Event description
The installation is inspired by Serapinas' experience studying at the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Arts in Vilnius, where artistic education is based on the classical methodology of copying from life, perfecting the techniques of drawing, painting and sculpture. For this work, the artist went back to the school's archive and recreated copies of his works from that time and the plaster models he used to develop his drawing skills. The exhibition 'Culture of the Body' will showcase copies of the heads of famous sculptures such as the Italian Renaissance painter and sculptor Michelangelo's David (16th century) and the Belvedere Apollo (2nd century), a model of Classical Antiquity. They are displayed alongside copies of objects that Serapin himself once created at school, such as portraits of his classmates, an earthworm or an alien. The installation will be activated both by people studying academic drawing, who usually draw copies of classical sculptures, and by people exercising in the installation space. The work invites us to take a closer look at the history of art in Western culture and to rethink the current system of education, which is mainly based on repetitive actions and diligent, hard work - which the work compares to working out in a gym. The Contemporary Art Centre (Vokiečių g. 2, Vilnius) will be open until 4 May.