Talk

Artist talk with Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė & Lina Lapelytė

In their collaborative practice, artists Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė,Vaiva Grainytė & Lina Lapelytė pay special attention to the relationship between documentary and fiction, reality and poetry as well as the overlap of theatre, music and the visual arts.

In their collaborative practice, artists Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė and Lina Lapelytė pay special attention to the relationship between documentary and fiction, reality and poetry as well as the overlap of theatre, music and the visual arts. Their opera-performance Sun & Sea is the second collaboration for the three artists. The work was most recently presented as Sun & Sea (Marina), representing Lithuania at the 58th Contemporary Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, where it was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation. Their previous work, the contemporary opera Have a Good Day! for 10 cashiers, supermarket sounds and piano, premiered in 2013 and is touring worldwide.

Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė (b.1983, based in Vilnius) works as a filmmaker, theatre director and visual artist. In her creative practice, Barzdžiukaitė explores the gap between objective and imagined realities, while challenging an anthropocentric way of thinking in a playful way. Her recent full-length documentary film-essay Acid Forest was awarded at the Locarno International Film Festival among others, was shown at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, Lincoln Center in NYC, American Film Institute festival in LA and many other events and venues for cinema and contemporary art. Sun & Sea is her latest collaboration in the medium of performance.

Vaiva Grainytė (b. 1984, based in Lithuania and Canada) is a writer, playwright, and poet. Her creative practice tends to cross the confines of desk work and be manifested in interdisciplinary practices: radio plays, site specific/dance performances, and musicals. Her solo works – the book of essays Beijing Diaries (2012) and the poetry collection Gorilla’s Archives (2019) were nominated for the Book of the Year awards and included in the top twelve listings of the most creative books in Lithuania. In her writing, documentary and social issues are exhibited in a poetic and paradoxical manner.

Lina Lapelytė (b.1984, based in Vilnius and London) is an artist, composer, and musician. Her performance-based practice flirts with pop culture, explores gender stereotypes, ageing and nostalgia. Her works engage trained and untrained performers often in an act of ‘singing’ through a wide range of genres such as mainstream music and opera. The singing takes the form of a collective and affective event that questions vulnerability and silencing. Lapelytė’s works were presented Serpentine and DRAF in London, Cartier Foundation in Paris, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Kunsthalle Praha, RIBOCA2 - Riga biennale and others.

This artist talk is part of the Academy of Fine Art’s public program and will be moderated by Saskia Holmkvist, professor at the Academy of Fine Art. Full program: https://artacademycalendar.khio.no/