EGLE GREBLIAUSKAITE
Vilnius based visual artist, examines socio-psychological mechanisms of repression operating in today’s society and raises difficult questions which possess neither convenient, nor singular answers. The artist chooses contemporary means of expression – installation, sculpture, painting, intuitive theoretical and physical strategies.
Currently E.Grebliauskaite is engaged in doctoral studies at Vilnius Art Academy, prior graduated BA and MA in painting at Vilnius Academy of Arts and holds The Open University MBA.
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On 4th of February exhibition “I I” of artist Eglė Grėbliauskaitė was opened in project space “Kabinetas", with an open discussion concerning the conditions for creation of meaning and art perception. The moment of birth of a new way of reading is vital in the exhibition “I I” of Eglė Grėbliauskaitė, when an object or the chain of objects experience a continuous reconstruction.
Anxiety is a constant feeling of ambiguous threat. The threat is similar to madness, schizophrenia, I see it in the usual things, familiar and strange faces, locations. It's like knowing that potential threatening scenarios, and the demon agents are "gathered" around and watching my life.
Their “disease” opens suddenly as if I recover my sight for a moment, but then the image returns to normal. However I already know "their" secret reliance to the demon world. It is a bit like a dream or delirium.
My heroes like an increasing number of items in collector's album, form new threatening possible event combinations with each.
I know, that I have to watch “Them” too. Somehow I believe that my observation does not allow them to "act”. It is an attempt to document the invisible, to find cracks, over the negative matter. As much as I am anxious, I am also constantly drawn to it.
I want to pull out those demon secret agents of the metaphysical, "secret " area in to the daylight (the canvas), therefore I paint their portraits.
I want to look them in the eye. I want to expose "them.
I try to describe "them" realistically, clearly, without unnecessary embellishment, and sentimentality. But then I notice that they hid again...
I am left with just my knowledge, but nothing to be shown to prove it. I am still looking for the traces of my knowing about “them”.
I should like to call anxiety a repression. Not only because of its distressing and unyielding faith efforts fashion – I see the concerns derive from specific social and psychological mechanisms of repression.
Those mechanisms are constantly present, calm, casual, slightly exalted, but cold at the same time - almost motionless, as if hiding behind their own signifiers.
“It is for your own safety/good!" kind of repression is so pervasive in the form of a whole that is leveled behind “the best existing alternative” notion. It becomes a natural an integral part of the everyday landscape. Leaving anxiety a mare internal detector or signal of the discomfort.
I explore ambivalent relationship with the everyday elements, on the one hand when things are obvious in their form and space but on the other - hiding contradictory opportunities, which, by its mere existence arise a worrying doubt. However, this hidden is revealed as a condition for the image to be seen and experienced in general. The form of the object becomes just a marginal category from which one can lean against just to explore the dialectics of knowledge trust and belief.
Grėbliauskaitė depicts the gaze of the world described by Lacan, who first realized it when watching a can of sardines at the bottom of a lake. Macabre hunting of demons by catching them in an image that can be destroyed was rampant in medieval times as well. It should have been a reminder of tortures of Hell. But this is a fight, an attempt to grasp an ambiguous uncanny and bothersome gaze.
In the era of vision’s reign, artist’s behavior is not an anachronism – on the contrary - it is a natural reaction. Although it is a bit fearsome… But, for example, Hitchcock believed in therapeutic function of horror and thought that being scared can also bring pleasure. When it ends happily, of course. But, in this case, no one is promising a happy ending. It is a different exercise – its an attempt to document the invisible, to find cracks through which the negative matter is seen. Perceiving the paintings as a sequence of frames of the film, I could say that we get a story that is quite mesmerizing and horrific.
Monika Krikstopaityte
“TRIUMPH ARCH”, 2016. Independence square. Next to the Houses of Parliament, Vilnius
"Triumph arch" on Independence Square in Vilnius, next to the Houses of Parliament, built at the parliamentary elections. Built from pressed Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) waste and metal constructions, 7 meter high, 27 tones of weight, constructed on 06.10.2016, lasted only 1 day. After the threats of VAD (at Ministry of Internal Affairs), "Triumph arch" was dismantled on 2016 10 07. According to the Vilnius Municipality approved procedure 1 day arch stood legally. In the request for a longer exposure of the artwork Vilnius City Municipality within the prescribed time limit of 20 days, did not provide neither positive nor negative answer.
“I I”
Kabinetas, Kaunas, 2016.
“KOMBINATAS” (Factory), main Vilnius Art Academy building, Maironio 6, Vilnius. 2015
Egle Grebliauskaite Installation ‘Swill’ talks about excess, waste and plastic in a wider sense of this word. Installation form resembles a toy above child’s bed that hypnotizes and lulls into the sleep.
Installation made from compressed low density plastic trash cubes, connected by 9 meter metal tubes and hung 3.5 meters above the heads of spectators.
A theme of society living in a constant state of object production that creates “the swill” is examined. Plastic objects circulate in an excess market such as leftover plastic bags. Society is being lulled by and in to this overproduction process which is carried by its participants who are themselves also immersed in it without comprehension of such process anymore.
Installation being displayed in art fair works as critical comment on commercialized art market today.
I found those letters on the roof of a defunct meat factory at the end of Savanoriai street. Even though it is empty now, the factory is still imbued with the ten-year-old past. I could almost hear the roar of these cutting and mincing machines—from the outside one would not be able to tell whether they are still operative today… Once you enter the meat factory system, you can be sure that you will be processed properly… And you will leave in peaces…
“MONITORING SYSTEMS” in an exhibition “BLACK ROSES”, Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center, Vilnius. 2015
“THEY HAD THEIR TOOLS TOO”, 2015, oil on canvas.
“THEIR TOOLS WERE SILVER TOO”, 2013, oil on canvas.
“MĖTOO”, mobile installation, ready made letters from soviet meet factory. A protest for women rights. March 8th 2018, Cathedral squaire - independence squaire, Vilnius.
"A COLD WALL WAKE UP HIT"
November 15 - December 10, 2018, Vilnius.
The installation of several parts in public space is a study of the contradictory figure of Soviet times Lithuanian poet Salomėja Nėris, her historical character, consisting of Monika Kalinauskaite text, audio record of poet's poem's popuri and a her portrait lightbox in a balcony, as well as the city itself, its monuments and institutions which become an integral part of installation. Different elements of the work raise different questions about the personality and role of Neris.
The flirtatious look of the poet's portrait-box overlooking the stone figure monument to Petras Cvirka, a Soviet times writer and political figure, and the sound installation at the Salomėja Nėris gymnasium next to her monument, invite the viewers to experience and rethink countries historical and creative heritage and the complexity of each solution. One can only guess what the two creators of the past would say today, looking other at each across one of the central crossroads of the city.
How and why do we make the decisions we make - and should artists bare the responsibility for the impact of their work? “What are people thinking when taking strange decisions? Something solid and irrefutable, like benefits, or religious and sweet - like their children's cheeks? What glasses should one wear to write a poem about something so boring and ruthless, like a leader or a sausage? What do they look at then? Themselves, mirrors, dangers, dirty floors? This is not a question that poets or teachers give answers to. Maybe there will be a new beloved or the old face today, and tomorrow - historical trouble and a pit of crime ". - Monika Kalinauskaitė.
The maturity of society is demonstrated by its ability to observe and evaluate itself. It is the works of art that testify to the direction of movement and vision of the society that created them. George Orwell has said that the most effective way to destroy people is not to give them the opportunity to understand their history. Art serves as a cache of memories of the times and can help to retreat from the preconceptions and partly become an educational tool to learn from the past.
Birthday of Neris was an opportunity to reflect on her as the creator and hero of the public figure, and the time she has created, so painfully touching the fate of every citizen of the country. The poet's case today gives us the opportunity to talk about respect for ourselves and others, freedom of self-determination, fear and courage, freedom and its price.
When will we be ready not to destroy or hide the remnants of history, or to scrum them selectively, but to put facts on the table and simply accept them as facts, even if they are uncomfortable? When will we be ready to learn the lessons of history and finally move on - not forgetting, watching upon ourselves?
1. The corner of Pylimo and Iceland streets.
2. Monument to Salomėja Nėris at Salomėja Nėris Gymnasium (Vokiečių str. 32), 8:00 - 22:00.
3. Elska Coffee Café, located near Pamėnkalnio Gallery (Pamėnkalnio Str. 1).
“KA”
Installation at the abandoned Zarasai department store. 2018, “ZVR”.
A collaboration with architecture, and with a lingering cultural context of the abandoned Soviet department store in Zarasai. Like many other department stores at that time, it was a synonym with the city center. Through the "univer-magus" (this is how department stores were called), as though, through some magical portals, residents went to the town center to get some contact with the goods and news from out of town. It was the hub of news, public relations, living everyday life. Today, seeing this building for many years empty, one can move in time to the bustling memory. The impression is that either because some anomaly in the time and space matrix, there are several time parallels active. The exhibition activates the remaining symbols of the still-un-functioning univermagus: the illuminated sign “2a. Furniture ”; the still operating luminaires; the sound record at the empty hall of the bustle of the opening ceremony of an exhibition at the contemporary art center of Jonas Mekas in Vilnius, letting in the contemporary art dimension. Paradoxically, the reanimated signs of the building further highlighted its incapacity. Is it a time-out exercise? Yes, nonfertile and pointless, like any nostalgia. Does the looking back to the memory makes the present also seem as temporality?
“C30/37-XC3-CI0, 2-D16-S3, a New Good Floor for Titanic”. Vilnius Academy of Arts, ground floor exhibition hall Titanic, 2016. Concrete.
Vilnius Academy of Arts exhibition halls are situated in an old printing house building, which Academy renovated and put ochre tiles on the floor on top of original concrete floor. In the architectural plan it stated, that a good floor will be installed. Artist ripped out those tiles and installed a concrete floor in order to get rid of unnecessary cultural layers that Academy became covered with.
“MĖTOO” video 4:56 min; video 22:00 min, 2018., and instalation
“FACTORY -2” installation, ready made letters from Soviet meet factory in front of main Vilnius Academy of Arts building, Maironio st. 6, Vilnius,
for National Emancipation Day, February 17, after multiple cases of #MeToo outbreak in Vilnius Academy of Arts. Academy rectorate did not allow the installation to take place, therefore it appeared laid down on the snow just for the weekend - non opening hours. Emancipation day activists visited installation and lifted letters up standing for a picture.
THE GREEN BRIDGE PROJECT. Project, 2015.
Four pairs of Soviet realism sculptures of Green Bridge were dismantled on 2015 July 20-21 by Vilnius City Municipality's initiative as not reconcilable with today's socio-political issues of Lithuania. The official reason given was renovation of the sculptures. The Green Bridge Project proposes to depict the action of Vilnius Municipality of hiding the sculptures along with historical signs, as if, immersing them in to a river of forgetting. The copies of sculptures would be immersed into the river to emerge for a short period of time after the SMS is sent by the viewer.
“PARRHESIA”
Digital video, 14 min, 2019
Collaborative video work “Parrhesia” is a collage of visual impressions. Its title defines the “absolutely truthful” mode of speaking – one without the means of rhetoric and manipulation. But perhaps the only way to do so is the unfiltered stream of consciousness and imagery, which will always be misled by language?
“WE HAVE TO BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL (part 2)”. 2019
Video and audio installation, 20 min.
It is seemingly simple and constructive situation – that of a student and professor, a process that is usually known as a dialogue. Yet, its lines highlight the disturbing misunderstandings that lie in the underbelly of every scandal: inconsistencies between an authentic offense and justifying formulations, pain and confusion against the belief in the justice of customs and procedures, and, finally – call for help and the cynicism that quells it.
The Student-teacher dialogue is created from authentic student’s conversation (private) made in to installation ALL QUIET IN THE BETTER ACADEMY. SPEAK NOW and exhibited in Academy exhibition hall, and professor’s – reacting to the student testimony in public discussion that took place in 2019.
Text is edited, but only so to maintain the anonymity of the speakers and recorded by actors.
https://www.delfi.lt/kultura/naujienos/menininkiu-egles-grebliauskaites-ir-aurelijos-bulaukaites-pareiskimas-apie- makabriskus-dalykus-vykstancius-dienos-sviesoje.d?id=82567117
“WHAT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO?” (part 1). 2019
Video and audio Installation. 18 min.
Academy renewal project “Better Academy” was a priority for 2018-2019. One of its strategic goals was to “stimulate students' motivation and develop their creative potential”.
Installation features Academy Student Testimonies after the project ended, on 23 Mar 2019.
The project had to be defended due to its critical content towards Academyčw. The pre-planned publicity was suspended.
VDA PhD Student Exhibition “Do The Right Thing”. VDA Gallery “Titanikas” Vilnius.
https://artnews.lt/vda-doktorantu-paroda-ka-darai-daryk-gerai-parodu-salese-titanikas-51885
[Student: They walk slouched but with their chins up... Some read our art concepts, and some don’t even read them ... Sometimes, when I tell them my ideas, they just laugh. It remains to be seen what they did not like. ‘What you are doing here is nonsense...’ One feels lonely, not appreciated. ]
[Professor: I am familiar with these texts as a lecturer, as an educator. If it was written, in some kind of explanatory note, the relationship to that thing would be expressed, then I understand, I would be interested then. ]
“THEY WILL TRY AND ACT LIKE VICTIMS”
Project proposal for the tender for temporary art, technological, scientific and other installations, exhibitions and projects organized by Vilnius City Municipality. 2018
In 1952, four groups of sculptures were installed on the Green Bridge: "Youth of Science", by Juozas Mikėnas and Juozas Kėdainis; "The Guard of Peace," by Bronius Pundzius, "Agriculture," by Bernard Bučas and Petras Vaivada; Industry and Construction, by Napoleon Petrulis and Bronius Vyšniauskas.
Works of Soviet realism propaganda art were dismantled on 2015 July 20-21 by Vilnius City Municipality's initiative as not reconcilable with today's socio-political issues of Lithuania.
The implemented project proposes not to deny the original existence of the sculptures, but to copy them under the bridge, and to return them as a historical memory by changing their exhibit status, thus creating a historical opportunity to discuss historical memory.
The project proposes to make real size copies of all four dismantled sculpture groups and mounted under the Green Bridge, attached horizontally to the bottom of the bridge, at four edges, at their original mounting locations. The spectator, in order to see the sculptures of the Soviet regime, would have to descend to the embankment and raise their eyes to the bottom of the bridge. The project also provides an interactive opportunity for the viewer to send the selected sculpture group by sending an SMS with a specially assigned short number. When activated, the legs of the sculpture would descend, positioning the sculpture vertically as the chains holding would gradually be released. The activated sculpture will hang vertically for a few minutes before returning to its original position. At that time, it would be possible to look at the sculptures in a perspective as they were visible when they were standing on the bridge postaments. During dark hours the installation would be illuminated, weaker - in an inactive position, stronger - activated
“ATLANTIS”
Lightbox, photo-collage, 200x145x20 cm, 2019.
A hybrid portrait of the artists’ faces, a mythical misunderstanding, that can no longer even focus its gaze on reality. A chaotic thriller, the plot-line of which unfolds in the spaces of memory, pain and irony. That would still be bearable – but why are these spaces, so alien to us, somewhat still familiar? The artists’ works draw from their circumstantially different, yet intertwining experiences of creating, learning and communication. Instead of a fruitless attack on undefinable systems of hierarchy, they opt to reveal the absurdity of such an experience.
“THE SWILL”
ARTVILNIUS'16 Contemporary Art Fair 2016. LDPE, metal, 9x9x5 m.
“SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISMS OF REPRESSION.
AN AMBIGUOUS IN A PHYSICAL FORM TO EXPERIENCE TENSION”
Light installation, 2020.09.13, 8:30pm-9:30pm, Vilnius.
Hours Before Lukashenko and Putin meeting, Belarus and Russian Embassy was illuminated with white-red-white colors of free Belarus in Vilnius. Artist was asked to stop installation “immediately” as soon as the lights were lit, by police on duty next to the embassy.
The power of light and color is not only symbolic. Light penetrates through firewalls and physical boundaries. It is an intangible but highly influential matter – it can heal and it can repress.
This time, it supports the rights of the people to freedom of speech, and reflects the repressive political regime by looking straight into his eyes. We see you.
The installation is an artwork designed to support Belarusian citizens in defending democratic values in the country. The colors of the installation (white, red, white) correspond to the colors of the flag of the Independent People's Republic of Belarus. This flag was chosen by Belarusian citizens as a symbol of protests against the repressive regime.
Thank you to artists participating: Andrius Seliuta von Rath, Aurelija Bulaukaitė, Greta Eimulytė, Norbert Apuoka Hnc, Linas Kuklerius
photos by Vaiva Abromaityte.
“LETS NOT FORGET NOT TO REMEMBER”
On the 12th of November 2021 the city authorities of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, forcefully removed a contemporary art performance focusing on the monument of Petras Cvirka, an influential writer in Soviet Lithuania.
The monument, which is located in a central square in the city centre, has been at the centre of controversy since 2017 and is scheduled to be removed in December 2021 as part of the Mayor’s commitment to clear public spaces of Soviet heritage.
Local artists Egle Grebliauskaite and Agne Gintalaite were initially granted permission by city authorities to organise a performance with a title "Let's not forget not to remember" involving Cvirka’s monument, during which the monument was to be covered with moss.
The artists explain that by using moss, which is used to treat wounds in traditional medicine, they hoped to create a form of engagement with the trauma of the Soviet past, leading to pacification and healing, inviting city residents to reflect on the flow of time and the remnants of history. However, as the bronze statue was being covered with a carpet of green moss, the city authorities changed their mind and prohibited the event. The city council stated that the initial permission was issued by mistake. No additional comment was provided why the project was deemed unsuitable. The artists were physically prevented from taking down the scaffolding and moss, which were removed by city subcontractors, and are threatened with a fine.
The statue of Petras Cvirka (1909-1947) was created by the acclaimed Lithuanian sculptor Juozas Mikėnas in 1959. It was under protection as cultural heritage until August 2021 when it was struck from the cultural heritage list and scheduled to be removed from the square. It is one of the last public monuments to Soviet cultural figures in Lithuania. Vilnius has been designated as Unesco city of literature in November 2021.
- Egle Rindzevičiūtė
Photo by Audrius Tuleikis (2021)
[Coming here I had hoped that the academy was a place where I could unfold as a creator, gain the necessary knowledge and methods, but the expectations were dashed. And there is no choice, because there is no other place to go in Lithuania, you know that you will have to endure this for so many years. For a person to open up, a connection is necessary. Otherwise - one block after another and one sends the talent in to the rope. My expectations were very different from what I found here. It’s good I had scholarship. If you had to pay to have a teacher in the group for 10 minutes a day and dedicate them to those who he sympathizes with the most and you have to work on your own, would not make any sense. ]