Darja Popolitova, Elza Sīle and Anastasia Sosunova in SMACK MELLON Gallery, NY

Riga Technoculture Research Unit (RTRU) presented a performative exhibition titled (FORTUNE) TELLING. (ZOMBIE) CODING. (GELATIN) CATWALKING. Together with female artists from the Baltics, Elza Sīle (Zürich/Riga) and Anastasia Sosunova (Vilnius), I took part in this open studio-style public program that happened at Smack Mellon Gallery in New York.

The program explores the performative apparatuses of the Baltic States, presenting three artistic practices united by an interest in exploring new cultural and aesthetic trends in the post-Soviet era. Sīle created a floor-based installation and catwalk, while Sosunova’s display was activated by an artist-zombie reading a text about authority figures, nostalgia and magical thinking; the gallery event was rounded off by my performative 3D Jewellery Workshop presented by the fictional witch Seraphita.

Riga Technoculture Research Unit is a platform curated by Elizaveta Shneiderman (New York) and Zane Onckule (Riga) under the commission of Kim? Contemporary Centre in Riga. Part research journal, part art and writing publisher, and part hub for developments in emerging media, RTRU brings an interdisciplinary and technicity-centred approach to the status quo of contemporary art programming.

Smack Mellon, New York
13.—15.09.2022

Photographers: Carter Seddon and Peter Sit

PROJECT PARTNERS
Kim? Contemporary Art Centre (www.kim.lv), Temnikova & Kasela Gallery (www.temnikova.ee), Rupert (www.rupert.lt), Artnews (www.artnews.com), and Echo Gone Wrong (www.echogonewrong.com).

MAIN SUPPORTER
Baltic Culture Fund.

RELATED TEXTS, INTERVIEWS & MEDIA COVERAGE
<echogonewrong.com> <eventbrite.com> <artnews.lt>