Eglė Ambrasaitė (she/her) can be located in a spot reserved for interdisciplinary art: she is both an artist, an independent curator and a researcher, based poli-geographically, both in Žeimiai (Lithuania), Budapest (Hungary), Berlin (Germany), and New York (USA). Her interdisciplinary studies - Bachelor in Film, Video and Interactive Arts (Middlesex University, London), Masters in Social and Political Critique (Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas) and her PhD research in Comparative Gender Studies (Central European University, Budapest/Vienna) - are transforming her artistic work into a contemporary and critical medium that crystallizes in both visual arts (video/sculpture/installation), various forms of written materials and her curatorial practices. Eglė is the director of “Aikas Žado Association” and the curator of Aikas Žado Laboratory* (Žeimiai Manor House), a collectively-run, non-profit contemporary art institution based in Žeimiai Manor House, Lithuania. Her artistic, curatorial and theoretic practices circulate around the themes of (crip) materialities, bodies/embodiments, love and healing by encapsulating decolonial and affect theories, critical disability studies, non-human thought and dark ecology.
*Based in crip materiality methodologies, Aikas Žado Laboratory is organized as an individually collaborative artwork by the artists Domas Noreika and Eglė Ambrasaitė, as well as a communal artwork. Part of its programs are administered, coordinated and developed by the Aikas Žado Association. The main activities of the Laboratory are practical experiments related to the management of cultural heritage objects and the combination of discoveries, methods, techniques and knowledge in the fields of contemporary art, science and culture. The main principles of the Laboratory’s activities are illustrated by the application of conservation, prevention and restoration systems in the Žeimiai Manor House. At the Laboratory, the team collects and tests historical materials, organizes scientific research and exhibitions, and presents cognitive expeditions that showcase specific solutions and methods (based on crip materiality) of turning the Manor House into a contemporary artwork itself.
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
2024
22 07 2024 → now
Advisor for Ucool Artist Residency’s (UAR’s) artists and community members, Brooklyn, New York City, USA
22 07 2024 → 21 12 2024
Invited as a Guest Curator to curate a group exhibition for Uncool Artist Residency (UAR), Brooklyn, New York City, USA
01 05 2024 → 02 06 2024
Invited as a Guest Curator to curate a group exhibition for Residency Unlimited (RU), Governors Island, New York City, USA
2023
01 10 2023 → 01 12 2023
Selected as a Visiting Curator at Residency Unlimited (RU), New York City, USA
01 06 2023
Certificate of Teaching in Higher Education received from Yehuda Elkana Center for Teaching, Learning & Higher Education Research, Vienna, Austria
17 01 2023 → 31 05 2023
Bard Graduate Center, New York City, USA
Selected as part of OSUN Program; visiting PhD student
2022
15 01 2022 → 15 05 2022
ZZF Institute (The Leibniz Center for Contemporary History Potsdam), Potsdam, Germany
Visiting PhD researcher with DRSG grant; host supervisor: Juliane Fürst
2021
01 05 2021 → 31 08 2021
Young artist scholarship received from Lithuanian Council for Culture for the art project “Infrathin”
14 01 2021 → 14 04 2021
Teaching assistant for Gender Foundations II class designed for MA students and led by prof. Eszter Timar, Central European University (CEU), Vienna
2020
01 06 2020 → 01 09 2020
Young artist scholarship received from Lithuanian Council for Culture for the art project “As Deep as the Skin”
01 06 2020
Granted with the Permanent Artist Status by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania
2018
01 09 2018 → now
CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY, VIENNA, AUSTRIA
PhD Candidate in Comparative Gender Studies
01 01 2018 → 30 09 2018
Young artist scholarship received from Lithuanian Council for Culture for the art project “Lankesa: Acceleration”
01 09 2015 → 22 06 2018
VYTAUTAS MAGNUS UNIVERSITY, KAUNAS, LITHUANIA
Masters degree (with distinction) in Political Sciences (Programme: “Social and Political Critique”)
2014
23 10 2014 → 26 10 2014
IDEA CAMP (held by ECF) in Marseille, France
One of the representatives of an innovative idea in re-defining and shaping public space, selected by ECF (http://www.culturalfoundation.eu/idea-camp-2014/)
23 09 2012 → 30 05 2015
MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY, LONDON, UK
Bachelor of Arts in Film, Video and Interactive Arts
