SUMMONING
Dorota Gawęda and Eglė Kulbokaitė

For their first solo exhibition in Bucharest, artists Dorota Gawęda and Eglė Kulbokaitė bring together Mouthless Part I (a video work stemming from their ongoing involvement with Young Girl Reading Group — a community project that looks for a different way of approaching text, reading and sharing knowledge), alongside a series of new, site-specific sculptures that extend the topics of the video. These works build a parallel between the historically intertwined development of the monetary system, the depletion of West European woodlands and the contemporary ecological urgency associated with capitalist expansion into the former Eastern bloc.

The earthliness of thought becomes language in an organismic conception, with the duo adopting reading as a non-academic and non-hierarchical method, but rather as a collective and horizontal process, and tapping into thematics such as ecology, feminism or folklore and the influence they might have had on the sexual experience and desire of individuals. The horror genre becomes a vehicle for looking into the fear of being considered outside or the Other.

With careful examination of the folk horror and the ecological worldview in which human and nature, human and nonhuman are imbricated, this exhibition highlights the intersection between esotericism and science, folklore and technology, feminism and ecology, as well as cultural history and speculative fiction.

Dorota Gawęda (b. 1986, Lublin, PL) and Eglė Kulbokaitė (b. 1987, Kaunas, LT) are an artist duo established in 2013 and based in Basel (CH). Their work spans performance, installation, fragrance, sculpture and video. They have exhibited internationally including: Istituto Svizzero, Milan (2021); Kunstverein Leipzig (2021); Swiss Institute, New York (2020); Kunstverein Düsseldorf (2020 and 2016); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2018); 6th Athens Biennale (2018); Kunsthalle Basel (2017); ICA, London (2017); MOMA, Warsaw (2016); Berlin Biennale 9 (2016) among others. Their solo shows include presentations at: Swimming Pool Projects, Sofia (2021); Lucas Hirsch Gallery, Düsseldorf (2021); Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf (2020); Trafo Gallery, Budapest (2020); Amanda Wilkinson Gallery, London (2020 and 2018). They have also participated in numerous international residencies including: Alserkal Arts Foundation, Dubai (UAE); La Becque, La Tour-de-Peilz (CH); Onassis AiR, Athens (GR); Capacete Residency, Rio de Janeiro (BR); Futura AiR, Prague (CZ). Gawęda and Kulbokaitė are nominated for the Swiss Art Awards (2021) and Swiss Performance Prize (2021). The duo are also the founders of YOUNG GIRL READING GROUP (2013—) and co-initiators of its online archive hosted by ARIEL, Copenhagen.

The exhibition space is located next door to Lacrimi și Sfinți restaurant.