DIMY-MYDI The international Erasmus+ project "Digital Mythologies – Mythological Digitalities"

Digital Mythologies - Mythological Digitalities
The Erasmus+ International Strategic Partnerships project "Digital Mythologies-Mythological Digitalities", led by the Department of Graphic Design together with partners from five countries, is almost halfway through! The project was initiated by Aalto University (Finland), which has climbed to a respectable sixth place in the global ranking of art and design schools.  The project partners are Vilnius Academy of Arts (Lithuania), Aalto University (Finland), Katowice Academy of Art and Design (Poland), Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Dublin (Ireland) and the Royal Academy of Art and Design in Antwerp (Belgium).
During the three-year project (2022-2024), each partner country - Poland, Lithuania, Ireland, Finland and Belgium - will host an international student workshop with five students from each school. The event will analyse and interpret myths, highlighting their historical relevance in today's social and political meaning-making in the context of technological diffusion. Using the cultural resources (myths, mythological creatures, gods, etc.) of the countries where the workshop takes place as a starting point, lectures will be given on the historical contexts of mythology as well as on contemporary interpretations in the production of creative industries and art/design artefacts.

Mythology: the game
The first workshop took place in Katowice, Poland, from 31 March to 8 April 2022. The theme of the workshop was Mythology: the game. Working in international groups, the students shared their country's cultural experiences, conceptualised the content of the ideas and presented the dynamic media projects at the Young Agrafa event.

Mythology: Spirituality
The second took place in Vilnius from 18 to 24 September. The theme of the workshop was Mythology: Spirituality. The theme relates to the living heritage of paganism in Lithuania and the contemporary practices of neopaganism as a subculture for the younger generation or a religion for the older generation. The Augmented Reality flaps created during the workshop were presented at a public event in the History House of the National Museum of Lithuania.  The results of the Vilnius workshop can be seen in the presentation video.
 
Mythology: Identity
The third workshop took place in Dublin, Ireland, from 4 to 11 March. The theme was Mythology: Identity, and related to the historical and political contexts that have shaped Irish national identity. The results of the workshop, developed by international student groups, were presented at the National Archaeological Museum of Ireland. Students will also take part in workshops in Belgium and Finland. These will be accompanied by exhibitions and other dissemination events.

 
 

Urban Space Gaming III Creative workshop. 2020

On February 3-7, 2020 the head of Graphic design department Aušra Lisauskienė together with 3-4 year students were visiting Aalto university, where international workshop Urban Space Gaming III was held. Tutors of the workshop: Tarja Nieminen (Aalto university, Finland), Samuel Rees (Iceland Art Academy, Iceland), Lode Coen (Belgium) and Ausra Lisauskiene (Vilnius Art Academy, Lithuania).
During one week students from different countries and universities worked together and explored communication and intervention in the public spaces of Helsinki, while including elements of game into it. The main workshop goal was to encourage students to understand the psychological, physical and social aspects of the public spaces of the town and express it using design tools.
Project was funded by CIRRUS.

 


Workshop with Martin Foessleitner. 2019

During 19th - 26th of November, we will have a guest in Graphic design department – an Austrian graphic designer specialising in wayfinding design Martin foessleitner from www.hi-pe.at. Martin Foessleitner  will conduct very interesting wayfing workshop "You are here. Orientation and Navigation". We are sure that it will be useful and very interesting week for our students and, we hope, for Martin Foessleitner too.

 

 


Workshop with Noam Schecter. 2019

During 7th - 11th of October, we had a guest in Graphic design department – an Israeli graphic designer specialising in typography and book design Noam Schechter from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem. Noam Schechter  conducted very interesting "Collaborative Paper" workshop for our students.

 


Workshop with Julia Ojapelto. 2019

During September 30th  -  October 4th, we had a guest in Graphic design department – graphic designer Julia Ojapelto (Lahti University of Applied Sciences, Design institute, Finland). Julia conducted very interesting "Electronic Publishing Workshop" for our students.


Workshop with Tarja Nieminen. 2019

In May, Tarja Nieminen, a lecturer in Media department at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture of the Aalto University visited the Academy and co-tutoring a project led by Ausra Lisauskiene, the Head of Graphic Design. The project, titled "Immersed in Electricity" will be executed during the Culture Night at the Museum of Energy and Technology in Vilnius.

The Graphic Design Department participates this project for the second time. The 3rd-year students work in groups to create five interactive sensors based projects.The main goal of the project is to create simple interactive conceptual installations related to the museum, its activity during the Culture Night.

 


Workshop with Joshua Trees. 2019

From 8th till 19th of April Graphic design department students had international creative workshop "Theory workshop" with Joshua Trees, tutor of Royal College of Art (London, UK).
CHALLENGE You are asked to produce and publish a limited (or unlimited) edition ‘theory object’ to be experienced, sold or freely distributed to the public. A theory object is a self-replicating open-source manifestation (event, action or thing). Similar to a meme (an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person), a theory object is designed to both inspire and facilitate the spread of an idea. Accordingly, a theory object often travels across different media platforms (e.g. word of mouth > hashtag > downloadable tools > user participation via modification and sharing). At the same time, a theory object is an ambiguous concept inviting exploration and examination. Bruce Sterling has used the term to describe “shareable concepts” such as ‘Spime’ and ‘The New Aesthetic’. All theory objects must be ‘redistributable’, i.e. designed to be duplicated or disseminated. Such items could be material (publications, posters, furniture, souvenirs...) or immaterial (downloads, workshops, rumours, performances, videos, fonts, memes...)
CONTEXT “The term theory object is itself a kind of theory object.” —Bruce Sterling This is a practical investigation into theoretical objects. Through continuous dialogue and prototyping we will explore and test the question: How can the concept of a ‘theory object’ be used to rethink the functions of pubishing in contemporary culture?

 


Conceptual design workshop with prof. Xiao Yong. 2018

From 19th of November Graphic design department students had international creative conceptual design workshop “Man and woman” with famous graphic designer prof. Xiao Yong.
Professor Xiao Yong is very well know figure in visual communication design field of the word. Professor works in Central Academy of Fine Arts CAFA in Beijing, China and takes care of strategy of visual communication design field politics and tendencies of all the world.
 


Workshop with prof. Joost Bottema. 2018

From 22nd of October Graphic Design department students had international creative workshop “Mini project” with famous graphic designer Joost Bottema. Professor Joost Bottema is very well know figure in visual communication design field of the word. Joost Bottema works in Merz Academie in Stuttgard and takes care of strategy of visual communication design field politics and tendencies of West and Centre Europe regions.

Workshop delves into the experience, moment by moment, of creating a project. Each of the given exercises will bring students closer to what their project should both communicate and how it will be visualized. Structural patterns, both in meaning and in visible shapes, will be learned to recognize, transform and create. Design will be used to discover and define content, content will be used to define design. The result will be a blueprint of a potentially larger project. The process however can be adopted to conceptualize any other future project.

 


Workshop with Julia Ojapelto. 2018

During 2nd - 5th of October, we had a guest in Graphic design department – graphic designer Julia Ojapelto (Lahti design institute, Finland). Julia will conduct very interesting "Electronic Publishing Workshop" for our students.
 We are sure that it will be useful and very interesting week for our students and, we hope, for Julia too.

 

 


Workshop with Ceren Caliskan. 2018

International creative workshop - summer practice "ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHIC DESIGN: LOCAL CONTEXT" in Nida Art Colony, September 18-27, 2018
Creative Workshop was led by: prof. Aušra Lisauskiene (Graphic Design Department), Assoc. prof. Robertas Jucaitis (Graphic Design Department), dr. Ceren Caliskan (Istanbul Arel University)
Migration is one of the most social movements in human history. People have changed places in which they live because of many reasons. Through this process, they have carried their cultures, languages, lifestyles, and so on. They have met so many different cultures, and they have an interaction and create new ones. People, as transporter, have a significant effect on society. They build and change the culture all the time. The workshop aimed to show the importance of understanding and integrating the social, political and cultural references of migrants and wishes to advance on the conceptual framework of intercultural dialogue and enhance the role of public art and environmental graphic design in the promotion of collective action.The students will work on the topic of migration during their stay at NAC in 10 days. The findings of the research will be further used in the project by the participants.

 


Workshop with Thomas Castro. 2018

Graphic Design Department was organizing a workshop  Design Heuristics  with Graphic design star Thomas Castro (The Netherlands).

Heuristic methodologies in design focus on developing the vocabulary of a project (iterations), as opposed to focusing on just on a singular form. Design versioning, if you will. In this scenario, graphic design can be seen as a set of visual, linguistic, social, philosophical, and political tools implemented to a textual or visual dataset. Therefore the same dataset can manifest itself in any format or medium the designer, or even user, sees fit, often times taking on multiple iterations. This necessitates a set of research tools which help with academic inquiry. We borrow these tools and methodologies from related fields of research (eg. forensics or anthropology) and reinvent them for our own discipline. What sets us apart from the traditional sciences is the methodology of ‘making an image’. The concept of ‘agency’ has always been important in design research, but giving that agency form is just as important. We are both thinkers and makers.


International workshop "Urban space gaming". 2018

During 2018 February 05–10 united group of   GDD 4th year students, Aalto university (Finland) and Iceland Art academy students had a creative conceptual design workshop Urban Space Gaming. The workshop theme – communication and intervention in public space by means of participatory games and act of playing. In a broad sense, the whole city can be seen as a game setting – the workshop encourages students to see also physical, social and political aspects of the urban playground.
The workshop funded by CIRRUS (Nordic-Baltic Network of Art and Design Education), the tutors are Tarja Nieminen (Aalto University, Finland / workshop coordinator), Samuel Rees (Iceland Academy of the Arts), Lode Coen (Belgium) and Ausra Lisauskiene (VDA, Lithuania).


Workshop with Gediminas Šiaulys. 2017

Creative workshop "Visual Narrative" by the designer, director and visual communications specialist GEDIMINAS ŠIAULYS was held during November 20-24 for Graphic Design Department 2nd year undergraduate students. Participants of the workshop created short stories during the week and illustrated them.


Workshop with Esa Ojala. 2017

During 20th - 23r of November we had  famous  graphic designer from Finland - Esa Ojala. 


Workshop with French font design star Jean-Baptiste Levee. 2017

Graphic Design Department was organizing a workshop Typefaces for a distant future with French font design star Jean-Baptiste Levee. Jean-Baptiste Levee is an international typographer, ATYPI association board member, delegate of the country. Designer taught in several schools of higher design: Amiens School of Arts & Design, Caen-Cherbourg School of Arts & Media and the University of Corte.
During the workshop with Jean-Baptiste Levee, students will design a Latin alphabet for continuous text (serif or sans-serif).


Workshop with Julia Ojapelto. 2017

During 3rd - 6th of October, we had a guest in Graphic design department – graphic designer Julia Ojapelto (Lahti design institute, Finland). Julia will conduct very interesting "Electronic Publishing Workshop" for our students.
 We are sure that it will be useful and very interesting week for our students and, we hope, for Julia too.


Creative workshop - summer practice "Immanuel Kant at the beach" with prof. Klaus Hesse. 2017

On May 27th - June 5th at the Art Colony in Nida creative workshop - summer practice "Immanuel Kant at the beach". Participants of the creative workshop – students from the Vilnius Academy of Arts and the University of the Arts of Offenbach Graphic Design Departament‘s. The workshop was led by two professors - Audrius Klimas (Vilnius Academy of Arts) and Klaus Hesse (Offenbach Art University / Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach am Main).
Thirty young graphic designers from Lithuania and Germany, working in mixed groups, created experimental typographic posters, based on Immanuel Kant's philosophy, inspired by the philosopher‘s way of life and his philosophical mindset (I. Kant lived only 80 km. away from Nida).


Workshop with prof. Andrzej Kalina. 2017

On 5th-9th of June GDD students had creative workshop with prof. Andrzej Kalina (Polish - Japanese Academy of Information Technology, Warsaw, Poland). During the workshop students learned to connect different technologies using plaster, linoleum, graphic cutters, paper and ink.


Poster design workshop with Lahav Halevy. 2017

Starting on April  24th till April 28th, Graphic Design Department 3rd year students had poster design creative workshop. Creative workshop was led by Lahav Halevy - the owner of one of the leading Graphic Design and Branding firms in Israel Blue Collar Group, and a political activist, who uses both his abilities as a designer and a citizen, to fight for what he believes in.

 

 


Workshop with mocap.lt. 2017

During the April we are had an interesting 3D animation creative workshop using MAYA program. For this opportunity the we are thankful to the mocap.lt company.


Workshop with Tarja Nieminen. 2017

During 2017 February 27 – March 3rd GDD 4th year students had a creative conceptual design workshop "Ritual" with one of the best-known contemporary Finnish graphic designers TARJA NIEMINEN. Tarja Nieminen teaches in the Media Department at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture of the Aalto University.

 


Workshop with Stasys Eidrigevičius. 2017

During 2017 February 17-22 Graphic Design Department undergraduate 2-year students had a workshop by Maestro Stasys Eidrigevičius - one of the most famous all time Lithuanian painters, graphic artists, writers and illustrators. Stasys Eidrigevičius will share creative experiences with students, who will create posters according to Mr. Almodovar movie "High Heels" as well as Julius Dautartas and Skirmantas Pabedinskas documentary "Sidewalk".

 

Workshop with Frederik De Bleser. 2016

During December 12-16, 2016 Graphic design department had host an international workshop "NODEBOX". The workshop was held in collaboration with one of the NODEBOX creators, doctor, researcher - FREDERIK DE BLESER. NodeBox is developed by the Experimental Media Research Group, a cross-domain research group associated with the Sint Lucas School of arts of the Karel de Grote-Hogeschool (Antwerp, Belgium). 
During the workshop students will learn to create parametric variable fonts, presented for the first time at ATypI conference in 2016.

 

Workshop with Filip Blažek. 2016

During 2016 March 4- 8th, Graphic Design Department 3rd year students had lettering creative workshop. Creative workshops was led by Filip Blažek - a graphic designer, font creator and design theorist, in charge of publishing an international fonts and design magazine TYPO. Currently, Filip Blažek teaches at the Prague Academy of Arts.
During creative workshop, students learned to observe, analyze, interpret and recreate used fonts in public spaces of the city. The results of the workshop - 14 brand new fonts, created by students as well as their concepts and a deeper knowledge of typography.
 

International workshop "PARIS / VILNIUS". 2016

During March 21-25, 2016 united group of Graphic design department students and students from France will have international workshop with the French graphic design stars Patrick Pleutin, Emmanuelle Tieu and Éric Boisseau (Ecole-Estienne, Paris, France)

  


Workshop with prof.Silvia Sfligiotti. 2015

Starting from 2015 5th till 7th of October Graphic Design Department students  had the seminar with prof.Silvia Sfligiotti on contemporary graphic design.
The seminar will offer a space to discuss together some of the most relevant themes of the contemporary graphic design scene, with a mix of theoretical lessons and open discussions with the group. The themes will include visual identities and brands, information design and inforaesthetics, and activism and criticism in graphic design.The final goal of the seminar is to produce one or more “graphic design manifestos”, statements that you will elaborate after the discussions on the role of this profession in contemporary society.

 


 

International workshop at the Nida Art Colony. 2015

Nida Art Colony hosted an international workshop during 2015 September 14-22. Vilnius Academy of Arts Graphic design departmet and the Lahti Design Institute Graphic design department students driven by visual communication tools promoted Neringa and Nida residents as well as guests to start public discourse about the bridge / tunnel to the Kuršių Nerija relevance for cultural, economic, heritage preservation and other aspects.
Students while working in groups recorded research process and the results in a special blog.Creative workshop was led by prof. Julia Ojapelto (Lahti Design Institute) and prof. Aušra Lisauskienė (Vilnius Academy of Arts).

 


Workshops with prof. Vesna Dragojlov. 2015

During 2015 May 18-29 Graphic Design Department undergraduate 2-year students had a workshops on "Algorithmic / Generative art: art generating machines" which will be led by prof. Vesna Dragojlov from University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, Arizona, USA. 
More about Prof. Vesna Dragojlov

  


Workshop with French font design star Jean-Baptiste Levee. 2015

Graphic Design Department in collaboration with the French Institute of Lithuania was organizing a workshop with French font design star Jean-Baptiste Levee. Jean-Baptiste Levee is an international typographer, ATYPI association board member, delegate of the country. Designer taught in several schools of higher design: Amiens School of Arts & Design, Caen-Cherbourg School of Arts & Media and the University of Corte.
During the workshop with Jean-Baptiste Levee, students will create visual communication objects for French Institute of Lithuania. Introductory lecture on the workshop will be held on April 13, starting from 15:00 hours, 315 aud. Maironio str. 3, “Titanic”.
Presentation of the workshop results will be held in the French Institute of Lithuania on 2015  April 17, at 11:00 hours.