The exhibition "A Refuge, a Temple, a Monument"

The exhibition "A Refuge, a Temple, a Monument" by Židrija Janušaitė and Eva Vēvere (Latvia) at the Meno Parkas Gallery (Rotusės a. 27, Kaunas).

Last year at the start of the gardening season in the Lithuanian town of Zagare, we asked people to share what a greenhouse could be other than its very practical use as a place to grow your own vegetables. Quite soon the answers weaved into a collective fantasy or memory, or both of a place where one could become oneself - a place to fulfill secret desires of playing music, having a moment of calm refuge and escape. Suddenly, a greenhouse could embody a wish for an artist residency, a quiet tea pavilion, a safe space for planting a better version of yourself every day. The exhibition deals with the fragility of time and the performative act of a shared space - inhabited by strangers and friends, plants and seasons, here and beyond. 

‘A Greenhouse Could Be’ is an ongoing video project by Eva Vēvere in which she invites women with strong artistic, scientific or social practices to inhabit an auxiliary building or a place in nature for a creative act of being. The exhibition encloses a live performance by Židrija Janušaitė where she talks about the inner state of transformation and how the greenhouse becomes a state of mind, where processes are moving, growing, changing and conjuring up new seeds.

Eva Vēvere (Latvia) is a visual artist who works mainly through installation site responsive practices. This manifests itself in the form of process-based events, performance, still and moving images focusing on the architecture of time and deconstruction of different aspects of life, connected both to mundane reality and philosophical issues. Her exhibition activity has included group shows at the Latvian National Museum of Art, annual Survival Kit festivals organized by the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, as well as international experimental collaborations with professionals from the fields of contemporary dance and music. Her works can be found in the collections of Latvian National Museum of Art, Latvian Association of Memorial Museums and the Noass Video Art Archive. 

Židrija Janušaitė (Lithuania) is working in painting, installation, land art, video and performance art. Active on the Lithuanian and international art scene since 2007, she has also been an organizer of various culture events like Zagare Fringe Festival and Zagare Land Art Residency. Židrija’s artworks are defined by stillness; her art opens up to an experience of intense meditative silence. What is personal is shared with whoever chooses to enter the special time space created by an artist. Her arts are mostly meditative, calming and mind relaxing. On another hand, this is how she creates the loop for particular and always individual comprehension and perception of the viewer.

Eva and Židrija met in a creative residency in Tāši Manor (Latvia) in 2016 and since then have creatively inspired each other through Zagare Fringe Festival and other generative events. A Refuge, a Temple, a Monument is their first exhibition together in a gallery space.

The exhibition is financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture, Lithuanian Artists' Association and Latvian State Culture Capital Foundation.
The exhibition in Meno Parkas Gallery will be open until August 11.

Gallery's working hours: II-V 11:00–18:30 ❖ VI–VII - 11:00–16:00 ❖ I - Closed