Opening: November 7, 18:00
Duration: November 7-28
Location: SODAS 2123 Project space, Vitebsko st. 23, Vilnius

Visiting hours: Thursdays and Fridays, 4–7 p.m.; Saturdays, 1–5 p.m. Access through the “Atletika” gallery, 2nd floor.

November 8th 15:00-18:00: Gabrielė Dužinskytė’s Baltic Sea Monopoly game session (more information below).

The group exhibition of the 5th season of the Architektūros fondas Experiments’ Platform “Reflecting Abundance: Acts of Unfolding the Space” invites to witness the outcomes of 8-month-long process of developing experiments, during which four platform participants, accompanied by their mentors, embarked on a journey of slow observation, looking for sensitive methods to expand the boundaries of perception of ever accelerating and expanding urban layers.

“A posthuman landscape is composed of exhausted worlds, though not necessarily the absence of the ‘human’ per se. Instead, the posthuman is a speculative gesture, a figure that must radically adjust its position, be wary of assuming its place of privilege and exception, and instead understand that it is bound up and entangled with all manner of things, material and immaterial, corporeal and incorporeal worldly forces.” Hélène Frichot, Creative Ecologies: Theorizing the practice of architecture, 2019.

Leaning on the new materialism and post-growth theories, the project curators invited participants to try and grasp the very essence of things in the whirlpool of endless production and welcome a different perception of sufficiency. What is abundance in the contemporary world? How much is enough? Architectural practice is closely related to materiality, but how can we act with what is already there while flexibly embracing the constant flux in the built environment?

The exhibition presents experimental projects of four platform participants and accompanying archival process material.

Laura Norkūnaitė’s research “Urban Velocities”, developed with mentor Vano Ksnelashvili, in which the architect and urbanist looked into how urban rhythms determine the unique characters of places. Does the speed of our movement depend only on our will? – this was one of the fundamental questions that Laura raised while trying to discover the hidden layers of public spaces that are often seen as simply having higher intensities.

Gabrielė Dužinskytė’s research “Economies of Wasteland”, developed with mentor Paula Veidenbauma, delved into Wastelands (happened-lands / wasted-lands) – ghosts of efficiency, or what happens after the landscape. Urban spaces without beginning or end, that are difficult to define yet they expand the urban milieu.

Guoda Šulskytė’s experiment “Windcatcher for Exhausted Winds”, accompanied by mentor Indrė Umbrasaitė, explored anthropogenic wind systems in urban environments that slow down natural air flow. Taking its name from the traditional architectural element that created cross-ventilation and passive cooling in buildings, Gouda’s experiment questioned what influence will the stagnant air have on imagination in overcrowded city landscapes?

Erik Vojevodin’s experiment “Public Bath”, whose mentor was Tuomas Toivonen, delved into the state as a place. Using a bath as an intervention in public space, he explored immersive experience. The public bath as a space of comfort, care and relaxation. Can it be transformed in a certain context – into a space that promotes productivity? Can it be a space to talk about politics? What happens when a public bath is moved to a public space?

On November 8th, 15:00 we invite you to join the game session of “Monopoly of the Baltic Sea” created by exhibition participant Gabrielė Dužinskytė. It is a board game that presents a critical look at the extractive processes taking place in the Baltic Sea, such as artificial island projects, energy infrastructure development, raw material extraction and the resulting challenges to ecology. Game participants will be invited to get into different roles – from developers to sea algae – and reconsider the values ​​of this body of water and the impact of inert economic processes on its future. Registration required.