Lithuania 2026

Title: animism sings anarchy
Commissioner: Lolita Jablonskienė
Curator: Louise O’Kelly
Exhibitor: Eglė Budvytytė

The exhibition presents a project by Eglė Budvytytė, an artist working at the intersection of visual and performing arts. Curated by Louise O’Kelly, the film “Inscribed on 16mm, animism sings anarchy” is a performative and poetic attempt to translate archaeological research and materials into songs, movement, and altered states.

The work draws on the research of the late Lithuanian anthropologist and archaeologist Marija Gimbutas into Neolithic matrilineal and animist societies. Filming took place in southeast Italy near Grotta Scaloria, a site associated with a Neolithic water cult where Gimbutas conducted excavations. Budvytytė structures the film around museum interiors and the Apulian coastline, featuring ancient caves and watery burial grounds. The sequences are shaped by these locations, unfolding as ritual movements and animist prayers that connect choreography to natural landforms and historical remnants. The artist’s practice continues to explore collectivity, vulnerability, and the relationships between bodies and the environment.