From 10 January, Vilnius City Gallery Meno Niša invites you to the exhibition As if Night Were Dreaming of Day by the award-winning Lithuanian artist Paulius Šliaupa, currently based in Gent, Belgium. The exhibition will take place in the Meno Niša gallery and the Vilnius City Hall, where the opening will be held on 10 January, 6 pm.
P. Šliaupas’ exhibition As if Night Were Dreaming of Day will examine the changing relationship of man with nature. In Vilnius City Hall, the artist’s video works and paintings created during his studies and residencies in Belgium will be shown. In the Meno Niša gallery, paintings, laser engravings of landscape models, and objects based on natural structures will be exhibited. Insects printed in 3D, glowing at night, hang between the works and bring another interpretation of the modern relationship with nature.
Paulius Šliaupa about the exhibition Night Were Dreaming of Day:
As the drone rises into the darkness of the night, the images become fluid, alternating between the screen, my eyes and my memories. Will the pine tree that grows along the path I walk towards Merkys emerge from the darkness and snatch my drone between its branches? Images also shift in the daytime, but you have to look for them in unexpected vantage points, on the surface of the water, in the dissolving light, and in distant lands, to break away from the everyday angle of vision, as if the night was dreaming of day. The exhibition explores the changing relationship between man and nature. Through my works I investigate how we experience the nature at different times of the day, seasons and in different countries. Technologies, the internet and the media intertwine with memories, feelings and blend into one body as we experience the landscape.
The exhibition continues throughout two spaces – the Vilnius Town Hall and the Meno Niša Gallery. The Town Hall features video works, as well as paintings created during my studies in Belgium. Meno Niša exhibits paintings, laser engravings of landscape models, and objects based on natural structures. Insects printed in 3D land amidst the works and introduce another interpretation of the contemporary relationship with nature. The idea for a duo exhibition came about while Manu and I were studying together in the post-academic residency HISK. Together we want to focus on image structures, surveillance techniques, poetic energy and the human relationship with technology.
I explore nature as an abstract phenomenon that frees the imagination. My aim is to present nature in such a way that digital experiences stimulate the senses and the imagination, so that nature appears tangible once again on the screen. The presented atmospheres become a doorway to a world of sensation and intuition. The video works “Toshka “and “Patterns of perfection “explore the human relationship with the environment in different ways. The title of video work Toshka is based on the agricultural project of the same name – canals in Egypt carry water to irrigate part of the Sahara Desert. There, crops and grains are cultivated to feed the country’s growing population. Most of the men on the plantations work away from their homes and families, returning home every month under the hot desert sun. People are surrounded by heat and sand, creating swirling mirages in the desert void. “Patterns of Perfection “explores the impact of the city on humans. Using a drone, I investigate the hidden details of industrial architecture in Liege and Charleroi (for example, chimney openings from above) to discover the perfect structures of decaying buildings.
The paintings in the exhibition reveal natural structures from different perspectives. While I was growing them layer after layer, I was looking at the ground, sand, moss, a frozen road, frozen snow, winter or summer skies, distant fields and photographs of my village. The subjects are abstract and almost unrecognisable in themselves, immersing you in an atmospheric exploration.
Coming from a family of geologists, I feel a deep connection to my homeland. I spend part of the year in the village of Barteliai, which becomes a refuge, a small world with six inhabitants, where I can hide by the Merkys river, observe the light, and feel and combine all the motifs before returning to the wider world. Motifs from different countries intertwine with the fields of Barteliai and grow on canvases painted in the countryside.
ABOUT ARTIST
Paulius Šliaupa (b. 1990) is a young-generation Lithuanian artist currently living and working in Belgium. Having started with painting, he also makes videos and photographs and writes art texts. Paulius holds a BA in Painting, an MA in Contemporary Sculpture from Vilnius Academy of Arts, and an MA in Media Arts from KASK and the HISK post-academic residency program in Ghent, Belgium. Last year he won the main prize of the ArtContest22 competition for young Belgian artists (Brussels) and this year, the main prize of the INPUT / OUTPUT 2023 competition (Bruges).
Over the past year, Paul has participated in art residencies in Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and Iceland. His works have been acquired by private collectors in Lithuania, Berlin, Ghent, Rome, Brussels, Rotterdam, Paris, and Istanbul. Paulius’ works are in the collections of museums M HKA, Antwerp, Mu.ZEE, Ostend, IKOB, Eupen, and SMAK, Ghent.
At the Vilnius City Hall, Paulius Šliaupa’s exhibition As if Night Were Dreaming of Day will be opened with his colleagues, Belgium artist Manu Engelen’s exhibition Agency of Matter. Paulius collaboration with Manu Engelen began during their residency in Ghent, Belgium. While working together at the HISK residency and traveling, the artists got to know each other even better and thus started a dialogue between their different works.
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– P. Šliaupa’s exhibition As if Night Were Dreaming of Day will be on show at the Meno Niša Gallery from 10 January until 24 February.
– The sponsor of the Vilnius city gallery Meno Niša is Vilnius City Municipality
– The exhibition is sponsored by the Lithuanian Council for Culture
