Project Villa Lituania. Part III (Architecture Workshop (Heart & Heart); Ambassador's Song; Villa Lituania_International Pigeon Race)

The artists Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas represented Lithuania at the 52nd International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia. This video documents the artistic process of the Villa Lituania project, from its inception in 2006 through to the realization of the first performance event and pavilion exhibition in June 2007. It collects the material associated with the challenge of building a pigeon loft in Rome, and a visual and textual artists’ diary.
Villa Lituania in Rome is a building associated with the Lithuanian nation: it was the Embassy of the first independent Republic of Lithuania (1918-1940) to Italy. The Embassy operated in the Villa from 1933–1940 but became a possession of the USSR after the Soviet occupation of Lithuania. The keys to the property, which had been in safe keeping, were handed by Italian authorities to Soviet officials in step with the alliance of powers signaled by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (1939). Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1990-91 and the formation of the Republic of Lithuania the Villa has remained the property of Russia; operating as the Russian Consulate in Rome. It is considered the last occupied territory of Lithuania, and successive Lithuanian governments have lobbied internationally for its restitution.