Islands and Archipelagos • M. Zilinskas Art Museum • Kaunas, Lithuania • 2024
Group Show
The ‘Islands and Archipelagos’ exhibition was held from June 5 to 8, 2024, at M. Žilinskas Art Gallery, Nepriklausomybės sq. 12. The name of the exhibition “Islands and Archipelagos” refers to a myriad of constellations – real and imaginary – comprising the fabric of the city. An island serves as a symbol of both retreat and resilience, where social, political and everyday pressures can be warded off and new alliances formed. Tracing through the material and architectural history of the city, one can move through the history of islands, steadily growing and merging, transforming itself and the city that they forge.
Rave cultures and festivals are islands par excellence – only possible when multiple conditions align and necessary separation is established – between what an island is and what it is not. These coordinates might change but they are essential to nurture creativity and space where diversity is celebrated. During the festival, new imaginaries that in the furutre will bleed into the outside world can be born, proving that no island exists in full isolation.
Joey Holder by Lukas Mykolaitis
The Art Program at M. Žilinskas Gallery transformed three floors of the gallery into an archipelago of affection, deception, and smuggling. Referring to the maze-like interior of the gallery, the visceral nature of festivals and the mysterious personal history of Mykolas Žilinskas, whos name the gallery bears, the islands of art program beguiled, stimulated and seduced. The exhibition invited diverse artists working through different disciplines and mediums to show how deception can be an integral part of creative world-making. From site-specific installations to CGI and video works and objects from the gallery’s collection, “Islands and Archipelagos” seduced the audience and proposed future scenarios for the gallery.
Eglė Ruibytė ir Algirdas Jakas by Lukas Mykolaitis
Artists: Algirdas Jakas (LT), Eglė Ruibytė (LT), Emilija Povilanskaitė (LT), Jurgis Lietunovas (LT), Tomas Daukša (LT), Mykolas Valantinas (LT), Léa Porré (FR/UK), Ringailė Demšytė (LT), Joey Holder (UK/FIN), Matilda Tjäder (SE), Saulė Barley (LT), Tsingyun Zhang (CN/GER), Marikiscrycrycry (UK), Iceboy Violet (UK), Ella Jo Skinner (UK), Jette Loona Hermanis (EE).
Curator: Tautvydas Urbelis
Exhibition architect: Vladas Suncovas
Light designer: Adomas Kaikaris
Coordinators: Margarita Žigutytė, Karolis Aleksynas
Photography: Lukas Mykolaitis
Ringailė Demšytė by Lukas Mykolaitis
Works shown:
• I call to the creatures of the deep (2022)
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• Versaliae - Talismans (2021)
