Friday, May 10 at 7 p.m. The Kaunas Artists’ House will invite you to the exhibition of Žygimantas Kudirkas, which will be held in a very unusual place – in the bar “Oh why not?”, located near the Kaunas train station. The video installation “Total Strangeness” by artist, performer, writer Žygimantas Kudirka will be shown here. The three-channel video work about the dualism of the body, the body as a shell, clothing, technology and related issues of wearing will be located in the darkest bar room on the outskirts of Zemeiši Šanųi.
According to Agnė Bagdžiūnaitė, the curator of the Kaunas Artists’ House, “those who came specifically to the exhibition or just visitors to the bar will be able to ask themselves, what is our relationship with technology, how intensively are we participating in this new world of “bio” and technology politics?” How machine-driven are we already, and what is the program of the future in which we are barely a part?”
Žygimantas Kudirka’s exhibition is a part of the international program of exhibitions, performances, film screenings and educational events “Sapnas pilvu ki živis (Dog or Fish?)” of the Kaunas Artists’ House, which started in March. The project explores the multifaceted nature of sadness and explores what the happiness industry means to us as a society, and is it not simply a certain reflection of a sad society? Do we really have to be happy to live a fulfilling life?
“Although Z. Kudirka’s work was already shown in 2023. In Vilnius, in the “Medūza” art space of the Union of Lithuanian Artists. We included it in the exhibition program in Kaunas because it is a rather dark, tragicomic work about the processes of alienation that we are not necessarily aware of. Maybe we will do it in the future, but Žygymantas, as a modern futurist, helps us anticipate it. This is a sadly funny scenario,” says the curator of the exhibition, A. Bagdžiūnaitė.
Another trip, but not so futuristic, but more biographical, will take place on May 16. Kaunas Artists’ House with the film “Orlando: My Political Biography”. “This will be the premiere of the film in Lithuania. In this film, which balances between documentary and fiction, the novel “Orlando” by the famous British writer Virginia Wolf becomes the starting point for a bold, free-form reflection on the nature of modern transgenderism in queer celebration by inviting 26 trans and non-binary gender people to become modern “Orlandos”” – says Edvinas Grinkevičius, curator of the event.
Orlando: My Political Biography is authored by Paul B. Preciado, a noted philosopher, curator, and writer. His teachers and good colleagues were the famous philosophers Agnes Heller and Jacques Derrida. The director received his doctorate degree from the famous Princeton University. In his only film so far, the director poetically reflects on the relationship between fiction and documentary and its implications for the lives of trans and non-binary people.
The May program “Sapnas pilvu į įpů (Dog or Fish?)” and the tour will be completed by the creative workshop of sound researcher and artist Daina Pupkevičiūtė. The author will invite you to listen to yourself and your environment on May 18. during a walk through the city. “What is the difference between listening and hearing?” Can we hear ourselves and others simultaneously? Can listening be enough to make us feel more strongly part of the world? Can the experience of listening bring us closer not only to other people, but also to non-humans, places and air masses, and maybe even to ourselves?” – asks the artist D. Pupkevičiūtė.
You can find more information about the program of the Kaunas Artists’ House “Sapnas belly up (dog or fish?)” and events at: www.kmn.lt
Tags: Exploring nature grief program invites exhibition film listening workshop
