The expression “Climbing Invisible Structures” invokes something steep and hidden, something vertiginous and inaccessible. The idea of coping with such constructions, invites us, artists and participants, to reflect on the complex, multilayered and often imperceptible relationships that govern our lives and relationships. For what sort of social structures dictate things like career choice, way of life, or art productions? And can we be sure that our human relations, in fact, are not already organized according to pre-established power relationships, unstated rules and rituals? How can we know that what we take for granted, that which appears so natural, are actually social constructions and false consciousness?
The various works in this exhibition, each in a very distinct way, investigate different modes of existence, aspects of art production, and social life. They explore deep-rooted practices, conceptual systems, and rituals. They manipulate, disorganize, and disrupt fixed ways of thinking and patterns of behavior. Of course, the aim is not to establish new ones, but to puzzle, to make us wonder, and by the same token to raise questions about the legitimacy of existing conventions and established institutions.
The works in this exhibition point to a wide range of ritualised practices, connecting actions by people who lived a long time ago with contemporary rituals. Ranging from social and spiritual practices, which are familiar to everyone, to contemporary strategies framing the conditions of art production and management, they investigate, explore, question, disrupt, modify and fictionalise established beliefs, disciplines and daily habits, and outline directions for new ones.

This exhibition is part of a two-year-long residency and exhibition project involving six institutions in three different countries: Iceland, Lithuania and Norway. Ten artists have been invited to do residencies and to create works for four exhibitions in Vilnius, Nida, Žeimiai (Lithuania) and Lillestrøm (Norway). This exhibition presents works by all participating artists. This is the fourth and the last exhibition of the project.

Curated by Eglė Mikalajūnė and Samir M’kadmi
Organised by Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts

Courtesy of the artists
Photocredit Andrej Vasilenko, Jonas Vaitiekūnas