DEIMANTAS NARKEVIČIUS
20 JULY.2015
4 February – 5 March 2017
private view: Saturday 4th February 6:30 – 8:30pm
Maureen Paley is pleased to announce the second presentation of work by Deimantas Narkevičius at the gallery. Following on from his screening project in February 2015 this exhibition takes its title from Narkevičius’ new 3D film which will be projected in the ground floor gallery. 20 July 2015 (2016) was recently exhibited as part of Narkevičius’ 2016-17 solo exhibition at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and will be presented alongside his 2004 video Once in the XX Century. Within these two works Narkevičius examines the consequences of representing political and social ideals in public space and what happens when a new political landscape is no longer reflected in the monuments of a city.
20 July 2015
20 July 2015 traces the removal of several Socialist Realist sculptures from the Green Bridge in central Vilnius over the course of one day. The eight figures served as a well-known landmark since their installation in 1952. This film examines why the government sees their removal as a necessity so long after the political ideology that they exemplified has been repealed. This process of erasure is documented by Narkevičius using stereoscopic lenses and culminates with the final removal of the monuments at 2am on 20 July 2015.
Once in the XX Century
Once in the XX Century edits pre-existing footage Narkevičius acquired from the Lithuanian National TV archive with material from a freelance video reporter who documented the taking down of a public sculpture of Lenin in 1991. In his work the material is edited together in reverse so that the crowd of people appears to be gathered to celebrate the erection of the sculpture rather than its removal.
Deimantas Narkevičius was born in 1964 in Utena, Lithuania. He lives and works in Vilnius, Lithuania. He was awarded the Vincent Award in 2008. Selected solo exhibitions include: Doubled Youth, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK, 2016-17; Medialization of Monuments; Monumentalization of Media, Temporary Gallery, Centre for contemporary art, Cologne, Germany and Books on Shelves and Without Letters, The Blank Contemporary Art, Bergamo, Italy, 2016; Da Capo, Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU), Zagreb, Croatia, 2015, Cupboard and a Song, MNAC, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, 2014-15; Le Magazin, Grenoble, 2014; Architektur und Film, Blue Box, Deimantas Narkevičius, The Head, Sprengel Museum, Hannover, 2011; Deimantas Narkevičius, BFI Southbank Gallery, British Film Institute, London, The Unanimous Life, Kunsthalle, Bern and Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, 2009 and at Museo Nacional Centro De Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, 2008; Revisiting Solaris, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Among the Things We Touched, Secession, Vienna, 2007; This not What you See, Gallery of Contemporary Art Bunkier Sztuki, Kraków, Once in the XX Century, Arnolfini, Bristol, 2006 and Lithuanian Pavilion, 49th Venice Biennial, Venice, 2001.