The works of Lithuanian artist Deimantas Narkevičius presented by the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, United Kingdom

BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead will present the work of Lithuanian artist Deimantas Narkevičius in a new exhibition Doubled Youth (opening 14 October 2016)

Deimantas Narkevičius (born 1964) creates deeply researched, complex works that often provocatively address the traces of history. Working in film, Narkevičius draws on the formative experience of being a witness to history in his home country as it transitioned from Soviet to post-Soviet state, from totalitarian regime to the contemporary, new Lithuania.

Narkevičius, trained as a sculptor, adopts the techniques of documentary film making, drawing on the aesthetic language of the form. He employs interviews and archive footage, often exploring and subverting the genre. His films and sound installations illustrate our need to recall the past, showing how such memories remain relevant. The very particular ideology, identity and utopian ideals that informed the Soviet life-world through the decades, and the subsequent transition to something new, form the core of his practice.

In this exhibition, entitled Doubled Youth, Narkevičius brings together three recent works, including his new film 20 July 2015, which is receiving its UK premiere. Utilising 3D technology for the first time and applying it to unconventional subject matter, Narkevičius documented the removal of a group of eight Soviet-era Socialist Realist sculptures, first installed in 1952, from a prominent site known as the Green Bridge in the centre of Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, in 2015. The process of erasure was recorded using stereoscopic lenses, with the action of calibrating the cameras serving as a ritual for the objects that were about to be removed. The sounds of the operation are as important to the work as the visual spectacle. The film culminates with the final removal of the monuments at 2 a.m. on 20 July 2015.

14 October Deimantas Narkevičius discussed his exhibition Doubled Youth with Professor Richard Clay, art historian, Lina Džuverović , independent curator and lecturer and Alessandro Vincenteli, BALTIC Curator of Exhibitions and Research.

Deimantas Narkevičius  was born in 1964 in Utena, Lithuania and lives and works in Vilnius.

He graduated from the Art Academy in Vilnius as a sculptor and spent a year in London in 1992/93. On his return to Lithuania he was concerned with site-specific objects but a strong interest in narrative led him to record interviews and conversations with artists. This process evolved into an exploration of different narrative structures through film and video, the work for which Narkevicius is now best known. Narkevicius is one of the most consistent and widely recognised Lithuanian artists on the international art scene. He represented his country at the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001 and exhibits at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003 in ‘Utopia Station’ curated by Molly Nesbit and Hans Ulrich Obrist.

Since 1992 Narkevič ius has exhibited extensively around the world in group shows at many significant contemporary art venues and events. He showed at Manifesta II  in Luxemburg in 1998 and has exhibited at Tate Modern, London, Paris, Brussels, Vilnius, Manchester, Dublin, Vienna, Brussels, Helsinki, Stockholm, Zurich, Rotterdam, Melbourne and many other cities. Solo shows include Either true or fictitious  at FRAC Pays de la Loire in France, 2003 and a major presentation at the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven 2009, Da Capo  at Museo Marini, Florence Italy and MSU Museum Zagreb Croatia, 2015.

BALTIC  is a major international centre for contemporary art situated on the south bank of the River Tyne in Gateshead, England and has welcomed over 6 million visitors since opening in July 2002. BALTIC presents a distinctive and ambitious programme of exhibitions and events and is a world leader in the presentation and commissioning of contemporary visual art. BALTIC consists of 2,600 square metres of art space, making it the UK’s largest dedicated contemporary art institution. BALTIC has gained an international reputation for its commissioning of cutting-edge temporary exhibitions. It has presented the work of over 350 artists from 53 countries in 190 exhibitions to date. BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art OPENING HOURS: Gateshead Quays Daily 10.00-18.00 South Shore Road (excluding Tuesday) Gateshead Tuesday 10.30-18.00 NE8 3BA UK

balticmill.com