Trikampis Arturas Bumšteinas, ēcheîa, CAC, 2017, Sound system 32 by Gitis Bertulis. Photo – Julijus Balčikonis ©
An exhibition of sound installations by artistic duo Arturas Bumšteinas and Gitis Bertulis “Oo” opens at Gallery (AV17) on March 19, 6 pm. The artists started their duo activities in 2014, since then organizing exhibitions and performances at some of the largest Lithuanian art institutions. Separately, these artists are known as a composer and a designer: Bumšteinas’s most important work in recent years has been audio art performances, sound installations and radiophonic art projects, while Bertulis’s field of practices includes fashion and furniture design, and during the last decade – developing experimental sound and designing audio equipment.
Trikampis Arturas Bumšteinas, ēcheîa, CAC, 2017, Sound system 32 by Gitis Bertulis. Photo – Julijus Balčikonis ©
In the “Oo” exhibition, the artists combine sonic and visual elements. The visitors are enveloped and pierced by the sound, which circles or wanders around the room in confusion. Underneath the unfolding sound compositions lies a baroque wind machine and objects found in everyday life, which seem to have completely lost their sonic recognition. Mechanisms in which easily identifiable internet-related phenomena resonates with the natural motifs are constantly rotating in the different spaces of the gallery. The exhibition becomes an integral audio-visual cycle full of bodily experience, using motion, hearing and imagination.
Arturas Bumšteinas (b. 1982) received a Master’s degree in composition at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. He taught at the Aldeburgh Young Musicians Creative Lab at Snape Maltings in 2009 and Berlin’s Universitat der Kunste in 2007, currently giving lectures on sonic expression at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. The artist has organized seven solo exhibitions and participated in more than thirty group exhibitions and festivals in Europe and the US. Bumšteinas’s discography features records released both in Lithuania and abroad. The creator was also awarded the EBU prize at the Palma Ars Acustica Competition in 2013, spent 2017 at the DAAD residence in Berlin, and was awarded the Borisas Dauguvietis Earring for the best radio-artwork of the year in 2019.
Tuscia Arturas Bumšteinas and Gitis Bertulis, Cohlea Lounge, Vartai gallery, 2018. Photo – Laurynas Skeisgiela ©
Gitis Bertulis (b. 1970) has been working as a fashion, furniture and interior designer, artist and sound systems engineer since 1992. In 2005 he also began working with experimental sound and designing unique sound equipment and systems. In 2008-2014, Bertulis was a member of the international designers’ association IDEAS and the ALTRIADESIGN team, and has participated in multiple duo/group exhibitions and performances across the country.
The exhibition is partly sponsored by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.
Exhibition “Oo” will be open at the Gallery (AV17), Totorių St. 5 until April 23.
