The Satellite Exhibition of the 2nd International Art and Science Triennial, titled ‘UFNA: Unpredictable Futures’, presents ‘UFNA: PO PAVIRŠIUMI / UNDER THE SURFACE.’ This exhibition will be open from August 29 to September 28, 2024, at the gallery “Arka,” located at Aušros Vartų St. 7, Vilnius. The official opening event will take place on Thursday, August 29, at 6:00 PM.
An accompanying event will be held earlier that day at 3:00 PM at the LAA Project Space, Vokiečių St. 4. This event will feature a screening of the documentary ‘The North Drift’ followed by a discussion titled ‘Interconnection: Is Any Beginning and Ending of Water?’
The theme of the 2nd International Art and Science Triennial ‘UFNA: Unpredictable Futures’ is water. This experimental platform for artistic research, initiated by the Lithuanian Artists’ Association, focuses on future technologies and innovations, addressing the challenges of climate change and water-related issues, perspectives, and visions. The main exhibition of the project and its comprehensive accompanying program are organized in Klaipėda, in collaboration with KCCC and the Marine Research Institute of Klaipėda University.
The issue of pollution in the Baltic Sea is critically relevant to the residents of Lithuania and neighboring countries, policymakers, and scientists and artists from the Baltic and Nordic regions. Therefore, this year, the ‘Arka’ Gallery has joined the triennial, along with partners – the Estonian Painters’ Association and the Helsinki Artists’ Association – through the international FINBALT project, which explores the maritime, natural, social, and political landscapes that connect countries geographically.
The exhibition ‘Under the Surface’ is curated by Evelina Januškaitė, Satu Kalliokuusi, Eeva Muona, Tiiu Rebane, and Eija Saarivirta. It features 21 artists from Lithuania, Estonia, and Finland, employing various art forms: painting, photography, video art, installation, performance, graphics, and ceramics.
The Estonian artists’ collection reflects the heightened environmental consciousness that emerged during the Soviet era, where ecological protection became the foundation of national identity and personal autonomy. The Estonian collection explores eco-semiotics and eco-criticism, examining how these ideas manifest in contemporary art and how the present intertwines with a deeply rooted transcendent connection to nature.
Finnish artists in the exhibition present works inspired by the intangible elements of nature – light, falling water, wind, waves, and the roar of waterfalls. The exhibition speaks to the perception of the environment through the senses, contemplates the changing seasons and the fragility of life, emphasizes the importance of ocean vegetation, and semantically captures depths and shallows, highlighting the abandonment of flooded territories or encapsulating the apathy of broken holidays.
The Lithuanian artists’ exposition emphasizes ecological and sympoetic fluidity, processuality, natural transformations, with water positioned as movement, constant change, leading not only to the emergence of life but also to its decay. The reflective surface of water is positioned as a form of thirst, dried water areas as a sign of species entropy, and the territory of an oil terminal as a cardiographic line. The exhibition also features a fictitiously mapped atlas of ocean floors, satisfying human curiosity in the context of digitalization, the ephemerality of water captured on paper surfaces, and a macabre apocalypse foreboding charged with verse.
The exhibition at ‘Arka’ Gallery is dedicated to the significance of species-harboring, ecologically challenged, and life-generating natural surfaces. The exposition speaks to (in)visible connections, environments that not only surround us but are also responsible for the coexistence of various species. Nature here is reconsidered not only as a medium or habitat but also as a guardian of the memories and experiences of the people living alongside it, a territory that generates a multitude of different processes and changes beneath its quiet surface, inevitably impacting the ecosystem and our collective future. The exhibition „Under the Surface“ presents a rich collection of spatial landscapes, reflecting the landscapes awake beneath various physical, semantic, and virtual surfaces.
Before the exhibition opening, on Thursday, August 29, at 3:00 PM, you are invited to the accompanying event – a screening of the documentary ‘The North Drift’ (partner – ‘Nepatogus Kinas’) and a discussion of the expeditionary journey „Save the Baltic Sea,“ with the theme: ‘Interconnection: Is Any Beginning and Ending of Water?’ at the LAA Project Space, Vokiečių St. 4. The film screening and discussion will be held in English. The discussion will be moderated by climatologist Dr. Justas Kažys.
Participants:
(LT) Marija Marcelionytė-Paliukė, Eglė Pilkauskaitė, Gintarė Urmonaitė, Emilija Čepulė, Andrius Erminas, Arturas Valiauga, LABA NEBULA (Kristina Švenčionytė ir Arturas Ustinovas)
(FI) Eeva-Liisa Isomaa, Iida Valkonen, Pauliina Jokela, Pekka Parviainen, Satu-Minna Suorajärvi, Susanna Iivanainen, Verna Kovanen
(EE) Erki Kasemets, Kai Kaljo, Jane Remm, Katrin Valgemäe, Veiko Klemmer, Vilen Künnapu
Partners: Lithuanian Artists‘ Association, Estonian Painters‘ Association, Helsinki Artists‘ Association
Curators: Evelina Januškaitė, Satu Kalliokuusi, Eeva Muona, Tiiu Rebane, Eija Saarivirta
Exhibition Architect: Darius Baliukevičius
Design: Audrius Klimas
Communication: Lukas Stanionis, Deva Bartninkaitė
Main Media Sponsor: LRT
Technical Execution: Artūras Meškauskas, Tomas Meleška
Exhibition Sponsors: Lithuanian Artists‘ Association, Vilnius City Municipality, Helsinki City Municipality, Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
The exhibition is part of the creative program of the Lithuanian Artists’ Association. The organization’s activities are financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.