Undersong
Kim?
13 April - 17 June 2018
Riga, Latvia
Curated by Justė Jonutytė
Artists: Lina Lapelytė, Indrė Šerpytytė
Though Lapelytė and Šerpytytė have different and independent practices, both explore the relationship between cultural and personal identities, collective and individual memories, and investigate different modes of communication and collaboration. Undersong shows how the artists turn to these ideas in a body of work where ritual, rhythm and repetition are central. Lapelytė's performances take a close look at the discipline - both empowering and exhausting - needed to perform movements repetitively, and the creative opportunities and difficulties that emerge in challenging rituals and stereotypes. Šerpytytė investigates how the making, exchange and ritual use of traditional woven sashes found across the Baltic States both inform and are informed by shifting cultural and political dynamics, examining how folk traditions are central to the formation of local and State identities. For both artists, repetition is explored as an inher- ently performative mode whereby identities are consolidated, communities emerge, and discipline is established. At the heart of their work is a focus on the detail - the subtle mod- ulations of a performer’s body, the intricacies of ornament
on the woven sashes - as a complex site of aesthetic and political concerns.
Installation photography by Ansis Starks