The solo exhibition ‘Exuviation Fervor’ by Tabita Rezaire, with the ‘Venusian HC’ performance by Laura Marija Balčiūnaitė during the opening on 7 September 2024, runs at Aikas Žado Laboratory, Žeimiai Manor House (Draugystės st. 33, Žeimiai, Lithuania) on 15 October.
Aikas Žado Laboratory* presents a solo exhibition ‘Exuviation fervor’ of the French-born, Guyanese-Danish artist Tabita Rezaire, which functions as a platform to embrace healing practices through feminist, decolonial and posthumanist prisms.
Tabita Rezaire’s works dive deep into the analysis of the separation of body and mind introduced by Western culture, which is known to have established the foundations of existing forms of violence and inequalities, the phantasms of class, race, gender and species. In her art installations, opening the possibilities of intersectional politics and Afro-feminism, Tabita intertwines different time spaces where technology and spirituality intersect as fertile ground for nurturing visions of connection and emancipation. Tabita Rezaire’s interdisciplinary path as an artist, devotee, doula, and farmer envisions network sciences – organic, electronic, and spiritual – as healing technologies that serve the shift towards what Tabita calls the heart consciousness. Embracing digital, corporeal and ancestral memory, she digs into scientific imaginaries and mystical realms to tackle the colonial wounds and energetic misalignments that affect the songs of our body-mind-spirits. Through screen interfaces, healing circles and land stewardship, her offerings aim to nurture our collective growth and expand our capacity for togetherness.
Her offerings have been shared widely – Centre Pompidou, Palais de Tokyo, Museum of Modern Art – Paris; MASP, São Paulo; Serpentine , ICA, V&A, Tate Modern – London; MoMa, New Museum, MoCADA – New York; Gropius Bau – Berlin; and within international biennales in Sydney, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Lagos, Kochi, Athens, Helsinki, Busan, and Berlin. At the moment, Tabita is based in French Guiana, where she is caring for AMAKABA a center for the arts of earth, body and sky.
*Based in crip materiality methodologies, Aikas Žado Laboratory is a contemporary art device, constructed in Žeimiai Manor House. Aikas Žado Laboratory is organized as an individually collaborative artwork by the artists Domas Noreika, Eglė Ambrasaitė, as well as other members of the collective. Part of its programs are administered, coordinated and developed by the Aikas Žado Association. The main activities of the Laboratory are practical experiments related to the management of cultural heritage objects and the combination of discoveries, methods, techniques and knowledge in the fields of contemporary art, science and culture. The main principles of the Laboratory’s activities are illustrated by the application of conservation, prevention and restoration systems in the Žeimiai Manor House. At the Laboratory, the team collects and tests historical materials, organizes scientific research and exhibitions, and presents cognitive expeditions that showcase specific solutions and methods of turning the Manor House into a contemporary artwork itself.
During the opening of “Exuviation Fervor” (2024.09.07) artist Laura Marija Balčiūnaitė presented ”Venusian HC” performance. ”Venusian HC” is a performance based collective dancefloor. Rosacrucian techno dream. The dancefloor of a heart-space. Heart-venus-rose connection. Designed circular petal dance floor open to anyone who wants to be in their heart-space. Heartcore dancefloor carries hardcore* taste in itself as it has an infinite ability to feel and hold all the emotions of dancers on it.
Laura Marija Balčiūnaitė is a former artist flâneuse becoming a ritual tools’ creatrix. Channeling a need for softness through hydrofeminism, sound healing, drawing, and somatic movement, she produces sensual energy and healing in vulnerability, exploring the edges of a healer and a magical femme portrait tightly connected to the erotic flow of the universe.
Curator of the exhibition: Eglė Ambrasaitė
Architecture by: Artūras Čertovas
Design by: Jokūbas Juršėnas
Exhibition is part of the project ‘Aikas Žado Laboratory 2024: Healing Ontologies’ and is partly funded by the Lithuanian Council of Culture.
Photography: Enrika Stanulevičiūtė
‘Venusian HC’ performance by Laura Marija Balčiūnaitė
‘Venusian HC’ performance by Laura Marija Balčiūnaitė
‘Venusian HC’ performance by Laura Marija Balčiūnaitė
‘Venusian HC’ performance by Laura Marija Balčiūnaitė
‘Venusian HC’ performance by Laura Marija Balčiūnaitė
