Artists: Mo Abd-Ulla, Eglė Budvytytė, Tanya Busse, Victoria Durnak, Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir, Berglind Jona Hlynsdóttir, Saulius Leonavičius & Vida Strasevičiūtė, Robertas Narkus, Augustas Serapinas, Kristin Tårnesvik
Exhibition title: Climbing Invisible Structures. Ritualized Disciplinary Practices in Social Life (Part 2: Nida)
Organised by: Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts
Venue: VAA Nida Art Colony, Neringa, Lithuania
Date: May 21 – June 19, 2016
Photography: Andrej Vasilenko, all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts
“Climbing Invisible Structures: Ritualised Disciplinary Practices in Social Life. Part 2: Nida” is the second part of an exhibition project comprising four venues, and the first one to include works by all ten artists.
The idea of “climbing invisible structure” invokes not only something hidden, but also something vertiginous and inaccessible. It invites “us” (artists and audiences as participants) to engage and reflect on the complex and multi-layered relationships between references and meanings that pervade most of our disciplinary practices and social life. Although reflection is itself an intimate hidden process that involves careful thinking and consideration, it is, as the Latin root of the word reflex suggests, the thought “bent back” on itself.
This image corresponds with the common analogy between thought and light. It conveys the notion that we absorb and reflect thoughts and ideas similar to the way materials and celestial bodies absorb and reflect light. However, reflection implies both action and reaction, and it should not be interpreted only as a mental process. Exposition to other people’s thoughts, to others’ lights and rituals, is an all-embracing experience, intellectually, emotionally and physically. In this sense, engaging with works of art means engaging with past and present disciplines and rituals.
Ritualisation is also a kind of reflection, since it throws back (from the past to the present) practices that are no longer actual or functional, but which we maintain because of their historic and symbolic signification. Ritualisation could also mean the creation of new rituals that reflect contemporary practices. Reflection and ritualisation are thus two aspects of the same artistic procedures, the same method. Both seek to apprehend, process and project the hidden fabric that shapes our understanding and identities.
The works in this exhibition point to a wide range of ritualised practices, connecting actions by people who lived a long time ago with contemporary rituals. Ranging from social and spiritual practices, which are familiar to everyone, to contemporary strategies framing the conditions of art production and management, they investigate, explore, question, disrupt, modify and fictionalise established beliefs, disciplines and daily habits, and outline directions for new ones.
Exhibition is open everyday except Monday from 12 PM to 8PM, at Nida Art Colony of VAA, 43 Taikos St. This exhibition is part of a two-year-long residency and exhibition project involving six institutions in three different countries, Iceland, Lithuania and Norway. Ten artists-in-residency have been invited to create works for four exhibitions, in Vilnius, Nida, Žeimiai (Lithuania) and Lillestrøm (Norway).
Mo Abd-Ulla, … bring the candle closer, I want to show you something, mu father‘s book, which remains unfinished, 2015
Mo Abd-Ulla, for a long time, your only entertainment was the pleasure of sunset and … bring the candle closer, I want to show you something, my father‘s book, which remains unfinished, 2015
Climbing Invisible Structures. Ritualized Disciplinary Practices in Social Life. Part 2: Nida, exhibition view, VAA Nida Art Colony, Neringa, Lithuania, 2016
Mo Abd-Ulla, he is too upset to design… for IKEA, 2015
Mo Abd-Ulla, flowers are not always tulips, 2015
Mo Abd-Ulla, flowers are not always tulips, 2015
Climbing Invisible Structures. Ritualized Disciplinary Practices in Social Life. Part 2: Nida, exhibition view, VAA Nida Art Colony, Neringa, Lithuania, 2016
Tanya Busse, Sandgazer Radio, 2016
Climbing Invisible Structures. Ritualized Disciplinary Practices in Social Life. Part 2: Nida, exhibition view, VAA Nida Art Colony, Neringa, Lithuania, 2016
Victoria Durnak, Ex-Boyfriend Jewellery, 2016
Robertas Narkus, Atlantic Biennale: Untold Saga, 2016
Robertas Narkus, Atlantic Biennale: Untold Saga, 2016
Robertas Narkus, Atlantic Biennale: Untold Saga, 2016
Augustas Serapinas, Climbing Structures, 2016
Augustas Serapinas, Climbing Structures, 2016
Climbing Invisible Structures. Ritualized Disciplinary Practices in Social Life. Part 2: Nida, exhibition view, VAA Nida Art Colony, Neringa, Lithuania, 2016
Saulius Leonavičius & Vida Strasevičiūtė, Fuck Language. Coat-tent, 2016
Saulius Leonavičius & Vida Strasevičiūtė, Fuck Language. Coat-tent, 2016
Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir, Five Drawings, 2016
Kristin Tårnesvik, Popular hours of death, 2016
Kristin Tårnesvik, Popular hours of death. Memories kept in various liquid solution, Stones sometimes fall from sky and Maker and materia, 2016
Kristin Tårnesvik, Popular hours of death. Stones sometimes fall from sky, 2016
Kristin Tårnesvik, Popular hours of death. Circle of Abys, 2016
Eglė Budvytytė, Skateboard Prayer, or Head Below the Heart, 2016
Eglė Budvytytė, Skateboard Prayer, or Head Below the Heart, 2016
Berglind Jona Hlynsdóttir, Balustrade, 2016
Berglind Jona Hlynsdóttir, Balustrade, 2016
Climbing Invisible Structures. Ritualized Disciplinary Practices in Social Life. Part 2: Nida, exhibition view, VAA Nida Art Colony, Neringa, Lithuania, 2016
Facade of VAA Nida Art Colony, Neringa, Lithuania, 2016
Facade of VAA Nida Art Colony, Neringa, Lithuania, 2016