KAH residencies: Unlearning Eastern Europe

am currently interested in subaltern histories of the Baltics, as well as in the concept of non-colonial Europe, therefore I see East Europe partly as a misleading concept that needs to be critically reviewed and unlearned.“ (Tanel Rander)

The lecture taking place on the 25th of April is titled “Unlearning Eastern Europe”. T. Rander will speak about his artistic/curatorial research on Eastern Europe and decolonial options, as well as about his latest and ongoing project “The Mouth of Daugava”, which focuses on colonial history of the region, now known as Estonia and Latvia. He is interested in discussions over subaltern histories in the Baltics and their relevance during the ongoing outbreak of nationalism and racism. T. Rander is also looking for ideas and positions that address the concept of non-colonial Europe and intend to create local (Lithuanian) and regional (pan-Baltic, etc.) vocabularies in articulating those things that so far have been forming the notion of

Eastern Europe.
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The format of this year’s residency programme responds to the need for curatorial residencies and encourages to explore the potential of curatorship. The participant curators link their curatorial and artistic practices with activism, explore the various sociopolitical contexts of the Baltic region and possible new scenario activations. The KAH residency programme aims to provide a supportive environment for critical discourse, curator-conducted research, its discussions within the framework of Kaunas, involving local artists, students, activists, academics and other city participants.

The KAH residency programme was launched in 2018 with the aim to present the most relevant contemporary artists, curators and cultural researchers working in Lithuania and abroad to the residents and guests of Kaunas city. The residency programme aims to foster

intercultural, cross-institutional and cross-sectoral cooperation, to provide artists and cultural producers with the opportunity to become acquainted with the historical and cultural context of the city during their residency, to facilitate their cooperation with other artists or cultural producers and local communities.

Tanel Rander (b. 1980) is an artist, curator, and writer, whose creative work includes experimental practices based in language and psychology, and critical study of Eastern-European discourse and decoloniality. The focus of Rander’s work is the tension between subjectivity and the modifying pressure it experiences between interior and exterior. From late 2016 to late 2018 he conducted a collective research on borders in Estonian/Latvian twin town Valga/Valka, where he also ran the art space Brivibas galerija.

Attending the event is free of charge and it