Emilija Povilanskaitė Lithuanian, b. 1997
Emilija Povilanskaitė creates installations in which scent, glass, electricity, and atmosphere become sculptural materials.
Emilija Povilanskaitė is a Lithuanian interdisciplinary artist whose practice moves between installation, sculpture, moving image, and scent. Working with glass, electricity, atmospheric gases, and olfactory compositions, she gives material form to physical phenomena that ordinarily remain invisible, transforming them into immersive environments experienced as much through the body as through vision.
Rather than treating technology as a subject, Povilanskaitė uses it as a material through which to construct alternative sensory realities. Scientific inquiry and speculative narrative converge in installations that unsettle the distinction between what can be measured and what can only be sensed.
Emilija Povilanskaitė studied at the Interfaculty ArtScience programme of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague. Her work has been presented internationally at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art (Warsaw), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), Saatchi Gallery (London), and Milan Design Week (Milan).
Emilija Povilanskaitė is represented by Galerija VARTAI.
ARTISTIC PRACTICE
Emilija Povilanskaitė approaches installation by working with materials that are usually sensed rather than seen. Glass, electricity, atmospheric gases, scent, and light give physical form to forces that normally remain invisible.
Scientific research forms the starting point for many of her works, but it is never presented as explanation. Weather data, electrical discharge, and chemical processes are translated into installations that move between scientific experiment and fictional construction, inviting viewers to encounter these phenomena through the body as much as through vision.
Scent occupies a central place within the practice. Developed alongside glass, light, and moving image, it becomes a material in its own right, structuring the experience of each installation rather than simply accompanying it. Fragrance guides the work through space, allowing meaning to unfold gradually across multiple senses.
Throughout her practice, scientific knowledge exists alongside folklore, mythology, and speculative storytelling. Rather than resolving the distance between them, Povilanskaitė allows these different ways of understanding the world to remain in tension. The work does not reconcile what cannot be measured with what can only be sensed — it holds both open at once.
EDUCATION
2019–2022 – ArtScience (BA), Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (Netherlands)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 – Subsurface (with Clara Schweers), apiece Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2024 – Electricity, Pulchri Studio, The Hague (Netherlands)
2024 – Elektra, Observatory of Ideas, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2024 – First Contact, Artists' Union Gallery Medūza, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2022 – C, De School, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 – Gen Z. All at Once, MO Museum, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2026 – Invisible Labour, National Gallery of Art (LNMA), Vilnius (Lithuania)
2025 – ArtEvol, Saatchi Gallery, London (United Kingdom)
2025 – 1st Klaipėda Biennial: Sunset Every Two Years, Klaipėda Culture Communication Centre (KCCC), Klaipėda (Lithuania)
2025 – Domestic Visions, Galerija VARTAI, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2025 – Intermediate Glooms, Meno Parkas Gallery, Kaunas (Lithuania)
2024 – Flower Metals, DMW Gallery, Antwerp (Belgium)
2024 – Weirding Tale, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (Poland)
2024 – Islands and Archipelagos, M. K. Žilinskas Art Gallery, Kaunas (Lithuania)
2024 – Spectrum 2, Galerija VARTAI, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2024 – We Were Here, Milan Design Week, Milan (Italy)
2024 – Group Exhibition, Die Frappant Gallery, Hamburg (Germany)
2023 – Dutch Design Week, Eindhoven (Netherlands)
2023 – Affected Distances, Galerija VARTAI, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2023 – Still Making Art Klaipėda, Klaipėda (Lithuania)
2023 – Group Exhibition, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
2020 – Words I Have, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius (Lithuania)
AWARDS
2022 – Pulchri Studio Artists Award, The Hague (Netherlands)
2020 – JCDecaux Public Choice Award, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2020 – Jury Special Mention, JCDecaux Prize, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius (Lithuania)
-
Domestic Visions
Group design exhibition 25 Apr - 7 Jun 2025We are excited to present Domestic Visions — a new group design exhibition at VARTAI Showroom that explores how everyday objects of today can reflect and shape our visions of...Read more -
Spectrum 2
Summer Group Show 2 Jun - 30 Oct 2024Artists and designers featured in the group show SPECTRUM 2: Gytis Arošius / Kotryna Butautytė / Daydreaming Objects / Vilius Dringelis / Kiki van Eijk / Faktura / Govert Flint...Read more -
Affected Distances
Group exhibition 18 Oct - 18 Nov 2023Organiser: Pamėnkalnio Gallery Co-producer: Vartai Gallery Curated by Milda Dainovskytė Authors: Augustina Banytė, Monika Janulevičiūtė & Antanas Lučiūnas, Laimė Kiškūnė & Thorben Gröbel, Liudvika Sonia Koort, Niklaus Mettler, Robertas Narkus,...Read more
Send me more information on Emilija Povilanskaitė
-
Emilija Povilanskaitė: 'Elektra'
9 August - 2 September | VU Observatory of Ideas | Vilnius, Lithuania July 30, 2024We kindly invite you to the opening of Emilija Povilanskaitė solo exhibition 'Elektra' on August 9th, 2024 at 7 pm in VU Observatory of Ideas...Read more -
Art After Hours
4 OCTOBER | Galerija VARTAI | Vilnius, Lithuania June 30, 2024On October 4th (Friday), we invite you to Art After Hours – a gallery festival for night owls. Galerija VARTAI presents the exhibition 'SPECTRUM 2':...Read more -
Emilija Povilanskaitė at Milan Design Week 2024
Exhibition ‘We Were Here’ May 3, 2024Exhibition ‘We Were Here’ in the Isola design District during Salone Del Mobile , curated by the Belgian designer Joris Verstrepen (organizer of the Belgian...Read more
