Zilvinas Kempinas: Verticals

For his third solo show at Galeria Leme, the New York-based Lithuanian artist Zilvinas Kempinas (b. 1969, Plungė) presents Verticals, an installation of unspooled VHS tape, occupying the entire gallery space, evenly dividing it, and filling it symmetrically.

Verticals creates a controlled environment, defined by uniformity and monotonous order. Despite its geometry, the installation sustains a kinetic character and occasionally is animated by natural air circulation in the gallery or by vortexes of air caused by passing visitors. Once the air calms down, the piece comes back to its original stance.

The strips of magnetic tape are suspended above the gallery floor at the same distance; they do not extend all the way to the ceiling, but “stop” at the same height evenly. Their ultra thin edges are facing the same direction. Vertical black pieces of magnetic tape represent elements of time. Barely there, they occasionally disappear out of sight completely, depending on a viewer’s position in the gallery’s space.

In the middle of the floor there is a black shallow box-like object with its surface exposed to the viewers. There are thousands of small steel bearings laid down in oil on its surface. At first they are perceived as one solid formation, but from closer inspection, one may notice an occasional movement here and there – the bearings are slowly moving, one by one, rearranging and re-positioning themselves into an infinite “drawing in progress”.

It is a kinetic sculpture, capable of regenerating itself every time, creating new shapes out of solid metal. The final form is not an objective here, but instead the very process of “becoming”, the act of change and the beauty of chance are at the core of the piece.