Akee

Akee is an independent cultural and educational space based in Aleknaičiai, a small village in northern Lithuania. Established in a former interwar school building, Akee explores how contemporary cultural practices can emerge from and respond to non-urban contexts.

Its programme brings together contemporary art, architecture, education, research and community-based practices through artist residencies, workshops, public events, educational programmes and longer-term site-specific projects. Rather than treating the countryside simply as a setting for cultural activity, Akee approaches locality itself as a field of inquiry—looking at rural infrastructures, material cultures, knowledge, ecological conditions and the relationships between cultural practitioners and the communities and environments around them.

Akee works with artists, architects, researchers, educators and cultural organisations from Lithuania and abroad. Its activities range from residency-based artistic development and public programmes to projects investigating earth and clay as cultural and architectural materials, rural cultural ecosystems, gardens and educational environments, and new forms of cultural infrastructure outside major cities.

Education is a central part of Akee’s practice. The space develops programmes for children, young people, teachers and local communities, while also functioning as a place for experimentation, collective learning and professional exchange. Through partnerships with cultural and educational organisations in Lithuania and internationally, Akee connects a highly specific local context in northern Lithuania with broader conversations around contemporary culture, ecology, education and rurality.

Akee is initiated and run by the association Aleknaičių bendruomenė.