The beings in the universe are filled, in turn, like human barometers, with the stuff of the universe. This is as true for art as it is for the irreducibly complex systems and substances that constitute the weather.
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick: The Weather in Proust
Swallow is delighted to present The Weather in Fred Sandback – an exhibition conceived in the space between Berlin and Vilnius, and then in Venice and Kassel when we were able to meet again, in the bliss of restarting to talk and to plan. It is until now an unreal exhibition, with us trying to reassemble a world out of scattered parts, objects promised but lost—artworks in which we have encountered something real. The Weather in Fred Sandback strives to reconstruct the world out of sounds, gestures, customs, depictions and documents that we still have from it.
During the opening night, the visitors were greeted with a reading performance by the iconic Eric D. Clark, the artist behind Whirlpool Productions’ From Disco to Disco as well as a performance entitled Pedestrian by Michèle Graf & Selina Grüter, embodied by Saulė Noreikaitė and Hanna Ijäs. Afterwards, the visitors headed downstairs to Bar 2123 for a concert of Organza Ray, a duo formed by Eleni Poulou, founder of Nohe Noshe and former keyboard player of the British band The Fall, and Hillary Jefferey, the trombone player of the celebrated contemporary music ensemble Orchester Zeitkratzer. Finally, the night was closed dancing to the music selection by the legendary DJ Eric D. Clark.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the artists who kindly agreed to lend their works to be displayed, played and performed in The Weather In Fred Sandback, as well as to everyone who contributed to its making and helped it come to light. To Edgaras Gerasimovičius, who oversaw this exhibition from the beginning and supported it with his work and thoughts until the very end. To Antanas Stanislauskas, for lending his agile hand when we needed it most. To Jurgis Paškevičius, who was so kind to adapt to our ever-changing ideas. To Adela Yawitz and the collective of Esther Schipper gallery, for helping us secure and digitise the MTV Pilot by Julia Scher for the exhibition. To Saulė Noreikaitė and Hanna Ijäs, who lent their talents and embodied Pedestrian by Michèle Graf & Selina Grüter. To Alexandra Bondarev, who worked tirelessly making sure that our written thoughts would be clear not only to us, but also to others, to Vytautas Volbekas, who is the reason this text is so beautifully laid out on paper, and to Marek Voida, for the fact that it is, in fact, printed on paper. To Mykolas Piekuras, for granting the venue for the concert by Organza Ray and Eric D. Clark, and to Šarūnas Joneikis, for his care and assistance when preparing it. To Kotryna Briedytė, for inviting us to do a radio show on Radio Vilnius on the day after the opening. To Kęstutis Kuizinas, for lending us a sofa from the CAC Cinema Hall, and to Audrius Antanavičius, for helping us find it. To Justas Fresh, who allowed us to borrow his vinyl player. To Antanas Dombrovskij and Gailė Griciūtė, for lending their multimedia equipment for the exhibition, and to Dainius Petkevičius, for helping us move huge objects from one side of the city to another. We would also like to thank the community of SODAS2123 for their continuous and friendly support in implementing our programme.
Venue: Swallow, Vilnius
Date: 16th September 2022 – 27 October 2022
Curators: Martin Ebner, Audrius Pocius, Ariane Müller
Artists: Eric D. Clark, Michèle Graf & Selina Grüter, Laura Kaminskaitė, Sebastian Luetgert, Robertas Narkus, Eleni Poulou & Hilary Jeffery, Ulla Rossek, Julia Scher, Valerie Stahl von Stromberg, Hannah Weinberger, Martin Ebner, and Ariane Müller.
The exhibition and its associated events were kindly funded by Lithuanian Council of Culture.
Photography: Laurynas Skeisgiela
