Article
Language, identity and deconstruction in Lithuania
Laura Stasiulyte was born in 1977 in Lithuania and lives and works in Vilnius. Her work uses photography, video, performance and installation and deals with issues of identity, tradition, stereotype, deconstruction and language.
Laura Stasiulyte is an emerging artist from Lithuania who has already achieved a certain level of recognition in Europe for her work. Born in 1977, she studied at the Vilnius Academy of Arts in the department of Photo and Video Arts. She lives and works in Vilnius and has developed a body of work and ideas based on her interest in language, identity, stereotype and deconstruction.
For Manifesta 4, the 2002 European Biennial of Contemporary Art in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, she showed a project entitled ‘From the Life of Young Ladies’. Based on an intensive study of the Lithuanian teenage magazine ‘Panele’, Laura Stasiulyte showed slides with questions she asked young girls on the street.
As reviewer Meike Behm comments, ‘Not only curiosity about sexuality in all its various facets, but also a lack of sex education becomes apparent through these encounters. The political and cultural changes in Lithuania also brought a kind of sexual revolution which can be clearly felt in the explosive force of these questions.’
Stasiulyte was shortlisted for the 2002 Visiting Arts Spike Island International Fellowship in the UK. She was awarded a residency at KulturKontakt in Vienna, Austria in 2001.
Her work ranges from performance to photography, video art and installation. She has exhibited in the Baltic States, London, Moscow, Ukraine, Germany, Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland and Norway. As part of her studies, she spent a period of three months at the Institut d’Arts Visuels in Orleans, France.
For Manifesta 4, the 2002 European Biennial of Contemporary Art in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, she showed a project entitled ‘From the Life of Young Ladies’. Based on an intensive study of the Lithuanian teenage magazine ‘Panele’, Laura Stasiulyte showed slides with questions she asked young girls on the street.
As reviewer Meike Behm comments, ‘Not only curiosity about sexuality in all its various facets, but also a lack of sex education becomes apparent through these encounters. The political and cultural changes in Lithuania also brought a kind of sexual revolution which can be clearly felt in the explosive force of these questions.’
Stasiulyte was shortlisted for the 2002 Visiting Arts Spike Island International Fellowship in the UK. She was awarded a residency at KulturKontakt in Vienna, Austria in 2001.
Her work ranges from performance to photography, video art and installation. She has exhibited in the Baltic States, London, Moscow, Ukraine, Germany, Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland and Norway. As part of her studies, she spent a period of three months at the Institut d’Arts Visuels in Orleans, France.
Author: Judith Staines
Bio
Laura Stasiulyte was born in 1977 in Klaipeda, Lithuania. She lives and works in Vilnius. She studied at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, initially in glass-painting and later specialising in photography and media. She was selected for a KulturKontakt artists residency in Vienna, Austria in 2001 and has exhibited across Europe including Manifesta 4 in Frankfurt and the Baltic Sea region ArtGenda Biennial in 2002.
Works
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (Selected)
Exhibition / Installation,
2003
2003 ThessaloniKIZOO, Thessaloniki, Greece
2002/03 ´Meeting Place´, installation, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia
2002 ´Changing Society: Lithuania´, video, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany
2002 ´Learning and Singing´, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Moscow, Russia
2002 ´ArtGenda´, performance, video, text, 4th interdisciplinary biennial for young artists from the Baltic Sea region, Hamburg, Gemany
2002 Manifesta 4, European Biennial of Contemporary Art, Frankfurt, Germany
2002 ´Everything Everyday´, installation, Art Project Studio, Vilnius
2002 IBID.Projects 2 (6), slide projection, London
2001 European photography exhibition, Braunschweig, Germany
2000 International Video Art and Short Films Festival, Kiev, Ukraine
2000 New Art Workshop3, Casino Luxembourg, Forum d´Art Contemporain, Performance
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Exhibition / Installation,
2003
2003 Display Gallery (with Arunas Gudaitis), Prague, Czech Republic
1999 Performance: ´Intention to remember´, Institut d´Arts Visuels, Orleans, France
Merits
2001 KulturKontakt, Austria, Artist in residence programme
1999 LVMH Award for young artists tribute to Vincent Van Gogh, Paris
1999 Institut d´Arts Visuels, Orleans, France
1999 LVMH Award for young artists tribute to Vincent Van Gogh, Paris
1999 Institut d´Arts Visuels, Orleans, France
Projects
This artist took part in the following project(s) organized/funded by the culturebase.net partner institutions.
Spike Island International Fellowship 2001
(01 April 01 - 31 August 01)
Www
Ibid Projects
Manifesta 4
Project for Manifesta 4, Frankfurt, Germany.
