VILLA LITUANIA
Lithuanian Pavilion
Lithuanian Pavilion
52nd International Art Exhibition –
La Biennale di Venezia
VILLA LITUANIA
Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas
http://www.villalituania.lt
Special event:
Villa Lituania International Pigeon Race
Pigeons’ liberation:
10.00 am Saturday 9 June, 2007
Launch site:
Campo S. Biagio (Arsenale)
Pavilion vernissage: 11.00 am Saturday 9 June
Ludoteca, Santa Maria Ausiliatrice
Castello 450, 30122 Venice
Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas’ project takes its title – Villa Lituania – and conceptual impetus from a grand house in Rome closely associated with the Lithuanian nation. Villa Lituania was the Embassy of the first independent Republic of Lithuania to Italy that became the possession of the USSR after its occupation of Lithuania in 1940. The keys to the property were handed by Italian governmental representatives to Soviet officials following the alliance of powers signaled by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the formation of the Republic of Lithuania the Villa has remained the property of Russia; operating as the Russian Consulate in Rome. It is considered the last occupied territory of Lithuania. For their Venice project the artists are proposing a symbolical restoration of Villa Lituania.
Working with pigeon fanciers in Italy and Lithuania, the artists are proposing to stage two pigeon races from a location at Campo S. Biagio in Venice. The first race is an international challenge race with birds racing to all points in Italy as well as Lithuania, Poland, and Russia. The second event is planned for the autumn of 2007 and is a special race from Venice to Rome. The race’s intention is clear – sending colomba della pace “doves of peace” to the occupied territory of Villa Lituania in Rome.
To achieve this, a pigeon-loft needs to be constructed in Rome. Pigeons’ metriculate the loft they make their first flight from as ‘home’ and always return to that location when released: hence ‘homing pigeon’. Once requests to build at Villa Lituania were effectively denied the artistic team turned their attention to the construction of a loft in a public park in Rome – engaging protocol heavy real politik. The fate of this element of Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas’ project hangs-in-the-balance.
The Pavilion exhibition documents the process so far, tells the fascinating story of Villa Lituania, and introduces an international audience to the important work that Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas have been making in Vilnius – protesting the encroachment by neo-liberal government and corporations on Lithuania’s public space.
Presented by the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius
Commissioner: Simon Rees
For more information contact: +370 5 260 89 60 / info@cac.lt / http://www.cac.lt
Principally funded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania
For more information go to: http://www.villalituania.lt