Don’t fool yourself – you like Audi the most
Contemporary Lithuanian folklore
From 4th November an exhibition Vorsprung durch Technik is on view at Atletika gallery (Vitebsko Str. 21, Vilnius). This collaborative group show presents new works by Ona Juciūtė, Lina Lapelytė and Salomėja Petronytė, Paulius Petraitis, Andrej Polukord, Rokas Pralgauskas, created specifically for this exhibition.
Group exhibition Vorsprung durch Technik is an interdisciplinary collaboration and an installation by six Lithuanian artists, actively working in Lithuania and abroad. In this exhibition the works complement each other by creating a coherent narrative, in which the manifestations of community creativity are examined using Audi as a certain phenomenon of yard culture. The exhibition also looks at how certain narratives from the community become mythologized – they become part of the general cultural consciousness. An important feature of this narrative is interactivity – visitors will be invited to participate in the artistic game through works that can be turned on or clicked. Humour and light irony act as a seam connecting the individual elements of this show. In this installation the multifunctional sign of Audi functions as a social prism, which allows to raise questions in the artistic context about the supposed contradictions and multiple overlapping points between the “high” and “low” cultures.
Three pedals – all accelerator
Sticker on the back of Audi
Exhibiting artists:
Paulius Petraitis (b. 1985) is an artist, curator and theorist. His diverse practice is focussed on image- and meaning-making within broad technological, social, and cultural contexts. In 2020 he was a curator of site specific exhibition On Photographic Beings (2020) at the Latvian National Museum of Art. Petraitis is actively involved in publishing practices – his artist books are part of various collections at institutions such as MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art library, Danish Design Museum, Yale University.
Rokas Pralgauskas (b. 1984) – author of exhibition idea, co-curator, multidisciplinary artist. In his work he often looks for interfaces between image and text, experimenting with non-traditional forms. In 2019 he published a photography and poetry book Objects, Silver Dust and Other Flowers. Currently he is creating a lightbox installation with stills from personal video archive.
Ona Juciūtė (b. 1988) is an artist whose creative practice can be briefly described as transforming visual experience into physical objects. She graduated from Vilnius Academy of Arts with MA in Sculpture and is currently developing her curatorial practice. In 2016 she received JCDecaux Award for young artists, and in 2017 – artist Aleksandra Kašuba award.
Andrej Polukord (b. 1990) is an artist living in Vilnius and Vienna. In 2011-2015 he studied at Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, in 2016 he was awarded Kunsthalle Vienna prize. Through his performances, interactive installations, paintings and video works Polukord creates unexpected environments and absurd, sometimes comic situations, that create dual meanings and multiplicity.
Lina Lapelytė (b. 1984) – artist living and working in Vilnius and London. In her work she combines several disciplines, delves into performativity and its various forms and manipulates the boundaries of genres. Lapelytė combines elements of popular music and opera with folk rituals and the culture of modern everyday life.
Salomėja Petronytė (b. 1998) is currently studying Chamber Singing at Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. She is also developing her practice as a composer by composing for various Lithuanian choirs and vocal collectives. She was a music assistant and soloist of the opera-performance Sun & Sea in the Lithuanian pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2019. Since 2020 she is touring around the world with this project.
Curators: Rokas Pralgauskas and Paulius Petraitis.
Opening and performance by Andrej Polukord: 4 November, 6 pm.
Exhibition opening times: 5–28 November, Wednesdays to Fridays 4–7 pm.
Closing event “Audi Vis” with Choir of Vilnius Academy of Arts: 26 November 6 pm.
Address: Atletika, Vitebsko Str. 21, Vilnius
Proof of vaccination and registration required to enter the events. Registration link
Organised by Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association and VŠĮ „Eurokultūra“.
Project supported by Lithuanian Council for Culture and Vilnius City Municipality.
Main information partner – 15min.
Documentation
Photographer: Andrej Vasilenko