Almyra Bartkevičiūtė-Weigel, artist, textile designer and creator of many original projects, has been living in Berlin, Germany for almost two decades. Over the last decade, she has continuously surprised not only with her active participation in exhibitions in Lithuania and Europe, but also with her unexpected possibilities of using materials. Weigel is a constantly experimenting and exploring artist: she uses hot glue technology to create sculptural relief works, and her series Aprons has been shown in many exhibitions abroad, attracting much interest and appreciation, and has not only addressed the issue of gender identity, but also demonstrated the incredible possibilities of the material. A decade ago, the artist discovered old newspapers and books as a subject for her work. She transforms old newspapers and books into magical objects and installations; in her hands, the newspaper pages become thread, and this unconventional fibre is used to create textile works. This has led to a series of works that combine paper and textiles in original ways. Weigel collaborates with the Kaunas modern dance company Aura. Several memorable projects have taken place in Lithuania and Germany. These include Weigel's exhibition and installation with the Aura dancers "Cloudy with Prairies" at the Kaunas Picture Gallery in 2014, and two spectacular installations and related dance performances "The Transparency of the Veiled" and "SOTUS" in Germany. Recently, the artist has also experimented with the genre of painting, with two exhibitions of paintings in Lithuania in 2019. At the end of October 2020, the President Valdas Adamkus Library-Museum hosted an exhibition of Almyra Weigel's works entitled "Old Knowledge - New Knowledge", in which the artist shows works created in different periods and using different techniques. The artist's paintings, made from old newspapers, take on an unexpectedly new and original meaning, surprising in their colour and rhythmic combinations. By grouping and arranging the pages of the book in a different way, connections are sought between the content of the past, the past and today's current issues. In the most recent works, copies of photographs, composed and pasted using the author's own technique, become like the details of an old fresco.
