A Conversation on Ghost Islands | Vaida Stepanovaitė and Anastasia Sosunova | 13 August, 6 pm | Kaunas Artists’ House
On August 13, 6 pm Vaida Stepanovaitė and Anastasia Sosunova will have a talk about ghost islands at Kaunas Artists’ House.
Ghost Islands is a project that Vaida Stepanovaitė has just carried out in her curatorial residency at I: project space in Beiijng, China. During months of June and July, Vaida has conducted a research project, also a group exhibition and a digital publication was presented with artists Anastasia Sosunova, Ma Jianfeng, Pinigų Uostas, Tomasz Kobialka.
The exhibition and publication tells a story about an island that has been claimed before, and reclaiming land is no easy feat. Technically speaking, it can be a truly grueling act. It might take different measures, and one of them is to employ a dredge. A dredge – a floating plant – buries its metal claws into the seabed to scramble out sand and rock and mud and weeds. It plunges its pump to gush out thousands of square kilometers of sediment up to the surface. A fresh piece of territory is laid out onto the unsuspecting coral reefs, by relocating valuable materials from great depths.
Sometimes, the islands appear this way in the international waters, floating there as strategic vessels of fortified ecosystems. When spotted, they might turn from the watchful eye back into seclusion, or shape-shift into something less of a threat.
Ghost islands haunt the seas, practicing ambiguity as a tool of power, or a means of survival. They float in the undercurrents, creating and capturing the fluctuating capital on their way. The accumulation bears weight, coming down with an invisible force to crack the sediment apart again.
Vaida Stepanovaitė (b. 1992) lives, independently curates and lectures between Lithuania, Berlin and other countries and cities. Since 2015 she has been a co-runner and curator of a nomadic project space Kabinetas. Vaida has presented solo and group shows, performative events, discussions and other gatherings in Europe and China. She holds a BA in History and Theory of Arts. She has participated in a residency, research trips and educational programmes in Europe, China and S. Korea.
Anastasia Sosunova (b. 1993) is a visual artist living in Vilnius. Her work encompasses sculpture, video and graphic art. Researching the territorial and psychological limits delineated by us, she reflects on notions of the “alien” and the “other” and the space they occupy our everyday lives. She holds a BA in Graphic Art and a MA in Sculpture from the Vilnius Academy of Arts, also was a participant of Alternative Education Program at Rupert. She has participated in exhibitions in Europe, China and the US, exhibiting her work in both artistic institutions as well as urban and natural locations.
More:
yi-projectspace.org/view/ghost-islands
kabinetas.com
anastasiasosunova.com
Residency and talk is kindly supported by Lithuanian Culture Institute, Lithuanian Embassy and Culture Attache in China, Lithuanian Council for Culture, partners Kaunas Artists’ House and Nida Art Colony.
