Raimundas Malašauskas: The Spiral Remembers

In a dedicated evening, Raimundas Malašauskas invited 18 artists with whom he had previously collaborated: visual artists, choreographers, musicians, performers in the broadest sense, and a fashion designer. The event served as a reflection on his history, his archives, and the many artistic affinities that had either emerged in past projects or remained hidden. Previously unseen gestures, works, and objects were presented throughout the various spaces of the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, alongside a freewheeling improvisation.

Visitors were invited to wander, spend time together, gather backstage, and drift continuously.

The event was presented as part of ‘Labas’, the opening sequence of the Lithuanian Season in France, and in partnership with the Extra! festival at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. For the occasion, the Centre offered carte blanche to Raimundas Malašauskas.

‘Mundus Mal-a-Showcase’, 2024. Image courtesy of Rasa Juškevičiūtė and Raimundas Malašauskas

‘The atmosphere is created from ether, from scratch, starting from the stage of a theatre, with Sandra’s hand-picked and handmade flamboyant costumes bouncing off each other through the space, inhabited by a cast of select artists. On stage, an exhibition of gestures and artworks follows its intuitive scoring – an archaeological language play on a label inside a refrigerator, accompanied by the sounds of a glitch in a newly invented musical instrument, perhaps? Carrot-cardamom mezcal flows freely, reserved for those who reject it, and the jokes and twists keep coming, generous at every turn. The stage extends to other parts of the theatre, anchored in inversions with film and photography. Friendships bond in laughter, as the hypnotic music of Tarek elevates the air, like rotating mirrors reflecting a kaleidoscope of dancing bodies – children, still alive within us. New studio visits unfold impromptu at the bar, with red-threaded sun stones for misty days offered as tokens. The night is punctuated by antelope-like movements from audience members, with happy wives, and shy new and old lovers alike.

What’s really at play here? How much friendship, loyalty, and alcohol are needed to bring out our inner children and beautiful minds, to rekindle relationships not just between artists but between their works? If everything is connected through the mind of one singular nexus artist, what are the shared connective tissues? Is it the music that triggers these kinetic vortexes? How does one work of art speak to another? If everything is transmissive, how do (impromptu) artworks, (smiles in) situations, and (silences in) storytelling move on and off stage, resonate with each other, and dissolve into one another? Loved the night with all its quantum conditions … It felt like a deep dive into a “once” and “perhaps even now” moment – a blend of magic and possibility, all woven together by long-standing relationships and the evolving dynamics of friendship and love. My phone died for life, which made it all the more enjoyable.’

DA

‘Mundus Mal-a-Showcase’, 2024. Image courtesy of Rasa Juškevičiūtė and Raimundas Malašauskas