‘The silicon chip inside her head / Gets switched to overload.’ These lines from the song ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’ by The Boomtown Rats can perhaps partially capture the essence of ‘Nexus’, the première solo exhibition by the up-and-coming painter Šarūnas Baltrukonis. Displayed at the Drifts gallery in Vilnius in Lithuania until 13 October, the exhibition showcases a curated selection of Baltrukonis’ recent works: paintings and objects that offer a profound exploration of our evolving relationship with technology. In an era saturated with the digital, Baltrukonis’ works act as a reflective surface, portraying our complex interplay with the technological realm.
While the song by the Irish New Wave group confronts the horror of the Cleveland Elementary School shooting in San Diego, the exhibition echoes a different, yet resonantly disconcerting tune, highlighting the complexities of a digitised reality and our altered interactions with it. Were such an incident to occur today, many might hastily attribute it to the negative impact of violent video games. In a parallel vein, Šarūnas Baltrukonis’ artworks evoke a dissociative sensation, bridging the gap between the virtual and the real by rendering digital environments in tangible forms.
Digital environments were originally intended to simplify the real world through cybernetic language. However, instead of simplification, these platforms gave rise to visually striking, spectacle-driven fictional worlds. These systems have evolved to such an extent that they are now barely distinguishable from reality. It is this ongoing evolution in data processing that threatens to usurp the dominion of ‘objective reality’. Šarūnas Baltrukonis captures the tension between the real and the artificial in his work, with the cybernetic aesthetics underscoring society’s yearning for the authentically ‘unreal’.
The dizzying array of images in cyberspace overwhelms, bringing users to an almost neutral state of consciousness. Cyberspace is not just a reservoir of endless references, it has evolved into a distinct dimension with its own vibrant culture and subcultures. Šarūnas Baltrukonis’ paintings capture this sentiment, accentuating it with a mix of real and artificial imagery. The colours, lines and layers of the cybernetic realm, a world entranced by its own mechanical linearity, yet unable to fathom its vastness, unwittingly reveal its nature. Similarly, the endless perspectives available in representing the physical universe gain a unique form of tangibility in a world awash with virtual imagery.
Exhibition ‘Nexus’ by Šarūnas Baltrukonis, Drifts gallery, 2023. Photo: Vaida Jonušytė
As one delves into this still-fluid domain, there’s a haunting encounter with bones, tissues and organ-like structures. This presence in Baltrukonis’ artworks reminds one of the concept of a ‘ghost in the shell’, yet curiously absent of the ghost. Scientists may have proven sentience within the disembodied brains grown in a Petri dish by making them play 1970s video games. By immersing the brain organoids in a virtual world, researchers are able to watch them grow and learn: they even learn to play Pong faster than our current AI models. This ability to learn has raised ethical questions about how the brains are aware of their own reality while growing in a Petri dish. This integration of science and technology resonates with the themes in Baltrukonis’ exhibition, intertwining the tangible and the virtual, and raising questions about the boundaries of reality. The artist’s work and these scientific discoveries collectively prompt us to reevaluate our perceptions of existence, and the aesthetic relationships formed between the organic and the technical.
With a lens finely attuned to the complexities of the organic and inorganic, Baltrukonis traverses the uncanny valleys of life and artificiality, offering viewers paintings that are rich in narratives that oscillate between scientific wonder and the unsettling yet fascinating avenues of human endeavour. The Vertebra motif serves a symbolic purpose, providing a foundational spinal column to this brave new world. This world functions as an autonomous organism, yet it maintains a connection with reality through an umbilical cord of reference. This linkage underscores the inherent interdependence between the newly emerging realities and the tangible world we inhabit, suggesting a continual exchange and dialogue between the two, and hinting at the possibilities and complexities that arise from this interconnected existence.
As virtual realms gain tangibility, the question arises: Does art become more or less significant as a reflection of society in this evolving landscape? This transformation’s anticipatory illustration can manifest in a rhetorical scenario where the artist tries to recreate events significant to our culture, straddling the real and the virtual worlds. Take, for example, the infamous incident involving the renowned YouTuber PewDiePie, colloquially termed ‘the bridge incident’, where the utterance of a racial slur during a live-streamed battle royale game sent shockwaves through the online community. Envision a painting of a bridge, rendered in the meticulous style of Alex Colville, serving as a poignant commemoration of this disconcerting moment that spurred widespread discourse on the prevalence of casual racism within online communities. Such a piece would not only immortalise a specific incident but also encapsulate the broader, ongoing dialogues and tensions surrounding race, digital culture and societal norms. This convergence of the virtual and the tangible in art can therefore be seen as a profound reflection, and perhaps even a critique, of the societal ethos and the multifaceted issues that permeate both the digital and physical worlds.
Exhibition ‘Nexus’ by Šarūnas Baltrukonis, Drifts gallery, 2023. Photo: Vaida Jonušytė
Complex artificial scenes bring to mind a transistorised, fantasy-like implant, a broadcasting leech or a stubborn electronic parasite that is hard to remove once attached to the body. It is as though we find ourselves in a uniquely reverse rotoscoped realm, where virtual environments are meticulously traced to craft an entirely new domain. However, this sphere remains in an intermediary form; it embodies an incorporated prosthesis and image, simultaneously serving as a record and misrepresentation, originating from the digital world’s ascendency.
This hybrid state serves as a precursor, hinting at the impending dominance of data-processing networks orchestrating the automatic navigation of individuals. In this evolving scenario, the so-called ‘nexus event’ precipitated by digitisation emerges as a relatively benign shift in destiny. It raises the intriguing question: Could the true ‘matrix’ lie in persuading everyone of the matrix’s existence, thereby fostering an encompassing illusion? This contemplation invites a deeper exploration of perception and reality, challenging the boundaries of what we perceive as tangible, and questioning the undercurrents shaping our collective consciousness in this digitised era.
‘Nexus’ offers more than a visual feast; it is a catalyst for introspection and conversation around the complex interplay between technology and humanity. Baltrukonis’ exhibition is a testament to the power of art not only to mirror our present but also to project visions of potential futures and to challenge the paradigms that shape our world-view. As we step back into the world from the gallery, the resonances of ‘Nexus’ continue to reverberate, inviting us to reflect: where do we establish our grounding, and how do we characterise the essence of our reality, which might not be singular? Perhaps the emergent sentient structures will redefine their corporealities in entirely novel ways, and Šarūnas Baltrukonis’ exhibition offers a glimpse into the myriad possibilities of what such transformations might entail.
Photo reportage from the exhibition ‘Nexus’ by Šarūnas Baltrukonis at Drifts gallery
Exhibition ‘Nexus’ by Šarūnas Baltrukonis, Drifts gallery, 2023. Photo: Vaida Jonušytė
Exhibition ‘Nexus’ by Šarūnas Baltrukonis, Drifts gallery, 2023. Photo: Vaida Jonušytė
