Goda Palekaitė Lithuanian, b. 1987

ARTISTIC PRACTICE 

Goda Palekaitė approaches history through its unstable edges. Her work begins with figures and stories that remain peripheral to dominant historical narratives—forgotten writers, dreams, rumours, myths, and lives that resist easy classification. Rather than restoring these materials into a coherent account, she allows their fragmentation to remain visible.

Working across performance, installation, film, and writing, Palekaitė treats historical material not as evidence but as something that can be entered, inhabited, and reimagined. Research becomes a form of storytelling, while fiction opens another way of approaching history. Her works allow historical figures separated by centuries to meet within the same narrative space.

Writing is central to the practice. Many projects begin as speculative texts before unfolding into other media, where writing itself becomes something to be spoken, performed, or inhabited.

Rather than opposing fact and fiction, Palekaitė uses their overlap as a method. Her work suggests that history is never simply inherited—it is continually rewritten through memory, imagination, and desire.

EDUCATION

2020–2025 – PhD in Visual and Audiovisual Arts, Hasselt University & PXL-MAD School of Arts, Hasselt (Belgium)
2019 – Post-Master in Artistic Research, a.pass, Brussels (Belgium)
2015 – Cultural and Social Anthropology (MA), University of Vienna, Vienna (Austria)
2011 – Scenography (BFA), Vilnius Academy of Arts, Vilnius (Lithuania)

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2026 – Lapsarian 3.0, Kunsthal Extra City, Antwerp (Belgium)
2023 – Eye Dust: An Adaptation of a Novel to Come, Beursschouwburg, Brussels (Belgium)
2023 – Serpentine Spine, Västerås Art Museum, Västerås (Sweden)
2021 – The Strongest Muscle in the Human Body Is the Tongue, Kunsthal Gent, Ghent (Belgium); Editorial Project Space, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2020 – Architecture of Heaven, Centre Tour à Plomb, Brussels (Belgium)
2019 – Liminal Minds, Konstepidemin Gallery, Gothenburg (Sweden)
2018 – Legal Implications of a Dream, RawArt Gallery, Tel Aviv (Israel)

GROUP EXHIBITIONS & PERFORMANCES

2025 – Lunar Sisterhood, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2023 – Anatomy of the Fetish (with Marija Puipaitė), Galerija VARTAI, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2023 – War Machines Based on the Dreams of the Enemies, Kaunas Artists' House, Kaunas (Lithuania)
2022 – Anthropomorphic Trouble, Tranzit, Bratislava (Slovakia)
2022 – Vampire Bedroom Stories, Tranzit Bucharest, Bucharest (Romania)
2021 – Anthropomorphic Trouble, Whitechapel Gallery, London (United Kingdom)
2021 – I Write While Disappearing, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna (Austria)
2020 – Somnambulism, Sirenos International Theatre Festival, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2020 – Living Ornament, Atletika Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2019 – Vodka Salt, Performatik / Kanal–Centre Pompidou, Brussels (Belgium)
2019 – Digestive System of Humanity (with Jonas Palekas), Editorial Project Space, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2018 – Advertising Anarchism, JCDecaux Prize: Dignity, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2018 – Bakunin, 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Venice (Italy)
2017 – Khazar Mythology, Calvert 22 Foundation, London (United Kingdom)
2017 – Conversation on the Roof of Chungking Mansions, Autarkia, Vilnius (Lithuania)

CURATORIAL & RESEARCH PROJECTS

2024–2025 – Curator of the Alternative Education Programme (AEP), Rupert, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2023 – Conditions of Spectatorship, RITCS School of Arts, Brussels (Belgium)
2023 – Guest Editor, AUTOPROBLEMA, Artnews.lt
2022 – Scoring Intimacy with Discursive Others, a.pass, Brussels (Belgium)

AWARDS

2019 – Young Artist Prize, Lithuanian Ministry of Culture
2019 – Golden Stage Cross (Best Scenography) for The Door and The Perfect Match
2017 – Golden Stage Cross Nomination (Best Scenography) for Europeans
2010 – Golden Stage Cross Nomination (Best Scenography and Costumes) for The Fight