On 2 June, 7pm project space Swallow (Vitebsko st. 23, Vilnius) invites to a presentation of Anastasia Sosunova’s publication-artist notes Express Method. This publication follows the exhibition Diluvial Valleys by Anastasia that was on view at Swallow between 16 April – 22 May (curated by Vaida Stepanovaite).
Anastasia will read excerpts of the publication and Vaida will tell more about it. Noah Brehmer, the publication’s proofreader will also participate alongside the others who contributed to it in one way or another.
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From Anastasia’s text in the publication:
Gathering the little pieces of the puzzles people and communities construct themselves through, I am interested in secular rituals of identification – rituals and gestures that reflect a profound desire to discover passage or protection; a rational and, at the same time, magical action that would pave the way for a new life and new self-perception. To learn a hack. A secret code. A method. A spell. Before and after, once and for all. /…/
I know – alternative ways of believing, curing yourself, or interpreting facts may warrant resentment and mistrust – especially today, when misinformation and conspiracy theories are alarmingly widespread. I do feel a great responsibility for each sentence. In this landscape, sometimes I really need to remind myself of the fact that I have an indisputable right to create fiction, at least professionally. Maybe that’s why it’s so important for me to look closely at the very fact of the existence of these fictions? For through study of these fictional worlds we can gain valuable insights on what needs are not being met and how fiction serves to fill these “empty spaces”: spaces we consider to be scientifically validated, certified, official, or normalized. And then, to look closely at these modes.
From Vaida’s introduction in the publication:
As you know, whatever gains a written body loses the layer of untold intensity almost instantly, but upon returning to read what’s written – be it a notebook or a diary – can call up the silenced sensation. The feeling that a word jotted down not only carries a function of self-representation but can also make a spark that could connect something unseen into a (unseen) unit, if followed.
This, in some sense, is mentioned by Anastasia herself – connections, withheld at the first – and maybe the second – glance between unrelated objects, are uncovered through accumulating notes and a constant return to them. Also, the elusion of grasping the all-connecting red string. As an absolute simplifying conspiracy theory that would allow one to explain the connections as an undeniable truth – something we ponder almost daily under the conditions of a pandemic, with such a fertile ground to distrust the tangible world.
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Collaborators:
Author – Anastasia Sosunova
Editor – Vaida Stepanovaitė
Designer – Vytautas Volbekas
Translator – Austėja Banytė
Proofreader – Noah Brehmer
Publisher – Swallow (in collaboration with project space Kabinetas / Rūta Stepanovaitė)
Printer – UAB „Petro ofsetas”
Financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.
Acknowledgements:
Vaida Stepanovaitė, Monika Lipšic, Eugene Raikhel, Simona Balčaitė, Aušra Širvinskienė, Pavel Osipov, Vasilij Čepelov, Dovilė Krupickaitė, Gintarė Pociūtė, Jeronimas Seibutis, Vytautas Volbekas, Jekaterina Lavrinec, Urtė Milkintaitė, Kasparas Pocius, Gailė Pranckūnaitė, Miša Skalskis and others who helped finding information, agreeing to share their knowledge, giving feedback, supporting and being there.