On the occasion of Lithuanian Season in France 2024, Gallery Meno Parkas presents an exhibition of video installations by three Lithuanian artists, Aistė Ambrazevičiūtė, Patricija Gilytė and Simona Žemaitytė, titled BeComing. The project partner VIDEOFORMES (FR) has invited the exhibition to take place in a unique and culturally important space in Clermont-Ferrand - the Chapelle de l'Oratoire (Chapel of the Clock), which since 1992 has been known and used as an interdisciplinary creative laboratory, a venue for the presentation and promotion of digital and experimental art.
BeComing seeks to explore pressing contemporary issues while amplifying marginalized voices in the art world. Through video art and installation, these artists offer reflections of nature, humanity, and feminism. The historical space of the chapel itself, opening up to contemporary art forms, follows the theme and allows the meanings of the works to mutate and unfold.
Aistė Ambrazevičiūtė's field of creative research is experimental architecture. Her visual expression is a true reflection of the artist's attention to nature - evolving, as if alive, lichens and other organisms become a perfect illusion that draws viewers into an infinite alternative microworld. Patricija Gilytė's video performances and installations use the symbolism of the spruce tree to criticize consumerism and observe signs of ecological catastrophe, while never losing sight of the inextricable link between man and tree, culture, and nature. Simona Žemaitytė, meanwhile, explores the field of life and death. The project presents a part of the artist's doctoral thesis "Death, Dying and Imagination" - a video film "Still Life". In a futuristic plot the project of immortality, which has been dreamt of for centuries, almost succeeds.
As society searches for a more sustainable coexistence in the world, these artists propose futuristic solutions and make perceptive observations about the human condition and the possibility of a fairer exchange with nature. The intersection between the digital and real worlds explored by the artists is particularly relevant in an era of rapid technological advancement.
The opportunity for artists to show their work in the context of VIDEOFORMES is especially significant because of its long tradition of promoting video art and its developed audience. Founded in 1984, the organisation has presented artists such as Nam June Paik, Bill Viola, John Sanborn, Regina Hübner and Gary Hill. During the 2024 Lithuanian season in France, the inhabitants of the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region will have the opportunity to get acquainted with an artistic language that has matured in a different cultural milieu, which reflects the season's theme - "The Other is the Same", and the empathy and humanity-awakening works of Lithuanian authors Aistė Ambrazevičiūtė, Patricija Gilytė and Simona Žemaitytė.
