Unlearning Eastern Europe

In 2019 a continuing residency program called Unlearning Eastern Europe was launched. It is planned for 2019-2022 and seeks to rethink the problems specific to the (Eastern European) region – from traumas of historical past, opportunities for decolonization to strategies of memory politics or activism. In 2020, it is planned to expand the program’s geography by opening it to contemporary art curators and researchers not only from the Baltic but also from other Eastern European countries.

The format of Unlearning Eastern Europe residency program responds to the need for curatorial residencies (there is no specifically curatorial residency program in Lithuania), encourages exploration of curatorial potential and builds international partnerships. The curators participating in the program are invited to examine the various sociopolitical contexts of the Eastern European region and the possible activation of new scenarios, to associate their curatorial and artistic practices with activism, and to seek social change. The KMN (Kaunas Artists’ House) residency program Unlearning Eastern Europe aims to create a supportive space for critical discourse, curatorial research, discussing it in the context of Kaunas involving and engaging local artists, students, activists, academics, and other residents of the city.