Culture + Arts > More
March 12, 2014
Uzupiz Art Incubator (Vilnius, Lituania), primo quartiere creativo ospite di Rosengarten Brunch
Franz
Describe Uzupis Art Incubator in 5 words.
The community of initiative artists.
What is the peculiar and distinctive feature of the project?
The flow. It characterises the space, as Užupis Art Incubator is on the riverbank. It characterises the people, as Užupis Art Incubator emerged by the initiative of local artists and always depends on people around. It characterises the organisation, as Užupis Art Incubator always welcomes sensitive and open, creative and concerned people with different experiences to create together.
When was the project born and why (initial motivations, goals, intentions)?
Užupis Art Incubator was born out of Alternative Art Center as a formal organisation for stopping the rain-water inside the artists’ workshops. A pragmatic decision changed the creativity balance in the organisation, opened new doors and raised new challenges.
Describe the physical space where Uzupis Art Incubator is located. In which area(s) of the city?
Užupis is in the very neighbourhood of the Old town of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Etymologically the name of Užupis means “on-the-other-side-of-the-river” (“už upės”). It is surrounded by the river Vilnelė, connected to the mainland by 7 bridges and shares poetry with the most beautiful cultural monuments and green areas besides.
What is your target audience, whom do you speak to?
Creative people regardless of their age, education and their field of action.
From then to now, has the project changed its skin? How did it develop?
With the financial support from municipality, Cultural Ministry of Lithuania Republic and European Union funds, a formerly alternative place with it’s roof got a formal outfit. Užupis Art Incubator holds the hand open (check the sign of Užupis Republic) that illustrates free movement of energies between the people.
What is your formula for economic sustainability?
39, 40 and 41 clauses of the Constitution of Užupis Republic: do not defeat, do not fight back, do not surrender.
Who constitutes the project team? How do you work?
The project team is mostly based on the artists of various ages and experiences that contribute to the common activities according their own skills, interests and goals. In Užupis Art Incubator people do not work, they make their dreams come true.
What is the most beautiful thing you have done and why?
The beauty of things we are doing is always in the eyes of the participating artists and audiences. The biggest joy we all experienced last year was the exhibition by Lithuanian and Belgian artists dedicated to Lithuanian – French poet Oscar Milosz.
Future projects?
Užupis Art Incubator is one of the key artistic organisations in Užupis Republic, therefore it is higly focused on the developement of the creative community. Besides we are working on establishing close international cooperation with the communities of artists abroad.
Photo 1 by Klaipedoscope; other photos by Uzupis Art Incubator
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