In May 2023 the artist residency program, which is part of the international photography symposium “NIDA. Meeting Photography”, will start it second edition. After the announced open call, there was selected one artist, who will stay and create in Nida and 20 runners up, whose work will participate in symposiums evening projections program in September. The program is run in collaboration with VAA Nida Art Colony.

 

The aim is to reflect on Nida’s site-specific ecosystems and the changing boundaries of photography, to actualize photography both as a medium and as a means of expression. The program seeks to attract artists with a critical approach towards using their production tools, questioning the cultural discourse of their practice, and having a strong socio-political mindset. 

 

Some 75 artists from 16 countries responded to the open call with 176 projects.

 

In the resident selection committee participated the art critic Agnė Narušytė; the curator, writer and art critic Valentinas Klimašauskas; the head of the Lithuanian Photographers Association and book designer Gytis Skudžinskas; residency patron Audronė Tylaitė; curator and NIDA.Meeting Photography programmer Vilma Samulionytė; and Head of VAA Nida Art Colony Egija Inzulė.

 

The evaluation criteria included the importance and relevance of the proposed topic, the applicant’s previous experience and his or her interest and ability to actualize by combining local specifics, an expanded field of photography and their creative activities.

 

The finalist after evaluation became Michal Siarek, who works in the most Northern point of Europe in Norway. He hopes he can connect Nida lighthouse and local stories with other lighthouses and their stories from Europe.

 

Michał Siarek is a photographer by trade, visual storyteller by profession and researcher by inclination. He graduated from the Polish National Film school in Lodz with his seminal book that traced the modern myth of Alexander the Great. “Alexander”, initially meant as a documentary editorial, evolved towards a microhistory, defined by historian Charles Joyner as an act of "[asking] large questions in small places”. He currently works and lives in Northern Norway. Winner of The New East Prize 2016 and FIDAL Youth Photography Award, nominated to Luma Dummy Book Award 2018, La Fabrica / Photo London Dummy Award 2018, MACK First Book Award 2019.

 

The results of the residency will be presented at the International Photography Symposium NIDA. Meeting Photography in the main program in September 11-17, 2023 and it will be published in the form of a printed publication.

 

Authors, whose work will be a part of the evening projections:

 

Cletus Nelson Nwadike (Nigeria / Sweden)

Alan Maglio (Italy)

Julija Goyd (Lithuania / Germany)

Adrian Alarcon Sanchez (Spain / Germany)

Athanasios Alexo (Greece / Italy)

Maíra Erlich (Brazil)

Andrew Shkilenok (Byelorussia)

Robin Hinsch (Germany)

Diewke van den Heuvel (Nederland)

Lily Alssen (Germany)

László Gálos (Hungary)

Tiziano Demuro (Italy)

Rokas Pralgauskas (Lithuania)

Zofia Puszcz (Poland)

Axel Schmidt (Germany)

Yauhen Attsetski (Ukraine)

Agnė Gintalaitė (Lithuania)

Valery Poshtarov (Bulgaria)

Marta Bogdanska (Poland)

Thomas Jenkins (United Kingdom)

Daniel John Bracken (United Kingdom)