KA. 2018



THE INSTALLATION AT THE ABANDONED ZARASAI DEPARTMENT STORE IN 2018, TITLED "ZVR" (ZARASAI SUMMER RESIDENCE) WAS A COLLABORATION WITH ARCHITECTURE AND CARRIED THE LINGERING CULTURAL CONTEXT OF THE DESERTED SOVIET DEPARTMENT STORE IN ZARASAI. DURING ITS OPERATIONAL YEARS, LIKE MANY OTHER DEPARTMENT STORES AT THAT TIME, IT SERVED AS A FOCAL POINT IN THE CITY CENTER. THROUGH THESE "UNIVER-MAGUS" (THE TERM FOR DEPARTMENT STORES), RESIDENTS ACCESSED THE CITY CENTER AS IF THROUGH MAGICAL PORTALS TO CONNECT WITH GOODS AND NEWS FROM OTHER PLACES. IT FUNCTIONED AS A HUB FOR NEWS, PUBLIC INTERACTIONS, AND DAILY LIFE.

TODAY, WHEN LOOKING AT THIS BUILDING THAT HAS REMAINED EMPTY FOR MANY YEARS, ONE CAN MENTALLY TRAVEL BACK IN TIME TO THE VIBRANT MEMORIES OF ITS PAST. THE IMPRESSION ARISES THAT, DUE TO SOME ANOMALY IN THE TIME AND SPACE CONTINUUM, MULTIPLE TIME PARALLELS ARE STILL ACTIVE. 


THE EXHIBITION AIMED TO ACTIVATE THE REMAINING SYMBOLS OF THE NON-FUNCTIONING UNIVERMAGUS: THE ILLUMINATED SIGN "2A. FURNITURE," THE STILL OPERATIONAL LIGHTING FIXTURES, AND A SOUND RECORDING IN THE EMPTY HALL SIMULATING THE BUSTLE OF AN EXHIBITION'S OPENING CEREMONY AT THE CONTEMPORARY ART CENTER OF JONAS MEKAS IN VILNIUS, INTRODUCING A CONTEMPORARY ART DIMENSION. PARADOXICALLY, THESE REANIMATED SIGNS EMPHASIZED THE BUILDING'S CURRENT INCAPACITY. COULD IT BE CONSIDERED A TEMPORAL EXERCISE? YES, ONE THAT IS UNPRODUCTIVE AND PURPOSELESS, MUCH LIKE ANY FORM OF NOSTALGIA. DOES LOOKING BACK INTO MEMORY MAKE THE PRESENT SEEM TEMPORARY AS WELL?



KA – EGLĖ GRĖBLIAUSKAITĖ

ZVR (ZARASAI SUMMER RESIDENCE)
25 SEPTEMBER, 2018

"DESTROYED OBJECT GAINS MORE POWER BECAUSE IT WAS OBVIOUSLY SO SIGNIFICANT THAT DESTRUCTION WAS NECESSARY. THEREFORE, I BELIEVE THAT THROUGH ARTISTIC MEANS, CULTURAL MEMORIES CAN BE REPOSITIONED, TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE SOCIO-POLITICAL CURRENT AFFAIRS OF TODAY, WITHOUT DESTROYING THE MARKERS OF MEMORY. WITHOUT DESTROYING THE TRACES OF EVEN THE MOST COMPLEX HISTORIES, WE ARE SAYING, IN A SENSE, "LET'S EXAMINE AND DISCUSS THEM, LET'S THINK ABOUT THE ERA AND CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH THEY AROSE, ABOUT THE KNOWLEDGE THEY CONVEYED, AND WHAT REALLY HAPPENED."

EGLĖ GRĖBLIAUSKAITĖ'S EXHIBITION "KA" IN THE ZARASAI "ZVR" ART PROJECT.

artnews.lt
September 11, 2018.

"IN THIS ARTISTIC COLLABORATION WITH ARCHITECTURE, THE VIEWER FINDS THEMSELVES IN A SUBTLY ACTIVATED WILDERNESS OF CULTURAL MEMORY FROM THAT TIME, WHERE THE CONTENT OF QUANTITY HAS BEEN ALTERED BY SEVERAL WORKS INTRODUCED BY THE ARTIST. 

THEY FUNCTION AS A TEXTUAL COMMENTARY, INDICATING THAT, DESPITE THE CHANGING SITUATION OF THE BUILDING, THE LOCAL VIEWER STILL ATTACHES STRUCTURAL SIGNIFICANCE TO IT IN WHATEVER DIRECTION THEY LOOK, SUCH AS THE BUILDING NUMBER "11" AND THE OBJECT BEHIND IT, WHICH FORM A SERIES OF QUESTIONS.

THE EMPTY FIRST FLOOR OF THE BUILDING FEATURES A RECORDING OF THE HUBBUB OF THE OPENING OF AN EXHIBITION IN 2015 AT THE JONAS MEKAS VISUAL ARTS CENTER IN VILNIUS, WHICH HALUCINATES THE FORMER ACTIVITY OF PEOPLE IN THIS CASE. "WE PASS THROUGH THE LAYERS OF MEMORY UNAWARE, AND IF WE ENCOUNTER THEM, WE ASK IN AMAZEMENT: WHAT? (KA? - lithuanian) FOR WHOM? FOR WHAT?" 


THROUGH HER RESEARCH, THE ARTIST REVEALS THE STILL LIVING NOSTALGIC MEMORY OF THE VIEWER FROM THAT TIME WHEN THIS BUILDING, AS IF, "HOUSED EVERYONE IN ZARASAI," IT WAS A UNIVERSAL STORE THAT SATISFIED THE NEEDS OF THE TOWN AND A PLACE FOR PEOPLE TO MEET EACH OTHER."