Sweet Dreams Foundation
Exhibition Opening 15 July, 6 pm
16 July – 16 October 2022
Open Tuesday to Sunday, 11am–5pm
Nida Art Colony of the Vilnius Academy of Arts
E. A. Jonušo Str. 3
Nida LT-93127
Participating artists: Jan Bachynsky, Dasha Chechushkova, Fattucchiere (Marta Margnetti and Giada Olivotto), Agnė Juodvalkytė, Borys Kashapov, Mila Kostiana, Natasha Kushnir, Zoya Laktionova, Marta Margnetti, Daniela Palimariu, Christian Raduta, Kseniia Shcherbakova, and Anna Sorokovaya.
Curator: Lesia Kulchynska
In this space, amidst the woods, it is easy to get lost in dreams. Should we take this chance? Being safe in a shaking world is a privilege, and likely a temporary one. How to use it properly? Being lost safely offers us the opportunity to explore uncertainty and adjust to it smoothly, making preparations for the real perplexities awaiting outside this welcoming forest.
Very close to this serene place there is a war happening. War is a source of instability, unpredictability, and precariousness. During war, the future is only to guess or to pray for, not to rely on. “Planning puts me in a paralyzed state,” said my friend from Mariupol, a Ukrainian coastal city that ceased to exist having been burned down together with its inhabitants. Planning, which is an option for “normal life” with a clear perspective, is irrelevant during uncertain times. What other strategies do we have to relate to the future, and to handle the present?
Let’s suppose that we are stuck in a transitory state. Whatever we experience now, it is temporary. The rules of the state of emergency are temporary. The decisions made under a state of emergency are temporary. Those of us who left their homes and settled elsewhere are there on a temporary basis. The tremendous support that we are receiving and giving each other is temporary. How do we settle in this interim space? How do we furnish a home that is a provisional one? What do we dream about while having no foreseeable future?
“Don’t get back to normal life,” wrote my artist friend who has remained in Kyiv since the beginning of war on his FB page. Too many amazing things are happening there right now under the state of exception. All of a sudden many people have discovered that being lost in unpredictability is a privilege with neither a desired future nor a defined present restraining them. Even if it lasts a day or less, who cares—tomorrow is not guaranteed anyway. Should we discover these opportunities?
When reality is falling apart, dreamers might perceive their own special mission. It is not decided what world we will face after the transition is over. The dreams of the dreamers could be the foundation for it. Let’s talk to them.
More information on the artists: https://bit.ly/SweetDreamsFoundation
The Sweet Dreams Foundation is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and the Ukrainian Emergency Art Fund.