RITUALS - performed by Elia Claessen
Artist Statement:
The project began with the big changes of 2020. My lifestyle shifted and the isolation began. Before the quarantine, I was constantly looking for and collecting the already made images and sounds which were reflecting my inner sensations from everyday life and journeys. The new restrictions provoked me to construct situations where I could continue making arts.
Ritual introduces a possible symbiosis of culture and nature and an alternative fragile relationship with the world. The character, dressed in a gentle protective suit moves slowly in an empty field surrounded by vertical branch drawings that remind of human figures and archaic structures. She adapts and nurtures an alternative society which has the potential to become a forest. By performing various rituals she discovers her relationship with the environment. Music by Suzan Peeters
Artist Biography
Paulius Šliaupa was born 1990 in Vilnius, Lithuania. His works explore the relationship(s) between culture and nature; the interaction of ambience and light that affect our daily lives. From video installations and experimental movies for the cinema to objectlike paintings, his oeuvre encompasses a wide range of artistic media. By accumulating the flow of painterly images, atmospheric sounds, and poetic energy, he forms sensual narratives. Most projects consist of multiple works, grouped around specific themes such as organic structures; rituals in nature; the flow of natural and artificial light; and absurd poetic happenings.
Paulius holds a BA in painting and an MFA in contemporary sculpture in Vilnius Academy of Arts, Vilnius, Lithuania as well as an MFA in media arts in KASK, Ghent, Belgium. Currently, he is a resident at HISK, Ghent, Belgium. Selected exhibitions would include 2019 Personal exhibition “Dès Vu“, Meno Nisa, Vilnius, Lithuania; 2020 "Perception games" group exhibition, Pärnu Linnagaleriis Raekojas (Uus 4), Pärnu, Estonia; 2019 group exhibition “SCRPR x MONTAGE“, LaVallée, Brussels, Belgium; 2018 group exhibition “Media Art Festival“ MAXXI, Rome, Italy.
You can follow more of Paulius' work on Instagram @paulius_sliaupa.