Hi there,

I hope all is well and Amazon AI didn’t decide to throw a party at 3am in the morning (‘at a very inconvenient time’) just when you and the neighbours were starting to get along. We, people, find ways to miscommunicate, not only when it comes to misguided or misinterpreted intentions, but now unintentionally even. Unfortunately, not all the news is that flimsy at the moment, and we are not surprised. Hopefully this is time for knowledge dissemination and cross-pollination among us, emphatic conversation within an expansive and inclusive field of agents, less restricted by class, race or identity, collectivity over further self-individuation and responsible action instead of latent irony. But let’s move on with a lighthearted message from a jazz great.

While holding on to a soft thread of sound, we are pleased to announce “Pirouette”, the first solo exhibition of the Lithuanian artist Lina Lapelytė. The show will include a series of newly-commissioned live performances and sound works. The closing event will feature musician and composer Charlemagne Palestine who will perform on a clavichord owned by Lina Lapelytė. Rupert’s 5th Alternative Education edition is drawing to an end too. On Friday, 8 December from 6pm, the final event of the year titled ‘Doesn’t Have To Be As Ever’ will take place. The event will showcase the works the participants of the programme developed during the year. We will traverse across Vilnius New Town and Old Town and everyone is welcome to join. But let’s not run ahead of ourselves. The past few weeks here were a lot of fun as Nina Fránková and Marije Gertenbach presented their current work (including a card weaving performance!) at Rupert while sharing a glass of homemade aquavit. And just a couple of weeks ago, current Rupert residents Eglė Kulbokaitė and Dorota Gawęda had a solo exhibition at Sodų 4 and a performance at the Editorial projects space. Meanwhile, Alternative Education programme had the opportunity to invite MFA Co-director Suhail Malik for a public talk and then a seminar for our participants on contemporary art gradually becoming ex-art and possibilities of moving beyond that.

There is a lot in store for the coming weeks but if you’re not in Vilnius, keep track of Rupert via our website, Facebook and Instagram.
That’s that for now, but it doesn’t have to be like that forever!
Rupert

In Residence

Dorota Gawęda & Eglė Kulbokaitė

Dorota Gawęda (b. 1986, PL) &  Eglė Kulbokaitė (b. 1987, LT) are an artist and writer duo living in Basel (CH) and Athens (GRC). Both are graduates of Royal College of Art in London and founders of YOUNG GIRL READING GROUP  (2013- ) and Agatha Valkyrie Ice (2014-). In  their work  they address feminist inspired theory and fiction, technology-driven emancipation and discursiveness of space. With YOUNG GIRL READING GROUP, Gawęda and Kulbokaitė investigate the act of reading as an intimate experience, holding the potentiality to become public performance through the ‘outlouding’ of words.

At Rupert Gawęda and Kulbokaitė produced new work for their upcoming solo exhibitions at Editorial project space and SODU4 in Vilnius, both to take place in November 2017.

In Residence

Hanna Järvenpää

Hanna Järvenpää (b. 1980, FN) studied fine art at the North Carelia Polytechnic, later specialized in art graphics and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Institute of Fine Art and Design 2003. The artist has had several solo exhibitions around Finland and her pieces have been shown among others in exhibitions ARTISTS 2012 (Artists’ Association of Finland), WAR or PEACE ?, Borders (Union of Finnish Art Associations) And NEW MUU 2012 (Other Artists` Association). Themes of human behaviour and being human are explored in Järvenpää`s work. Evil exists inside everyone and moral codes are different among nationalities and religions. Death is often attended not as fearful but as a final truth that unmasks material vanity.

In Rupert she will proceed with her exploration of paper and textile materials, transforming them into folding pieces.

In Residence

Jussi Koitela

Jussi Koitela (b.1981, FN) is a curator currently based in Helsinki. He has since 2012 been working with artistic responses to economical structures and discourses in the context of Skills of Economy curatorial research. Koitela is interested in developing pervasive curatorial, institutional and discursive practices for merged artistic practice, research and politics.

During residency at Rupert he is working on research and exhibition project Performing From the Rurban Fringe co-curated and researched with curator Inga Lāce.