Lithuanian Pavilion Opens at the Venice Contemporary Art Biennale

The LNMA General Director Dr. Arūnas Gelūnas serves as the commissioner of the pavilion. The exhibition is curated by Valentinas Klimašauskas and João Laia. The installation’s landscape and architecture were created by Petras Išora-Lozuraitis and Ona Lozuraitytė-Išorė of the “Išora x Lozuraitytė Studio.” The Lithuanian National Pavilion will be hosted in the Sant’Antonino Church and will be open to the public until October 31.

Lietuvos nacionalinis paviljonas Venecijos šiuolaikinio meno bienalėje. „Pakui Hardware“ ir Marijos Teresės Rožanskaitės paroda „Uždegimas“, 2024. Ugniaus Gelgudos fotografijos.

“Pakui Hardware’s visionary perspective provocatively addresses pressing human issues—pandemic, social, and economic inflammations affecting our bodies and the planet,” states Dr. A. Gelūnas.

Previously showcased at the LNMA Museum of Applied Arts and Design last autumn, “Inflammation” is now making its international debut in Venice, enriched with Rožanskaitė’s paintings and adapted to the unique environment of the Sant’Antonino Church, which features significantly higher spaces than the historical arsenal in Vilnius and is subject to strict conservation regulations. The church, built by the Badoer family in the 7th century and renovated in the 12th and 17th centuries, is currently under restoration and rarely hosts secular activities; this is the first time it will house a national pavilion.

Even before its official opening, “Inflammation,” which tackles contemporary societal issues, has attracted attention from both Lithuanian and international media. Influential cultural publications like “Artform,” “Art Review,” and “Kunstforum International” have published interviews and reviews with the artists.

A Multigenerational Examination of Systemic Harm and Healing

“Inflammation” intertwines artistic practices and experiences of different generations, exploring the inflammations (physical, social, and planetary) caused by today’s economic and social conditions. Rožanskaitė’s paintings and “Pakui Hardware’s” sculptural installations converge on themes of medicine, health, nature, space, and industrial landscapes.

Inspired by Marya Rupa and Raj Patel’s book “Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice,” “Pakui Hardware” uses inflammation as a metaphor for systemic harm inflicted on humanity and the planet.

Lietuvos nacionalinis paviljonas Venecijos šiuolaikinio meno bienalėje. „Pakui Hardware“ ir Marijos Teresės Rožanskaitės paroda „Uždegimas“, 2024. Ugniaus Gelgudos fotografijos.

“Inflammation allows us to understand what is invisible to the naked eye—the history, systems, and repressed internal fires embedded in human and planetary bodies. Recognizing inflammation can become a starting point for healing if we seriously consider the interconnectedness of all things, both living and inert. The installation invites the viewer to experience a slightly feverish and dizzying state of mind and body, leading to an understanding of the complex web of life, encompassing numerous subjects and areas—from medicine to hybrid nature, from the nervous system to the sounds of technological scanning,” explain N. Černiauskaitė and U. Gelguda.

The glass and aluminum sculptures by “Pakui Hardware” resemble enlarged nervous systems with pulsing inflammation points. Their vitality is enhanced by a scanning beam mimicking medical procedures. Rožanskaitė’s paintings convey the tension of unnamed diseases, sterile operating rooms, medical offices, mechanical objects, and chronic inflammations of cosmic bodies.

“The sculptural installation by contemporary artists ‘Pakui Hardware,’ combined with the modernist paintings of M. T. Rožanskaitė, speaks of the planet as a feverish body. Collaborating with architects ‘Išora x Lozuraitytė Studio,’ light artist Eugenijus Sabaliauskas, and other professionals, the works of different generations of artists were united into a multilayered environment that serves as both a map of our times and a cosmological setting, and possibly a station of hope and healing,” say curators V. Klimašauskas and J. Laia.

Silicone membranes, medical and hybrid landscape materials, and elements of the exhibition merge into an impressive techno-organism, highlighting the connections between ailing bodies and inflammatory environments, suggesting a search for metabolic balance to “cool down” the inflamed human and planetary bodies.

Accompanying Publications for “Inflammation”

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog published by LNMA and Mousse Publishing, compiled by “Pakui Hardware,” V. Klimašauskas, J. Laia, and Egla Mikalajūnė, featuring texts by A. Gelūnas, Estelle Hoy, “Išora x Lozuraitytė Studio,” V. Klimašauskas, Inga Lāce, and J. Laia.

On Saturday, April 20, a book titled “Marija Teresė Rožanskaitė: X-Rays of Art and Life,” published by the MTR Art Foundation and compiled by Dr. Laima Kreivytė and Mykolas Piekuras, will be presented at the Lithuanian National Pavilion.

Both publications will be available at the Lithuanian National Pavilion in Venice and later in the LNMA online store.

Foreigners Everywhere

The Venice Contemporary Art Biennale, held every two years since 1895, is the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition. This year’s theme, “Foreigners Everywhere” (Italian: “Stranieri Ovunque”), curated by Adriano Pedrosa, focuses on artists who themselves are foreigners, immigrants, expatriates, members of the diaspora, emigrants, exiles, and refugees.