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Aurelija Maknytė’s exhibition ‘Nature’s Cabinets (installation)’ at Vilnius City Hall

The impending climate catastrophe calls into question the “natural” right of the species Homo Sapiens to harness nature for its own needs. Artist Aurelija Maknytė, who explores the habits of beavers and other less visible animals, suggests that we should try and see things from their perspective. The exhibition reminds of a Natural History Museum, but instead it highlights the relativity of knowledge, power relations and aesthetics by letting “pests” invade the central building in the old town of Vilnius.

Vilnius City Hall is a very suitable place for this exhibition because art often encounters politics here. Policies determine which species will survive, which will disappear. Natural objects that temporarily occupy the spaces of the classicist-style building create a dialogue with its strict architectural lines, encouraging the viewer to experience the tensions between nature and culture. This theme will be expanded on during a tour with the geographer Giedrė Godienė who will reveal the landscape around the city as a creation both of humans and its other inhabitants.

The project is funded by Lithuanian Council for Culture