ARIEL is pleased to present the exhibition, Songs From The Compost, an exhibition which incorporates a sound-piece installation and a performance by Amsterdam-based Lithuanian artist Eglė Budvytytė.

The exhibition Songs From The Compost by Eglė Budvytytė comprises an installation of the sound-piece Songs From The Compost: Mutating Bodies, Imploding Stars and a closing performance of Some Were Carried, Some – Dragged Behind, marking the end of the exhibition.

Within a softly lit space, small sand dunes are gathered in the corners of a soft carpet inviting listeners to sit down and lean back into the otherworldly soundscape of the piece Songs From The Compost: Mutating Bodies, Imploding Stars, composed by Eglė Budvytytė. The soundtrack channels the desires of a narrator shapeshifting between different expressions of gender, voices and voice registers, and beyond-human embodiments. The soft haunting lyrics of the songs draw on the ideas of the biologist, Lynn Margulis, celebrating the role of bacteria in making life possible, and animates the collaboration between the single-celled organisms. In Songs From The Compost: Mutating Bodies, Imploding Stars, the tropes of symbiosis, mutation, and hybridity is given a sonic reconstruction that reaches out and utilises the intimate nature of the medium to connect to its audience. To challenge sociobiological causes of hierarchical violence, Budvytytė combines the biological science of the Earth’s most basic lifeforms with concepts from the authorship of science-fiction writer, Octavia Butler. In this norm-critical environment, a conscious lullaby for adults is formulated, Budvytytė’s tone of voice offers the utmost uncanny sort of cautiously monitored comfort. The mode and intensity shifts, inducing waves of drowsiness and alertness that runs down through the spine and into the body. As if to say, you were already here, in this world of unicellular organisms, trotting through these multilayers of socio-political meanings – welcome to Songs from the Compost. Relax, all is repetitive, all is soil, all is recycled.

The second part of Songs From The Compost takes place in the Spring, when Budvytytė presents her performance Some Were Carried, Some – Dragged Behind on May 8th. In public space where we are still trying to understand and give notice to the many ways that the pandemic situation stopped and altered our ways of being connected, the performance Some Were Carried, Some – Dragged Behind speaks to how we carry, uplift and support each other in a nurturing way, even if we feel alienated by the World and one another.  Slowly and gently, small clusters of performers will be dragging and carrying each other through the squares and neighbouring streets of ARIEL. Resembling and drawing on the act of dragging bodies in public, that is mostly enacted by the authorities on disobedient bodies, the performance seeks to subvert these connotations through a shift of motion and speed into a caring and trustful surrender of bodies into hands of tenderness.

The exhibition Songs From The Compost collects sonic experimental as well as performative elements from Budvytytė's practice. Together, both Songs From The Compost: Mutating Bodies, Imploding Stars and Some Were Carried, Some - Dragged Behind articulate different ways in which we relate to each other and how this relationship affects our treatment of and shared responsibility for the Planet. Perceptibly, both works evoke a link to the Earth and all its creatures, where Budvytytė, in a present and alluring manner accentuates, how social hierarchies can be overthrown, and radically change existing societal systems.

UPDATE: The performance "Some Were Carried, Some – Dragged Behind" by Eglė Budvytytė will start at 12.00 -13.00 at the location of Frue Plads, 1168, København K. For further information on map and guiding please check our facebook and instagram.

Every Wednesday 3-6pm – and by special request – we are opening up the exhibition to private viewings in a period lasting until Sunday 9th of May. Send us an email to arielfeminisms@gmail.com and book an appointment to experience Eglė Budvytytės exhibition Songs From The Compost.

The exhibition is realised with the kind support of the Danish Arts Foundation and in collaboration with the Lithuanian cultural attaché in Sweden, Denmark and Finland, with the support from the Lithuanian Cultural Institute.

Biography: Eglė Budvytytė born in 1982, Lithuania, is an artist based in Amsterdam, working in the intersection between visual and performing arts. In her vocal and choreographic performances, she draws out relationships between bodies and their environments by either exploring codified behaviors in public spaces or the boundaries between the human and non-human. Her work was shown amongst others at Liste, Art Basel; 19th Biennale of Sydney; De Appel Arts Centre; CAC in Vilnius, and Stedeljik Museum in Amsterdam.

"Some Were Carried, Some – Dragged Behind" was performed by: Sanna Blennow, Aline Combe, Marina Dubia, Lucie Piot, Alice Presencer, Adrian Skjoldborg and Anabela Veloso.

Title: Amelia Groom. Lyrics, melodies, voices: Egle Budvytyte. Sound design: Steve Martin Snider

Images: Malle Madsen

Courtesy: ARIEL

From Saturday 20th of March – Sunday 9th of May the exhibition will be publicly accessible from the street level at ARIEL in the Women's Building. Through the exhibition period, the installation will be made accessible to the public by appointment only:

Every Wednesday 3-6pm – and by special request – we are opening up the exhibition to private viewings in a period lasting until Sunday 9th of May.

Send us an email to arielfeminisms@gmail.com and book an appointment to experience Eglė Budvytytės exhibition Songs From The Compost.

ARIEL will be monitoring the viewing with careful consideration to both the current and changing official guidelines for Covid-related regulations.

The project and exhibition is generously supported by:
Bikubenfonden
Statens Kunstfond
København Kommune, Rådet for Visuel Kunst
Lithuanian Cultural Institute
Tæppeland
MARI KANTER arkitekter
Decor Farver
faustlight
Flügger farver
STARK
Kvindernes Bygning