ARTIŠOKAI - About

Vilnius based ARTIŠOKAI was founded in 2017 as an open collaboration of interdisciplinary working artists. We are always looking for the right formats for the ideas we care about.In the past 3 years, ARTIŠOKAI initiated and organized more than 40 contemporary art exhibitions/ installations shown in Vilnius, New York etc.ARTIŠOKAI strives at being a harbor and point of departure, especially for young writers and directors. ARTIŠOKAI produced 4 short documentaries that won 7 awards and traveled to more than 50 film festivals such as Hamburg ISFF, Jihlava IDFF, Tirana IFF, Drama SIFF, Bosphorus IFF, Calcutta IFF, Vilnius IFF, Beijing ISFF, etc.We are always open to making new meaningful connections.

CEO

Akvilė Žilionytė

Writer, filmmaker, producer

Born in 1987, she graduated with BA in Literature and Lithuanian language and MA in Film Directing. She is also a graduate of EURODOC 2015, ESODOC 2020. Since 2014 working with film production and exhibitions, closely engaged with prominent Lithuanian contemporary artists. Akvilė published 2 books. In 2012 published the epistolary novel "All Letters - Giraffes" (along with Kęstutis Navakas). Authors observing day-to-day life and exploring themes of identity, memories, home, etc.In 2015 Akvilė compiled a book "Give me a tailcoat". It's a book on a Lithuanian interwar press. The author collected witticisms, nonsenses, stories from the Lithuanian interwar press, and the twirls of human minds.

Our artists, friends, and collaborators

Artiom Rybakov

Theatre director, actor

Born in 1994, living and creating in Vilnius. In 2016, graduated with a bachelor's degree in acting from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater (course leader Oskaras Koršunovas). Experimenting with directing generated great interest to pursue this career. So he directed a couple of plays and organized creative workshops for actors and performers, where the main goal was to experiment and practice with different forms of theatre and methods of acting.

Danas Aleksa

Sculpture, object, performance, video artist

Born in 1971, living and creating in Vilnius. He is interested in topics of (his) social status and identity in a broader sense. In his works, he asks questions “who am I” and “what am I (not)” in a social and/or institutional art system. Danas describes himself as an interdisciplinary artist as someone being in a state of in-betweenness. When you are not only between disciplines but also between self and art, self and routine, routine and art, society and self when you become an observer and call it art.

Gailė Garnelytė

Film director, screenwriter

Born in 1987, in Vilnius. During 2009-2013 she studied screenwriting at Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater. Since 2013 she has been actively working in the field of screenwriting, writing for different shorts.She is also writer and co-writer of various TV series and programs and screenwriter, script supervisor for Lithuanian documentary films ("The Nest“ dir. R. Matačius (2018), "Fierce Gods“, dir. V. Oškinis (2019)). She was the story editor for the documentary film "Final Destination“ which was selected for IDFA and won the nomination as the best student film (dir. R. Marcinkus, 2013).Gailė Garnelytė has recently finished directing her first short documentary film "The Robot and The Butterfly" (2021) and at the moment developing a feature documentary film.

Nikolas Candido

Filmmaker, author

Born in 1991, in Niteroi. Originally from Brazil and currently based in Geneva where studying Comparative Literature at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. He is a member of Super OFF, a Super 8 active film collective from Sao Paulo. His works are composed by immersion in Super 8 and analogue process, inner-voice acting, and non-traditional storytelling. Lately, Nikolas has been exploring the relationship between body and immanence, self-exile, migration, and polyphony.

Nuruzzaman Khan (Bappy)

Artist, filmmaker, writer, researcher

Bappy is a film director born and raised in Dhaka, Bangladesh 1988.

His “Men With No Name” in 2018 premiered in Hot Docs IFF and took part in numerous festivals as Fest New Directors FF, Bosphorus IFF, Belfort Entrevues FF, Fide IFED and others.

From 2015 to 2017 he participated in DOCNOMADS, a program from the European Union where 24 directors from all around the world were selected for a Masters degree in documentary film direction.

Now he is graduating with his PhD in documentary films on the subject of migration at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts.

Sergej Grigorjev

Graphic designer, art director, planner

Born in 1987. Sergej based in Vilnius, working as a graphic designer in creative industries and as a producer in many cultural projects. He is working with cross-media projects, employing new creative technologies to present social and cultural issues to new audiences. Sergey is passionate about creativity and design as a tool to better every day.

Simona Žemaitytė

Artist, director, video editor, lecturer

Born in 1984, living and working between London, Vilnius, and Naples. Simona’s own work was previously awarded at the 15th Tallinn Print Triennial and nominated for an award at the Sheffield Documentary Film Festival. Previous exhibitions and shows include Kasa Gallery, Galata Perform (Istanbul), BAFTA, RichMix (London), Contemporary Art Center (Vilnius), and others.