Marija ir Jurgis Slapeliai Museum I Vilnius Lithuania I July – Sept. 2024
The Jurgis and Marija Slapeliai Museum is located in the middle of the historic center of Vilnius and is dedicated to the legacy of Marija and Jurgis Slapeliai. In addition to the permanent exhibition and its rooms, there is a gallery room and a vault in which I have worked and exhibited. The silence that surrounds you in the vaulted cellar in the middle of Vilnius‘ old town inspired the working title and literally brought the installation elements of my interpretation of a still life to live – like „false friends“. Grid structures and fragments that tell of creation and decay are distributed around the space: An isolated moss sweater, orange crystals, fantastic animal and plant structures, a puzzle-like primal thing that only becomes complete in the shadows. Black floating flowers. Sparse light. Where to find places for perception and understanding, for silence, without a digital device intervening? A critical and poetic look at the relationship between oneself, technology and nature. Finally an unexpected connection with the legend from the Vilnius Middle Ages arose. The loosely arranged felt pieces cast such shadow that the image that comes out of them comes to life, and resembles what the Lithuanians call „Basiliskas“, a mythical figure that lives under the earth in that place.
