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| To become and be Dita Birkenšteina, Art critic Review of Chris Evans’ CLODS, Diplomatic Letters exhibition at The Gardens art space, Vilnius. 30.08.–01.10.2014 | |
| On the last weekend in august The Gardens art space launched its last exhibition, and although it feels somewhat sad that there will be one less place in Vilnius to view contemporary art, it is also a pleasure that this is the last project not because the team lacked enthusiasm, ideas or funds, but because all things have their time. they told me at The Gardens that now is the right time to make room for something new. The Gardens is an initiative that gerda Paliušytė and inesa Pavlovskaitė came up with and put into action as students. it stemmed from the sheer necessity to set up a platform for contemporary art in which they could implement their ideas and gain curatorial experience. the project was launched at the Vilnius university Planetarium at the beginning of 2012 with mark geffriaud’s exhibition opening, molly nilsson’s concert and a surprisingly large number of guests, given that the space The Gardens occupied was only eleven square meters; according to one of the curators, there had been close to three hundred visitors. robertas narkus captured a wonderful photographic testimony of the Planetarium “occupation” event, which included a ceremonial procession and the dedication of a new door to the art space; his photograph features a relatively small group of celebrators hugging the planetarium dome and posing for a “family photo”.1 Almost three fruitful years have passed since that obviously cold january day, a period during which the number of projects “grown” in The Gardens has reached a full score. the art space curators opted for the most exciting path, instead of the easiest, and did not cooperate with only the most readily accessible lithuanian artists; a range of artists and curators from other countries also displayed their exhibitions in The Gardens and, alongside this exhibition programme, a number of lithuanian expositions were showcased in new york. due to a year-long international residence programme for curators offered by the art in General art space, four shows of lithuanian artists were unveiled in new york, of which a solo exhibition by gediminas ankstinas that closed on october 25 is the concluding project of both the residencies and The Gardens art space. While for new yorkers there was ankstinas, The Gardens’ last exhibition in Vilnius was by the british artist chris evans, titled CLODS, Diplomatic Letters. the list of venues of evans’ earlier group and solo exhibitions features an array of the most interesting contemporary art centres, including rotterdam’s Witte de With, Complot in brussels, and objectif exhibitions in antwerp, and a comprehensive survey of his works from the mid-1990s has been presented in a sternberg Press publication, Goofy audit (2012). time and again, evans assumes a moderator’s role and sparks discussions on art and social interaction with the bureaucratic segment of society. CLODS, Diplomatic Letters, which is a part of a series of exhibitions with the same name launched in 2012, works for the same purpose. the series’ exhibits are displayed according to a definite plan, a part of the works being commissioned by evans himself: the artist asks (solicits, as the author himself puts it) this or that foreign ambassador to create a drawing that depicts a plant, a weed. later, evans frames the negative of the drawing and displays it in an exhibition space along with specific objects created by himself and, quite often, with a text created by a third participant. untypically for the earlier versions of CLoDS, Diplomatic Letters, the Vilnius exhibition is the first occasion in which evans cooperates with a professional artist; the lithuanian ambassador and Permanent delegate of the republic of lithuania to unesco, arūnas gelūnas, invited by curator gerda Paliušytė, is not only a diplomat but also a graphic artist. | |
 Arūnas Gelūnas. Amrosia Artemisiifolia. Silver gelatin print. 53x44.5 cm. 2014 Photo: Joe Wood Publicity photo Courtesy of The Gardens art space | |
| For evans’ project, gelūnas has chosen ambrosia artemisiifolia, also known in our latitudes as common ragweed, an invasive plant introduced to europe from north america. its flowering time, from august to september, coincides with the time of the exhibition in The Gardens (who knows, was this a conscious choice or a mere coincidence?). evans’ request to foreign diplomats is an eloquent gesture; in addition, he uses the term “invasive plants”, not “weeds”, which carries quite strong connotations. Although we mostly associate weeds with cow-parsley or, god forbid, something as noxious as giant hogweed, not all weeds are useless. after all, there are also cornflowers, poppies and the vitamin-rich goose-foot, which all nevertheless keep growing somewhat out of place. and therefore we might wish to think that the diplomats have no reason to feel “rubbed the wrong way” because, after all, it is only the best who can hold such a posh post as foreign ambassador. what’s more, there is yet another feature that is common to both a weed and a diplomat, namely, they all spread and migrate due to somebody’s external influence. The fragile image of common ragweed contrasts with chris evans’ concrete objects. a new pair of these objects is produced for each exhibition – one light and one dark – in different sizes each time, but usually cast in concrete and, as a rule, each having a hole. the concrete contains marble, which, even when it is not apparent, adds a fragile note to the unwieldy blocks. evans comments that these concrete shapes are a reference to urban planning and stand for plots of land as they look after a lantern post or a traffic sign pole has been pulled out of the ground (for instance, during unrest). each and every one of them – the objects and drawings – are mechanical elements wrenched away from their natural environment and have to adapt and conform to the environment and new circumstances. the exhibition is austere in its visual concept and goes well with the small display room at The Gardens; the rough concrete blocks are even at interplay with the graphic crack in the wall behind the room’s amusing window. The visual part of the exhibition is accompanied by a text titled If anything, a Synecdoche, the author of which is estonian writer rein raud. he writes that george berkeley’s assertion “to be is to be perceived” (esse est percipi), if attributed to human nature, should be worded in reverse: “to be is to perceive”. the half-a-page-long text outlines ideas about the perception of time and space, memory and the specific manner of their interaction, about the world being in perpetual motion only because man is endowed with the ability to remember, and about the way any previous experience influences the current moment. this also leads one to think about the extent the experience of a previous environment influences life in a place where one finds oneself due to circumstances beyond one’s control. It is gratifying that lithuanian public officials have appreciated the cooperation between evans and The Gardens. on the artist’s initiative, the exposition will be given as a gift to the Parliament of the republic of lithuania and, from october of this year, will be permanently on display in the lithuanian government’s headquarters. The Gardens is convincing proof of the fact that doing something interesting does not require huge starting capital and resources. all it takes is enthusiasm and enterprise. much can be achieved that way, even on eleven square meters of floor space. i hope that The Gardens’ successful experience will be a stimulus for fresh initiatives and encourage not only lithuanian but also young latvian curators towards active participation in contemporary art processes. Translator into English: Sarmīte Lietuviete 1 the photograph is a gift from artist robertas narkus to the Vilnius university Planetarium. | |
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