Hi there,

how have the last couple of months been for you? I hope you had as much time to go swimming, sunbathing, berry and herb picking, camping and leisurely reading books shortlisted ages ago as much as I did. Meanwhile, DeepMind AI recently learned to walk (forget it playing Mario..), net-neutrality was called into question again and Trump is on what he calls a ‘working vacation’ which actually is a perfectly dystopian way to describe what job scarcity feels like. But who’s to blame when ‘unpredictably’ tropical weather greets Vilnius on occasion. In other times, it puts the even the most critically inclined (oh, how not to be one when the prime minister argues for a tax cut to the rich as they deserve one for being “the best people Lithuania has”?!) to a lull of subdued happiness of 23℃ evenings, unambitious conversations and a muted palette of sounds recorded in 2016 but fervently pointing to 1988… unspoken assurance sets in: let the summer seep in for a little longer.

Nevertheless, I have to urge you not to get too placid on this respite. There’s news as there always is and for those who wanted to do all these things I allured you with in the opening paragraph, it might be very exciting news. We launched the Open Call for Rupert Residency Program 2018, it is suited for local and international thinkers and practitioners: artists, writers, curators, sound artists, cultural managers, and academics, providing them with the opportunity to live and work in Vilnius while developing individual projects and immersing themselves in the region’s creative sphere. We’re looking forward to your applications and the deadline is midnight, 27 August.

At the same time, Alternative Education Program is back for its second trimester in September, on our schedule there are lectures with international and local academics and curators, research trips to Molėtai observatory, paraffin and candle factories of Vievis and Kartena among other activities and a final exhibition presenting a collective result of participants individual projects that’ve been in development during the course of the program.

If by any chance you are in Vilnius, please come by to ‘The Passage Between Us (These Little Truths)’, a performance by current Rupert resident Johanna Kotlaris. It will take place this Thursday, 10 August, 7 pm, at the National Gallery of Art. In addition to the performance, from Thursday August 10^th until Friday August 11^th, Kotlaris will present “These Little Truths” in Pakrantė gallery space. “These Little Truths” is a collection of sculptures that elaborate upon the thematic of internalised beliefs through a material approach. Her way of combining found and made objects suggests alternative orders, interpretations and relationships between things.
And don’t forget to look up to the sky!
See you soon,
Rupert

In Residence

Claire Tolan

Claire Tolan (b. 1986) is an American artist currently residing in Berlin. Since 2013, much of Tolan’s work has found its foundation in the sounds of ASMR, Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. Tolan has hosted „You’re Worth It,“ an ASMR show on Berlin Community Radio for more than three years. She has also worked with ASMR in performance, recording, and exhibition, collaborating with musician Holly Herndon, writer and artist Inger Wold Lund, and artist Camilla Steinum, among others. Tolan was the 2015 Goethe-Institut and SPACE Perlin Noise sound artist-in-residence at London’s White Building and a 2016 Musicboard Berlin fellow.

During the residency, Tolan will continue to design and soundtrack her forthcoming fantasy tabletop role-playing game, ShÜSh. ShÜSh is coming. First a bizarre, heavy substance dredged out of the trailing pools of rare earth metal mines, then a global currency, then a viral contagion, ShÜSh becomes an intelligence exploiting a zero-day in the latest upgrade of human consciousness. The game comprises a set of player and game master manuals and a deck of tarot cards with which the game master and players divine the game’s movements. It is accompanied by a soundtrack and an archive of short sounds that players store on their phones and use to punctuate their emotions, thoughts, and memories. May ShÜSh rise to meet you. May ShÜSh always be at your back. May ShÜSh hold you in the palm of its hand.

In Residence

Ragna Bley

Ragna Bley (b. 1986, SE) lives and works in Oslo. Bley received her BFA at The Oslo Academy of Fine Arts in 2011 and her MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London in 2015. Recent solo exhibitions includes Lay Open at Frankfurt am Main, Berlin (2017); Zooid at Kunsthall Oslo – Munchmuseet on the move (2017) and Pine Pitch at Hester, New York (2016) Selected group exhibitions include UKS, Oslo (2016); Galleri Brandstrup, Oslo (2016); Bosse & Baum, London (2015); Royal College of Art, London (2015); 1857, Oslo (2015); Kunsthall Oslo (2015); Taiga Art Space, St. Petersburg (2014); Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo (2014). Bley’s work is currently included in the 9th edition of the Norwegian Sculpture Biennal. Upcoming projects and exhibitions includes an exhibition at Nuuk Nordisk Kulturfestival, Nuuk, Greenland and a solo presentation at Kabuso Art Center, Øystese, Norway.

At Rupert Bley will continue her explorations on different methods of letting paintings and other works purposely get affected by the weather (rain, sun) as well as other outer circumstances such as pollution levels. She will be researching related projects and historical examples as well as material properties. This exploration will also serve as a preparation for a larger artist’s exhibition next year. In addition, she will be focusing on sustainability as method and practice, specifically in regard to environmental aspects, which could range from source of materials, to logistics and infrastructure of being an artist today. Sustainability, according to the artist, can also be extended to encompass further issues of (production, methods, politics, long-lived works etc) and it is possible that the ideas mentioned above will merge into her project.