21 SEPTEMBER, 2023

OPENING EYE DUST: AN ADAPTATION OF A NOVEL TO COME

Solo show at Beursschouwburg in Brussels, 21 September - 16 December, 2023

This exhibition is a prelude of a novel in the making, where Palekaitė uses fiction as a tool to approach history through the lens of imagined intimacies. In an uncanny bedroom, characters hailing from remote times and places form a ghostly alliance of unsung voices: a poet and courtesan from XVI century Venice, an activist for sex workers’ rights in the 1970s, a Khazar princess, Saints in ecstasy, animals starring in a horror movie. Based on long-term research and taking shape as text, sound and video installations, this exhibition proposes an affective, subjective and intimate relationship with history.

A Toast to the Sleeping Princess and a special drink created by Jonas Palekas is happening during opening night at 18:30 and 20:00.

RELATED EVENTS:

13 OCT 18:00 Reading group on Courtisan Poetry

14 DEC 20:00 Screening “Swallower of Shades” by Graham Kelly and Goda Palekaitė

2022-2023

ARTISTIC RESEARCH on 16th century Venetian courtesan culture

In collaboration with Marija Puipaitė

The collaborative project on the representation of female body, book publishing and courtesan culture in the context of Venetian Renaissance society began at Fondazione Cini, research residency designed by Andrea Palladio, and famous for its invaluable historical archives and one the biggest collections of ancient books in the world. Here as well as on the streets and interiors of Venice, Palekaitė and Puipaitė searched for traces of an (in)famous Venetian woman named Veronica Franco (1546–1591), known rather as a courtesan than a poet, even though she was equally both. Courtesans, probably the most intellectual and influential women of the 16th century, on the one hand, had a privileged access to education, knowledge and political power structures governed exclusively by men; one the other, their achievements were never acknowledge and bodies were commodified through sex, power and money.

Along with other recent works of Palekaitė and Puipaitė, new artworks resulting from this research will be presented in a duo exhibition at Vartai Gallery in Vilnius opening in November 2023.

17 MARCH - 1 MAY, 2023

WAR MACHINES BASED ON THE DREAMS OF THE ENEMIES

In collaboration with Adomas Palekas

Kaunas Artists House in a group show In the beginning was the deed! curated by Edgaras Gerasimovičius and Vaida Stepanovaitė (LT)

You might know that I am also working as an artist. I am working as an artist on freedom and ecosystems, and economy, and the organisation of togetherness, and the commons, and freedom through exile, the irrational human behaviour, oceanographics, the spiritual speculation, disinformation, hypercomplexity, science fiction, migrant activities, law, chaos scores, legal implications of dreams, imaginative history, the potential of half-knowledge, schools of randomness, horror love…

A new 4 channel audio installation (24 min) War Machines Based on the Dreams of the Enemies is a recycling and revisiting of Palekaitė’s and Palekas’ long term exploration of historical anarchism. Looking back at performances Bakunin (2018) and How to Infuriate a Historian (2019) they devised a dreamy fictitious soundscape where artists, writers and activists discuss the potential of different political futures.

JANUARY 15 - MARCH 12, 2022

FOOTNOTES I HAVE NEVER SEEN

GROUP SHOW at Beletage, Zürich (CH), curated by Robin Waart

Palekaitė’s film I Write While Disappearing included in the exhibition project by Robin Waart, Footnotes I have never seen. Footnotes are references, annotations, detours, a continuation and legitimation, stating sources, expressions of alliance or disapproval. They are kept separately and printed in smaller letter sizes at the bottom of the page or end of an article. Once separated from the body text, they stand by themselves in terms of their aesthetic quality. Image-like. Monumental. What do they refer to then? Can the same notes be applied identically to another narrative? If you can think of a footnote as the subtitle of a text, if every page of a book is interpreted as a picture and if letters themselves can be something three-dimensional, then there is no longer a direct need to draw such a clear line between words and images. So the question this leads to is also: Can a room be subtitled?

ARTISTIC RESEARCH IN SWEDEN 2021-2022

Invited by two institutions, Art Lab Gnesta and Västerås Konstmuseum, Palekaitė works on a two year long research inspired by Ivan Aguéli (1869-1917), Swedish artist, writer, translator, anarchist, mystic and Sufi. Merging speculative, imagined and historiographic methods and melting her own experience as an artist with her historical lover’s, Palekaitė questions the interrelatedness between artistic persona, exoticism, religious mysticism and exploitation of landscape.

This research will culminate in a solo exhibition at Västerås Konstmuseum opening in April 2023.

Artist talk online here.

20&21 NOVEMBER, 2021

ANTHROPOMORPHIC TROUBLE

NEW PUBLICATION, VIDEO AND PERFORMANCE LECTURE at Whitechapel Gallery in London

This project came into shape as a fossil comes into stone. In the beginning there is death - fossils form when a creature dies and mud covers its skeleton. Then further sediments build up, layer after layer until they turn into rock. Over millions of years, because seas and continents, stones and mountains are in constant motion, these rocks become exposed and release the fossils.

Adopting the lens of the Earth as a historical figure and discursive being, Anthropomorphic Trouble – a project by artists Goda Palekaitė and Adrijana Gvozdenović – addresses ecological challenges, deep time and geological formations, unearthing the troubled relationship between humans and the Earth.  

Guided by artists, this public encounter aims to open the possibility to experience and discuss anthropomorphic troubles, as they share their research, stories and works developed in the past two years. Looking at the transitional moments within the history of science and questioning the scientific museological display, the artists invite you to spend time with the bodies of stones, view a video from the fieldwork portraying non-human protagonists, and engage with the history of Earth in a tactile way – in other words, to exercise your gaze and touch for a different knowledge of landscape and time.  

This event is part of the series Ways of Knowing: Earth/Matter.

In partnership with Arts Catalyst and Delfina Foundation. 

Supported by Lithuanian Council for Culture, Lithuanian Culture Institute and Hasselt University. 

THE STRONGEST MUSCLE IN THE HUMAN BODY IS THE TONGUE

Kunsthal Gent: 21 May - 6 June, 2021 (In the program of The Institute of Things to Come)

Editorial, Vilnius: 26 March - 30 April, 2021

There is a common misbelief that the strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue. Anatomically speaking, it is a proven falsehood. Yet with her solo show, Goda Palekaitė proposes that, poetically speaking, it is more than true. The project talks about the power of speaking and writing in relation to the body and sexuality in the context of marginalised history. The artist speaks through women’s tongues — historic and contemporary female writers, mystics and saints. The project presents new works: the film I Write While Disappearing, the installation The Blazing World and the sculpture First Class Relic. The previously shown film Biographic Disobedience is exhibited in a new spacial constellation. Historical accounts are merged with ‘unreliable’ material (or the leftovers of history, such as dreams, rumours and opinions), as well as with fiction, and the artist’s own autobiographical testimonies. Working against the faith in authentic creativity and originality, Palekaitė welcomes historical characters on her inner journeys, as they welcome her on theirs, and so the intimacy with history can emerge.

Read more and see documentation here!

BELGIUM 2020-2024: HASSELT UNIVERSITY AND PXL-MAD SCHOOL OF ARTS

PHD RESEARCH

With the PhD research entitled Speculative and Creative Methodologies for Historical Counter-Narratives: Spatial Archive, Scenographic Practice and Fictioning, Palekaitė becomes a doctorate candidate in artistic research under the supervision of Dr. Kris Pint at Hasselt University and PXL-MAD School of Arts. The transdisciplinary project is informed by historical, ethnographic, visual, performative and literary theories and practices, and guided by the methods of fictioning, bedroom writing and counter-narration. The PhD outcome will manifest as a combination of installations, performances as well as academic and artistic publications.

MARCH, 2020

the guardian

Adrian Searle writes about the Lithuanian contemporary art scene in The Guardian, ‘Beyond the beach of doom: what made Lithuania the world champions of art?’

‘Visiting the semi-wrecked Atletika Galeria, where a group show is being installed for an opening that night, I am astonished by the sense of abandonment, the crumbling walls covered in old graffiti, the piles of stuff everywhere, the beyond-the-last-minute haste, as often delicate works are installed amid the chaos. And then in one darkened space, the finishing touches to Goda Palekaitė’s complex pair of dioramas contrasting the life struggles and personal crises of French anthropologist, surrealist and thinker Michel Leiris, and 18th-century Swedish scientist and religious visionary Emanuel Swedenborg are being completed. Swedenborg searched for the seat of the human soul, while Leiris struggled with the role of anthropologist. “I feel trapped and frustrated,” the latter wrote. “Stuck in the mission and the position I hate.” There is a metaphor here, though I can’t quite put my finger on it’. 

Read full article here!

FEBRUARY 21 - MARCH 14, 2020

LIMINAL MINDS IN the LIVING ORNAMENT

The project consisting of two videos and installations is presented at the group show ‘Living Ornament’ curated by Yates Norton at Vilnius’ Atletika Gallery run by the Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association (LT).

Visit the show or read more here!

NOVEMBER 2-24, 2019

LIMINAL MINDS

SOLO SHOW AT KONSTEPIDEMIN GALLERY, GOTHENBURG (SE)

In the context of GIBCA (Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art) Extended: Nordic Match F.I.L

With her texts, installations and visual work, Goda Palekaitė invites to enter into the liminal minds of two historical figures, and perceive them as powerful critical thinkers who operated ahead of their times. The first man is Sweden’s underestimated futurist, an interdisciplinary scientist, theologian, mystic and medium, Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772); the second – French anthropologist and surrealist writer Michel Leiris (1901-1990). Both figures went through mystical transformative phases saturated with intense dreams, visions, psychosis and phantasies, and both documented them. While Swedenborg performed a radical critique of Western science and Christianity, Leiris’ account was central for the shift from colonialist to postcolonialist mindset.

Visit the exhibition or read more!

Liminal Minds is presented along with Annika Lundgren’s series of performances Flat Earth.

ARTIST TALK-PERFORMANCE BY GODA PALEKAITĖ & ANNIKA LUNDGREN - NOVEMBER 14, 6 PM

Bakunin included in the EMERGENCY INDEX Vol. 8: an annual document of performance practice, Ugly Duckling Press, New York 2019

Online catalogue

MAY 31 & JUNE 1, 2019

VIRTUAL BODY INSTITUTION

PERFORMANCES BY GODA PALEKAITĖ, NASSIA FOURTOUNI & KATINKA VAN GORKUM

a.pass BRUSSELS @ Hacktiris artist studios (6th floor) - Rue Paul Devauxstraat 5, 1000 Brussels

Curatorial text by Lilia Mestre here

Golden Stage Cross 2019

Goda Palekaitė was awarded The Golden Stage Cross for Best Scenography for two theatre performances, The Door (Lithuanian National Drama Theatre, directed by Jo Stromgren, 2018) and The Perfect Match (Šiauliai Drama Theatre, directed by Paulius Ignatavičius, 2018). The Golden Stage Cross is the highest Lithuanian theatre award. Palekaitė’s work had been shortlisted for it twice before (2010 and 2017).

NOVEMBER 30, 2018 - JANUARY 13, 2019

ADVERTISING ANARCHISM

Texts, installation and performance by Goda Palekaitė

JCDecaux prize exhibition 2018: DIGNITY, Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius

Curated by Monika Kalinauskaitė and Adomas Narkevičius

Commenting on the collaboration between the Contemporary Art Center and the world’s largest advertising company, Goda Palekaitė decided to establish an anarchist committee composed out of all the people involved in the exhibition making process: company’s employees, CAC workers, curators, designers and involved artists. In the committee meetings the group discusses such notions as labor, state, hierarchy, direct democracy, capitalism and freedom, and seeks to promote and advertise anarchist ideas in Lithuanian society.

BAKUNIN 2018

PREMIERE at The Swamp Pavilion in The Biennale Architettura 2018 in Venice

ALSO PERFORMED at Laboratorio Artistico Pietra

AND International Vilnius Theatre Festival Sirenos club at the Empty Brain Resort

We are in the crisis of democracy. Raising xenophobic nationalism, populist politicians, irresponsible media, outbreaks of violence, anti-immigrant agitation – the signs of democratic regression are well known. Some warn that democratic dominance has ended for good. All agree that we are in a crisis of political ideas. The society of tomorrow will require intellectual and political architecture that does not yet exist. Can old ideas that were misread and mistreated throughout history open something in the contemporary society and inspire new intellectual and political thought needed so badly? Today, we can think of anarchism as an inspiring archeological artifact worth exposing.

Writing & directing & scenography - Goda Palekaitė

Bakunin - Stefano A. Moretti

Sound & Engineering - Adomas Palekas

Curating & Photography - Alicja Khatchikian

ARTISTIC RESEARCH AT A.PASS

BRUSSELS 2018-2019

For nearly two years, Palekaitė continued her research and practice in an independent artistic research institute A.PASS (Advanced Performance and Scenography Studies), where she pursued experiments and explorations, which led to various artworks and where she obtained a Post-Master degree. A.PASS is an international environment of artists and intellectuals who attempt to redefine performativity and practice.

DUMBLAS / MUD

PREMIERE NOVEMBER 25, 2017

Site-specific theatre performance based on Maria Irene Fornes' MUD, situated in an abandoned Soviet school in Šiauliai (LT). 

Directing: Goda Palekaitė, Aaron Kahn

Scenography and costumes: Goda Palekaitė

Sound: Gintautas Gascevičius

Light: Julius Kuršys

With: Aidas Matutis, Monika Šaltytė, Antanas Venckus

Photography: Alicja Khatchikian, Saulius Jankauskas

Co-produced by Rather Than Happiness and State Drama Theatre of Šiauliai

MARCH 2017

THE GOLDEN STAGE CROSS (Lithuanian National Theater Award)

Palekaitė has been nominated for 'Best Scenography' for Europeans (Europiečiai). It is the second time she has been nominated for this award.

Europiečiai at Vilniaus Mažasis Teatras

JUNE 22 - AUGUST 20, 2017

THE FUTURE IS CERTAIN; IT'S THE PAST WHICH IS UNPREDICTABLE

Group show on writing and rewriting history

Curated by Monika Lipšic

New visual work and performance is presented at the Calvert 22 gallery in London. The piece manifests first outcomes of the KHAZARIAN expedition (conducted in May 2017 by G. Palekaitė, Aaron Kahn and M. Lipšic), and ongoing research.