Only a thoughtless observer can deny that correspondences come into play between the world of modern technology and the archaic symbol-world of mythology.
Walter Benjamin
It seems that today the popular myth of the struggle for survival of man and nature has lost its dramatic intensity. The mythical power of nature, once indistinguishable from how we understand the essence of humanity, as elemental and enigmatic, unpredictable and obsessive, has given way for a simple economic equation which, despite an occasional deviation here and there, blinds us to everything that cannot be utilized, exchanged, evaluated and defined. On one hand, maybe one shouldn’t feel nostalgic about this faded nature – we do not need to be as fast as an antelope, if we can fly faster than birds, build infrastructures more sophisticated than ants or communicate at a distance greater than whales: today our memory is stored in neatly organised file systems, whereas the human boldly gazes toward the future.
However, this triumph is not unambiguous: when our world is completely calculated, things and people remain in the shadows of these calculations until they start imperceptibly fade out of view completely. Walls of uninhabited buildings, evaluated and labelled ‘heritage’ start concealing their history – life itself is no longer welcome here. Respectively, an image of a person becomes more important than himself, as the former can be multiplied, exchanged and manipulated. This is most evident in compositions characteristic to fashion photography, where models are depicted as passive by imitating the facial expressions of the dead. We cannot be fascinated enough by our own facies hippocratica, it seems…
Therefore, the question – can our lives be reconciled with life itself? – becomes a central theme in this exhibition. Aikas Žado Laboratory and Enrika Stanulevičiūtė invites the visitor to take a peep into what lies behind the facade of an image and hear stories usually silenced under walls of buildings or wrapped under the fabric of clothes.
Exhibition will take place in si-bioarchitectural boudoir’s room. Its surfaces are selected, coded and curated by Aikas Žado Laboratory. Domas Noreika explains the idea of si-bioarchitecture in the context of global neoliberal capitalism and uses narratives of bio-tensions to describe this formed political, economic and cultural situation, as, for example, a cynical commentary by a Lithuanian political figure on the “collapse of one part of the mansion’s building, and the management of another”, or the eternal desire of the wedding people to have “romantic photoshoots on the staircase of the abandoned manor”. During the exhibition, the boudoir chamber of Žeimiai Manor, the techniques and philosophy of heritage protection, the figure of P. Smuglevičius, who brought classicist aesthetic traditions from Rome to Lithuania in the 18th century, iconography and the context of cultural activities become the main conceptual axis through which the potentiality to speak about the global issues of socio-economic relations, geopolitics, cultural heritage, conservation and preservation and to act on and create eco-critical theory and practice from the local si-bioarchitectural position of the manor actualizes. This is how Žeimiai Manor House becomes an example of a slow and quality-based development of cultural heritage in Lithuania.
Enrika Stanulevičiūtė’s photographies provoke the structural charm of the boudoir room by embodying and, at the same time, disembodying the traditional biopolitical body of the “model-worker”. The dark spectre of experiences, contaminating the work of the model are breaking out through the fingers of patriarchy, through the apparatuses of constant sexism, chauvinism and genderism.
The opening of the exhibition will be held on 31st of August, 2019, 6 pm. Later on, the exhibition can be visited every Saturday-Sunday (from 7th to 30th of September) or on other days if agreed via +37061002855 or dngartinstallation@zeimiudvaras.lt.
More information: www.zeimiudvaras.lt
Curator of the exhibition: Eglė Ambrasaitė / Audrius Pocius
Architect of an exhibition: Domas Noreika
Coordinator of the exhibition: Rokas Vaičiulis
Designer of the exhibition: Gailė Pranckūnaitė
Our biggest thanks to our crew: Unė Jonynaitė, Juozas Sidaravičius, Rokas Vaičiulis, Tadas Noreika, Giedra Virbickaitė, Andželika Toločkaitė, Birutė Lapienė and others!
“Nothing to Regret” is part of the project “Invisible Man’s Cinematheque 2019: to (dis)embody”. It is partly financed by Lithuanian Council for Culture.
After the opening of the exhibition let’s celebrate and dance!
Line up:
Around 21.30 pm. Noyus (https://www.facebook.com/NoyusMusic)
Noyus is a dream pop, ambient electronic music artist. He started his creative activity in 2015 and now is recording his third album. Noyus’ music distinguish itself by lo-fi atmospheric melodies which are filled with echoing vocals.
Around 22.30 pm. Deuxnoms (synth-pop/electro-punk/post-punk/all kind of electronix/shlagerz)
Deuxnoms – music bout’ the vibe and vibe – about the music. dj from time to time bumping into underground adventures and taking dare to create gorgeous stories of your nights, so come naked, devoted and dare to be who you always craved to born.
