The authors of the exhibition, Paulina Vasiliauskaitė and Žilvinas Baranauskas, are two opposing personalities working in different disciplines. Thus, the exhibition intertwines parallel perspectives that meet in the present: a sense of nostalgia echoing from the past and an anxiety about fate, shrouded in myth.
According to the artists, the idea of holding an exhibition together was quite unexpected. They have always felt that contemporary art and design are completely separate disciplines – like two oceans that never connect.
“In discussing the work and its peculiarities, we discovered that we stem from similar thoughts and ideas and that we are puzzled by the similar moods of the period. We realized that, despite our different approaches, we are very close in our work, right next to each other. We are both searching for our “roots” and identity. Through new media that are close to our hearts, we are trying to revisit what seems old and unchanging, and perhaps even a little old-fashioned,” the young artists said about the origin of the exhibition.
P. Vasiliauskaitė’s work reflects people’s subconscious, love, and collective fears through design objects inspired by Lithuanian folklore and mythology. Metaphors and symbols become tools that allow design objects to transcend aesthetic and functional value and tell stories. Meanwhile, the incessant, all-pervading longing for home becomes the main focus of Ž. Baranauskas’ works that speaks of personal memories and experiences, intertwined with the remnants of a bygone epoch. The phenomenon of longing and attachment becomes a part of the process of self-examination, where romantic idealism and poignant self-irony intersect.
In the exhibition, the young artists converse with traditions, reflecting on different historical periods and ideologies, exploring the intangible ephemerality of time and the cultural and personal murkiness of memory. Materiality becomes a state of in-betweenness. In the authors’ works, there is a continuous transformation from void to space, from space to physical matter. Physical surfaces dissolve, and what is translucent is filled with inexhaustible depths (volumes). The exhibited objects become tools of self-reflection, capturing the weight of the inevitable present.
About the artists
Paulina Vasiliauskaitė (b. 2000) is a designer, who enjoys creating stories and telling them through objects, forms, and materials. Contexts that she is working with are closely related to Lithuanian mythology, childhood memories, and contemporary understanding of femininity. Paulina is currently studying for a Master’s degree in Design at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. In 2021–2022, she also studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (KABK) in the Netherlands.
The artistic practice of Žilvinas Baranauskas (b. 2000) has been marked by a junction of media such as animation, CGI, performance, video art, and mixed-media drawing. Žilvinas Baranauskas is a graduate of The Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK), The Netherlands, and is currently residing and creating in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Paulina Vasiliauskaitė and Žilvinas Baranauskas’ exhibition Being is part of the Vilnius City Gallery Meno Niša’s Open Call project of the program Art Space for Young Artists. The exhibition runs until March 22. The exhibition’s graphic design is by Gintarė Razmaitė and Domantas Pigulevičius.
The exhibition is financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture
Vilnius City Gallery Meno Niša is sponsored by Vilnius City Municipality
