23 August 2024

Exhibition “Monika Jagusinskytė. Eating Rite”

– Does it look like I need a fork? No shadow darkens my conscience, my hands are clean as spring water.

Ragana eats the scrambled eggs voraciously with her hand. Meanwhile, Vladas brings Saulė some letters and a parcel box. Saulė shows no interest in the letters, but keeps the box and reads the postcard.

– “Don’t forget to call us. Warm wishes, Crater Constellation.”

Saulė opens the box and finds a tongue in it.

– Clever!

– Stupid.

– Who is short of words?

– We are short of the body!

Monika Jagusinskytė’s “Eating Rite” seeks to explore and present the relationship of the human body and spirit to food through the history and culture of gastronomy in her native Lithuania. She creates a narrative through six female characters, each of whom is assigned specific qualities (Saulė (Sun), Bitė (Bee), Pelėda (Owl), Žemaitė (Samogitian), Ragana (Witch) and Žmona (Wife)), and depicts their gathering, during which they feast and converse. The characters’ pseudonyms suggest the spirit, aesthetics and social relations of the times in which they lived. This gathering is a little different, as they share concerns about the fate, fertility and vitality of the Earth, and perform rites to enhance these qualities.

Jagusinskytė has been drawn to food culture since she was a little girl, finding there the warmth and dialogue. By seeing qualities, harmonies and contrasts in cooking processes and products, by admiring the seductive dance of edible objects with their diverse colours and shapes, the artist weaves a distinctive relationship through a magical ritual act.

Even without emphasising it, eating is a highly sensual act. Looking for examples of the relationship between food and the human body in Lithuanian culture, the artist discovers that eroticism has been present in people’s everyday lives since ancient times. By having a fake wedding or planting cucumbers half-naked, people believed that this would bring about another desired union – that of hungry mouths and the fruits of a good harvest. Bodily relations between people guaranteed the possibility of ensuring satiety in the future, so love and eating, as the fundamental pillars of human existence, are linked not only by their multi-layered similarities but also by a deeper, almost sacred connection.

Monika Jagusinskytė (b. 1995) is an artist based in Vilnius. Using photography, video and text, the artist captures the human body in everyday life, its constant change in relation to its environment. Her compositions are like phases of weightlessness, blurring the line between reality and dream, beauty and decay. In 2021, she graduated from the Amsterdam Fashion Institute (AMFI) with a Bachelor’s degree in Fashion and Technology. These studies greatly influenced her further work. The fusion of fashion and art is reflected in the artist’s choice of details, materials and textures, with clothing and accessories creating not only an aesthetic but also a symbolic and historical narrative.

The exhibition is curated by Milda Dainovskytė, a curator of contemporary art, lecturer and artist. For curatorial projects, she often chooses architecturally specific spaces, periphery and locations that are not designed for exhibitions or that hold personal significance. She is one half of the curatorial duo (together with Laurynas Skeisgiela) that founded the Lokomotif meeting space (2019–2021), which combines contemporary art practices and strategies for the formation of urban identity.

Vladas Suncovas, the exhibition’s architect, is an artist who creates solutions for spaces using the methods of design, technology, architecture and art. His creative practice includes public art, scenography, exhibition design, street furniture, experimental furniture and educational projects. Suncovas’ work features modular and deployable structures, mechanical engineering elements, parametric design as well as spatial transformations using concept-based, often critical solutions.

CREATIVE TEAM BEHIND THE EXHIBITION:

Curator Milda Dainovskytė
Architect Vladas Suncovas
Graphic Designer Jonė Miškinytė
Architectural Coordinator Algirdas Jakas

CREATIVE TEAM BEHIND THE FILM:

Screenwriter and Director Monika Jagusinskytė
Performers Jonė Miškinytė, Ieva Rižė, Laura Marija Balčiūnaitė, Teklė Kavtaradzė, Kamilė Petruškevičiūtė, Inga Galinytė
Narrator Monika Lipšic
Cinematographer Ugnius Tuleikis
Light Artists Adomas Kaikaris, Justinas Lipnickas
Set Designer Vladas Suncovas
Food Designer Živilė Lukšytė
Assistant Food Designer Ugnė Venckė
Costume Designer Elma Zemlickaitė
Hair Stylist Jogailė Laurišonytė
Make-up Artist Dominyka Murauskytė
Editor Jonas Juškaitis
Colourist Matas Juškaitis
Composer Nikita von Tiraspol
Sound Engineer Katarzyna Bitowt
Title Designer Jonė Miškinytė

Special thanks to Saulė Liaudanskienė, Dominykas Liaudanskas, Žygimantas Zemlickas, Spring Photo Rental, Elena Kairytė, Ignė Narbutaitė, Simas Okas, Monika Gineikienė (M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art), Vaiva Kiniulienė (Tauragė Region Museum Santaka), Dalia Mikonytė (Lithuanian Photographers Association), Tadas Šaulys (Kretinga Museum), Indrė Bočkutė (Museum of Lithuanian Education History), Reda Rėklytė (Maironis Lithuanian Literature Museum), Kristina Zinkevičienė and Jolanta Petronytė (Ukmergė Museum of Local History), Jolanta Banytė (Open-Air Museum of Lithuania), Zita Pikelytė (Panevėžys Museum of Local History), Jurgita Sadauskienė (Rokiškis Regional Museum), Vaclovas Kontrauskas (Culinary Heritage Museum of Lithuania).

Opening: 5 September 2024, 6 p.m.
Martynas Mažvydas National Library, Gedimino pr. 51, Vilnius

Briefly about the exhibition

Date

5 September–27 October 2024
exhibition opening – 5 September 2024, 6 p.m.

Time

library working hours

Place

Exhibition Hall (3rd floor) 

Attendance

free

More information

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