doing landscape

Project description

We explored two sites, Donkalnis and Spiginas, in Telšiai district, Western Lithuania, by the means of artistic research and sensory archaeology. As a result we wrote a joint article, presently in the peer review process for the Time&Mind journal, and I also produced a selection of artworks based on the two sites, including analogue (photographed by Horizon panoramic camera and Rolleiflex 2.8f), digital photography and two digital video works.

Project background: During the Mesolithic and Neolithic, hunter-gatherer peoples dwelling in the Eastern Baltic, Scandinavia, and Fennoscandia regions buried some of their dead underground on lake islands or other coastal sites. Due to the presence of water, these sites are often understood as ‘deathscapes,’ liminal places where water separates the lands of the dead and the living. In our paper, we suggest that a particular combination of spatial perception of landscape and the dynamic nature of coastal sites might have contributed to the personality and agency of these places, resulting in their use as places for ritual activity.