R\u016bta Matulevi\u010di\u016bt\u0117\/Tie2.lt<\/p>\n
The artist Kopa (Sinaima Kontaut\u0117) graduated in 2022 with a Bachelor’s degree in Textile Art and Design from the Vilnius Academy of Arts, where she presented her work in the solo graduation exhibition “B\u016aTIES (NE)DARNA”. In 2024 she presented a solo exhibition “I Don’t Know. I Don’t Understand. I Have No Idea.” Kopa participated in group exhibitions such as “Zoetrope II” at the VDA Gallery “Akademija” in 2024, “Zoetrope” at the VDA Tel\u0161iai Gallery in 2023, VDA Textile Gallery “Artifex”, Vilnius, in 2021, in the exhibition “NE \/ PANA\u0160\u016aS. RYTAI VAKARUOSE.”, and at the 9th Lithuanian Biennial of Textile Art RIBA #30 at the LDS Gallery “Arka” in Vilnius in 2020.<\/p>\n
The theme of liminality has dominated your work for a long time. How is this idea important to you personally?<\/strong> What is the meaning behind the title of your exhibition I Don’t Know. I Don’t Understand. I Have No Idea.?<\/strong> In your solo exhibition at Gallery T.2, you’re showcasing both older works from your studies and more recent pieces. Have you noticed a change in your work over time?<\/strong> You present this exhibition as a seamless installation, linking the individual works with string and supplementing this “mind map” with writings on the walls. How do you envision the viewer\u2019s journey through this exhibition?<\/strong> What feeling or message do you hope the viewer takes from the exhibition?<\/strong> You often use dimmed spaces and concentrated lighting, scenographically highlighting individual works. How does a darkened space enhance your work?<\/strong> Where does your work begin? Can you give insight into your creative process, from idea to presentation?<\/strong> How should your work be viewed? Where should the audience start?<\/strong> Do you see a liminal, transitional state reflected in the world? Is it unique to contemporary life, or is it constant?<\/strong> How do you envision your work in the future?<\/strong> R\u016bta Matulevi\u010di\u016bt\u0117\/Tie2.lt The artist Kopa (Sinaima Kontaut\u0117) graduated in 2022 with a Bachelor’s degree in Textile Art and Design from the Vilnius Academy of Arts, where she presented her work in the solo graduation exhibition “B\u016aTIES (NE)DARNA”. In 2024 she presented a solo exhibition “I Don’t Know. I Don’t Understand. I Have No Idea.” Kopa […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":101651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-interview"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n“Liminal” translates from Latin as a threshold. It is a point of transition, a change from the old to the new, from one thing to another. Everything is always changing\u2014it\u2019s a continuous, unbroken circle of time, space, and life. In my own life, I have a strong sense of this constant change, of the intersection between opposites, which is why it\u2019s important in my work. This theme of the liminal becomes an expression of my inner experiences.<\/p>\n
\nThe title is an open and honest statement of how I feel and, most importantly, how I felt while preparing for this exhibition. The phrase was born when I applied glue to a plate of plexiglass, out of curiosity, to see what it would look like. As it dried, I saw beautiful shadows falling on the wall as the light passed through. I thought about what else could be done\u2014carve it out? A pattern, a symbol, a word…? Just then, my sister came into the room, and I asked her, “What phrase or word do you think would be appropriate to carve here?” She simply replied, “I have no idea.” I realized that this was going to be one of those times when I didn\u2019t know what to do, how to do it, how to create it. So, I decided to look at the situation from the side: I would do it and create something about the very uncertainty and confusion. That\u2019s how the concept of the exhibition and the ideas for the following works came about\u2014from my own ignorance, misunderstanding, and lack of ideas.<\/p>\n
\nYes, I have. The materials I use have changed over time, and I have experimented with new media and creative techniques. The concept of my work has also changed, as have the ideas I want to express and implement. It\u2019s interesting to notice that certain creative traits that emerged a long time ago are still strongly present now. For example, the desire to create and experiment with the simplest household materials\u2014glue, wire, fishing reel, glass, nails\u2014and found objects like bones, brick fragments, wood pieces, old photographs. The final pieces are usually still in a testing and experimental stage, and there are often several of them\u2014I rarely make only one individual work.<\/p>\n
\nThe works on show are very different; they come in a variety of media and formats, but together they form a single exhibition. Each of them “speaks” to the theme of “I don’t know\/I don’t understand\/I can’t imagine” in its own way. The installation\u2019s aim is to show these connections\u2014that nothing is separate; in everything, everything is one. The notes reflect thoughts that come from those (liminal) states. There\u2019s no beginning and no end to the exhibition. The viewer enters the gallery and finds themselves in a tangle of works and thoughts, and it\u2019s up to the viewer to decide where to go next.<\/p>\n
\nPersonally, I\u2019m most impressed by exhibitions that give me motivation and inspiration, which I use when I create my own work. So, what I\u2019d most like to give the audience with my exhibition are thoughts and emotions they can use in their own lives or work. It would be great to know that I can inspire others with my creations.<\/p>\n
\nFirst of all, there\u2019s the contrast between light and dark, between what we see and don\u2019t see, the shadows that appear at the intersection. This is one of the main themes I explore. The dark space not only enhances the effect of the work but also reflects the theme of liminality: it exists and doesn\u2019t exist, it\u2019s visible and it isn\u2019t; turn off the light, and there\u2019s nothing; illuminate everything, and you see nothing.<\/p>\n
\nIdeas come in many different ways, but most often they\u2019re born from fragments of life I\u2019ve seen or heard: conversations with people, other artists’ exhibitions, or even listening to crows cawing in the trees. Then I think about how to express those ideas using the materials and media available. The collected ideas, together with objects from my surroundings, create sketches\u2014there are many of them, they replace each other or merge into a new one. Some of them become the final works. Then it\u2019s just a matter of displaying them and presenting them to the public.<\/p>\n
\nThere\u2019s no exact way to view the works. In this exhibition, they\u2019re brought together as a single installation, but this doesn\u2019t mean they have to be seen as one big piece or separately, and there\u2019s no sequential order. I would wish for the viewer not to be afraid to sit in front of the works that interest them, to let themselves experience them freely, and to take those experiences with them.<\/p>\n
\nI see it, and I think it\u2019s intensified now. Take, for example, the recent quarantine. Ordinary life changed dramatically; the spread of the virus marked a turning point into a very different everyday life. But change is constant, as the old disappears and turns into something new, which often causes discomfort. The whole world is changing, on a universal scale and within every human being, animals, the smallest organisms, and the whole environment around us. Life itself is essentially a transition\u2014from point A to point B, from birth to death.<\/p>\n
\nI think I\u2019ll continue to explore this theme of liminality\u2014I feel there are still a lot of untapped possibilities. It keeps changing over time, but the basis remains the same: oppositions and their intersections, mergers, together and apart, transition, change, was and will be, is and is not, here and now, there and then. Of course, creative currents can change at any time, but again, that would just be another liminal change, from the old to the new.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"