Liminal Old Growth
September 7 - November 11, 2024
Museum of Urban Wooden Architecture (Polocko st. 52, Vilnius)
September 7, 7 PM: Exhibition opening
September 7, 8 PM: Multi-sensory performance Wounded Healer by Zosia Hołubowska in collaboration with Alma Bektas (scenography and costume) and Joanna Zabielska (live visuals). Organised around the concept of sharing in the community, the performance weaves new musical material, live visuals, stage design, and ritualistic elements. It is based on various healing practices rooted in Slavic traditions and celebrates collaboration as the main force of artistic expression and life.
The Myth of the Liminal Old-Growth is a mythical forest, a liminal zone of transition between life and death, located in the virtual realm developed by Joanna Zabielska, enriched with sound composition by Zosia Hołubowska and physical installation created by Alma Bektas.
This sci-fi/mythological forest is a digital habitat for spirits and ghosts – inspired by slavic, pre-christian beliefs and mythological stories of Perun and Veles, as well as Leshy and a nonfictional narrative based on documentary footage and testimonies. It consists of 3D scans taken in various, intentionally selected places in Austria, Poland and Japan, enriched with imaginary 3D models and textures.
Liminal Old-Growth is a place where a healing ritual will be conducted by The Great Forest Spirit—a butoh dancer, Kana Kitty—performing a dance on the edge of life and death. Butoh emphasizes raw physicality and intense emotions. It is the reflection of the unconscious, including the darker aspects of the psyche. In The Myth of the Liminal Old-Growth butoh is using the body as a vehicle for corporal and spiritual investigations. Through 3D scans and 360-degree video, the choreography is transmitted into a digital realm and turned into a healing ritual.
Renowned for her boundary-pushing botanical sculptures, artist and floral designer Alma Bektas will bring a tactile dimension to the digital forest of The Myth of the Liminal Old-Growth. Through her unique fusion of natural and artificial elements, Bektas will transform the virtual realm into a tangible, immersive experience. Her expertise will add a dynamic layer to the installation, enhancing the interplay between the organic and the digital.
We are in need of new mythologies. In times of post-pandemic, war and climate catastrophe, new forms of narration based on tenderness and carrying, equality and intimacy are needed more than ever. We need to further develop storytelling of the unheard voices, addressing their neglected lives and experiences. Sci-fi digital mythology may navigate not only through the rapidly evolving technological landscape but also through changing social, political and ecological conditions. It invites us to imagine a new world in which we would actually like to spend our future.
Artists
Joanna Zabielska works at the intersection of art, design, architecture and urban planning, addressing the social and spatial issues of urban transformation. Using a variety of media – from inflatable textile installations to cooking performances – she develops participatory, site-specific projects together with the local community. Being based in both Vienna and Warsaw, she also realises projects in an international and multicultural environment (in recent years often in the Caucasus – Georgia and Armenia, in the Middle East – Lebanon, currently also in New York).
Alma Bektas is an artist and floral designer working across disciplines within the medium of floral design. In her work, she manipulates the natural and mixes it with the artificial to form botanical sculptures, photography, movie sets, costumes, and stage design. Alma Bektas is currently based in Vienna.
Zosia Hołubowska is a Vienna-based sound artist, queer music activist, researcher, and producer. They work on topics of queering archives, healing practices, and interspecies intimacy. They create performances, sound installations, and radio works and compose soundscapes for dance performances. They are a member of a feminist collective Oramics. Hołubowska is also a founder of Sounds Queer?, a collective working on the intersection of electronic music, sound art, and queer activism.
Exhibition curators Improper Walls
Exhibition coordinator Viktorija Smailytė
Graphic design by Vaiva Žukauskaitė
Supported by Lithuanian Council for Culture, Vilnius city municipality