“Soft Ground” Alicja Bielawska & Kristina Aglaja Skaldina

2016-04-27

Curator Justė Kostikovaitė

Project Space “Sodų 4”
Sodų Str. 4, Vilnius

Opening 04-05-2016, 6 pm with a performance by Kristina Aglaja Skaldina
Exhibition open 05-05-2016 – 21-05-2016 Thursdays to Saturdays 4-8 pm

Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association and the recently opened Project Space “Sodų 4” are happy to present the exhibition “Soft Ground” by Polish artist Alicja Bielawska and her collaboration–peformance with Kristina Aglaja Skaldina. The performance piece was created by the two artists during the residency in Nida Art Colony of the Vilnius Academy of Arts.

A. B. Kristina, let’s talk about your body.

K.A.S. ☺ Let’s.

A.B. You have said that movement isn’t connected to your body, and whilst doing a performance, this becomes more and more abstract somehow. Perhaps it is more about trajectories, than it is about movement itself?

K.A.S. Indeed, I have trained my body to be much more sensitive than normal, more so than that of most average people. So, basically in a way, I can manipulate my body to become a receptacle for more information. My body can understand and process the information that is already inside of it, it’s just that it is not using that information. Information that I use is written and spoken but not yet embodied. So in a way I could be about trajectories, as that’s all that’s out there, no?

A. B. Yes, according to scientists, the movement of particles itself is quite important. However, what is even more important for them is to research the trajectories of those movements.

K.A.S. Do you think particles move intuitively? This could, in a way, be similar to how you translate your perceptions of 3D on 2D in your drawings. Often, you prefer to lay out images and memorise things into other space dimensions using more obsolete techniques rather than 3D modeling software and computers.

A. B. If, by which you mean, me making mistakes is actually using intuition, then yes. Those 3D models are never really correct, but they totally work for me. Maybe this is something that’s also present in physics and mathematical research involving trying, failing, testing and calculating things numerous times before reaching the point. Maybe!

K.A.S. Maybe it is also like being inside a psychedelic trance where one “naturally” sees geometric forms opening up and dancing in a kaleidoscope before the eyes?

A. B. Haha. No. I think my 2D or 3D drawings, if you like, are independent and quite different. They don’t draw you in, and I don’t create optical illusions in them. They are more like forms that embrace each other.

K.A.S. So are they more about creating shapes that reflect the environment, where the living and non living converge?

A.B. I don’t know. I think my work tries to silence the body by creating an “out of the body” feeling. Perhaps you can tell me about the 10 steps towards the conscious body, or better yet, should I ask our buddhists neighbours?

Alicja Bielawska (b. 1980) lives in Warsaw. She works with sculptures, drawings and text. Her practice is focused on the materiality of everyday life and our relationships between objects and interiors. Although the objects she makes are usually from textile, metal elements, wood or modeling clay and they do resemble things from everyday life, Bielawska often interferes with their proportions and scale.
A graduate of Art History at the University of Warsaw and Fine Arts at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, she has received scholarships from the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Startstipendium, Mondriaan Fonds, Młoda Polska and the Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart. She was nominated for VIEWS 2015 – Deutsche Bank Award. Bielawska has presented her work at solo exhibitions at e.g. Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Starter Gallery in Warsaw, Jeanine Hofland Contemporary Art in Amsterdam, Hotel Maria Kapel in Hoorn, BWA in Zielona Góra, Arsenał Gallery in Białystok, CCA Zamek Ujazdowski in Warsaw. She has also participated in group exhibitions in Poland, the Netherlands, Germany. Her works are in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and in private collections in Poland and the Netherlands.

Kristina Aglaja Skaldina has studied physical therapy at Vilnius University, then she has completed the course at the Institute for Integrative Bodywork and Movement Therapy (UK). She has worked as body movement therapist in the sphere of psychiatry, practiced as a contemporary dancer at Vytis Jankauskas’ studio, also practiced aikido, yoga. In 2015 Skaldina has completed Rupert education programme in Vilnius, where she produced the work “Cleansing Moisturizing Protection”. She has shown experiential performance and video works “Wanduo”, “Žemė” in the Arts Printing House, Vilnius, and Rupert in collaboration with AusTėja. At the moment Skaldina is also participating in Egle Budvytyte’s solo project “Skateboard Prayer, or Head Below the Heart” at the Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius.

Justė Kostikovaitė (Lithuania/UK) is a curator for Nida Doctoral School at Vilnius Academy of Arts. She has obtained her MA in Curating Contemporary Art at Royal College of Art, London. Eralier she has organised a seminar “Spheres of Power. Tension and Exchange“ in Berlin. In 2014 she participated in the International Curator Course at the Gwangju Biennale Foundation and the CIMAM conference in Qatar, also collaborated with artist Merike Estna for an exhibition at KUMU, Tallinn. Her projects in 2015 include “New Waiting” – the solo show by artist from Luxembourg Sophie Jung at Temnikova & Kasela Gallery, Tallinn, “New Pabulum” show with artists Aline Bouvy (Belgium) and Simon Davenport (UK), gallery “Kunstraum” in London. In 2015 Justė Kostikovaitė has set up an initiative for artists’ editions www.andeditions.org. In 2016 she is curating the Julijonas Urbonas’ project “Airtime”, the Lithuanian pavilion at Milano Design Triennale.

http://www.alicjabielawska.com
www.letmekoo.lt/sodu-4
https://www.facebook.com/Sodų-4-164231727059295/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

This exhibition is organized in cooperation with Culture.pl and is kindly supported by Lithuanian Council for Culture, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, Nida Art Colony and Polish Institute in Vilnius.