From June 3 to 9, eleven participants of the Baltic Lines project will meet in Valga to work on research and art projects at the VARES architecture residency. We rail-biked on an abandoned railway in Valka, visited museums and had a good time. In collaboration with VARES, Baltic Lines organised a series of public events took place as part of the Baltic Lines residency in Valga.
On Wednesday, June 5, Maria Kapajeva shared her artistic practices under the title Filming, Screaming, Stitching, Writing, and Dancing: The Artistic Journey. Maria Kapajeva is an artist who works between London (UK) and Estonia. Her work often highlights peripheral histories and unspoken stories, focusing on the border identities within a feminist point of view. During the talk, Kapajeva focused on the methodology of her practice and presented her recent works. Kapajeva’s practice-based research focuses on autoethnographical and feminist methods of artistic practice.
On Friday, June 7, we watched Hanna Samoson’s film Trail Baltic: A Trip to the Green (2023). The documentary follows the journey of one woman along the future route corridor of the Rail Baltic railway. While trying to broadcast live from the 213 km long route, the artist Hanna Samoson meets people on her way whose lives will be inextricably linked with the future railway. Through hopes, humour and the pain of loss, the documentary shows how the people affected by the big project feel. The film’s backdrop is an unbroken landscape that, by all indications, is destined to change soon.
On Saturday, June 8 we read together Maria Kapayeva’s book A Year-Long Scream (2024) in English, Russian and Estonian. Maria Kapajeva started writing the book on February 24, 2022 – the day the full-scale war in Ukraine began. The book deals with themes of identity, collective and individual responsibility and guilt, language and belonging, feminism.
The week-long Baltic Lines artists residency at VARES concluded with public presentations on Sunday, June 9, where project participants shared insights into their individual project ideas and creative methodologies.
All events were held in English at the WabaWangla installation space in Valga.
Project was initiated by Diāna Mikāne, Paula Veidenbauma
Read More
