Dear all,

I hope you have been dreaming through this pleasant, troubling heat. I slept well and then I slept uneasy. I began dreaming of my utopias. It’s silly really, but I woke up with the question of scale firmly on my mind, the scale of what it was I dreaming for. If dreams sometimes do come true, and this one I wanted to come true, how was I to proceed? The vastness of the obstacle presented me with a tension between inadequacy and responsibility. What if structural action will demand from me something that’ll leave me feeling like its requirements are perpetually unmet… It was only a dream though & the forecast for next week is 21°C. Perfectly normal.

Jonas Mekas too left us some traces of his personal utopias in the form of his poetry diaries and we are excited to present them in the exhibition ‘Jonas Mekas: let me dream utopias’. The opening will take place at Rupert this Thursday and in true collaborative artistic spirit of Jonas Mekas we are thrilled to welcome performances for the opening night by Viktorija Damerell & Gailė Griciūtė, Žygimantas Kudirka and Dalius Naujo (drums, percussion, vocal), Jonathon Haffner (alto saxophone), Raha Raissnia (synthesizer) & Dabar Mes Esam Čia Choras. The exhibition will act as a space welcoming conversation and playfulness with a full programme featuring panel discussions, screenings, curators’ tours, poetry readings supplemented with an educational activities and a film programme in Jonas Mekas’ hometown Biržai up until the July 18th.  

Our 7th Alternative Education programme has now reached its midpoint and we are happy to welcome historian Povilas Dikavičius to lead a series of seminars at Rupert. Together with the participants of the programme, he will explore historical shifts from the notion of chivalry to those of honour and dignity, discussing its political implications and exploring notions of what it means to be human with reference to historical texts dating back to the fourteenth century.

Last, but far from least, please do not forget that the Open Call for Rupert’s Residency programme is still open until the 24th of June, Monday midnight. If you or your colleagues are considering to apply, please do not be discouraged by the clock ticking. We are looking forward to welcoming new residents in 2020!

To keep in touch with all Rupert news and updates, please follow my website, Facebook and Instagram, if you are in Vilnius, we would love you to come by! For now, in the words of Jonas Mekas: keep dancing, keep singing, have a good drink and don’t get too serious, ok?

Warmly,
Rupert

Image: Still from Jonas Mekas’ film, ‘Letter from Nowhere – Laiškai iš niekur N.1.’ Image courtesy of the artist’s estate    

In residence

Erdem Taşdelen

Erdem Taşdelen is a Turkish-Canadian artist who currently lives and works in Toronto. His practice is rooted in conceptualism and involves a range of media including installation, video, sculpture, sound and artist books. His diverse projects bring self-expression into question within the context of culturally learned behaviours, where he often draws from unique historical narratives to address the complexities of current sociopolitical issues. Taşdelen’s work has been shown in numerous exhibitions internationally. He was awarded the Joseph S. Stauffer Prize in Visual Arts by the Canada Council for the Arts (2016), the Charles Pachter Prize for Emerging Artists by the Hnatyshyn Foundation (2014), and is currently long-listed for the Sobey Art Award. Erdem Taşdelen’s residency at Rupert is supported by Canada Council for the Arts and Office of the Canadian Embassy to Lithuania.

In residence

Alexandra Symons Sutcliffe

Alexandra Symons Sutcliffe (Germany) is a curator and writer whose work focuses on performance and documentary. During her residency at Rupert she will develop the curatorial research project ‘private performances.’ Co-conceived with the Scotland based curator Cicely Farrer, ‘private performances’ is a commission led project focused on the private or occluded aspects of performance art. The project seeks to complicate the definition “live-ness”  as an immediate experience, and ask what is at stake when expand the temporal conditions of performance art to include that which is not visible? While at Rupert, and working remotely with Farrer, Symons Sutcliffe will develop methodologies of display for the ‘private performances’ project for a future published programme.