International performance evening "The Shape of Things to Come"

It’s fascinating how we see history repeating itself, yet always in a distorted way. We imagine change and the possible futures, but it never seems to happen the way it’s predicted in our logical thinking, science fiction, wildest dreams, or data analysis nor based on history and knowledge. At the end of the day, the aleatory element that humanity has been so keen on removing for the hope of progress, seems to be the only indisputable component we know will always be there. In times of uncertainty, we tend to imagine the possible futures, the “what-ifs”, the changes which would lead us through the current political, economic, ecological, technological, power-and-resource-greedy, unequal state of the world. To somewhere better.

In the performance evening named after Herbert George Wells’ science fiction novel The Shape of Things to Come (1933), we do not see the vision of the new perfect world, but rather the bumpy, funny, anxious, emotional, curious, weird, unimaginable, non-linear paths that might lead us to the verge of something else. Better? Who knows.

While navigating this worldly concern and yearning for a better one, the artists guide us through the questions of equality, gender, technology, ecology, and politics, but won’t forget to have a dance party or a few while putting up with this never-ending turmoil.

Curator – Lilian Hiob (Tallinn, Estonia)

Performing: Julius Pristauz and Cæcilie Heldt Rønnow (Vienna, Austria)
Persona (Pire Sova and Ando Naulainen) (Tallinn, Estonia)
New York (Gretchen Lawrence and Coumba Samba) (London, UK)

Main sponsor of the event – "Hotel PACAI"

Sponsor – Vilnius City Municipality

Artists' biographies:

New York is a music project by artists Gretchen Lawrence and Coumba Samba. The sampling of royalty free loops in Lawrence’s production and Samba’s playful sexy lyrics bring forward a forgotten sound, upcycling the sounds of digital music into hot fresh juicy synth-heavy 'bass your heart out' girl-pop.

Gretchen Lawrence (b. 1997; Tallinn EST) is a performance and audio-visual artist working with found objects and digital media. At the centre of her approach is a process of rendering accidental resource into subjects that map an identity matrix of a first-generation post-Soviet capitalist consumer. Apple loops, skinned furniture, leather belts and explosive energy within Lawrence's 'collage' are animated in their interaction as rhizomatic nodes mapping out the artist's critical reflection of the Western culture characterised by chance, mass production, and nostalgia cycles. Recent projects and performances include Hello, Galerina, London, UK (2022), Pedro Youth Club Fundraiser with New York, Pedro Youth Club, London, UK (2022), Associations with Ed Fornieles, Carlos Ishikawa, London, UK (2021), Mutagen NFT, Temnikova & Kasela Gallery, Tallinn, EE (2021), 4life exhibition opening after-party with Kris Lemsalu, Goldsmiths CCA, London, UK (2019), Stinking Dawn with Gelitin and Liam Gillick, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, AT (2019), Opening of the Baltic Pavilion after-party, Venice Biennale, Venice, IT (2019), Hydrogen Night, Baltic Triennial, kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, LV (2018), live show visuals, Tommy Cash (2017, 2018-2021), Regret (2016-2019).

Coumba Samba (b. 2000, Harlem, New York City US) is an American-Senegalese interdisciplinary artist based in London, UK. Her work is rooted in studying process, hybridity, materiality and modes of visual communication. Samba investigates the uneasy relationships between the durable and the temporary against the backdrop of uncertainty and accelerated cultural consumption. At the heart of her enquiry is an unlikely event of play, community, collective care or love-making spawning semi-randomly in the universe against the odds of its’ unfriendly environment, where colour, symbol, humour and naiveté are utilised as instruments for formative and conceptual upcycling. Recent projects and performances include Hello, Galerina, London UK (2022), Pedro Youth Club Fundraiser with New York, Pedro Youth Club, London, UK (2022), Chair Food Paper, Biblioteka Peckham, London, UK (2022), and FIELD Zine, published by XYZZY Collective, London, UK (2019-2021).

Julius Pristauz (b. 1998, Judenburg, AT) lives and works in Vienna. In addition to his work as an artist, Pristauz works as an independent curator and writer in the field of contemporary culture. He studied Transmedia Art at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and Performance at the Faculty of Fine Arts, FaVU in Brno. Drawing from a variety of media and formats, he repeatedly explores the construction and gender aspect of identities, as well as tensions between the private and the public sphere. His performative works have been shown at Grazer Kunstverein and Belvedere 21, among others. Most recently, Pristauz curated the group exhibition SOMETHING IS BURNING at Kunsthalle Bratislava and exhibitions at EXILE during the gallery festival Curated By, as well as at UA26 and the University Gallery at the University of Applied Arts in Heiligenkreuzerhof, Vienna. For his artistic diploma, in which the short film BAD LIGHT was premiered, he received the 2022 prize of the Kunsthalle Vienna.

Cæcilie Heldt Rønnow (b. 1988, Copenhagen, DK) lives and works in Vienna. In her practice, she works with the nature around us in order to get a better understanding of the nature within us. In her attempt to describe human emotions she uses humour, text and animal metaphors. Recent exhibitions include loving others at Künslerhaus, Vienna, AT and No Dancing Allowed at Q21, Vienna, AT.

Persona (Pire Sova & Ando Naulainen)

Pire Sova and Ando Naulainen are artists living in Tallinn, Estonia. Sova primarily works with installation and stage design. Naulainen works with video, sound and image manipulation. Since 2017, they co-run an ongoing participatory performance series Persona that focuses on exploring the self and community identity. The event series takes on different forms, such as installations, readings, dress-up events and a radio show. In addition to Sova and Naulainen, Persona involves a number of participants, with the aim to provide a space for researching different ways of expression.

News

International performance evening "The Shape of Things to Come"