You know, the word ‘world’ literally means ‘under the sun’ in Lithuanian.
Rūta Junevičiūtė’s performance Solar explores the idea of a three-dimensional painting unfolding over time and dances with the window-shop setting of the building it is presented in. Here, the artist interacts with the materiality of sugar and the memory this natural resource contains as one of the main goods that prompted the acceleration of global markets in early capitalism, and the more recent personal history of its overconsumption which lead to her own hospitalisation. Sugar’s addictive and accelerating qualities are mixed with the personal reminiscences of the artist’s mother’s coming-of-age in the slow-pace socialist era and the post-1989 challenges in transiting to the global speed. The performance incorporates edible materials as co-actors on stage, amplifying synaesthetic qualities of taste. The work celebrates the belly brain as the source of human life-force and the intersection of pleasure, disgust, eroticism, and gut instincts. It serves as a ritual to balance the solar plexus chakra in the stomach area, symbolising personal power, the joy of living, and self-esteem.
Rūta Junevičiūtė (born in Vilnius) is an artist and researcher, with a partial base in Amsterdam. With a background in art history and theory, philosophy, monumental painting, sculpture, dance, and choreography, she holds degrees from Vilnius Academy of Arts and Amsterdam Academy of Theatre and Dance (School for New Dance Development). She explores various mediums without fully mastering any, conducting long-term research and striving to implement work and art-making methods that challenge and break with her own internalised patterns of burn-out society. This approach highlights the significance of process and love in her work, which often originates from and moves through her body as a sentient archive. She is captivated by art’s healing power, material memory, and the embodiment of transformation. Her recent work has been showcased at Veem House of Performance, Frascati Theatre, de Brakke Grond Theatre in Amsterdam, the Lithuanian National Gallery of Art, and Rupert Art Center in Vilnius.
Performance credits
Concept: Rūta Junevičiūtė
Performer: Justina Mykolaitytė
Advisors: Igor Dobirčić, Ria Higler
Sugar research and caramel production: Diego Virgen, Rūta Junevičiūtė, Anna Karaneuskaya
Costumes: Karolina Janulevičiūtė
Soundscape: Studio Neutrino
Light design: Jonas Vološčenka
Thanks: Ruf Cuts, Low Air Vilnius City Dance Theatre | School, Department of Dance and Movement at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (LMTA)
Performance partner
Video by Vytautas Tinteris
Photos by Andrej Vasilenko
