By using various expressions of art – two to three dimension artworks – the exhibition authors want to allow you to explore and contemplate on the current fake news society or mockumentaries which warp reality of truth and mess up viewers’ mind into believing illusions.
The issue of spreading fake information which is presented as true has been interpreted by Lithuanian artists since the 90s. Some artists of that period started to change, break or deconstruct the stereotype of an exhibition, TV program or another culture event by creating a new narrative – “make-belief” stories based on a certain “documentation.” Artists were creating TV shows. By using these rather drastic measures, through the prism of sarcasm and parody, strengthened by psychedelic visuals and sounds artists were trying to “wake up” viewers.
In 1993 artists from Šiauliai Reda and Arunas Uogintai established an artists’ group called “Archeologists” and their fake documentation of the “discovered” mummy, as well as the following performances serve as an example of the above mentioned narratives. Nowadays the Uogintai duo notice such Fluxus inspired expression in the public statements of politicians which, according to the artists, can be compared to performances and for that reason they are coming back through their art to unravel and ponder through themes of lies and fabrications. In the current events of the war in Ukraine one can see this phenomenon of fake news in which reality is being twisted without any shame by the “trolls”. This creates a warped sense of reality which makes past historical experiences much harsher.
Even though Reda and Arunas Uogintai are known as performance artists, in this exhibition they present other forms of artworks – in a shared space they show graphics, paintings with two dimensional bubbling things and accessories. Many of these pieces of art were inspired by their previous performances and visuals from current TV screens, Youtube videos or other social media platforms.
From 1993, this duo with their group “Archaeologist” have been creating and showing performances which have an abundance of features typical of theatre. Additionally, they also use a wide range of art forms, ranging from sculpture, graphics and paintings to installations and other.
Both artists participate in various contemporary art festivals in Lithuania, Latvia, the United Kingdom, group exhibitions in Italy, China, Poland, Germany, France and other countries. They also organize their own exhibitions.
