WATER OVERFLOW AND PIGEONS: ART NOMADS PROJECTS FOR KLAIPĖDA

On the 10 th of August,2017, at „Arts Area“ (Aukštoji st. 5, Klaipėda) Klaipėda Culture Communication Center and „Arts Area“ presented projects „Water Overflow“ („Aukštai pakilęs vanduo“) and „Street Emotions: More Pigeons For Klaipėda“ („Gatvės emocijos: Daugiau balandžių Klaipėdai“) by KCCC international arts residency participants Jurijus Štapakovas and Aleksandra Gart (Saint Petersburg, Russia).

Ever-travelling the world‘s arts residencies, artists Jurijus Štapakovas and Aleksandra Gart are staying at KCCC arts residency for ten days and on Thursday, at Klaipėda Old Town, which received a lot of action this summer, promise apocalypse predictions, which, no doubt, are going to need the help of Klaipėda city residents and guests.

In their brief interview the creators told us what the participants of the event can expect and by what artistic expressions art nomads from Saint Petersburg are going to present their newest projects dedicated to Klaipėda.

Jurijus, graphics, as it would seem, is a pretty exhausted form of art. What are you going to offer to Klaipėda art lovers?

Engraving is a very formal form of art. In my opinion, engraving provides a maximally simplified image of the reality, especially if one main color – black or grey – is used. However, the viewers may not be offered specific images, leaving space for an open interpretation. The idea of „Water Overflow“ („Aukštai pakilęs vanduo“) project didn‘t come at once: watching floods in Saint Petersburg, Venice or Cork (Ireland), I imagined an immense area of extending water. Global warming, melting glaciers are significant – they are ecological problems important for life and civilization. However, only the visual part is important for an art idea, anything else stays behind the scenes.

My personal project, called „Water overflow“, consists of a set of 80×60 cm format works, performed in monotyping and embossing techniques. The main idea of the project: water as the element thematically linking Klaipėda with Saint Petersburg, as well as with a number of other port cities. Just imagine, that water has reached up to 30–40 meters and practically overflown the city. Only the peaks of the highest dominants stick out of water. In this project I‘m interested in the purity of execution and the necessary minimalism. Heavenly line between heaven and earth, half suprematic objects, distributed on that line at specific intervals, which not necessarily coincide with the real topography – this is a visual task, which the author has to solve.

And how are the visitors of the „Arts Area“ going to solve this task?

The visitors are going to become participants of a seminar-en plein air, provided with paper and other „ammunition“, are going to print on asphalt at the time of the project presentation. The topic of the creative task: „Everyone is going to die, only I am going to survive“. Each seminar participant is going to create his own version of the great flood and represent on paper the parts of the city, which in their opinion, will be left sticking out of water after an immense 30 meter rise. Suprematic figures, delivering images of dominants, are going to be cut out of cardboard, painted and printed straight on asphalt at our chosen place.

Aleksandra, and your project seems to be above the water?

Yes, it will flutter, once again thanks to all of us.

Among many methods of treatment one of the most effective and at the same time the most mysterious ones is pigeon psychotherapy, i.e. treatment with pigeons. In today‘s pigeon therapy two main methods are applied. One of them is the targeted treatment, i.e. physical contact, time spent together and heart-to-heart talks. The second method, called natural, is based on the energy and positive emotions the patient gets while watching pigeons or looking at their pictures and images. And this in particular makes pigeon psychotherapy popular: it can be applied even to those patients, who for one or another reason cannot have pets.

Psychotherapy in Klaipėda will come out of a physician‘s office to the city streets to cure all people! There won‘t be enough pigeons in the city for that, that‘s why the participants of bird watching en plein air are going to create stickers and stick them where the curing birds are especially needed.

Please note, that the meeting with the artists will take place on the 10th of August, Thursday, 5 p.m. at „Arts Area” (Aukštoji st. 5, Klaipėda). The event is free of charge.

KCCC international artists-in-residence project „Air KCCC / KKKC Eteris“ is partially financed by Lithuanian Council For Culture and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania.