Photo reportage from the exhibition by Studio for Propositional Cinema at Swallow

Swallow is delighted to present Fabulist Manifesto: Audio / Visual Agitprop (for Children) – an exhibition by Studio for Propositional Cinema. It is the first presentation of the collective‘s work in the Baltic States.

On the most general level, the show could be received as a commentary on the pervasiveness of mythical narratives and their ambiguous role in our culture; they at once clarify and obscure the world in which we live in. In order to grasp this tension at its most fervent, Studio for Propositional Cinema locates these contradictions in the everyday life of children, a locus where fantastical imagination is inhibited by normative indoctrination and open questioning is met with prefabricated answers. Fabulist Manifesto elaborates and builds upon this dialectic of curiosity and indifference to the point where we are compelled to ask: could we once again engage the narratives that glue our lives with childish inquisitiveness in order to recycle, reinterpret and reenchant our world?

The exhibition is composed of a series of juxtapositions. 24 gelatin silver prints present archival documentation of everyday life of schoolchildren in the 1950s. They are put into sequence by a manifesto previously published by A Gust of Wind, a publisher who is also a fictional character appearing in narrative works by Studio for Propositional Cinema. The sequence is reframed here as a 16 mm film portraying children engaging with the sequence of the images. By observing, studying, and mimicking them, they build an additional narrative layer – they engage in critique, they receive the narrative and overcome it. Following this series of transpositions and montage the Fabulist Manifesto emerges as a gesture: by repeatedly performing and mediating the sequence of images and text, Studio for Propositional Cinema manifests both the fragility and potency of our quotidian myths, revealing their imperviousness and hinting at possibilities for changing them.

Curated by Audrius Pocius

Studio for Propositional Cinema was inaugurated in Düsseldorf, Germany in 2013, and have since used the exhibition format as their primary means of dispersing narratives. They are currently constructing A Manual for Retaining Light in Dark Ages for a monographic exhibition at Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach in 2022. Myths and Manifestos, a compendium of their writing published by Kunstverein München and Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, will be released September 2021.

Works on Display

Studio for Propositional Cinema

Fabulist Manifesto

2021

Installation with three parts:

1. 24 aluminum frames with silkscreen ink on glass and silver gelatin prints, each 51.2 x 51.2 cm, total installation: 164 x 446 cm;
2. sound on hand-cut vinyl record with record player and speakers on wall-mounted table, 7 minutes; 16mm film with 16mm film projector, 7 minutes; white rectangular screen painted on purple rectangular screen painted on wall, 260 x 446 cm
3. painted purple texts on wall, language and dimensions variable.

In Place of a Colophon

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all those who contributed their time and thoughts to the realization of this exhibition. Monika Kalinauskaitė and Egija Inzule for the warm welcome and permission to stay and film at Nida Art Colony. Vytautas Kazimieras Juozėnas for his skillfull and relentless work in filming, developing and editing the 16 mm film. The young actors Elzė and Davitis Kalmakhelidze, Tėja and Morta Radžiūnaitė, Luna Myškina, Jonas Motuižis and Gabrielius Ivanauskas for their paitience on set during a hot summer day. Dovilis Paliukas for his care and precision carving the vinyl records. Jokūbas Čižikas and Alexander Bornschein for their attentive ears during the recording and editing of the audio recording for the vinyl. Lotte Speiser Ramirez and Orius Narkus for lending their voices to the Fabulist Manifesto. Markus Paul Müller and Susanne Gollwitzer at Recom-Art for their support precision with photographic production, in warm memory of Christiane Hardt. Antanas Gerlikas and Laura Kaminskaitė for their untiring help and support in installing the exhibition. Nerijus Rimkus for his accurate glance while developing the graphic design of the exhibition. Jurgis Paškevičius for his rigor in manufacturing the support structures in the show and Sam Chermayeff for designing them. Tanya Leighton and the staff of Tanya Leighton Gallery for their ongoing support. Eglė Trimailovaitė, Vytautas Volbekas, Yana Foque, Edgaras Gerasimovičius and Vaida Stepanovaitė for their friendship and support throughout this whole process. In addition, Studio for Propositional Cinema thanks and celebrates Lorraine Harrison for her lifelong commitment to improving childhood education.

We would also like to thank Justė Beniušytė, Deimantė Bulbenkaitė, Adas Gecevičius, Andrius Šoblinskas, Aistis Žekevičius, „Rėmelis.lt“, Studio „Sponge“ and Tadas Vėbra Arts Workshop.

Fabulist Manifesto: Audio / Visual Agitprop (for Children) would not have been possible without the generous financial support by Lithuanian Council for Culture and the Canadian Embassy in Lithuania as well as the cooperation of Nida Art Colony.

Artist: Studio for Propositional Cinema
Exhibition title: Fabulist Manifesto: Audio / Visual Agitprop (for Children)
Venue: Swallow, Vilnius, Lithuania
Date: 27th August – 16th October 2021

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of Laurynas Skeisgiela and Swallow, Vilnius