Aušra Česnauskytė is a Lithuanian spatial designer/artist based in the Hague that graduated master of Interior architecture from the Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague, in 2020. With a particular focus on public space, she has constantly been zooming in and out from the globalised urban landscapes to the specific micro-scale accidents. Within her current practice, her technical background in architecture is intertwined with playful speculative designs, which intend to question our urban lifestyles and landscapes standardisation.


















EDUCATION:


2018-2020   Master‘s degree: Interior Architecture (INSIDE),  Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (KABK), NL
2013-2017    Bachelor‘s degree:  Architecture,  Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, LT
2021    /5-7   Online learning community course: Make Economy Yours Again, Baltan Laboratories, Eindhoven, NL
2016               Erasmus exchange:  Architecture with specialisation in Urbanism,  The University of Lisbon, PT



WORK EXPERIENCE:


2020-...        Freelance Practice: Urban research, spatial design, concept development, creative strategies, workshops, architectural drawings and graphic design.
2020-...        Urban research lab-movement Neo-futuristic Walks. Co-initiator.  Urban research, storytelling, curating, performative tours, workshops, talks.
2022           Collaboration with the Studio Kars+Boom:   Urban research and installation design. Utrecht, NL.
                    Supported by The Creative Industries Fund NL (Building Talent programme).
2017               Internship at the MassLAB: Junior architect. Concept development and visualisation. Porto, PT (the link).
2016               Internship at the Merooficina Junior architect. Technical drawings, visualisations, 3d models. Porto, PT (the link).



PERFORMATIVE TOURS AND WORKSHOPS:


2023      Neo-futuristic Walks: Kornos
- a performative tour that was developed during a 2-week long art residency Xarkis. The residency culminated with the Xarkis Festival in Kornos, and Neo-futuristic Walks took part in its programme.

2023     Neo-futuristic Walks: Wetlands - 4 walkshops in 4 cities - Amsterdam, Rotterdam, London, and Antwerp (the cities that are at risk of flooding). The walks were designed in collaboration with an artist in each city. Co-curated the whole project.
The project was funded by the Creative Industries Fund NL (Experiment Grant Scheme).


A series of Neo-futuristic Walks walkshops: 

2023     New York City, USA - As a part of the ECO Solidarity programme in WantedDesign Manhattan 2023.
            The Hague, The Netherlands
-  As a part of an inter-masters collaborative Programme at the Royal Academy of Art The Hague.

2022    Vilnius, LT -
As a part of the Symposium Politics of Space.
              Amsterdam, NL - As a part of the Conference Walking as Research Practice (WARP)
              Brussels, BE - As a part of The Festival of the New European Bauhaus.
             Kaunas, LT -  As a part of Kaunas European Capital of Culture 2022 programme.
             Utrecht, NL As a part of the research on the playground project Urban Jungle.


2021   /3-7      Neo-futuristic walks: Vilnius-London. 
                    - 4-month-long alternative urban research course for two groups of architecture and art students in Vilnius and London.
                    - 1 week of workshops on-site for students in Vilnius.
                    - 2 performative tours (participatory events) in Vilnius and London.

Neo-futuristic Walks: Vilnius-London was part of the Experiments’ Platform initiatives. Experiments’ Platform was initiated by the Architekture Fund in Lithuania.
The walk in London was a part of the London Festival of Architecture (LFA) programme.


2019   /11     What-IF? - workshop for architecture students about the speculative design principles. Amsterdam, NL.

2019   /2      City Inspection - workshop for architecture students. Mejorada del Campo, ES.

2019   /6   Het WONDERLAND - multiple performative tours for the groups of highschool students. Delft, NL.(group project)

2019   /6   
The Last Supper - event as the Het WONDERLAND project’s closing ceremony. I was shaped as a narrated performance with conceptually designed meals and drinks. The Hague, NL. (group project)
 
2018   /11   My New Workspace - performance presenting my research and design project about the modern times’ workers. Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague, NL.



EXHIBITIONS:



2022   /10       Politics of Space: Neo-futuristic Walks: Vilnius. Presenting the walkshop’s results. Creative hub Sodas 2123, Vilnius, LT.

2022  /6          Oslo Architecture Triennale: Neo-futuristic Walks. Virtual projects’ display. (the link).

2021   /10-11   Group exhibition of the Experiments’ Platform’s initiatives: Neo-futuristic Walks: Vilnius-London. Creative hub Sodas 2123, Vilnius, LT (the link).

2021   /10         Dutch Design Week 2021: Neo-futuristic Walks: Vilnius-London. Plan-B, Eindhoven, NL (the link).

2021   /10         Future Architecture Platform 2021:  #helloeveryone. Virtual projects’ display (the link).

2020   /10        Dutch Design Week 2020: #helloeveryone. Virtual projects’ display (the link).

2020   /9          KABK graduation show 2020: #helloeveryone. The Hague, NL (the link).

2019   /1           Group Exhibition of 12 Art Residency interiors’ concepts for Goethe-Institute: The Extremely well-ordered AiR (1 of 12 proposals). Goethe Institute, Rotterdam, NL.

2019   /5           Group Exhibition. The flower industry flows in the Netherlands and China. Contributed by my individual research on human labour flow within the Netherlands’ flower industry. Guangzhou, CN.




TALKS:


2021   /6       Collective Imagination: Speculating Urban Futures in Vilnius and London. The talk was a part of a radio programme for the London Festival of Architecture (LFA). It was hosted by Martynas Germanavičius and Palanga Street Radio.
(The link).

2021   /6       HOMO CULTUS. The man and the city on neo-futurism and speculative design. A discussion hosted by Matas Šiupšinskas and Justinas Dūdėnas, National Lithuanian radio channel for culture. (The link).

2020   /11     Ideas Exchange within the theme: Future Cities. Presented master’s graduation project #helloeveryone. The talk was hosted by the What IF Lab.

2020   /10    KABK students in DDW20. The talk was hosted by Mushroom radio.




AWARDS:


2021            Building Talent Grant Creative Industries Fund NL
2020          Nominee for the best Master’s graduation project in KABK 2020.