From November 7 to December 13, the Šiauliai Art Gallery will host an exhibition of kinetic sculptures by Kęstutis Svirnelis, titled “Civilized Absurdity.”
The exhibition opening will take place on Friday, November 7, at 5:00 p.m. Admission is free during the opening event.
The exhibition is part of the contemporary art and fashion festival “VIRUS’30.”
Full program: https://siauliugalerija.lt/siuolaikinio-meno-ir-mados-festivalio-virus30-programa/
ABOUT EXHIBITION
Kęstutis Svirnelis lives and works in Germany. After graduating in Sculpture from the Vilnius Academy of Arts, he earned his Master’s degree at the State Academy of Art and Design in Stuttgart. The artist creates kinetic objects and installations, exploring themes of capitalism, consumerism, liberalism, democracy, and the role of the individual within these systems.
He refers to his works as reflections and describes himself as creating “absurd art for an absurd world.” The French philosopher Albert Camus, in The Myth of Sisyphus, wrote extensively about the absurd but admitted that it could not be fully grasped in ordinary surroundings. Svirnelis, however, claims to materialize the absurd—albeit cautiously and with a sense of distance. At first encounter, his works often provoke laughter: they appear playful and immediately accessible. Yet the artist insists that each piece remains open to interpretation, to personal histories or emotions. Sometimes the only hint lies in the title. For those who do not perceive the absurd in the world, his works can still be experienced and valued through their own system of meaning.
Svirnelis’ artistic approach resonates with the principles of Arte Povera (literally “poor art”), an avant-garde movement that emerged in Italy during the 1960s and 1970s. Its practitioners emphasized the relationship with material—its origins, its aesthetic or anti-aesthetic qualities—regardless of cost. They believed that art should be political not through content, but through its transformative message. Prominent figures of Arte Povera, such as the Greek artist Jannis Kounellis, who exhibited live horses in “Untitled” (1969), or the Italian Michelangelo Pistoletto with his famous “Venus of the Rags” (1967), focused on sculpture, objects, and performance. These artists opposed the commercialization of art and its reduction to product value, highlighting instead its social and cultural significance.
Kęstutis Svirnelis employs a wide variety of materials: dollars, worn clothes, sewage pipes, rubber gloves, cellophane, wheelchairs, mannequins, and more recently, fur coats and pelts. These choices function as both political and deeply personal statements. By combining movement with either very cheap (rubber boots, gloves) or very expensive (natural furs) materials, he creates unexpected visual and semantic associations.
From the outset of his career, the sculptor has worked with found objects and materials. His works abound not only in motion but also in performative qualities. One of his most striking pieces is “Capital” (2009), a laughing rat made of dollar bills triggered by a sensor, first presented at the art fair ArtVilnius.
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Organizer: Šiauliai Art Gallery
Funded by: Šiauliai City Municipality, Lithuanian Council for Culture
Main media partner: Lithuanian National Radio and Television
Partners and supporters: UAB Sixteen media, Cupernican, wãpsva LT design house, Soya Asia, Saulės miestas shopping center, UAB Laurema graphics, Tešla ir dešra, Simo limonadai, SOVLI Toyota Center Šiauliai, Meno niša, Šiauliai “Aušra” Museum, State Šiauliai Drama Theatre, UAB Rūta, Šiauliai Technology Training Center, Šiauliai Athletics and Wellness Center, Estonian Academy of Arts, Art Academy of Latvia, Vilnius Academy of Arts, Lviv Fashion Week, independent art space Garage, UAB Grafų baldai, VšĮ Aksida, Šiauliai Industrialists’ Association.
Festival designer: Marius Žalneravičius.
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