(sub)titles

The exhibition “(sub)titles” invites visitors to experience how virtual, digital, and memory spaces can merge into a complex and undefined whole where fiction and reality intertwine. This exhibition examines various constructs of the digital and of memory, raising questions about contemporary perceptions of reality and identity in an information-driven world.

In his virtual reality work “Mariupol 3”, Aleksas Jukumas offers viewers a chance to experience a theater that no longer exists. Traditionally, theater is a fictional realm, a staged drama separate from reality. However, in Jukumas’ piece, theater and reality exchange places. Entering the virtual space, the viewer becomes part of the action – walking around the theater building that no longer stands, waiting for the performance to begin, only to realize it has already started. This space of simulations and simulacra creates a unique experience where drama becomes the reality of the stage, while theater lingers as a reflection of the past, preserved only through virtual traces.

Giedrius Satkūnas and Daniel Kravčiuk’s work “Dispersed images Vol. 1” explores the culture of digital content dissemination, with a particular focus on “torrent” technology and platforms that enable new modes of sharing and circulating images in the digital space. These found, outdated, or even pirated images are assembled into a catalog-like publication, seeking to grant them legitimacy. Their project transforms the online field of “dispersion” (referencing Hito Steyerl’s essay “In Defense of the Poor Image”) into a physical format – a catalog that could sit in libraries alongside other artistic publications, symbolically embracing and validating contemporary, non-hierarchical digital image culture.

Agota Balčiūnaitė’s animated piece, “About Empty Rooms”, conveys fragmented and chaotic memories of broken familial ties. Through visuals and sound, she encapsulates life’s phases where family relationships shift due to distance or the passage of time. Memories jump without a clear sequence, as if trapped somewhere between reality and fantasy, conveying emotions that linger unresolved and unnamed in our recollections. This work invites viewers to understand the fragility of memory and how memories and emotions shape our relationships with the past.