The exhibition reveals the relationship between the built environment and the effects of gentrification in two places, Kristiania in Copenhagen (DN) and Užupis in Vilnius (LT), through a dialogue between two artists, the residens of Užupis. This exhibition is the debut of a collaborative work by two artists, Julia Janus and Petras Saulėnas. For the first time, the duo presents a collective exhibition-concept. Petras comments on the birth of the exhibition, “We are both very serious people individually, but when we started working together, that seriousness remained behind the scenes, in the invisible, everyday side of the work. The works in the exhibition, on the other hand, look like a light laugh.”
Unusual joking art that speaks in oxymorons. This is what the artist duo of Petras Saulėnas and Julia Janus look like in their uproariously draughty exhibition at the AP Gallery, which is also an oxymoron, titled “TO THE LEFT”. We say that we have turned left when we mean that we have turned off the straight path of life… A vivid example of the world of contradictions is the place of Vilnius, Užupis, which is being transformed by gentrification. The republic of Užupis is divided into two parts; the old, diverse, not very wealthy, but creative, supportive and focused community and the new – a rich, proud settler colony that has nothing to do with Užupis’s past, its communal character.
The exhibition asks who is it – today’s Užupis Republic? A living museum or a place occupied by strangers who have no connection to its spirit and do not want to have any? Is there an urgent need to preserve the fundamental values and cultural heritage of this place for the generations that will follow after the invasive species?
