Vernissage: December 15, 7pm
The exhibition will run until 2023, January 22
Lewben Art Foundation, Bernardinų st. 6, Vilnius
Visiting hours: I-IV 12:00–18:00, V-VI 12:00-16:00
Visiting is free of charge
Organised by Contemporary Art Centre
Partner of the exhibition – Sun Blanket Foundation
Following a successful seven-month run, the Lithuanian pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale is returning to Vilnius. You are kindly invited to the opening of Gut Feeling, the total-installation by Robertas Narkus, that will take place on Thursday, December 15, at 7 pm. While the building of the Contemporary Art Centre is closed to the public, Robertas Narkus’ total-installation, Gut Feeling, will be presented by one of the patrons of the project at Vilnius’ newest museum – the Lewben Art Foundation. A mysterious product, first produced in a surrealist cooperative established by Narkus in Venice, will be revealed together with stories from the pavilion, real or foreboding, by the artist in person together with curator Neringa Bumblienė.The exhibition is the first official presentation of the project in Lithuania.
Gut Feeling is a complex work, in which Lithuanian artist Robertas Narkus, manoeuvres between an honest desire to change the world, a persistent belief in the promise of collaboration, his egocentric ambitions, and a flirtation with financial structures, technological progress and humor. The term ‘gut feeling’ describes a sense of intuition, or, a hunch, which, according to half-forgotten folklore and recent scientific discoveries, links activities of the gut with the brain. In collaboration with a renowned fermentation specialist, scientists, fellow artists, local residents and small businesses, Narkus has created a social sculpture in one of the last remaining non-gentrified piazzas in Venice’s Castello district; producing a surrealist cooperative making a mysterious product from seaweed harvested from local waters. This species of algae, Undaria pinnatifida, also known as Wakame, is an invasive plant that has spread from Asia to the rest of the world – including Venice – as a result of globalisation. It is one of the most nutritious and rapidly renewable food sources, with ostensible potential to solve the imminent nutritional scarcity of Earth’s rapidly growing population.
As an initiator of numerous experimental art, management and food production organisations, Narkus often draws inspiration from the world of business and start-ups. By juxtaposing the spirit of optimism and drive with the often invisible by-product – the bitterness of failure – he creates tragicomic works.
Robertas Narkus (b. 1983) lives and works in Vilnius. Narkus began a PhD at the Vilnius Academy of Arts in 2019 and embarked on a postgraduate programme at the Stockholm Royal Institute of Arts in Collective Practice Research 2020. In 2015 he was awarded a Master’s degree from the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam. His solo exhibitions have been held at Galerija Vartai (2020, Vilnius), David Dale Gallery (2019, Glasgow), Contemporary Art Centre (2017, Vilnius), Tenderpixel (2015, London). Narkus’ works have been presented in important international group projects at de Appel in Amsterdam, the 12th Baltic Triennial, Kaunas Biennial, the 5th Marrakech Biennale. He has undertaken residencies at Iaspis in Stockholm and Delfina Foundation in London. Narkus is the founder of the Vilnius Institute of Pataphysics; the artist day care centre Autarkia; the experimental engineering camp eeKūlgrinda; and the restaurant Delta Mityba.
Commissioner: Kęstutis Kuizinas
Curator: Neringa Bumblienė
Visual Identity: Nerijus Rimkus, Vytautas Volbekas
Communication: Dovilė Grigaliūnaitė, Inga Galinytė, Giedrė Stabingytė, Vaiva Zemkauskaitė
Architectural Consultation: Petras Išora, Ona Lozuraitytė
Research, Development and Realisation: David Zilber, Evelina Bartusevičiūtė, Antanas Gerlikas, Gaetano di Gregorio, Albertas Mickėnas, Lukas Strolia, Erik Vojevodin
3D Modelling: Andrius Kirvela, Antanas Skučas
Coordinator: Ieva Tarejeva
Technical team: Audrius Antanavičius, Almantas Lukoševičius, Ilona Virzinkevič
Presented by the Lithuanian Council for Culture
Organised by Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius
Patrons: Justas Janauskas ir Gabija Grušaitė, Lewben Art Foundation
Sponsors: autoriai, UAB Litena, Girteka Logistics, Hotel PACAI, Sweden-Lithuania Cooperation Fund, In Pleno prekyba
