The thematic exhibition „Primordial Sky”

2023 November 30 – 2024 January 20 The thematic exhibition „Primordial Sky” will be held in the Šiauliai Art Gallery.

Opening of the exhibition – Thursday, November 30, at 5:30 p.m. Admission is free during the opening of the exhibition. The musical performance will be performed by Šiauliai Boys and Youth Choir "Dagilėlis".

The curator of the exhibition is Skaidra Trilupaitytė. Architect – Vladas Balsys. Participants: Kristina Inčiūraitė, Matas Janušonis, Unknown artist, Maximilians Oprishka, Lili Paškauskaitė, Artūras Raila, Mantas Talmantas, Skaidra Trilupaitytė and Tomas Andrijauskas, Leonas Katinas, Vitalijs Butyrinas.

The exhibition reflects on the notions suggestive of vastness hovering above us and their permeability. Having denied the sacredness of the sky, the modern scientific approach no longer helps to answer some ontological questions about the cosmology formed by the new space telescopes, the supposedly imminent human flights to other planets, more and more complex meteorological forecasts or porous militaristic sky shields. According to Bruno Latour, “when you look up to heaven, you do not see the divine abode there, as your ancestors who saw there the consolation earned by their miserable life below. However, you don’t see pure height there either – the height whose distance was measured in kilometers, like in the days when you believed you were modern. In fact, you are forced to see the sky as a kind of dome marking a fenced area, which is constantly supported by the multifaceted and multifaceted activities of billions of agents” (B. Latour, „After Lockdown”).

In the works of the authors of this exhibition, the local pleasant sky and global weather, biosphere and climate changes covering not only the region, but entire continents are actualized, as well as the multi-purpose nature of the national airspace is reconsidered. Attention is drawn to the „eternal” astronomical forms and the possibilities of the „boundless space” above us, but also to the threats that may appear unexpectedly from the sky or the dangers that meet us there. Unfortunately, the fluctuations of certain systems are beyond our perception, they are not captured by the senses of the biological body in any way and cannot be described as phenomena recorded by the eye. So you have to use your imagination.

Elucidation about the natural trajectory of the sky-directed gaze, attempts to find more and more accurate scientific definitions for unidentified or possibly anomalous phenomena inevitably provoke questions about the paradoxical nature of homo sapiens knowledge. After all, when we imagine the sky, we resist a specific geographical latitude and feel that the boundaries we have drawn above are extremely fragile, they can be constantly redrawn. The images of the primordial sky changed in the course of history, and the height vectors in our mental space acquired unexpected configurations. Meanwhile, today, mathematical data flows generated in powerful invisible information cloud infrastructures more and more accurately predict and even regulate processes in the living world, whose earthly order is being destroyed by the digital one. In the minds of fictional sky deities brought to life in the exhibition space, mixed life forms are born in real time – their transformation can be seen in the vault of virtual reality. It may be that the world is indeed becoming more and more like a cloud or a ghost.

– Skaidra Trilupaitytė

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The exhibition is part of the contemporary art and fashion festival VIRUS’28.

The festival is financed by: Siauliai City Municipality and the Lithuanian Cultural Council

Organizer: Siauliai Art Gallery

Main information partner: Lithuanian National Radio and Television

Partners and sponsors: news portal „Etaplius”, AB „Šiaulių bankas”, UAB „Laurema”, UAB „Gorila reklama”, AB „Vilniaus Pergalė”, „Soya Asia”, KĮ „Polifonija”, State Drama Theater of Šiaulių, Šiaulių Didždvaris Gymnasium , Šiauliai Athletics and Wellness Center, MO Museum, Lithuanian National Art Museum, Šiauliai State College, Šiauliai Technology Training Center, dance troupe „NUEPIKO”, Vilnius Academy of Arts, Vilnius College of Design, Krakow Art School, Krakow Fashion Week, Estonian Academy of Arts, Latvian Academy of Arts, UAB „Virginijus ir Ko”, Šiauliai „Dagilėlis” Singing School, Lviv Fashion Week

Festival design author: Marius Žalneravičius