'a bit (acclimatization)' by Vita Opolskytė at Meno Parkas Gallery, Dusseldorf

September 10, 2020
Author Echo Gone Wrong

In May of 2018 I resided in Dusseldorf’s art atelier. Everything was set to place – I only had to begin making art, in my case, paint. But I could not rest even with the comfortable living conditions and the creative environment so at the time of the residency I applied the concept of acclimatization to my life.

The feeling of jet lag not only disbalanced my ordinary (bio-) rhythm, routine, but also formed its own and the new perception‘s confusion. Lack of confidence, the feeling of not knowing, or, in other words, the feeling of unease (das unheimliche), provoked the anxious state that started to dominate my art. It felt like a haunting and restless whisper, that not everything is the way it seems. 

The feeling of reality slipping through – the never-ending “in between” state made me look at creative work as a “different” territory and use a strategy to create that “different” world in my works. This type of method allows me to dissociate from reality, to see and to show others (the viewers) the “different”, or on the contrary, the real, inner world’s existence. 

Afterwards, the process of acclimatization I began using as a metaphor for a mental state that creeped up on me when I appeared in a new, unfamiliar place or when I found myself in an unpleasant situation. Eventually, the theme of the acclimatization was studied deeper from psychological and physiological aspects. Intimacy became the main way to reveal the inner state. The „bare“ analysis of myself and my surroundings will also settle from the space of the content into form.

The unfolding narrative in this exhibition becomes a means to discuss the coexistence of visual and non-visible realities, the analysis of new surroundings, studying oneself out of the comfort zone and it will also become their visual and experiential representation.

Vita Opolskytė

18 09 2020–17 10 2020

Meno Parkas Gallery (Dorotheenstrasse 22, 40235 Dusseldorf, Germany)