Kristina Švenčionytė “Crevice”

CREVICE, the solo exhibition by the artist Kristina Švenčionytė, will be opened in Klaipėda, at the Klaipėda Culture Communication Centre Exhibition Hall. We invite you to the opening of the exhibition on 19 January, 2024, 18:00. As part of the event, the artist will present her performance “There is only now and now and now.”

Kristina Švenčionytė is well known in the seaside art scene for her theatre roles and performances. This time, the artist presents her first solo exhibition, revealing her work in the visual arts. In her exhibition, the artist speaks of a crevice without an end, laying bare her personal experiences and creative practices, interpreting the concepts of rapture, emptiness, and distance. Through her creative practices, the artist explores the idea of contact, questioning human bonds and crevices of loss, both within the human being and in the external world.

The title of the exhibition is CREVICE, but the artist stresses that she is actually omitting the second part of the title, WITHOUT END, which highlights the infinite aspect of the crevice.

Crevice: A fissure, elongated hole, gap, empty cavity.

End: A conclusive point after which change occurs, ushering in new possibilities and a new flow.

The absence of an end of the crevice means that it will never close. You can get lost in it like in a black hole, experience weightlessness, dive right through it, because its depth is infinite. The exhibition interprets various types of cracks, fissures and splits. Usually viewed as a negatively charged concept, the crevice is often associated with the need to mend and patch up fractured areas. However, in this exhibition, it takes on positive connotations, symbolizing self-awareness and self-analysis, openness to oneself, acceptance. It transforms into a symbol of meditation, purification, catharsis. Through artistic practices and autobiographical experiences, CREVICE unveils a spectrum of emptiness, inviting us to see a possibility within pain. The exhibition, which functions not only as a set of installations but also as a performance site, explores various themes: the dynamics between the observer and the observed; the interplay between reality and fiction; the juxtaposition of confrontation and the naive hope of communication; the void left by personal loss, shame, and mourning. The exhibition consists of works created over the last three years, blending both performative and sculptural practices. Each piece within the exhibition unfolds a unique perspective on the concept of the crevice.

“I want to share CREVICE so that I don’t attempt to forcibly close it but, instead, as I delve into its nooks and crannies, become acquainted with it, and discover what it reveals, I can move away from denial. Then, hopefully, its edge will come into view. Or, perhaps, infinity,” says the artist.

Kristina Švenčionytė (b. 1992, Lithuania) is a Lithuanian contemporary performance artist and actress, known for her distinctive fusion of sculpture, installation, text, and live performances. With an interdisciplinary approach, Kristina holds a BA in Acting from LMTA and a MA in Contemporary Sculpture from VDA. Kristina has worked and interned in Denmark, Spain, Germany, France, Greece, Poland, and Latvia. Her artistic interests span performance art, audiovisual creation, text synthesis, acoustic expression, and sculpture/installation. The primary themes of her work are the power of the other, the connection between “you” and “me,” the experience of loneliness in the crowd and loneliness in solitude, the (mis)communication between society and the individual, and the sense of exclusion.

In recent years, Kristina has presented her personal and collaborative works at various venues, including the National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen (Statens Museum for Kunst, in collaboration with Hotel Pro Forma), La Social gallery/bookstore in Barcelona, and KET (TV control center) theatre in Athens, Greece (in collaboration with Panevėžys theatre Menas, directed by Monika Klimaitė and choreographed by Phaedra Soutou). Her exhibitions and performances have also been featured at Užupis Art Incubator Gallery, MMLAB space, Gallery 11, Gallery MOrka, Paviljonas, Vilnius Town Hall, Gallery 5 MALŪNAI, on the platforms of Vilnius Green Bridge, and in Kaunas Cultural Centre.

Kristina Švenčionytė’s performances during the exhibition:

January 19, 18:00 – 18:30: “DEMO VERSIO”, after the performance @the_mirror_projekt will be sharing his music rythms
January 20, 18:00 – 18:15: “Inverted Profile”
February 2, 18:00 – 19:00: “DEMO VERSIO”
February 3, 18:00 – 18:20: “Memory Line”
The exhibition will run until February 11.
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Admission to the exhibition and performances is free of charge.
The performances will be followed by discussions.
The consultants of the exhibition are Justė Kostikovaitė and Simona Žemaitytė.
The exhibition partner: Užupis Art Incubator.

Opening hours of the KCCC Exhibition Hall (Didžioji Vandens str. 2, Klaipėda): Wednesday-Sunday from 11:00 to 19:00 (closed on public holidays). Photography and filming will take place during the opening of the exhibition. Please note that participants may appear in photographs and videos of the event, which could be published in various media outlets.