Waterproof Heart

Ignas Pavliukevičius is a young Lithuanian new media artist who combines his fascination with technology with interactive media and contemporary art. Technological innovation is leading artificial intelligence into a more accurate representation of the human mind, emotions and physical appearance. Automatisation and digitalisation shape the meaning of what it takes for someone or something to be human. As a result, one begins to question if digital beings elicit empathy, and when are humans going to decide how they feel about digital creatures? Pavliukevičius’ Waterproof Heart aims to answer these questions.

The centric piece of the exhibition is a projection of a 3D avatar that has been programmed to display a variety of emotions in reaction to registered facial expressions of the audience.
As the 3D avatar keeps learning the emotions of the visitors, the outcome of the exhibition is always unique. The visitors are taken out of their familiar surroundings into a new and unknown space.

“My exhibition Waterproof Heart explores the interaction between humans and AI through my own personal experiences as well as those of my post-socialist generation,” explained Pavliukevičius the roots of his exhibition. “I created an avatar of myself that represents me as a man who grew up repressing his feelings and not expressing emotions. So, I compare myself to a robot by asking how am I different from it if I cannot tell others what I feel,” continued Pavliukevičius.

The exhibition in Fotografiska Tallinn is a special award that Ignas Pavliukevičius won at the Nordic & Baltic Young Artist Award 2019. The regional competition for young artists took place for the fourth time, Fotografiska Tallinn’s special award was given out for the first time. “More than ever, the borders between different art disciplines have blurred. Ignas Pavliukevičius’ work caught our eye as he shows a fresh approach to connecting the static with motion. It’s an honour to host his Waterproof Heart in Fotografiska Tallinn, especially because we aim to be a platform not only to globally renowned but also to talented regional artists that the world should hear about,” told Maarja Loorents, Fotografiska Tallinn’s co-founder and Exhibition Lead.

Born and raised in Lithuania, Pavliukevičius has studied Interactive/ Media/ Design (BA) in the Netherlands and Photography and Media Art (MA) in Vilnius, Lithuania and his work has been displayed in Lithuania, Italy, Estonia and The Netherlands. Ignas Pavliukevičius’ Waterproof Heart is open in Fotografiska Tallinn from July 24th till September 6th in cooperation with NOBA (Nordic & Baltic Art Centre).