Augustina Lavickaite. Research and storytelling through design. Based between Rotterdam (NL) and Vilnius (LT).
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2/22
Information Smuggling (2023)
Video installation, 7min.- Audio visual design
- Archive research
Information Smuggling delves into the media ecosystem of illicit publishing and the dissemination of information as acts of resistance against Russian oppression and cultural erasure in Lithuania. The thesis examines the complex system of elements required for the operation to function, such as an organized network of people, infrastructure, and suitable terrain. The resulting video installation transports viewers to a forested region with contemporary political significance and historical relevance in terms of information smuggling, situated on the borders of Lithuania, Belarus, Poland, and Kaliningrad. By employing diverse modes of witnessing—via the landscape, historical narratives, and the viewer's perspective—the installation positions the terrain as an active participant, facilitating the smuggling of information.
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Information Smuggling (2023)
Research process, video
Audio visual design
Archive research
Information Smuggling delves into the media ecosystem of illicit publishing and the dissemination of information as acts of resistance against Russian oppression and cultural erasure in Lithuania. The thesis examines the complex system of elements required for the operation to function, such as an organized network of people, infrastructure, and suitable terrain. The resulting video installation transports viewers to a forested region with contemporary political significance and historical relevance in terms of information smuggling, situated on the borders of Lithuania, Belarus, Poland, and Kaliningrad. By employing diverse modes of witnessing—via the landscape, historical narratives, and the viewer's perspective—the installation positions the terrain as an active participant, facilitating the smuggling of information.
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2/43/44/41/32/33/3Permanent Theatre (2022)
Publication, 61p.
Theoretical research
Spatial research
Information design
Editorial design
Permanent Theatre addresses issues of static year-round exhibitions in museums and archives, which result in limited visits and low returns. The project proposes a tool - a booklet - for embracing and observing the performative dimension of the museum or archive. With Permanent Theater, the first visit makes us actors experiencing the scripted narratives of the space. The second visit shifts the roles - the guest becomes a spectator and other guests become the dynamic exhibit. The project was created for and with Depot Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
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3/6Conspiratorial Status of Iodine (2022)
Installation, metal and print
Archive research
Metal folding
Print design
Years of imposed Iodine deficiency and the fear of nuclear power plant emergencies have made Iodine a household name in Post-Soviet Lithuania. Yet, the element’s simple, cold, plain, and factual nature results in a strange, conspiracy-like obsession, larger than the individual pieces of information and more mysterious than the political, economic, and environmental struggles it stems from. In the installation, a series of found footage, scientific measurements, aerial images, and perfect placeholders aim to tell the intertwined and contradicting web of stories surrounding Iodine. Through an attempt to be read, the simple blocks form an ambiguous narrative, as we continue to search for an organized evil by simplifying complex realities.