Artist Reflections: Vaiva Paukštė
We caught up with Vaiva Paukštė recently to hear a bit about her time at the VAP encounter in Zagreb in May. Here’s what she had to say…
I got into the Visiting Artist Programme quite unexpectedly – how great that I just went ahead and sent my CV. I’m taking a note for the future: it's always better to try.
It was my first time in Zagreb – what a wonderful city. I really enjoyed the Museum of Broken Relationships.
Upon arrival, I met other young female artists: Agnieszka, who currently lives in Poland in a house surrounded by nature, has a garden and studies the Feldenkrais method; Deva – an artist from Berlin who works with voice and choir; Neda, who founded a collective in Amsterdam and creates very interesting works on the theme of anxiety; and Ming, who is passionate about the ocean in art and art in the ocean. We shared our humorously similar experiences and questions as emerging artists, and I truly felt a sense of mutual understanding and even got some answers.
It was unusual that we weren’t expected to create a performance or solve some global issue within a few days – this gave us the time and space to build connections, and I believe that was the programme’s greatest strength.
Of course, we didn’t just sit around drinking coffee… Over the course of three days, we visited:
Zagreb Dance Centre
Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art (Department of Dance)
KUC Travno Culture Centre
We saw performances:
Nika Disney – Sprezzatura. An interesting play with text, time, movement, and interpersonal connection.
Yellowbiz Arts Collective – What Do You See, or Not? (chor. Michele Pastorini) – wow, what technique.
Maciej Kuźmiński – Four Seasons. A performance combining folklore and contemporary dance – it reminded me of the “ALIEN” project presented at NBŠ.
SSP – Allarm’e. Six dancers, starting from the rhythmic potential of human walking, explored the tension between collective power and individual goals; the need for defense and becoming what you’re defending against. This performance stayed with me for a long while.
For Vaiva, the whole experience was like Kuźmiński’s Four Seasons – circle, circle, circle – inspiring this artistic response to the VAP encounter.
We had lunch with Mirna Zagar, organiser of the Zagreb Dance Week Festival. I really appreciated her thought that when proposing an art project to a festival, you need to adapt to the context, offer what is missing, and if you don’t get a response – don’t be afraid to write again.
We participated in the discussion “Perspectives of Dance” with Arnd Wesemann and Helena Waldmann (Germany), as well as local artists and practitioners. It was a conversation about international cooperation in the context of EU programs and the role of dance in today’s society.
We listened to Ariana Fridrih talk about her feminist art, which is truly made for people. What stuck with me most was her idea that her art should be understandable and visible to everyone – not everyone has to like it, but everyone should have the opportunity to form an opinion.
We improvised with Toby Kassel – catching sticks, playing games. Simple instructions led the seminar into a very purposeful half-hour of improvisation at the end of our meeting.
I’d say – not bad at all for just three days. I came back exhausted, but with so many impressions, images, and inspirations that are still a bit hard to put into words, but they definitely make me want to keep going. So, thank you to the Lithuanian Dance Information Centre, Zagreb Dance Week Festival and the Visiting Artist Programme – truly, it touched my heart. <3