Artist: Edith Karlson
Title: March!
Venue: Sapieha Palace in Vilnius
Curator: Maria Arusoo
Photos: Andrej Vasilenko
In Karlson’s exhibition, visitors encounter another captivating narrative of her oeuvre – an army of hybrid creatures is marching through the stunning Baroque spaces of Sapieha Palace. Rooms are taken over by ever-transforming figures who are on their way to or escaping somewhere, although the situation is unclear. The exhibition is in many ways influenced by the current state of the world – the chaos of wars and crises – where individual people find themselves in situations they have not chosen and have not consented to, yet they need to adapt to remain sane.
Adapting is one of the keywords of the exhibition. Karlson is fascinated by people’s ability to adapt – we often find ourselves in terrifying situations that we just cannot accept, however, as time passes, we see that we have indeed adapted, we move on and do things we never thought we’d be capable of. Here, adapting is seen as a survival mechanism but also as a frightening paradox that makes us accept things that go against everything, we previously held true – hearing the command “March!”, we are unexpectedly on our way in a direction we’ve been pushed to, holding weapons forced into our hands. This is not an exhibition about inevitability but of constant transformation – because who, in the end, is guiding whom and decides where we are going
Edith Karlson’s world is inhabited by transforming creatures that belong to a metamorphic sphere—one that is at times fragile, at other times inescapable, but always tinged with a glimmer of hope. These creatures shed their skins and leave their shadows on the walls, constantly altering, yet always yearning to escape the inescapable. Her exhibitions are both melancholic and hopeful, infused with a strong sense of playfulness and layered with multiple meanings—much like life itself.
