The Neringa Forest Classroom is a continuation of the Children’s Forest Pavilion, Lithuania at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2023.

21–24 October 2024
Curonian Spit National Park Nature School, Nida

25–29 November 2024
Neringa Forest Classroom, Juodkrante
Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts, Nida

As part of the Neringa Municipality initiative to promote the development of an Educational Cluster that connects Neringa Gymnasium with art and cultural organisations in the Neringa and Klaipėda regions, Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts, in collaboration with the Curonian Spit National Park and the Old Growth Forest Foundation, is conducting the first series of outdoor educational activities. This programme focuses on exploring the dynamics of ecosystems within the forests, coastal areas, and sand dunes of the Curonian Spit, with a strong emphasis on biodiversity and understanding human impacts on nature.

This educational programme brings together teachers from Neringa Gymnasium, environmental educators, botanists, mycologists, and artists in a cross-sectoral initiative that encourages experiential learning and interdisciplinary collaboration. By connecting natural sciences and the arts, the programme provides students and participants with a holistic perspective on environmental stewardship, fostering a deeper understanding of the local landscape and its delicate ecological relationships.

The programme begins with a session led by Curonian Spit National Park educator Gvidas Laukaitis. Over the course of four days, from 21 to 24 October, students from four classes in grades 1–4 engage in outdoor explorations to learn about the unique formation of the sand dunes that define the Curonian Spit. They study the varying sizes and characteristics of sand grains, observing how natural forces shape the dunes over time. Through extensive guided walks and practical exercises such as building a model of the protective dune using sand and natural materials, the pupils experience the dunes up close, gaining an understanding of their meaning to the local ecosystem and how they interact with surrounding flora and fauna. 

From 25 to 29 November, Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts hosts a session focused on understanding the delicate ecological processes within an old-growth forest, led by Sengirės Fondas experts: mycologist Aurelija Pluke and botanist Vilma Gudynienė. These sessions take place within the forest and are joined by artist Aistė Ambrazevičiūtė, who guides participants in translating and deepening their forest experiences by exploring the intricate forms and representations of slime moulds and lichens on a molecular scale, revealing a spectrum of unique colours and forms and allowing participants to observe and appreciate the hidden complexity of these forest organisms, transforming scientific exploration into an artistic lens on biodiversity. 

Their work is supported by the environmental educator Riita (Nyyskä) Nykänen from Mustarinda Association in Finland. Nyyskä develops learning materials and introduces new approaches to outdoor environmental education supporting learning in nature, proposing teachers with new tools and strategies for engaging students with their natural surroundings.

The outdoor programme is centered around the Neringa Forest Classroom, a structure with a roof and seating platforms nestled within Juodkrantė’s old-growth forest, along the dendrological path near the ‘Sound Catcher’ installation. This classroom serves as both a continuation and the final phase of the Children’s Forest Pavilion, initially presented as Lithuania’s pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2023. Constructed entirely from timber sourced from the Curonian Spit, the pavilion was originally designed as an educational playscape for the biennale, with the aim of relocating it to the Neringa forests as a permanent, publicly accessible installation. This transformation allows the classroom to continue its purpose as a site for ecological and cultural education, welcoming all who wish to explore and learn from the surrounding natural landscape.

During the five days of environmental workshops, the Neringa Forest Classroom – whose structure subtly blends with the fragile forest landscape – acts as a starting and gathering point, a natural landmark from which pupils can embark on exercises that deepen their engagement with the ecosystem, immersing them in the very environment they are learning about. 

Educators: Aistė Ambrazevičiūtė, Aurelija Pluke and Vilma Gudynienė (Sengirės Fondas), Gvidas Laukaitis (Curonian Spit National Park), Riita (Nyyskä) Nykänen (Mustarinda Association)  
Curators: Jurga Daubaraitė, Egija Inzule, Jonas Žukauskas
Educational programme coordinator: Dovilė Lapinskaitė

Neringa Forest Classroom architecture: Jonas Žukauskas in collaboration with Antanas Gerlikas, Jurgis Paškevičius, Anton Shramkov

Forest Time, texts – Gabrielė Grigorjevaitė, Slime Mold Spores – Aistė Ambrazevičiūtė, Mountain Pine Alphabet – Mantas Peteraitis

Produced and created by: Neringa Forest Architecture
Implemented by: Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts

Partners: Curonian Spit National Park, Lithuanian National Forestry, Mustarinda Association, Neringa Gymnasium, Neringa Municipality, Sengires Fondas

Project financed by: Lithuanian Council For Culture, Neringa Municipality

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Les pièces de la forêt
Forest Parts

from 28 November 2024 to 25 May 2025
galerie blanche
arc en rêve centre d’architecture, Bordeaux

Elements that can be freely assembled to create interconnectable structures; wood samples collected from private monoculture plantations, experimental forests, private and state-managed mixed forests; materials from industrial timber production processes. These are just some of the ‘forest parts’ which, in this exhibition by the Neringa Forest Architecture collective, provide tactile links to the stories, processes and practices that have shaped and continue to shape the Landes de Gascogne forests. 

This vast wooded area is a mosaic of practices determined not only by the imperatives of maritime pine monoculture but also by the practices of care for its biodiversity. Conceived as a playscape, this exhibition is an invitation to the forest. Beginning with a film documenting outdoor workshops held in the forests of Lithuania and Finland, it unfolds through a Shadow Play animated by projections, a Samples Play for interacting with wooden elements, and a Timeline tracing both the history and the future of this complex ecosystem.

The exhibition includes workshops and educational activities for school groups, organising visits to forests and industrial sites which are rarely accessed by the public. These visits allow young people to experience different forestry and timber production practices and participate in discussions about the possible futures of woodland areas.  

CREDITS:

Exhibition curators and designers
Neringa Forest Architecture(Jurga Daubaraitė, Egija Inzule and Jonas Žukauskas) 

The Forest Workshops
Film by Neringa Forest Architecture and the Mustarinda Association (Michaela Casková, Riita (Nyyskä) Nykänen, Robin Everett, Tiina Arjukka Hirvonen)  •  Text and narration: Riitta (Nyyskä) Nykänen • Camera: Eitvydas Doškus, Elis Hannikainen • Editing: Ignè Narbutaité  • 39:17 min
Produced on the occasion of the Children’s Forest Pavilion, Lithuania at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia 2023.

opening talk
28 11 2024, 18:30
Jacques Sargos, writer, publisher, historian and art expert and Arnaud Sergent, research engineer in Political Science at INRAE Nouvelle‑Aquitaine-Bordeaux

We would like to thank our partners, institutions, companies and individuals for their contribution to the exhibition:
Adam (Matthias Demaitre) • Alliance Forêt Bois (Loïc Cotten) • Assemblons (Mathieu Baehr) • l’Association de gestion de la forêt usagère de Biscarosse (Bernard Cassen) • Au Liégeur (Denis Sabouret) • Cécile Faye • le Conseil Départemental de la Gironde (Fabien Marque, Marion Molveaux) • Eric Castex • Fibois (Géraldine Gay Mallet) • Gascogne Bois (Nicolas Bordenave) • le Groupement Forestier Uzestois (Pascal Seguin) • INRAE Nouvelle-Aquitaine Bordeaux (Annabel Porté, Arnaud Sergent, Bastien Castagneyrol, Christophe Plomion, Frédéric Danjon, Frédéric Lagane, Laurent Boufier, Maksym Loginov, Yulia Prokopuk) • I2M Université de Bordeaux (Jean-Luc Coureau) • l’Institut Technologique FCBA (Patrick Moulinié) • Jacques Sargos • Lamécol (Laurent Daudigny) • Mustarinda Association (Michaela Casková, Riita (Nyyskä) Nykänen, Robin Everett, Tiina Arjukka Hirvonen) • l’Office National des Forêts (Caroline Fourcade) • le Parc Naturel Régional des Landes de Gascogne (Ruben Penin) • Pierre Husky • Scierie Labadie (Philippe Labadie) • Scierie Labrousse (Jean-François Labrousse) • SEPANSO Aquitaine (Enzo Andel) • Smurfit Westrock • Stéphanie Lafitte • le Syndicat des propriétaires de la forêt usagère de La Teste de Buch (Jean Dubrous) • THEBAULT (Vincent Mautord)

arc en rêve centre d’architecture, the team:
Fabrizio Gallanti – director; Adrien Bensignor – general secretary; publishing – Christophe Catsaros, communication – Leonardo Lella, Fanny Leglise; public relations and partnership – Anastassia Mathie; curatorial team – Wenwen Cai, Eric Dordan; production – Cyrille Brisou, Denys Zhdanov; graphic design – Emmanuelle Maura, Marie Christine Mendy; education – Sara Meunier, Flora Stich; administration – Sylvaine Vigneau; services to the public – Massimo Capano, Hakima Chahid, Claudine Wierstra; trainees – Adrien Cuttaz(ENSA Paris-La Vilette); external collaboration: graphic design assistant – Nicole Sapojnikov; woodwork – Vincent Grama and François Richard.

English proofreading – Gemma Lloyd 

Photographs – Rodolphe Escher

Project is part of Lithuanian Season in France

Exhibition booklet in French

PARTS OF THE PLAYSCAPE

Samples Play is an open-ended game where players of all ages interact with an assembly of wood elements, guided by their own imagination and intentions. Each sample can also be read and decoded by linking it to its origin—whether to the specific forest and habitat where the tree grew or the process that transformed it into a timber product. The accompanying texts provide an overview and introduction to these sources:
English – Samples Play
Français – Jeu d’échantillons

Shadow Play is an enclosed space animated by the play of shadows created from various plants, lichens, and mushrooms: impressions on transparent film derived from the plates of the Léon Dufour Herbarium preserved at the Bordeaux Botanical Garden, X-ray images of maritime pine (Pin maritime) samples intended for dendrochronology (the analysis of events experienced by a tree throughout its lifetime) from the research of L. Bouffier and F. Lagane at the joint INRAE/University of Bordeaux Biogeco research unit, as well as plant and other organism samples collected during various visits to the Landes de Gascogne forests. Visitors are invited to bring their own “forest findings” to create new shadows.

Chronology traces the main events and forces that have historically shaped the Landes de Gascogne forest, while also possibly overseeing the future.

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The Neringa Forest Architecture started by diverting timber extracted in the Curonian Spit forest initially designated for biofuel and built a Natural Timber Seasoning Shed at the Nida Art Colony (NAC) of Vilnius Academy of Arts in Nida in 2020, it serves as an archive, documenting timber samples, a resource storage and public display of forest histories and planning. 

This local timber resource became the basis of an artistic research residency program at NAC that involves architects, artists, researchers, and journalists. The assembly promotes a wider understanding of the forest environment, by tracing its extractivist industrial practices and processes and their impact on biodiversity. Engagement is seeking wider public awareness and agency to influence decisions in contemporary forest.

Architecture: Jonas Žukauskas and Jurga Daubaraitė
Concept and coordination: Jurga Daubaraitė, Egija Inzule, Jonas Žukauskas
Construction works: Jonas Žukauskas and Jurgis Paškevičius
with kind help by: Nerijus Rimkus, Robertas Narkus, Rudolfas Levulis, Denisas Kolomyckis, NAC team, Aleksandras Tereščenko, Eugenij Veres

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