and human made forms of organization of life.

Above images:
Swamp School 2.0 Classroom at Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, 2019. Photo © VMU

In 2019 the Swamp School was installed in the HQ of the VMU’s newly built multifunctional research center. Focusing on Commonism this new installment lent its hybrid model of art & science to the students and community members and unfolded it’s conceptual and material infrastructure offering lectures, workshops, and collaborations.

In 2022 the Urbonases joined the scientific committee with VMU scholars to convene the International Congress on CoHappiness for Kaunas European Capital of Culture 2022.  Focusing on rewilding & rethinking, it situated the series of interventions and discursive events at Water Treatment facility, VMU Botanical Garden, and ruins of the former Russian imperial fortress. Rethinking happiness in the context of communities, the Congress invited to reevaluate its meaning, and the shift from excessive concern of one’s personal happiness to the search for broader meanings in building commons with others and the environment. It brought together international keynotes such as Timothy Morton, professor in ecology (Rice University), Ruut Veenhoven, a sociologist and expert of social sexology (Erasmus University in Rotterdam), Merlin Sheldrake, a biologist (Vrije University Amsterdam), along with artistic intervention from Dan Perjovschi and invited contributions from the leaders of local communities engaged in transformation of the site at former Soviet air force base in Kaunas. Working with Jonas Kubilius (AI scientist and MIT alumnus) and Dr.Tomas Krilavičius (professor in AI at VMU) Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas developed Baby Aleksa, artistic-scientific experiment of sensory experiences dedicated to question the coexistence and relationship with others – humans, animals, and other forms of life – those who may consider either necessary and respected accomplices or unwanted companions to planetary wellbeing.

In 2024 for the contribution to the liberal arts Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas were awarded the silver medals by the Vytautas Magnus University.

Above images:
Award ceremony with prof. Juozas Augutis, VMU Rector and prof. Vilma Bijeikienė, Vice-Rector for Communication, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, 2024. Photo © VMU.

Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas: Villa Lituania at the Museo delle Civiltà in Rome, Italy, 2023-2024

Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas (2008) Villa Lituania, Sternberg Press, New York and London

Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas: Villa Lituania, Lithuanian Pavilion at the 52nd Biennale di Venezia, 2007

Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas: Villa Lituania at MO, The Museum of Modern Art in Vilnius, Lithuania, 2019

International Forum to Mark 35th VMU Re-Establishment Anniversary

Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas. Partially Swamped Institution, a retrospective exhibition, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius, 2023