Events

The Klaipėda Culture Factory presents the exhibition Landscape Formations. The exhibition brings together artists who created works during the Kintai Arts contemporary visual art residencies in 2023 and 2024. The exhibition is based on works created during these residencies, which rethink the relationship between humans and nature, the theme of the Anthropocene, the changes/transformations of nature, and record the results of the artist's observation of the environment as a researcher.

Exhibition opening: October 11 at 6 p.m.

The exhibition Landscape Formations was first presented at the Kintai Arts Gallery in August-September this year. The exhibition presented at the Culture Factory takes on a new form, moving from the intimate environment of the Kintai Gallery to the space of an urban building. Therefore, the relationship between the interior architecture of the building and the images inspired by the landscape motif becomes an important factor, expanding the development of the theme of landscape formations.

Artists featured in the exhibition: Mandy Espezel (Canada), Kristina Mažeikaitė (Lithuania), Nazli Moripek (Germany), Agnė Kulbytė (Lithuania), Raminta Dirsytė-Urbonienė (Lithuania), Martín Bruce (Chile, Portugal), Simona Rukuižaitė (Lithuania), Vladyslav Riaboshtan (Ukraine).
Art historian: Agnė Kulbytė.
Curator: Kristina Mažeikaitė.

The chosen theme of "Landscape Formations" offers a multifaceted interpretation of the landscape motif. The word formation (Latin formatio) means giving shape, creating. The primary meaning of formation is related to the structure of rocks, formed under certain tectonic and climatic conditions over a long geological period of time. Looking at the landscape through the prism of formation, one can search for ways to move away from its superficial representation while still drawing on the plein air motif.

At the same time, it allows us to rethink the concept of time – to concentrate and accumulate centuries of experience into a single painting. The idea that painting, unlike any other medium, allows us to see different moments in time in the same painting has been expressed by the contemporary German artist K. Grosse. She emphasized that painting overturns our understanding of the present, future, and past, because we are confronted with a multi-layered image – a representation of the accumulation of time. The writer T. Wilder also uses landscape as a representation of time: "Only at first glance does time seem to be like a river. Time is more like an endless landscape through which the gaze of the observer moves." Therefore, by giving visual form to the layers of the earth, one inevitably touches upon the form of time.
On the other hand, the concept of formation can be interpreted very broadly: from ecological challenges that determine changes in regional climate conditions, transforming the routines, behavior, and landscape of nature and humans, to geopolitical catastrophes that cause mass migrations and environmental destruction, absolute transformation to individual challenges in the modern world, the search for identity, a sense of insecurity, and efforts to give shape to one's existence, to record one's existence.

The coastal environment is particularly conducive to the development of landscape formation themes. On the one hand, it offers attractive nature, opportunities to observe migratory birds, and views of the Curonian Spit across the lagoon. However, it also means ecological vulnerability for the population. flooding of residential areas by the Nemunas Delta, changes in the region's landscape due to the influx of tourists or temporary residents, long-term changes in nature and the decline of regions – a steady decrease in the number of permanent residents, the migration of young people, and ultimately the Curonian Spit itself with its settlements once buried in sand. All of this combined has led to the formation of a new landscape.

When creating art in a residence surrounded by nature, the landscape inevitably becomes one of the main points of reference – a classic genre that takes on additional meanings in different periods. Artists were invited to raise questions about the role and relevance of landscape as a genre in the contemporary art scene, as well as its potential for development. Contemporary works that reflect on the landscape genre convey meanings that are completely different from those we see in classical landscapes: there is no romanticism, no idealization. "Everything is empty for us" – this thought by Gerhard Richter aptly represents the relationship of the contemporary artist with the natural landscape. Often consciously rejecting the idealization of landscape, contemporary landscape can convey the tensions, catastrophic premonitions, and vulnerability of each individual. On the other hand, as artist Agnė Kulbytė has noted, "the landscape genre cannot become boring"; it is inexhaustible, offering different perspectives of approach and interpretation: from the formation of land masses to the recording of changes in nature. The theme of landscape formation allows us to look at and rethink how creativity begins, what a landscape is, and what form it can take on canvas.

Finally, the personal relationship with Kintai and the Pamario location that develops during the artists' residency is no less interesting. The landscapes of the Pamario region have also been captured in the works of Lithuanian classics. Notable examples include Rimvydas Jankauskas' surviving pastel drawing Ventės Ragas (1990) and large-format painting Ramūs vakarai Ventės Rage (1993, canvas, oil, 190 x 300).

From a conversation with Rimvydas Jankauskas-Kampas: "Were you in Rage
this summer?
" "I was there in the spring. I slept on dry grass, recharged my batteries, and spent the night with fishermen. I should go back again… Or maybe not. Everything has already been exhausted…
– You went there out of nostalgia, right?
– Out of cruel nostalgia. Because that's where everything begins. That's where the world ends. The summers I spent in Ventė Rage filled me with real blood. Maybe that energy, that blood, is where it came from.

(“Black Sun:/ conversation with R. Jankauskas-Kampas/ interviewed by K. Marčiulynas.” In: Europa, January 6–13, 1994, p. 5)

The project is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Kintai Arts.