“Here is always somewhere else”. Interview with Miks Mitrēvics

June 17, 2011
Author Echo Gone Wrong

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On the last week of April, 2011, an exhibition “ARTscape: LATVIA” was opened in VARTAI Gallery (Vilniaus St. 39) introducing the works of the Latvian artist Miks Mitrēvics and Lithuanian painter Linas Jusionis. Miks Mitrēvics (born 1980 in Riga) is one of the leading internationally acclaimed Latvian young generation artists. In 1999-2005, he studied Visual Communication in the Art Academy of Latvia; currently he is continuing his studies in Higher Institute for Fine Arts (HISK), Ghent, Belgium.

On the occasion of the exhibition an at critic Danutė Gambickaitė interviews the Latvian artists.

Danute Gambickaitė (D.G.). You live and work in Ghent now. Often, the people living and creating far away from the place where they began their creative career, start to see it in a different perspective. How is it in your case?

Miks Mitrēvics (M. M.). I think that change of situation and different perspective is very crucial and healthy for every artist. I was looking for such change for a while. Right now I chose the postgraduate program at Higher Institute of Fine Arts (HISK) in Gent. I recommend it also to others. After that probably I will move to some other place. For me it’s necessary time after time to challenge, rethink my previous development and new place is good opportunity and motivation for that. To begin something new, to take fresh look one previous conclusion, to have some new context, framework. New place gives space and time for new discoveries and experiments.

D. G. It’s a first time when you present your works in the “Vartai” gallery. In one interview you have said that painting is not very close to you. So how do you feel introducing a series of your installations “The Silence of the Wall” in Linas Jusionis, a painter, neighborhood? Can you see any links/parallelism, maybe content secrecy?

M.M. I never had anything against painting I just prefer different language for my own expression for now. Otherwise I love painting and often find a lot of inspiration from various painters and their paintings. There is always possibility to find some parallels between me and Linas, but I don’t think that its necessary and very fruitful in this situation.

D.G. Thinking about the series of installations “The Silence of the walls” I remembered the videos “Fire ” and “Motel” created  back in 2005 and in 2003. The latter one because of its  choice of angles, lingering at the seemingly trivial, but necessary and ordinary hotel room objects (ashtray, Cola cap , TV, light switch), as well as the sound; room with all the furniture contained therein, it becomes almost alive. There’s some liveliness of the things/objects in the “Vartai” exhibition. Is the translation of the aliveless to living in your case can be regarded as one of the strategies used in the creative process?

M.M. Wow! You have good memory! Even I hardly can remember those older works. Probably don’t understand clearly your use of “liveliness”. But I think if necessary its same way always possible to find such parallels and possible readings of my works. But personally when I start to work on new work I always try to avoid some predictable pattern, even challenge it, try to step in the place never been, question things never asked. I’m not very strategic in my creative process. But of course I have identity and some unconscious habits that why probably I do the same. Liveliness probably could be connected to the creative process, questioning essential questions + state for observation + sensibility when silence can tell more than loud speech.

D.G. The nearest human environment: various household items, hygiene products. It’s a very important motif in a series of installations “The Silence of the walls”, as well  as in the previous series of the installations “Carethings”, isn’t it? Due to their proximity and domestic character we often even don’t notice such things, however, at some point they start to look paranormal or even threatening close to the human (hair starts to grow from hair brush, and the walls seems to open it eyelashes in a moment). Could we say that your installations brings that moment closer?

M.M. In general I like simplicity but it’s also hardest and most difficult thing to do sometime. It’s almost impossible for artist to express original sensation or idea. There always are only some movement to this direction. Yes usually I use ordinary and quite simple objects, basic that surrounds my everyday life. Using those materials I try to create conditions when those simple things can evoke some new movement against them, not use cliché. I’m not interested in paranormal, surreal or uncanny these are only few possible formal description of it. We’re not used creatively see our surroundings and our conditions in it.  That’s way usually we avoid or even deny things that is unfamiliar or call it in strange names like paranormal or surreal.

D.G. As long as I was watching your works, in the room located next to the gallery, I heard children learning to play piano. It was only the lesson and some frequent breaks between musical segments could be heard. These musical breaks and, ephemeral (childish, cack-handed) playing was like a complement to paranormal surrounding and atmosphere of your works. (This impression sounds very interesting next to the title of your installations). Somehow your installations force to listening the sounds of ambient, which often adds some additional meanings. How do you explain this? Generally, do you usually work with sound of surrounding?

M.M. I also enjoyed the piano practice sound in neighbor room while I installed my exhibition. It’s like some kind of echo  from legendary Vartai gallery black piano what isn’t there anymore but echo of it still possible to hear.

D.G. Now about material. It seems that it not only helps to create a very emotionally evocative atmosphere, but also extends the idea?

M.M. I love materials and materialization process. I think Materials also have their own will. They think and develop their own way of being. Usually against the idea and will of the artist. Or we can describe this process as thinking in material/collaboration.

D.G. Looking to the eyelashes on the wall and the picture standing in front of it, also a cup on the windowsill with imitation of water I remembered a name of a movie about the Dutch artist Bas Jan Ader – “Here is Always Somewhere Else “. Maybe those words could also be used  to describe your works?

M.M. I only hope that it’s only one of the possibilities or approaches. I like idea of impossibly in general understand the main reason. All the time our changing point of view and context (in this case film about Bas) changes the way how we see and understand it (including artwork i do) that’s nice thing about it.

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Miks Mitrēvics’s exposition at gallery “Vartai”, 2011. Images by Mindaugas Ažušilis.