Photo reportage from the exhibition "Climbing Invisible Structures. Ritualised Disciplinary Practices in Social Life ” at Underground Water Reservoir, Vilnius

May 11, 2016
Author Echo Gone Wrong
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“Climbing Invisible Structures. Ritualized Disciplinary Practices in Social Life”, exhibition view, Underground Water Reservoir, Vilnius, 2016

There are at least two major ways of understanding the word discipline. In the first case, discipline means training people to obey rules or codes of behaviour. The second, indicates a branch of knowledge, like those studied in higher education, such as art, medicine or anthropology. The second implicates somehow the first. Learning entails the acquisition of knowledge and skills through experience and study. Teachings necessitate not only some kind of consent and submission to rules and conventions, to what is taught, but also trust and belief.

These are some of the invisible structures that shape our understanding and daily lives. In this exhibition we are looking at ritualized disciplinary practices that has become so intrinsic and pervasive that they have become invisible. But, they are still there, they didn’t completely disappear – we still have to climb them, in other words, to experience them and to feel them shape, produce and reproduce our behaviours and identities. However, it is important to keep in mind that these practices are not inherited immutable traditions. They are both agents of change and creativity.

The works in the exhibition point to a wide range of ritualized practices, connecting performances executed by people who lived ages ago, and whose activities can only by traced by means of archaeology, to contemporary rituals. Stretching from symbolic gesture familiar to everyone, such as binding a gift – a jewel with a promise of love, to art exhibitions such as biennales or visits to museums. These practices are questioned, interpreted, disrupted, modified and fictionalized. New understandings of past rituals are proposed, and directions for new ones are set up.

The works are installed in a space that once was a part of a new and ambitious project – a modern system of water supply, constructed in 1912-1916 in Vilnius. It was an invisible underground structure of the city that made a big impact on everyday lives of the citizens. However, over the time its meaning for the city has changed and after one hundred years it is used for a different activity, as an art venue, for the first time.

CLIMBING INVISIBLE STRUCTURES
Ritualized Disciplinary Practices in Social Life
Exhibition I: Vilnius

29th April – 15th May 2016
Underground Water Reservoir, 20 Liepkalnio Street, Vilnius

Artists: Tanya Busse, Victoria Durnak, Saulius Leonavičius & Vida Strasevičiūtė, Robertas Narkus, Kristin Tårnesvik
Curators: Eglė Mikalajūnė and Samir M’kadmi
Organiser: Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts
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The exhibition will be open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 2 PM to 8 PM. It may also be visited by appointment. Please, call +370 675 10015 or write egle@ndg.lt

The exhibition is part of a two-years-long residency and exhibition project between six institutions in three countries, Iceland, Lithuania and Norway. Please visit http://www.nidacolony.lt/en/residence/curated-residencies/climbing-invisible-structures for more information about the project and following exhibitions.

Partners of the project:
Akershus Art Centre, Lillestrøm, Norway
Office for Contemporary Art, Oslo, Norway
Nordic Artists’ Centre, Dale, Norway
Residency Centre YO YO, Žeimiai Manor, Jonava district, Lithuania
Skaftell Center for Visual Art, Seyðisfjörður, Iceland
JSC “Vilniaus vandenys”, Vilnius, Lithuania

Vilnius Academy of Arts‘ project benefits from a grant through the Lithuanian Council for Culture, and the EEA Financial Mechanism and Lithuanian State programme LT07 “Promotion of Diversity in Culture and Arts within European Cultural Heritage”.

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“Climbing Invisible Structures. Ritualized Disciplinary Practices in Social Life”, exhibition view, Underground Water Reservoir, Vilnius, 2016

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Kristin Tårnesvik, Popular hour of death, 2016

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Kristin Tårnesvik, Popular hour of death, 2016

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Kristin Tårnesvik, Popular hour of death, 2016

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Robertas Narkus, Atlantic Biennale: Untold Saga, 2016

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Robertas Narkus, Atlantic Biennale: Untold Saga, 2016

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Robertas Narkus, Atlantic Biennale: Untold Saga, 2016

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“Climbing Invisible Structures. Ritualized Disciplinary Practices in Social Life”, exhibition view, Underground Water Reservoir, Vilnius, 2016

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“Climbing Invisible Structures. Ritualized Disciplinary Practices in Social Life”, exhibition view, Underground Water Reservoir, Vilnius, 2016

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“Climbing Invisible Structures. Ritualized Disciplinary Practices in Social Life”, exhibition view, Underground Water Reservoir, Vilnius, 2016

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Saulius Leonavičius & Vida Strasevičiūtė, Fuck Language. The Costume of a Psychonaut, 2016

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Saulius Leonavičius & Vida Strasevičiūtė, Fuck Language. The Costume of a Psychonaut, 2016

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Saulius Leonavičius & Vida Strasevičiūtė, Fuck Language. The Costume of a Psychonaut, 2016

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Victoria Durnak, Ex-boyfriend Jewellery, 2016

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Victoria Durnak, Ex-boyfriend Jewellery, 2016

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Tanya Busse, Sandgazer Radio, 2016

Photography: Andrej Vasilenko, Robertas Narkus