A Tree Blessed By the Priest of Trees
MK notes, Volume II, 2024, Klaipėda
real tree (beech), text engraved on a found stone, postcard and letter text in the Tourist Information Centre
M-4 Liepų g. 11, courtyard
M-17 Klaipėda Tourist Information Centre, Turgaus g. 7
Inspiration from an old postcard from Memel with an image of the White Lighthouse. The main intrigue is the two different editions of the postcard; one depicts a woman and her reflection in a puddle, while the other shows the woman’s figure already retouched, but her reflection, as a shadow, trace or mirage, is still visible and recognisable. While exploring the public spaces of Klaipėda, the artist paid a lot of attention to shadows and their reflections. Cultural diversity and the intertwining of time periods are understood as a creative platform for reality. The situation of a shadow falling on a tree caught the attention of the artist. The beech tree growing in the yard of the 11th house on Liepų Street is characterised by its distinctive foliage. It is green where the shadow of the house falls and red where it receives more sun. The colour contrast reflects the shadow of the house even when there is no shadow. The tree, which grows on land belonging to Klaipėda City Municipality, is treated as a cultural object accessible to the public. An artistic feature is being added to it as part of the project Phenomenon M. This feature consists of a composition of three stones. Two stones lying on the roots of the tree, and a third with an inscription stating that it is a beech tree blessed by a tree priest. The reflection of a woman’s shadow in a puddle depicted in an old postcard is also carved on the new stone. In order to draw attention to the dynamics of postal needs, the artist is publishing a postcard that tells the story of this research in the form of a letter to all those who visit the Tourist Information Centre.
Juozas Laivys
Juozas Laivys’ artistic practice encompasses sculptures, objects, installations, performance art, texts, video art and photographs. The artist is known for his authentic approach to themes that are actively debated in contemporary art, such as authorship, institutional power, the economic value of art, and the boundaries (or lack thereof) between art and life. In raising these issues, Laivys often employs a strategy of appropriation, a deliberately blunt rhetoric typical of mass and bureaucratic culture, combining conceptual gestures with actual physical actions. Having created 256 works by 2015, Laivys decided to suspend his individual creative activity for fourteen years in order to turn his life itself into a work of art. Currently, the artist is exploring the possibilities of post-creation and delving into pure ideas dictated by a specific place, time, current events and subjective artistic vision. In 2024, he participated in several projects where he presented himself as a priest of trees.
Organiser: Klaipėda Culture Communication Centre.
Funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Klaipėda City Municipality.