Masks, wearables, and totems—co-created with MA Visual Arts and Curatorial Studies students at NABA – Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti Milano—elevate Wetland Game at the GENS Public Programme, 19th International Architecture Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia, 2025.
Designed and constructed by: Stock Breeder, Bull, and Game Master—Julia Varjund; Hunter—Elif Nur Gözaydın, Öykü Önder, and Julia Varjund; Reed Harvester and Bittern—Chengcheng Sheng and Qu Weili; Conservationist—Elif Nur Gözaydın and Öykü Önder.
A series of handmade props for the Wetland game-performance translates Mediterranean wetland ecologies and regional craft into wearable forms. Reeds, linen, dried moss and feathers, reclaimed leather, felt, eggshells, and lightweight wood are upcycled, woven, tied, and painted with natural pigments to produce headpieces, capes, and tools: a bittern-inspired cowl with folk tie-dye brushstrokes; a reed-woven harvester set; a linen-rope hood for the stock breeder; an eggshell-and-clay horn set for the bull; a game master’s shield, and a hunter ensemble whose wooden, gun-like props, vertical headgear, and leather gaiters recall high fishing boots and echo the surrounding landscape. Together, they make the landscape wearable and the region’s material intelligence visible.
Photo: Eglė Marija Želvytė © the authors
Supported by the Lithuanian Council for Culture; the Creative Interdisciplinary New European Bauhaus (NEB) Research Centre at Vilnius Academy of Arts; and NABA – Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti Milano
Special thanks to Andris Brinkmanis, Eleonora Roaro, Marco Scotini (NABA)
