Throughout 2024, I led an international knowledge exchange between Theatrum Mundi in Paris and the Architektūros Fondas in Vilnius, as part of the Lithuanian Cultural Season in France and the LINA European Architecture Programme.

Three young Lithuanian urbanists and researchers were selected from an open call to participate in the Experiments Exchange, a joint residency between the Architektūros Fondas’ Experiments Platform mentorship programme, and Theatrum Mundi’s Staging Ground residency. In May 2024, they spent a week in Paris, following a programme of walks, visits, workshops and discussions, feeding into the speculative design experiments they proposed to develop in connection between Paris and Vilnius.

In November 2024, they returned to Paris to present the outcomes of these experiments, alongside a screening of a documentary film following their work. Their questions, brought up by Vilnius, brought them to explore the margins of Grand Paris – from the Bièvre river to the Gonesse Triangle, passing by the commons of the city centre. Each project, in different ways, addresses the relationship of the city to its grounds, showing for example how we could build with waste materials from urban rivers, design public structures with vernacular bioregional approaches, or rethink the relationship of the urban and rural. Each of these questions touches ground in both cities, but is answered by connecting situated knowledges rather than exporting best practice.