The exhibition Tra Ciglia e Pensiero (Between Eyelashes and Thought) by Lithuanian artist Eglė Budvytytė focuses on unusual scenarios and contexts placed alongside everyday elements, structural dichotomies in her artistic practice. Within her works, the artist creates short circuits between reality and fiction, opening up questions on the role of the subject with respect to a broader social reflection. On show are a selection of video works that reflect on the economic and social time that punctuates movement and the rhythms of everyday life, creating momentary gaps in which the imagination takes over.
In a world scenario increasingly based on cyber intelligence, in which economic and social conflicts seem to be governed by the virtual power of the network, the artist’s work stands as a natural reaction to denounce contemporary society. Groups or individual realities challenge conventions, sometimes led by an off-screen voice, like a deus ex machina, who narrates or leads them to oppose the imposed rules.
The videos in the exhibition Shaking Chikdren and As if You Are Catching a Bomb were made in collaboration with Bart Groenendaal.
On the occasion of the Day of the Contemporary, the first solo exhibition of the Lithuanian artist in Italy is presented. Egle Budvytyte creates a performance with a mobile and dynamic structure that changes and is enriched depending on the context in which it is developed. The artist reflects on the physical and psychological pressure suffered by men during the years of the Soviet regime. At the same time, the work aims to overturn the conventions that want men to be strong and self-confident. Nine performers, during a silent march led by a female off-screen voice, walk along some streets in the Flaminio district, around and inside the MAXXI museum. Making unusual gestures, expressed with extreme firmness and composure, the men give the idea of belonging to a military unit where control and rigidity are fundamental dispositions that convey an idea of guilt, seduction, and disguise.
