Press release

14/4–8/5/2026

Opening | April 14 (Tuesday) at 6 PM at the VAA gallery ARTIFEX  (Gaono str. 1, Vilnius).

I invite you to experience the exhibition / gallery space according to the right-hand principle. I ride a motorcycle, and the season has just begun, so here I borrow a definition from traffic rules.

When thinking about the works for the Artifex Gallery, they naturally coalesce into a cohesive narrative through the language of textiles: needle, embroidery, fabric, a ball of thread, canvas, bleaching, rhythm, ritual, the dimension of time (duration), sound, weaving, stacking, screen, pattern, repetition, water, sun. Discovering these connections was engaging, intriguing, and somewhat unexpected.

The title of the exhibition, “Po__ledinė__” (eng. “Under__Ice__”), refers to time—or, more precisely, to different temporalities. It also refers to states of being. The inserted pauses recall the moment when, having learned to read, one begins vocabulary-building exercises. You learn to think, and there is no longer a single correct answer. Most often, the word will simply be read as “ice,” and before you even notice it, an association emerges—fishing. A frozen lake, a drilled hole in the ice, time passing as you follow the almost imperceptible vibrations of the fishing line, and all around—endless space and silence—these have recently become my moments of clarity and survival.

Lithuania’s political realities, especially in the field of culture, weighed so heavily on me that the only way to endure became the most ordinary manual work—handling materials—because all my thoughts and attention were absorbed by the cultural protest. A silkscreen mesh pulled across hundreds of times; charcoal drawing after drawing; dozens of monotypes—and so as not to waste time hammering yet another canvas onto the wall—you paint. It is patient, allowing you to erase yesterday’s tension by voicing today’s. In the background, LRT Radio is constantly playing—discussion and current affairs programs—a numbing, under-the-ice state. And as if that were not enough, I was also making an ice floe.

The exhibition is curated by Laima Kreivytė.
Poster and promotional materials by Emilė Krutulytė and Vilius Juozapas Vingras.

The exhibition is partially supported by the Vilnius Academy of Arts Art and Research Projects Fund.